Eden RescueChapter 26 free porn video

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Both turned in surprise. The mother had advanced behind them somewhat and was staring directly at MacPherson.

"You say that you have been afraid of us, Angus," she said. "Was it so when you came here to the nest, were you afraid then?"

"Aye," he said, then corrected it. "Yes."

"Then why did you come?"

"T'face me— my fear," he answered slowly. "To find out if my fear was real or only in my head, in my mind. I did not want to fear a shadow, something that wasn't real. And I found that it was so, I was afraid of something that was not real. You're not fearsome, you're a lot like us. Different too, yes, very different in many ways, but not a kind of difference to fear, just ... a difference."

There was a long silence. Nobody moved. Then at last the mother spoke again. "You humans have taught us very much in many ways. You teach us again now." She turned to Meiersdottir. "We will go with you, Amanda. You say one hundred may go?"

Meiersdottir's jaw had literally dropped. She swallowed to dispel a sudden lump in her throat. "About that," she answered in a husky voice. "Perhaps a few more."

"One hundred and ten?" the alien asked. Meiersdottir nodded wordlessly. "They will be ready and will come to you where your lander stands in two days' time. We need this time for ... you have no words, it is a thing of the mind. You can wait so long more?"

Tears were coursing down the woman's cheeks. "We will wait, Gagugakhing. Two days. And thank you, thank you so much!" She turned quickly to MacPherson. "Time to go, Angus," she said. "You go first, they can lift me up and you can reach down to me." She motioned him forward.

They walked back up the incline in silence. Twice MacPherson made as if to speak, and twice she silenced him with a gesture. The final surface bottleneck was negotiated in the same way, and they finally emerged alone from the house that sheltered the nest entrance. Only when the door closed behind them did she at last give vent to her feelings.

"Yahoo!" she cried loudly. Beside her MacPherson simply grinned at her sudden display of exuberance. She turned to him and threw her arms around him. "Angus, Angus, Angus, my very dear friend. If I weren't so old I'd marry you!"

He burst into laughter. "If ye werrena sae auld I'd ha'e ye, too," he responded. "I' makes me hearr' sing t'see ye sae joyful."

"And you did it," she told him. "It was you who got through when I couldn't. Oh, Angus, there's no way I can thank you."

"Yer happiness is thanks enough," he said, smiling.

Her face turned serious. "You're not sorry, are you?" she asked with sudden trepidation. "I mean, this is exactly what you were trying to prevent, isn't it?"

"Nae, I'm no' sorry," he answered. "I mean' wha' I said doon therre. Ye canna lie in sae grran' a place, i' crries oo' for trruth. I'm no' afearr' o' 'em any mair. Min' ye, I do no' like 'em, bu' i' isna needed tha' I like 'em."

"You said that in the nest," she remembered. "And you said it in ordinary Standard, too. Why? I mean, if you can speak regular Standard when you want, why the brogue? Is it just an affectation?"

"Nae, 'tis merrely easierr. T'speak rregular, as ye call i', means I mus' gi'e close heed t'me worrds. 'Tis no' na'urral t'me. Mos'ly itherrs un'errstan' me jus' fine. When they do no', I can speak rrigh' if I think aboo' i'. Tha' seem' a time forr doin' sae, for I wish' 'em t'un'errstan' me."

"Oh, they did," she assured him. "All except— What's minga?"

"Och," he said, shifting awkwardly. "I prrob'ly shouldna ha'e said tha'."

"You should have said every single word you did. I mean, that's what turned them around, what you said. But what does it mean?"

"Weel... ," he mumbled. "I' means ugly. Bu' no' jus' ugly, ye ken, fearrsome ugly, ugly as a mud fence. Sae ugly ye don' wan' t'look a' i', ye don' e'en carre t'know i' exis's, tha' kin' o' ugly."

"Really?" she said. "I've always thought they were kind of cute in a bit of a weird way."

"'Cu'e?'" he repeated incredulously. "Missus, back home I've stepp' on things prre'ier'n tha'. Smallerr, o'courrse, bu' in this case size doesna help."

She giggled giddily. "Well, get used to them, they'll be with us for a while," she said. "Oh, and how good it is to say that! Come on, we're just standing here, we have to get back and tell Carlie and Alicia and everybody the good news."

