New Beginnings

By Joan Childs

Their home has been destroyed and they are the only remaining humans....but will they survive the myths, legends and dangers that come to life on their new home planet.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jun 22, 2015
• ISBN: 9781326321031

Book preview

New Beginnings

NEW  BEGINNINGS

PROLOGUE

FIRST CONTACT

FOUNDATIONS

INVITATION

RELLINKA

ATTACK

DORRI

NEW FREINDS

MARRIAGE AND MATING

PROPHECY

FLOOD

DISASTER

KIDNAP

RESCUE

SOLUTION

A NEW ERA

SHOWDOWN

ELLIANDINI

RENEGADE

DISCOVERY

NEW HOPE

A NEW GENERATION

PROLOGUE.....

The silent ship was massive, six long, black, oval cylinders joined together in a pyramidal formation almost two kilometres in length, 500 meters in height and 700 meters wide, it glided silently through space showing almost no signs of life. However, there were a little over a thousand people on board, most sleeping in cryochambers, but thirty or so at a time were keeping a check on their progress, while others were waking up or preparing to hand over to the new crew before settling down to sleep off another six month tour of duty after updating the new crew on their current status. The only thing visible to show there was someone aboard was a large viewing window at the front and another on each side of the top, central cylinder, to indicate where those crewing the ship lived, worked and slept. 

For the first few years on board, the cryochambers had not been used as everyone was grieving for family and friends who had not made it aboard. They also had to deal with the shock of seeing their home destroyed in front of their eyes. Although the Explorer 1 was fully automated, the crew, apart from the captain, a few senior officers, and the technical crew from the space station, were not the originally intended one, they were an inexperienced selection of volunteers co-opted by the captain when they had left the space station two hundred kilometres above Surinal, as most of the intended crew had not made it aboard before the meteor struck their home planet. Many of the volunteers hadn't even known the basics of space flight, so the captain, Hefen Rudiken, had instigated a rota to teach all of them as much as possible about their ship, navigation and the hundred and one other things they needed to know. He himself, being older than normal for this type of mission and conscientious, had stayed on duty until he had died at the age of ninety eight, handing over command to his nephew and first mate, whom he had trained for the job, when he became too ill to continue. A few days later, they held a makeshift funeral for him and consigned his body to space.

The rear third of the ship consisted of engines and fuel stores, while the mid section contained food supplies, and all the holds containing the equipment, livestock embryos and supplies they would need to settle on a new planet. The front third contained the living quarters for the crew, the flight deck and three thousand cryochambers for the settlers, only two thirds of which were occupied at any one time.

The ship had been travelling for over seventy years, it was scarred by the various objects that it had collided with over the years, but thankfully, mainly small pieces of space debris which had not ruptured the outer skin of the vessel. Now their long journey was almost over......

Their home planet of Surinal had been destroyed by a series of natural and man made disasters which had made it uninhabitable over a period of three hundred and fifty or so years, culminating in a massive meteor strike, which had completely destroyed the planet before everyone that should have been, was on board.

The EXPLORER 1, which they travelled on, was the first and only one of ten planned ships which would take them to a new home elsewhere in the galaxy but this was the only one which had been completed and, although fully loaded with supplies, was still being loaded with it's human cargo, only half of whom had arrived when the meteor struck. They had stayed as close as the captain dared to the spot where their planet had been for the first five years while Hefen trained his crew in the basics of space flight and awaited the return of several exploration vessels, none of which had returned, before heading in the direction of the star system which had been chosen as the most likely to provide a suitable new home for the refugees.

They were headed in the direction of a system some two light years away, where there was a system which had a number of planets that were thought would be suitable to sustain human life. This system had been discovered by scientists using the space exploration vessels sent out for that purpose over the previous two hundred years. It had taken many years for the explorers to identify a system which was suitable for life to evolve, many of the ships and their crews had been lost.It had then taken many more years to ascertain that it was unlikely there would be intelligent lif5trhe system and beginning to slow in readiness for their arrival and exploration of what they hoped would be several planets they could chose from.

Three months later.

