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The line slowly works its way forward. I wind up sitting on my luggage, as a lot of other passengers are doing. I see a whole family of Alzhon together near the front of the line and groan inwardly at the amount of luggage they have between them. The CIS officers are meticulously opening everything and checking it.
Eventually, I get my turn at the counter. I hand the remote for my smart follow luggage to the attendant and wait patiently while they run a scanner through all of my stuff. The Pi’rell officer turns his earless face toward me and arches his brows.
“Do you have any fruit or vegetables to declare?”
“Only my energy drink,” I say, holding up the purple brew. “I bought it on the way here, in the liner’s commissary so it’s supposed to be pre approved.”
“They tell you that,” says the clerk “but nothing is pre approved. I’ll have to scan it, too.”
I try to keep my impatience under wraps while they go through my things. After watching the Pi’rell poke around in my lacy undergarments for over a full minute I finally lose it.
“I don’t think there’s any contraband in my underwear, sir.”
“Right,” he says, pushing the button to seal up my luggage again. I take the remote back. “Welcome to New Verdan. Here’s your tourism Visa.”
He hands me a small rectangle of rounded glass which I fit into one of the universal slots on my com pad. The screen blinks twice to let me know it’s active. Now I’m ‘legally’ allowed to be here for the month that I applied for. I hope to see Elena soon. My feet are killing me. I probably shouldn’t have worn my pumps.
I step out into the New Verdan sunlight and find that Touchdown is much smaller than it looked from the sky. Some of the trees are actually bigger than the buildings, which isn’t much of a feat considering the tallest structure is about ten stories.
I look around but I don’t see what you normally find outside of a spaceport terminal. Namely, a hover cab waiting for a fare. I turn to one of the security guards leaning against the wall. Judging from the Kullus root cigar he’s smoking, he’s on some kind of break.
“Excuse me, where are all of the taxis?”
He gives me a bored expression and sighs.
“We don’t have many of those here.”
“Then how do you get around?”
“You could always walk.”
I grimace and look down at my com pad. The farm Elena works with her husband is over ten miles away from where I’m at. That’s a damn long walk. I could give her a call and ask for a ride, but I wanted my visit to be something of a surprise. She’s expecting me, but not until tomorrow. Our shuttle’s navigation officer must have made an impressive superluminal calculation to get us here a day early.
“Well, looks like I’m walking.”
I find the streets to be terribly crowded with new arrivals. So much so that it is hard to move. I glanced between two buildings and noticed a narrower, completely empty thoroughfare through the alley. Why was nobody walking there?
I decide not to question my good fortune and step through the alley and into the avenue. I notice piles of what I suspected was animal dung here and there. I figure that was why the locals didn’t use the road much.
I walk along, avoiding the cow patties or the equivalent, and soon the buildings were hidden from view by twelve foot high fences. I wondered what purpose the fences served. They seemed to run for an awful long way.
As I walk, I become aware of a sound akin to thunder. I look up into the sky, confused, because there isn’t cloud in sight.
Then the rumbling grows louder, and too steady to be thunder. I turn around and see a dust cloud coming toward me. Boiling like a dark cloud, I spot shapes undulating within.
Big shapes.
A bleat pierces the air, and I realize what’s causing the cloud. A huge herd of Nayk, an animal the size and temperament of an Earth buffalo and just about as dangerous.
And they’re stampeding right for me. The fences trap me in their path.
NOW I realize why nobody else is using this road. It’s a path exclusively for livestock ranchers.
Too little, too late.
Guess I should have called Elena for that ride after all. It was a mistake. I just hope it’s not the last one I ever make.
Four