"Why did ye leave sae quick afterr th' mitherr tol' ye she' change' herr min'?" he asked as they walked along. "Orr is i' theirr min'? I do no' ken how t'say i'."

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Chapter 26 Videos

Eden RescueChapter 45

The Houston homecoming was everything Meiersdottir had promised. Media coverage was extensive, and the entire staff of Eden Rescue was flown in to join the celebration. As the harrowing story of their narrow escape from the Eden system emerged, MacPherson and to a lesser extent Cromartie found themselves momentarily media darlings, much to their—and especially the captain's—embarrassment. Ironically, Mallet himself was also showered with fulsome praise for his and his agency's role in the...

Eden RescueChapter 31

"I'm Amanda, and I'd like to give you welcome to our great ship, the Ark." Meiersdottir had allowed the Edenites a few hours to settle into their new and unfamiliar quarters. The ship had been broadly reconditioned to resemble as much as possible the surface of Eden. Its huge primary bay had been layered with the soil scooped up from the planet, into which had been implanted as much as they'd been able to gather of the foliage. The beasts they'd herded along were already grazing...

Eden on the RailsChapter 18

He neared the river, and selected a hide for himself while he waited. As he sat there quietly, a small version of the sheep-like creature crept out of the forest and headed for the water. Hubert got out his handgun, waiting for it to come close enough for a fatal shot. It ambled closer, passing a bushy shrub, and as it did so, it jerked and then collapsed. A snake, or something very like a snake, slithered out and away from the animal that had disturbed it. Hubert thought, "Luck sometimes...

Eden

A soft brown glow outlined the Wall, its sheer size dominating the horizon. Sigmund was holding on to his spear, surveying the landscape with a pair of digital enhanced binoculars, one of the last few still working. Upstream he could discern Lake Spagelow dry this time of year, again too soon for comfort. Still no sign of Jared and Ernst though, he thought to himself. He turned around to look at his eba, scrounging for food around the low bush, with little luck that day. "I told you the bush...

Eden RescueChapter 8

The jubilation at the headquarters of the informal "Eden Rescue" group put together by Toshimura and others was intense. In one two-day explosion Meiersdottir had brought the Edenites' plight to worldwide attention, initiated a tremendous upwelling of support for the rescuers' goal and completely defused SES opposition. It was beyond what any of them might have imagined possible, especially in so brief a span. But they had little leisure to enjoy their triumph. There was work to be done,...

Eden RescueChapter 11

For the past three years Meiersdottir had gradually detached herself from Eden Rescue. She remained chairperson of its board and nominal CEO, but Heisinger and Igwanda—AC—had between them taken over virtually all aspects of operational management, and her regular presence was no longer needed. Given her advancing years—she'd be 113 on her next birthday, which was only two months away—making the daily trek to the organization's offices was increasingly difficult for her, and she was rarely...

Eden on the RailsChapter 8

George nodded his agreement. "Gosh, NO, that would be far too long. I am sure you could calculate the optimum dimensions of the steel links between the cars, assuming them to be welded to the underside and lower sides of the car. These connections would have to be robust, remember: timber is heavy. Much would also depend on how great a diameter of log can be accommodated. Anything too large could be left for the trains to transport through the tunnel at a later stage. "Who is going to be...

Eden RescueChapter 5

"An ark?" she repeated. "Yes! A spacegoing ark! We don't want to go back to study them or gloat over them or any of the stuff you said. We want to rescue them!" Her face still tear-stained, she gave him an unbelieving look. "How is that possible?" she asked. "It can be done, Amanda," he replied. "Not all of them, of course, not even very many. But enough; and they'll bring all the others with them, in their mind. Remember, you told me when you got back from the second trip,...

Eden RescueChapter 10

In all of human history there has, however, never been a cause behind which all could unite. Peace, love, mercy, justice, every such ideal has found its detractors at any given time; education, individuality, achievement are all opposed by a tenacious few who have determined them to be somehow evil. Human beings can't even agree on their origins, there are still those who continue to insist that the Earth is flat, and many of most inspirational leaders of the past were in fact murdered by...