The system of Arindaka (named after Arin Dakan, the scientist that had discovered it) had proved as promising as had been hoped and five planets had now had an initial survey and been deemed suitable for habitation. One already had intelligent humanoid life on it and so they had bypassed that one, and were now heading for the fourth planet from the rim (third from the star) which they had named Merrine (after Hefen Rudiken's wife, Merrinia). As far as they could tell ( the crew still didn't know how to fine tune some of the systems which would have given them more accurate information), it appeared to have a great variety of flora and fauna but no intelligent life. There were forests and pastures, rivers and lakes, birds and mammals, and some areas looked to have a very similar climate and ecosystem to their old home on Surinal.

Everyone on board was now awake, even the children, excitement was rising and they were making their first low level flight over the surface of the planet as they surveyed the continents for a suitable place to land and make their first home. It would have to be a quick survey as the necessity of keeping a crew awake had depleted the stores by quite a large amount, leaving only a small amount over the minimum required for the first year of settlement and crop growing.

They had decided that a coastal settlement would be the most suitable, providing it wasn't prone to exceptionally high tides which could cause flooding and they were now searching for just that. People were packing the belongings used during the long trip, as quite a lot of personal items had been needed while each person was on duty, these now had to be repacked ready for landing on the planets' surface, which everyone was looking forward to. They were all excited about setting their feet on solid ground and breathing fresh air again after so long aboard the ship breathing air which had been recycled over and over.

The children had been settled into several chambers which could be used as a school and playground cum gym which was improving their fitness and preparing them for the day when they landed, everyone was getting more and more excited about their future. Stores had been checked and found adequate for the number of people they had to provide for, as the ship had originally been meant to carry two thousand people plus enough frozen livestock embryos to found herds on their new home. These were now in artificial wombs created for that purpose. The hydroponic gardens had also been planted several months ago and were now nearing their harvesting time, fresh veg would be welcome after so long on space rations and some would be left to go to seed, ready for the new planets' soil. Materials for building were plentiful too, as were the variety of trades owned by the people on board, although there were fewer of each than had originally been intended. All was in readiness for the long awaited landing........

CHAPTER 1   FIRST CONTACT

6 months later,

It still seemed strange to Marika to have her feet on solid ground, even now, she was still getting used to the gravity after so long on the artificial gravity on the ship. The planet was not as similar to Surinal as they had at first thought, but it was beautiful, with it's colourful flowers, birds and trees, as well as the multi-coloured grasses, although most of these were green, some were as colourful as the flowers on Surinal. Some of the trees were massive, around a hundred meters tall and  looking like huge, multi-tiered umbrellas standing fifty meters or more above most of the trees in the forest. Their initial flyover at low level had resulted in a number of choices of where to land but only one which seemed to hold everything they needed, they had flown around the planet three times before settling on this large area of grassland surrounded by woodland, with a river, an estuary and a large herd of herbivores which appeared docile. It was surrounded by hills, some of them more like small mountains but most were smaller with flat areas of land between the ranges and several large plateaux among them.

The grasses were all colours, pinks, blues and yellows as well as green, the birds were likewise colourful, their brilliant feathers flashing in the sunlight as they swooped and dived for insects or smaller birds , in the case of the larger, carnivorous birds, or small mammals and nectar bearing flowers. The flowers could not have been more brilliantly coloured and were everywhere, in the meadows and in the trees. Their shimmering blues, greens, reds and yellows, making the flowers from home look dull and lifeless, while some of the small mammals were equally colourful, making them hard to spot as they darted among the grass and flowers. All in all, it was a feast for the eyes after the monochrome colours of space. Marika held her hair down in a sudden gust of warm breeze and as she watched her young charges playing in the grass, chasing some of the more colourful insects, which, although they looked similar to butterflies, were much faster moving, so the children didn't stand much chance of catching them, Marika hoped that none of the children would get bitten or stung, by something nasty lurking in the grass, or among the flying insects.

The afternoon was hot, sunny and peaceful as there was little or no wind, apart from the odd gust, for the first time since they had landed and it reminded her of hot summer afternoons at home on Surinal. The peace was suddenly shattered by several children pointing at the shadow cast by what looked like a gigantic prehistoric bird, all heads turned to see what the problem was as the large black shadow loomed over the distant forest, coming rapidly closer as the children clustered together before instinctively running for the shelter of the ship rather than the temporary homes that had been built on some of the higher ground around the edge of the meadow, they were quickly followed by many of the adults that had been watching over them.

Marika was stunned, as the shadow looked more like a mythical dragon from her childhood story books than a bird. As it grew larger she realised she should move and get the children that had run to her, to safety, but by then she knew it was too late, she would never reach to the ship before the bird or dragon or whatever else it was, got to her and the three children with her in this far corner of the meadow. They could not have been farther from the ship if they had tried, she looked around desperately for an alternative place to hide with the children and spotted the riverbank close by, she knew it was quite high and steep at this point, so she called the children to her and raced for the bank with them, helping the children down the steep slope to the waters edge then scrambling in after them, shoving them into the shade of the large tree above, praying that there were no flesh eating fish in the water. The water was cold but not too cold or fast flowing as at this point it curved into a small bay under a large tree with overhanging branches which she hoped would keep them safely hidden from the rapidly approaching creature. She prayed to every god she'd ever heard of to protect them, even though she didn't believe in gods, it was instinctive and couldn't do any harm, she thought.

The monstrous black, dragon like creature landed with an almighty thud of his huge clawed feet and thunder of his enormous wings, roaring his anger at the intruders into his territory. He wanted them gone, as soon as he could get them out, scaring them was one way to be rid of them but if that didn't work he could always kill them, they might even make good eating, puny as they were. He spent the next two hours tearing at the meadow and battering the ship, trying to get at them but his claws were unable to penetrate the skin of the huge vessel. So he spewed fire on the meadow, scorching the grass and trying to burn their homes and the ship, while Marika and the three children shivered in the cold water and hoped.

Suddenly, there was an extremely large splash behind them as something heavy landed in the water close to them and a soothing voice told them to stay still for a few minutes before whatever it was took off again and another enormous dragon appeared in mid-air to attack the black dragon from above. This second dragon was a beautiful blue and silver one and its claws raked across the back of the black dragon and it bit hard on its tail again and again while manoeuvring itself between the black dragon and the river where Marika and the by now terrified children, were hiding. The second dragon was soon joined by several more appearing suddenly and surrounding the black, all attacking it with a tremendous amount of thumping, thudding, screeching, roaring, and snapping of massive jaws, until, with a roar of frustration, the black dragon retreated and took off, fleeing south toward the forest from which it had appeared. The other dragons, each as large as the black but covered in brightly coloured scales of all shades, lay down panting in the remains of the meadow, while the first to appear returned to the riverbank above Marika and the sobbing and shivering children. Marika looked up at the creature, wondering if it would attack her, but instead, in a well modulated, gentle voice, it asked, Would you like me to help you out of there? You seem to be rather cold.

Marika, stunned that it could speak her language, stammered out a yes please, so it extended its huge clawed front limb and Marika, wondering if they were about to be eaten but having no alternative, the bank was to steep and wet for them to climb, lifted the children one at a time onto the wheelbarrow sized appendage, it lifted the children out of the water and onto the dry land around the base of the tree, then extended it's clawed limb again for Marika, helping her to climb up onto the bank, then backed away a short distance before lowering its' head until it was level with Marika's.

Marika, who had taught in some pretty rough schools on Surinal and faced down angry and violent parents and gangs of large teens on a number of occasions, kept the children close to her and with her head held high, faced the enormous creature with a look of defiance on her face as they stood shivering and dripping in front of it, while it looked at them with a curious expression on it's huge, long face.

Are you all right? it asked.

I think so, Marika replied nervously. But who, or what, are you? she asked.

I am Sarrillimanaralan and I am of the dracofolk, was the reply the astonished former teacher received.

But you can call me Sarri as I know that my name is a bit of a mouthful and we usually only use the first part of our names between ourselves. she added.

How did you know we needed help? asked Marika.

I heard you calling and as we have been expecting Dorrillimanaralan to cause trouble ever since you arrived, we were alert for a call, she said.

Before Marika could ask any more questions, the doors of the ship opened and Captain Rudiken called out for Marika to move aside so he could get a clear shot at the creature. Marika turned her head and called out , These helped us out of the river after ridding us of the black one. They appear friendly and have introduced themselves. Marika shouted back, she loved Aflin but he could be overprotective at times. Cautiously, the captain lowered his weapon and hesitantly approached the party by the river bank.