Eden RescueChapter 12

The Ark's captain would be Angus MacPherson, a dyed-in-the-wool Scot who was reputed among the most flamboyantly daring of the starship commanders. To balance his bravado SES had selected stolid Warren Cromartie as second in command, "as sound as they come," Mallet told Meiersdottir. Only a skeleton supercargo would travel on the outbound run. Heisinger and Igwanda would be joined only by biologists Watesi and Yuan, chemist Johann Paulssen and astronomer Yisheda Amuri for the voyage....

Eden on the RailsChapter 11

He was overwhelmed by the hug he got from Tracy, then she called softly, "Hasan! He is here." Hasan walked towards the door, carrying several bags. He eyed his visitor. "John? You came yourself?" "Anything for an old friend. Where are the boxes of books?" Hasan indicated a pile of cartons next to the door. John started to carry the first out the door and over to where the platform sat. As the family trooped out, he indicated the platform. "Everyone get on there. When ready, say NOW,...

Eden RescueChapter 6

"Well, Carlie, it's time." He smiled, and leaned over to kiss her forehead. "Good luck, Grandmother." "I hope I don't need it." Pushing on the armrests with both hands she stood up unassisted and turned toward the door. They were in the "green room"—the waiting area—of the most popular worldwide late-night holograph show, on which she'd appear within, now, only a few seconds. It was a painstakingly arranged, and widely publicized, appearance. A week earlier she'd called the...

Eden RescueChapter 15

Hatred, Meiersdottir mused. Unreasoning hatred. And unreasoning fear, too. How terrible that they drive so much human thinking, and by thinking actions as well. In the two days since the dramatic confrontation in MacPherson's cabin there had been a great deal of activity. First and most immediately, the Ark's course had been righted. The ship had been on the proper trajectory, merely moving far too slowly to reach worm speed in anything like adequate time. But with all of its thrusters...

Eden RescueChapter 35

The choice turned out to be dictated by the anatomy of the Ark's Eden passengers—partly the Edenites themselves, but considerably more the wildlife accompanying them. It took Heisinger a great deal of effort to describe the situation clearly enough for the Edenites to understand. They had only the vaguest notion of the concept of gravity, and none at all that it could be variable. To them one remained on the ground simply because it was natural for non-aviators to remain on the ground, and...

Eden on the RailsChapter 16

"It is, Tabs, but it is a burden you have to bear, if you are to be trusted with other important matters later in life." "Understood. Wow! Penny getting married!" "Perhaps, Tabs. It is all at the "depends" stage. Now, can you back off with your questions; questions I cannot answer?" "Yes, sir. I will stop, and keep things to myself. Thank you for trusting me. I won't let you down. Penny, wow!" She halted her enthusiasm. "Does this mean I can't speak to Penny about her wanting...

Eden Cove

Eden Cove seems to have it all: Turquoise waves rolling up white perfect beaches, surounded by tropical green dotted by a firework of gaudy exotic flowers. A lush wind cooling down bodies which are otherwise heated up to much by the radiant sun. Placed at this secluded patch of heaven on earth lies a top-notch holiday resort with all the extravaganza which can be offered by state of the art facilities. Eden Cove resort moreover seems to be populated only by the most gorgeous people you can...

EdenChapter 53

The morning transmission began as tumultuously as Meiersdottir had expected. Toshimura, in particular, was outraged that she had departed so drastically from their plans aboard the Gardener, and spent the first two minutes expressing that with phrases like "cover-up" and "betrayal of trust" and "high-handed unilateral decision-making" sprinkled liberally throughout his tirade. "All right, John," she said when he finally began to run out of words, "but that's something I don't want...

EdenChapter 68

Igwanda and Meiersdottir walked back to their mini-pavilion, as they had come to call it, in stunned silence. Meier was awake and cranky; "I changed him," Lee said, "but I think he's hungry. Can't help you there." "Thanks, Janet," replied Meiersdottir absently. "I'll take it from here." She took the baby and with practiced movements opened her tunic to give him suckle as Lee left. "Hey, ouch, little man," she said, "just suck gently ... ah, there you go." As the baby fed she...

EdenChapter 5

It was officially called a "mission briefing," and was closed to the public and the news media. Even so, popular interest in the return to Eden had reached a sufficient pitch that a variety of SES brass who had little of substance to contribute took up the first 90 minutes with what were mostly tendentious platitudes. The keynote speaker was Abel Langston himself, who thankfully gave to those who'd be light-years away in the coming election an abbreviated version of his remarks (they'd...