Are you sure it's safe? he asked, doubtfully, looking at the huge,  multi-coloured dragons as he cautiously approached.

I think so. she said, wryly, We haven't been eaten yet, so I don't think we will be.

The dragon she was talking to made a rumbling sound in her throat that almost sounded like a chuckle.

What are they? he asked Marika, looking over at the collection of resting, multi-coloured reptiles, some of whom were sporting wounds inflicted by the black.

They are dragons I believe. said Marika At least that's what this one says they are. It's name is Sarri...?. She said questioningly, cocking an eyebrow at the dragon.

That is correct. I am a female of my race, as are you, I hope no-one was damaged. Sarri said, turning slightly to face the captain, We are, in general, a peace loving folk and do not like violence in any shape or form. Dorri is the only one who is ever likely to attack you, but all black dragons throughout our history have been like him. He should not have been allowed to hatch but his mother hid her egg from us until it had hatched, and by then it was too late as none of us could bring ourselves to kill a young dragonette.

Marika smiled at Sarri's expression. No-one was hurt, she said, still feeling a little nervous of the huge creature who stood in front of her. But we have all had a terrible fright, especially the children and there is a great deal of damage to what was going to be our home.

It's going to take a fair time to rebuild everything, replace the homes and replant the crops that he destroyed, said Aflin, (the crew had dropped the formalities some time ago).

Sarri looked puzzled and said, You are not going to make your home here are you? This is not a good place to build homes or plant crops unless you can live underwater. she said.

Why not, it's good pasture and the ground is very fertile. said Aflin.

Well it would be an excellent place to build and plant if it did not flood to a depth which would cover me every wet season, you would be better building your homes on higher ground like that range of hills over there, she said, as she pointed to a range of rolling hills to the north of the meadows.

That will probably be less fertile soil, but perhaps your right, we need to look for higher ground to settle on if, as you say, this floods. said Aflin, rather disappointed.

How bad are these floods?How long do they last? How far do they stretch? When can we expect them to come and how long do they last? These and many other questions were fired at Sarri and the other dragons from the crowd of people that had gathered around them, cautiously at first, then in a flood as they realised they were safe once more.

The dragon chuckled and said They will be about as high as the top of your ship, will last around two to three months, stretch as far as the middle of the forest and you can expect them after the next two full moons. she said.

But there are two moons here, said a man called Ari Menk, a  farmer. So do you mean when they are both full at the same time, or separately full?

When they are separately full, the pink one reaches full first and stays full until about ten days after the silver one has reached it's fullness, then they wane together. said Sarri. It will begin raining about a week after that if the rains are on time but they can be as much as a moon early or late.

After he thought about this for a minute or so, Ari said That will be in about six weeks, or forty two days, which doesn't give us much time to pack up and move.

What's left of our homes shouldn't take long to move. Marika told him.

I am sorry to bring you such bad news but if I had not told you, you would be in serious trouble very soon, said Sarri. But I can't stay much longer as we have to report back to our leaders, we will have to do something to stop Dorri from attacking you again, which is not going to be easy as he is the largest and most powerful of us all and we don't know yet where he hides as he does not live with us. We have left him to his own devices up until now, but we'll think of some way of stopping him as we don't want to lose you after you have decided to settle here.

We thank you for your help and for saving us from him, we would have been in serious trouble if you hadn't come. said Marika. But how do we contact you if he returns, and why don't you want to lose us?

You only have to think of me to call me, just form a picture of me in your mind and a picture of what is happening, and we will be here quickly if it is urgent. she said You can also call on us for information about anything and for heavy lifting if it is needed. As for why we don't want you to go, there are not many of us and we would enjoy having another race to talk to and perhaps live with, if that is possible at some time in the future.

Thank you, we certainly will call on you if there is anything you can do to help and also you must bring others of your kind to meet us, like you, we do not like violence of any sort, we have seen enough of it on our former home to last several lifetimes. said Aflin.

Goodbye for now and good luck, I will find your new home from your thoughts, that's if you don't mind having us read your thoughts for now. said Sarri as she moved away ready to take off. She unfurled her huge sparkling wings and leaping into the air, she headed in a north westerly direction, the opposite direction to which Dorri had gone.

One of the children, a ten year old boy called Noel let out a WOW and they all laughed with relief, then slowly wandered back toward the ship discussing the dragons and what their next step should be. The children went back to playing, this time among the ruins of their temporary homes.

That night, a meeting was held to discuss their next move and afterwards, Aflin and Marika, along with several others, sat talking about the adventures and shocks of the day. Marika was puzzled as to how the dragon had landed in the water without her being able to see it and how it had appeared in mid-air directly above the other one, was it possible they were magical dragons that could appear and disappear at will? Come to that, why hadn't the black one seen her and the children as, at one stage, it had looked directly at them when it came over and looked into the river? He had looked at the exact spot where they were hiding. No-one had been able to answer these questions and the discussion had gone on to the question of where they should move to.

The final agreement had been to send out two survey parties, one to the higher part of the forest and one to the hills. The results of the two surveys could then be discussed and a decision made. In the meantime the ship would be readied and the short flight to the hills made, then they would have plenty of time to make up their minds where their new home was to be built, without worrying about being flooded out.

It was very late when Marika stood up and said she was going to bed, as they were all going to be very busy, not just the next day but for the next few months, after saying goodnight, she and Aflin went to their separate quarters, exhausted after the long day. For once, Marika went straight to sleep instead of lying awake and wondering if Aflin would ever get the message that she loved him. He seemed very aware of her and gave her longing looks whenever he passed her in the open, but when they sat together, he appeared to be ignoring her as he wouldn't look directly at her, especially if others were around. The teacher didn't realise that he often lay awake at night, thinking of her, and wondering if he should make some move to let her know his feelings toward her.

Next morning the two survey teams were organized, one under the leadership of a surveyor named Terrik and the other under a former builder named Haral. Terrik's team were to survey the hills and Haral's the forest. Each team consisted of six people, including a farmer, a hunter and a builder, each was equipped for an expedition of around two to three weeks, which they thought would be long enough to find at least a temporary home if they couldn't agree on a permanent one straight away.

After the two teams had left to explore the area, everyone other than the crew, who had been busy repacking supplies while the teams were organised, began to look for anything salvageable from the destruction of yesterday, with the children helping it shouldn't take too long as they didn't think there was much that was any use left. The crew meanwhile, started preparing the ship for it's short flight. All was quiet, although everyone was a bit jittery and kept looking up in case the black dragon returned, so after an hour or so, a woman called Petara suggested they post a few lookouts so that everyone else could concentrate on their various tasks. Four people were selected to act as lookouts and all was quiet for the rest of the day and a surprising amount of personal belongings were salvaged from the wreckage Dorri had left and placed in piles near the ship.

As the afternoon wore on and all that could be, was salvaged, they all drifted back to the ship to begin sorting through the several small piles to pick out what belonged to whom, while others began to prepare a meal for everyone. None of the temporary homes could be salvaged as Dorri had burned them so badly that there was hardly a panel left intact despite their strong plastic construction, their storage compartments, however, were purposely fireproofed and had protected most of the personal belongings, these were now detached from their fittings and carried back to the ship and stowed away by their owners.

Over dinner that evening, which was eaten in the large dining room on board the ship, filled with tables which seated about a dozen people at each and which was more than roomy enough for everyone, the different groups discussed whether they would like to live in the forest or in the hills. Each group seemed to be split, with the more timid people saying the forest would be better as the dragon wouldn't be able to swoop down on them as he had in the meadow and others saying the hills were better as they would be dryer and if they could find enough, they could build stone houses as they would offer more protection from the elements and the dragon.