Eden RescueChapter 21

Yet another time the Edenite mother seemed at a loss for a response. The silence went on for a full minute, longer. Meiersdottir and her companions simply waited. "You ask us to leave this world, to leave our home and go with you?" the alien finally said. "Yes," she answered. "There's no other way for you to live. Your world is going to die, and you'll die with it if you stay. But we can help you leave it." "All of us?" "No, I'm sorry," Meiersdottir admitted. "Even we can't...

Eden RescueChapter 23

Meiersdottir slept fitfully but long in her cabin that night. The trip down to the planet, and especially her excursion into the Edenite nest and the effort she'd put into her presentation to Gagugakhing, had tired her severely; at her age the whole thing had been exhausting. Even so she kept waking, brooding, and then dozing back off. As a result it was nearly noon by the ship's clock when she at last bestirred herself from bed. She showered and dressed and wandered down to the ship's...

Eden RescueChapter 44

"Before we shut down, who's got Eugene's key for the log?" asked Meiersdottir. The Ark had been emptied of all its living cargo save for the plants unneeded on New Eden within a span of less than twenty-four hours. As before, AC—Heisinger and Igwanda—had taken on the brunt of the effort, aided enthusiastically by the remainder of the ship's original crew. The Edenites were already ensconced in their new Earthly home, their animals grazed happily in the abundant fields that had awaited...

Eden RescueChapter 46

There was a substantial welcoming party waiting as the sub-orbital came in for its landing on New Eden. Meiersdottir's entire estate staff had all turned out to greet their mistress, along with the two of Igwanda's security detail who were currently stationed there. The bulk of his security forces were now based on another nearby island but maintained their vigilance to prevent unauthorized encroachments by either air or sea. And, in equal numbers—still numeric parity, she noted—were the...

EdenChapter 14

Even before the Gardener reached orbit, it was evident that there had been changes in the century since the Argo's visit. Dramatic changes. The rest of the planet—the landscape, the elevations and prominences, the distribution of life, on which most of the ship's scanning equipment was trained—was roughly identical to what the Argo had seen. Even such changes as were detected were more or less to be expected: slightly altered shorelines, minor expansions or contractions of arid desert...

EdenChapter 15

It was impossible, was the shipwide consensus. There was no conceivable way that a culture obviously in the early stages of agrarianism, with but a single field planetwide under true cultivation, could have advanced to organized iron mining and smelting just a century later. "It took us several thousands of years to cross that bridge," said Toshimura. "To even suggest that another species could make the transition in a mere hundred is nonsense!" None could argue with the proposition that...

EdenChapter 17

Preliminary analysis of the specimens produced a strangely mixed bag of results. The air, as the Argo had found, was quite breathable without respiratory filters; it was considerably more pollen-laden than Earth's—an ecology without significant insect population would naturally rely more heavily on airborne dissemination—but the pollens were completely innocuous to humans. Likewise the water was perfectly drinkable; the natural sediments would simply pass through the human digestive tract...

Eden on the RailsChapter 13

"You shall have it, Muriel my dear. I hate to think how much this will set me back, but it was worth it! The dinner is, what, three days from now?" Gloria responded, "Yes, dear. Three days from tonight. The dresses arrived just in time. Now Penny and I need to pick up our necklaces, to set off the dresses." "Necklaces? You have necklaces? I don't remember seeing them." John expressed his doubt. Gloria smiled sweetly. "They are being made for us as we speak, darling. Nothing...

Eden on the RailsChapter 20

The research station was nearing completion, as The Personalia mechanoids hurried to attend to all the tasks that were required to turn the jigsaw of parts into a working building. It never occurred to The Personalia that they were conducting tasks which a human would normally attend to; they did not know, so went about their work as only they knew how. Knowing the timetable for the station to be ready for occupation, they phoned Hubert Swanson, saying "Hubert Swanson, the station is ready...

EdenChapter 29

"It's the opportunity we've been waiting for!" Shaw fairly oozed excitement. "Now we can begin to truly interact, to see them in their homes, to really learn about them!" Igwanda noted dourly how the first officer, with no role in the mission other than as pilot, so eagerly used the first person plural to include himself in the ranks of the scientists. But he kept his observation to himself. And it was true that the scientific contingent, down to even the usually stolid Heisinger,...