Next afternoon, they heard from the hill survey team that a large flat plateau had been found nestling behind the first range of hills, it was large enough for a sizeable settlement and there was a suitably level platform of stone at one end for the ship to land on, which, after they were settled, could be made into an airport for the fliers when they were unpacked and bought into use. There was a stream which ran along below a small ridge at the eastern edge of the plateau, fed by a waterfall which came from the top of the cliff which ran along behind the plateau. Below the falls was a large pool which emptied into the stream, which then curved around the southern edge of the plateau for most of it's length, before running down through a gap in the hills and joining the larger river that ran across their present meadow toward the south. From there, it ran into a small delta like estuary, which could be seen from the southern edge of the plateau. There were also a number of caves in the cliffs on the northern side of the plateau, while the western edge sloped down to the sea on the far side of the level stone platform, to form a small bay between two headlands which looked as if it would make a suitable, sheltered harbour at a later date. The site was ideal to build a small farming community and airport so Aflin said they would take the ship there and talk about settling in the woods later, if a better alternative was found, and anyone wished to settle there. As there were still several hours of daylight left and the flight would take less than an hour and everything had already been packed aboard, Aflin decided to get going if everyone was agreeable, which they were.

A couple of hours later, the ship had landed on the platform at the western edge of a large plateau behind the first long hill above the plain, the plateau was sheltered from the north by a cliff about twenty five meters high. In front of the cliff was a flat area about two and a half kilometre wide and ten kilometres long with the stream running through the middle, and south toward the edge of the plateau, before turning west, and running along the southern edge of the plateau, before turning and running south again, through a gap in the hills to the plain below. Further upstream towards the middle of the cliff, the large pool of water at the base of a waterfall looked clear and probably drinkable. To the east of the river, which ran down a gap in the hills and onto the meadows below, the land sloped gently upwards to the forest about five kilometres away and to the west, around half a kilometre away, at the western edge, the land sloped gently down to the small bay which would indeed make an excellent harbour in the future, it also had a beautiful, wide sandy beach on one side which the children thought would be wonderful for when they could go swimming in the sea. Despite the heat, though, they were not allowed to go swimming in the sea just yet as no-one knew if it was safe or not. No large predators had come up on the scans they had done before landing, but that was no guarantee that there weren't any in the depths which could not be detected from the surface.

The next morning, as it was still hot, Marika and Petara, who had become friends some years before, when their duty spells had co-incided, decided to take ten of the older children and a few of the younger ones, to explore the base of the cliff as it looked stable with very few loose rocks which could fall and hurt them. Then they could walk along to the waterfall and the pool at it's base. When they reached the base of the cliff, one of the smaller boys, called Farrin, who was a rather nervous child, found a fairly large cave and called the others over to explore it with him. When the two women arrived he was already about thirty feet into the cave, the ground was flat and dry and the walls and floor were reasonably smooth, looking almost man made.

We could live in here, said Farrin. Then that horrid dragon wouldn't be able to get at us.

I don't think we have to worry too much about him any more, said Petara, trying to sooth his fears. The other dragons will stop him if he does attack again and they can hear your thoughts, so as soon as you start to be frightened they will know about it and come and chase him off.

I've been thinking about that, said Marika how can they read our thoughts? And do they read them whenever they like? I don't think I like that idea at all, it doesn't make for much in the way of privacy.

Surely they wouldn't read them when we're doing something private, would they? asked Petara, somewhat alarmed.

Probably not, said Marika, At least I hope not, she chuckled, I'm just being a bit paranoid I expect.

If the dragons can't get us in here, we could still live here, insisted Farrin timidly.

I don't think there's enough room for everyone but it would make an excellent storeroom if it stays dry in the rainy season. said Marika.

Farrin looked crestfallen. But then we couldn't play in here either, he said and it's a safe place to play.

It will have to be decided what we're to do with it, and besides, you all need to be playing out in the fresh air. said Petara. Now how about we go and explore the rest of the cliff?

Could we go to the pool? asked Janna, an adventurous but obedient little girl of eleven.

We can walk along fairly close to the base of the cliffs as they look solid, I don't think we have to worry too much about stones or rocks falling, and you can play and explore the other caves until we get to it. said Marika, looking up and studying the smooth wall of stone above them, Then we'll walk along the river for a while before we return to the ship.

They all left the cave and continued on along the base of the cliff. They found more caves, all dry and of a reasonable size, sixteen in all, although these were smaller than the first and definitely looked as if they had been carved by human hands. They had reasonably smooth interior walls and some had stone benches along the walls and niches carved out with several shelves in them.

We really could live in these, said a boy called Renka, a tall, thin fourteen year old with sandy hair and blue eyes.

It certainly looks as if they were made for just that, replied Petara, puzzled, I wonder who made them.

We will tell Aflin and the others about them when we get back, maybe someone else has settled here in the distant past, it's possible the less confident families could live in them temporarily. said Marika, which came as a relief to Farrin, the dragon attack had done nothing to help for his already low self-confidence.

The group continued on to the pool and waterfall where they found the water was so clear they could see the bottom of the pool and the myriad fish in it. The children were fascinated because the fish were as colourful as the flowers in the fields and some of them were at least half a meter long and looked fat enough to make good eating. The plants in the water and around the edge of the pool were as colourful as the ones on land and with the sun shining on the surface it had the effect of looking like a pond full of jewels.

I wonder if the fish taste as good as they look, said Renka, who, like most teenagers, was always thinking of his stomach. They all laughed at that but Marika thought it would be good if they were, as that would make their diet a little more varied after eating the dried, tinned and frozen food which was all they had eaten on the journey here. Fresh fish for supper would be a real treat, she thought, as long as they tasted good and didn't poison them.

Well, I don't think we should go swimming yet, for all we know they could have a poisonous bite, said Farrin, as cautious as ever.

Don't be silly, fish don't have teeth, said Sarina, who was always much too confident with her peer group, which often got her into trouble. And if they don't have teeth they can't bite.

No, but they can suck, replied Farrin earnestly and suck your blood, besides, some fish do have teeth.

Oh, don't be silly, they aren't vampire fish. said Sarina Are they? she asked Marika.

No dear, I don't expect they are but we'll wait until one of the biologists has examined them, we don't want to take chances now, do we? Replied the teacher re-assuringly.

Sarina was the youngest of the group at only nine years old and also the brightest, she had a certain wisdom way beyond her years but could be very shy with adults, although, with just a few of her peers, she was sometimes a know all, so didn't often push herself forward when she was in a large group, or with adults. Unlike Farrin's friends Renka and Erron, who had a tendency to be a bit wild, as teenage boys do. These three were now running around and jumping up at the trees along the edge of the river, trying to catch at a lower branch so that they could climb into them. Marika asked them to stop before they fell into the water, at which point, the most boisterous, and accident prone, of them all, Erron, jumped for the branch, missed, and did just that. He floundered around for several seconds before finding his feet, then waded to the bank and placed one foot onto a solid looking stretch of earth. He sank to his knee in mud which let off an awful smell before one of his friends stretched his hand over to him and he pulled a very smelly and muddy limb from the ooze. The other children laughed and held their noses, while a red faced Erron looked down at his legs, which were now both covered in the smelly mud and wailed, These were my best trousers!

Marika said, Serves you right, you shouldn't have been trying to climb the trees, now you'll have to wash yourself off before you can go inside the ship, we don't want that smell, or the mud, inside the ship. And where is your shoe?

Erron ran across to the pool with his friends, stripped off and sat on the edge of the pool to wash himself and his trousers off, then when he had wrung as much of the water out as possible, he put them back on and carrying his remaining shoe and socks, re-joined the others for the walk back toward the ship.

As they walked back towards the ship along the stream watching the fish as they went, everyone speculated on what types they were, and what they should be called. Some of the older children's ideas were extremely unpleasant, which began to scare some of the younger children, until Marika told them to stop.

Marika told her friend, I have just realised that Erron has twice been in the water and come to no harm, so it must be safe enough to paddle in.

Petara agreed, but said, We had better not let anyone else get wet though, there may still be other things lurking under the stones at the bottom, or in the water itself. We'll wait to see if Erron develops any mystery illness or not. Marika agreed and they continued their walk slowly, the afternoon had become very hot and no-one felt like being too energetic now. They arrived back at the ship after walking for several hours, by which time, the heat was becoming unbearable and as the younger children were tired and hungry, Petara suggested lunch followed by a nap, a suggestion taken up with relish by all the youngsters.