Eden West

I am NOT the author.am simply sharing Lauren takes a solo vacation and meets the sexy VP she hates from workI was beat, beat, beat. This last project had taken the wind out of my sails. Too many 11pm calls with China. Too many lunches eaten over my computer keyboard. In fact I'd spilled coffee so many times I was on my third keyboard. I told my pal in California that I was taking a vacation.“ I don't care if Mark can't make it- I'm just going to take off,” I said.“ Great,” said my pal Rob. “Go...

EdenChapter 65

If anything, the pace of that progress was even faster over the next few weeks. The scientists were gathering an immense body of knowledge about both the planet and the aliens themselves. After hearing Meiersdottir's description of the mating process Heisinger and Komosaki were avid for a first-hand view; the Edenites showed no hesitation about allowing them entry to the nest to witness not only that but an actual hatching. "It's unlike anything on Earth," Heisinger reported afterwards....

EdenChapter 67

Time was closing in on their departure from Eden. They'd been at the planet for nearly fourteen Earth months, on the surface for the great majority of that time, and Captain Ziang had set a deadline of only two more weeks before the journey home would have to begin. All the scientists were hurrying to cram as much additional research as possible into the remaining time. Many were already drafting the breakthrough papers they would publish after their return, papers that would forever...

EdenChapter 3

Abel Langston was first and foremost a politician. He loved the trappings of power, the sense of control and most of all the limelight that his electoral successes had brought him in steadily growing measure. And he was determined that his new post on the five-member SES Board of Administrators would be neither his last nor his highest in his chosen field. Thus, almost as soon as he took his seat he followed the time-honored approach of all ambitious politicians and began casting about for...

EdenChapter 10

The Gardener reached worm speed and negotiated the worm transit uneventfully. At the astronomers' request Captain Ziang left the external scanners on for a short while at the beginning of the transit, but the view was only of a featureless void and after a couple of the more agoraphobic members of the crew asked, she turned them off. On-board excitement built quickly as the ship exited its wormhole and began decelerating toward Eden. The astronomers and physicists busied themselves quickly...

Eden RescueChapter 7

The summons she'd expected, from SES Executive Director Eugene Mallet, reached her in her hotel the next morning. Would she please present herself in his office as soon as possible, preferably immediately? She was of course under no obligation to comply. It had been several decades since she was in any way beholden to SES, and they had no authority whatever to command her. But it suited her purposes perfectly to obey the peremptory directive; indeed, had it not arrived promptly she would...

EdenChapter 13

Meiersdottir was true to her word; the following morning the chamber was again full. There'd been a good deal of grumbling about "unnecessary" meetings, but her prestige was such that she'd persuaded even the most recalcitrant among her scientific peers to attend. And, she noted with approval, his military ... task force, she remembered, were also present. After calling the meeting to order Shaw, as pre-arranged, immediately recognized her. "Thank you all for coming today," she began....

Eden RescueChapter 14

Cromartie's story had impressed them all so much that they were perhaps lulled into complacency. The days and weeks passed by in endless sameness and still they hadn't reached the critical worm transit that would take them to the Eden system where they could begin decelerating to make orbit and finally, via shuttle, planetfall. And time was, Meiersdottir knew, uncomfortably short. The original plans had called for arriving at Eden a full six months before the emissions of Chen's nova...

Eden RescueChapter 16

But for the next several days she had no opportunity for another visit. Heisinger and Igwanda had worked out a rough revised schedule for the rescue operation once they'd reached Eden, but they needed her input on many details as the only crew member who'd ever been on the planet. For almost every waking minute the three of them were in constant discussion, calling often on Watesi, Yuan and Paulssen for consultations. Amuri was pressed to refine estimates of the arrival of the Chen's nova...

Eden RescueChapter 17

By the time the planning revisions were complete the Ark had, at last, entered worm space for its faster-than-light transit to the Eden system. As MacPherson had noted in his greatly abbreviated pre-launch briefing, the transit was in objective terms instantaneous; from the moment they entered the wormhole to the moment they emerged no time whatever would elapse in the physical universe; the two events would occur simultaneously. Subjectively, though, it would seem aboard the Ark to last...