While the children ate, Marika and Petara talked to Aflin about what they had discovered and the survey team was asked to take a look at the caves in the afternoon and some of the men decided to try their hand at catching some fish to eat for dinner that evening. One of them, an experienced fisherman named Latho had fishing rods and lines which he said could be shared out to between them all, which would make catching fish easier, but they needed something to use as bait, so they went to the stores to look for something that might be suitable, although they didn't know yet what the fish ate, they assumed it would be insects and smaller creatures which lived in the water. They found several small insect nets, so set about catching some of the small insects which had come out as the day got hotter. After a number of minutes, the group had caught enough of the insects to try them out as bait, which very quickly helped to catch a number of fine specimens of fish.

Another group, under the leadership of an ecologist called Tando, went along, carrying a portable chemistry set to examine the fish as they were pulled out of the water. They were looking for anything that suggested the fish were poisonous or otherwise inedible, none were, so the men continued fishing until they had several hundred fish, then took them back to the ship and helped prepare them for their first fresh meal in a very long time.

Another group went looking for larger animals that they could hunt for food or could be domesticated for livestock to keep so they would have fresh meat other than the few animals that had been bought with them as frozen embryos. It would take time to breed enough of these before they could be used for food as most were frozen embryos which would need to be implanted into the artificial wombs, of which they only had half a dozen, then reared to adults and then they could breed their herds from those first animals.

The forest survey team meanwhile, had reached the many tiered, huge umbrella shaped trees the previous evening and were overawed by their sheer size. They were at least a hundred meters tall and up to forty meters in diameter and looked extremely old. The trunks were hollow and the branches seemed to be shaped like a D laid down flat side uppermost, with thin branches that stuck up from each side, they were almost made for walking on. The trunks, although hollow between the branches, had floors at the level of every other branch, thick outer walls, so were strong and the branches began very low down and spiralled around the trunk like giant stairs. As the canopy of the huge trees was fairly sparse, consisting of soft spines on the tips of the branches, the ground around the trees was grassy and covered with large, oval seed pods which had obviously fallen from high up in the canopy, and the team wondered if the seeds inside were edible. They took pictures of the trees and proper measurements and collected some of the seed pods, and, as by then it was getting late, they made camp at the base of one of the trees.

After an uneventful night, Haral decided to split the team up the next morning, as they could cover twice as much ground that way. One group, under a female biologist called Thiera, would circle around the base camp and measure some of the other trees, looking for species of trees and bushes that may bear edible fruits or nuts. Haral and his team would stay at the first tree and climb up and do a detailed survey of it and the surrounding trees as they looked to be connected to each other by their branches.

Thiera and her companion, a woman named Surla, left to explore more widely, while the remaining four prepared to climb the tree, which was not such an easy task as they had thought, they didn't have enough rope or tackle and the branches were at least a meter thick and, although they were close to the ground, the top of the first branch was still some two and a half meters off the ground and the next one in the spiral was some three meters or more higher. Thiera decided to start with the nearest of the umbrella trees and work outwards in an anticlockwise direction, documenting other types of tree and bush as they went and also keeping an eye on the ground around them for seeds and fruits.

By the time they got back to camp that evening, Thiera and Surla had found twenty large umbrella trees, all of them connected to a central one by end of their branches, which met and joined at the tips forming paths from one tree to the next. The trees had continued on for quite a distance beyond that but they had decided they had seen enough. They also found seventeen other tree and bush species, all in a small copse within the circle of the umbrella trees. All the smaller trees and bushes had borne fruit or nuts which they had been able to collect samples of, making careful notes and taking pictures as they went so that they could tell which fruits or nuts came from which tree.  

When they returned to camp, the men told them that they had got about thirty meters up the tree and found they were hollow between the  branches, with solid sections of trunk where the branches sprouted which made floors inside the doorways opening onto the tops of the branches. Although these didn't look to be man made, it would be possible to use them as ready made homes as each section was about twenty meters across. Inside, the floors were reasonably flat and thick, the branches, as they had seen, were flat on top and would convert to walkways easily, especially as they connected at their tips with the branches of the next tree, all they would need to do is build stairs between the branches. After supper and a discussion about what else they could expect to achieve they decided that they would head towards the hills next morning, where the ship was now parked, exploring along the way, after which they went to bed as they wanted an early start next morning and they had a lot of extra weight to carry.

They reached the new home area at sunset the next day after a long day of