Eden RescueChapter 19

"I won't be here tomorrow," she warned MacPherson. "And today must be a short one. I need my rest; I'm going down to Eden tomorrow." "Ye gae yersel'?" he said in surprise. "Why?" "Long story," she told him. "But I need to be there, on the first landing. Does it frighten you, knowing we're here now?" He gave her a long, speculative look. "Nae, Missus," he said at last. "Wha' I did, I did forr rreasons I ha'e tol' ye, an' I do no' know still if they werre guid...

Eden RescueChapter 22

"I know you said this could happen, Amanda, but I still can't believe they'd actually refuse us!" said Heisinger. The humans were gathered in the pavilion watching as the Edenites industriously helped assemble the first load to be ferried back to the Ark. This would be, as they'd long planned, mostly soil along with a few basic horticultural specimens. The massive bays of the mothership would have to be conditioned into a reasonable approximation of Eden's surface before they'd be...

Eden RescueChapter 24

The work went on virtually non-stop, with periodic slow-downs when one or another of the humans was too exhausted to go on. Heisinger and Igwanda rested in relays, one of them always awake to guide the operation and ensure that it hewed to the plan; the others snatched such sleep as they were able when they were able. They were in constant communication with Cromartie aboard the Ark to ensure that the on-board arrangements likewise followed the plan, and twice Igwanda made quick visits to...

Eden RescueChapter 28

"Married?" said Meiersdottir in surprise. She was on the communicator with Igwanda, who with Heisinger had alone remained on the surface. The others, together with both landers, had repaired to the Ark as soon as what had been intended as the final loading was finished for a much-needed night's sleep. It was now early afternoon planetside in what was their first day of inactivity since they'd arrived at Eden. "Al and I originally planned it when we started," Igwanda told her. "We...

Eden RescueChapter 33

"You say that name of this ship, Ark, has much meaning to you," Gagugakhing remarked to Heisinger. "Would you tell us this meaning?" The younger woman had quickly adopted the practice of alternating with Meiersdottir in interacting with the Edenites on their voyage. Actually the brunt of the effort fell on Heisinger; the old woman was increasingly feeling the ravages of her advanced age and the efforts she'd put forth in their visit to Eden itself, and as little as an hour was enough...

Eden RescueChapter 36

At long last, after five grueling weeks of crushing on-board gravitational excess and unremitting tension, the crucial day had arrived. There remained but hours before the nova's killing burst of radiation would reach the Eden system, and before the Ark would at last attain the minimum speed that would allow it to pass into worm space and escape. And Meiersdottir was still in a coma. Even the optimistic O'Bannion now referred to her condition as "critical," and was increasingly guarded...

EdenChapter 16

What developed, as Igwanda had predicted, was a second day of virtually no predatory activity. Two flying creatures stooped on small ground animals, one successfully and one not, but other than that and a brief territorial display between two of the hexapods the day was a bucolic repetition of the previous one. The scientists spent most of it again collecting specimens. Observing closely, both Komosaki and Heisinger were able to collect ground plants onto which some of the grazers and...

Eden on the RailsChapter 15

"I see. Go ahead, then." "Piotr tells me that his pal's Dad – the name of the man is Hubert Swanson, by the way – it seems that he currently is a labourer on the rail track. He is a frustrated man, and takes out his aggression on everyone who has a better-paid job. He tells them that he is just as good as them, but they get better jobs because of their paper qualifications, not because they are better at their jobs. That doesn't endear him to his colleagues at work." John nodded....

Eden West

I was beat, beat, beat. This last project had taken the wind out of my sails. Too many 11pm calls with China. Too many lunches eaten over my computer keyboard. In fact I’d spilled coffee so many times I was on my third keyboard. I told my pal in California that I was taking a vacation. “ I don’t care if Mark can’t make it- I’m just going to take off,” I said. “ Great,” said my pal Rob. “Go for it. Where to?” “ I’ve got a great spa picked out. Actually, it’s down your way. Santa Barbara. Eden...

EdenChapter 35

"Colonel, are they gone?" asked Chavez over the communicator. "Yes, Sergeant, you may speak now. Have you—" "Are you insane, Colonel?" the sergeant burst out. "The lander is ready to go right now, we can have you safe on board in—" "Sergeant, shut up," said Igwanda sharply. He still wasn't quite certain of Meiersdottir's intentions, but he'd had more than enough of Chavez' interference. "But to spend the night camping out in the middle of thousands of—" "Sergeant, do I...

EdenChapter 44

"And it's still daylight, sort of," she smiled. He laughed easily. "I gather that you feel pleased about the proposed course of action." "Very pleased," she said. "But you know, I don't like the idea of dealing with this over the communicator. I really think I need to get back to the Gardener and get it talked out with everybody in the same place." He nodded slowly. "That should not be difficult to arrange," he said. "We can have a lander sent down to retrieve us at our...

EdenChapter 54

For true students of learning—and the scientists aboard the Gardener were nothing if not that, for there had been no other reason to volunteer for the voyage—the ensuing few weeks were almost an idyll. To be sure, little in the field of human endeavor is ever universally idyllic. Some balked initially at Igwanda's requirement that they camp out at night sheltered only by the pavilion, as he and Meiersdottir had done, but he remained adamant about not presenting technological artifacts that...

EdenChapter 66

Meiersdottir was adamant about having her baby on Eden itself rather than the Gardener. "It's not really about what I promised Gagugakhing, although I do think of that," she told Igwanda privately. "It's just that we have a perfectly good planet right here and I want our son"—routine prenatal care had revealed the sex—"to have a birthplace he can point to, at least on a star map, rather than just having to say he was born 'somewhere in space.'" Predictably, both ship's doctors...

EdenChapter 4

No wars had been waged on Earth in four generations. The nationalistic fervor of the 20th century, the religious and racial zealotry of the 21st, the urban insurrections of the 22nd had long since been overcome by either sheer force or calming moderation. Advances in weaponry had rendered total warfare an idea of the past; with biological, chemical and nuclear "weapons of mass destruction" within the reach of all, few could fail to recognize that an all-out attack on any rival, no matter...

EdenChapter 7

"Well, madam?" Due courtesies had been extended; he'd answered her knock quickly, had politely taken her coat and hung it up, had ushered her to a chair that was ostentatiously positioned on the opposite side of the hotel room's sole table from the only other, which he took. She accepted the pleasantries with evident appreciation, but no other words had been spoken by either. For a time they simply studied each other. He found her unusually attractive, only a few centimeters shorter...

Eden RescueChapter 4

There seemed to be no doorbell, and it was difficult for the old man to find a place to knock on the bamboo door. He tried a hard rap on the frame, but the result was a mere muted thud that he knew wouldn't carry within. It was all of a piece, he supposed. People who were looking for visitors didn't seclude themselves on remote islands in the middle of a vast ocean. It had been tough enough to even find the place; then he'd had to take three different aircraft of steadily diminishing size...

Eden RescueChapter 18

Not just fear and hatred then, she thought as she went back over the discussion in her mind. Fear, hatred and ignorance. And I suppose the greatest of these, and the most dangerous, is the ignorance. The most difficult to overcome, too, I expect. Because so dreadfully many people simply don't want to know, they resist knowing, they cling as tightly to their ignorance as they would to a rock at the edge of a cliff, a liferaft in the ocean. Was it so for the ones who visited Angus? she...

Eden RescueChapter 30

"Ge' th'lan'err in wherre ye can, bu' do i' fas', Arrlen," came MacPherson's voice over the lander's communicator. "Then leave yer lock close' until I say. We'rre gaein' firrs' as soon as ye'rre on, closin' up la'err." It was now evident why the lander departures from Eden had been sequenced as they had. Nassir, as much the more experienced pilot, would have to slip his vehicle into the uncomfortably narrow slot left by Yuan, who'd taken up more than her share of the...

Eden RescueChapter 32

It was only about three days later that MacPherson came into the bridge after a short night's sleep to find Igwanda, Heisinger, Meiersdottir and Cromartie all waiting for him. "G'mornin'," he said, slightly surprised. They simply glared in his direction, none of them responding. He rolled his eyes. "All rrigh', ye've summa' in yer crraw," he acknowledged. "Who woul' carre t'tell me wha'?" "Where are you taking us, MacPherson?" challenged Igwanda in a rough voice. "Weel,...

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