“Hey, look,” said Cassidy.
From the hatchway, the sumptuous estate sprawled nearby, its many gabled manor closed off behind a high wire fence. Cassidy squinted, but failed to recognize the bold, flowing architectural style.
A small, bent figure clung to the wire netting of the fence. He was shouting at the ship, but his excited words were no match for the decompression hisses of the auxiliary drive.
“Humanoid?” Mason suggested.
“Human, I’d say.” Cassidy gestured toward the gear locker. “Better break out the translator.”
In baggy trousers and sagging blouse, the man raced back and forth behind the fence—the picture of frustrated anger. However, large, doleful eyes, complemented by a bald head and huge, pendulous ear lobes, belied his furious actions.
Presently the squeals of the Fuzzy Tails trailed off in the distance and the auxiliary drive quieted with a final sigh. And now the native’s shouts rang out distinct and loud:
“Quick! From here get you! Shoo! Scram! Or out there I’ll come and apart tear you!”
“It’s English!” Mason exclaimed.
“Of a sort. Archaic, but understandable. And not at all friendly.”
Mason scratched his blunt chin. “Guess we’re not too far off the beaten star paths, eh?”
Cassidy could find no grounds for challenging this observation as they started down the ladder—not until he looked overhead and saw three suns shining in the same sky. As far as he knew, there were no settled trinary systems.
Beyond the fence the native, a wisp of a man was still fuming. “The hell away from here get! You I’m warning—no closer come!”
Mason displayed a half frown. “He’s sure a sour cuss.”
“You stay with the ship,” said Cassidy. “I’ll see what’s fouling his tubes.”
*
Before Cassidy reached the fence, his pet Fuzzy Tail came scampering from behind a bush. It clambered up his trousers and wrapped itself around his neck. This encouraged the speculation that perhaps the shipment of Tails could be bartered for repairs to the stabilizer—if there was a local space technology, and if they could corral the animals.
The native grew even more frenzied now as Cassidy drew up before him.
“Trespasser! Back get! My property this be! Scram! You I’ll kill!”
The Fuzzy Tail uncoiled itself from around Cassidy’s neck. Perching on his shoulder, it fussed back at the native in chirping, excited tones. It not only acted at times as though it owned Cassidy, but it also exercised a personal responsibility for his welfare.
“Quiet!” Cassidy snapped out.
It caught both the Fuzzy Tail and the old man by surprise. The animal bounded for cover while the native rocked back on his heels.
“Be you not just a—little bit afraid?” His eyebrows mounted the wrinkled expanse of his forehead.
The nearby hedge rustled and parted to let through a dark-haired girl whose tanned skin suggested accustomed exposure to the multiple sunlight. Wearing a belted tunic that lacked inches of reaching her knees, she confronted the old man calmly.
“It’s all about what, Papa?” she asked, with a trace of an amused smile.
“Trespassers! On our property, Riva! The alarm sound! Scat! To the woods take! Or a dead duck you be!”
“Now, Papa,” she chided. Then, through the fence, “Him you musn’t mind. It’s only his duty he’s attending to.”
From the distance, Cassidy had suspected the man was of Terran descent. Now, with Riva in the picture, he was certain this world was stocked either by intent or accident with true humans.
“We’re from Terra,” he said.
She frowned. “Ter-ra?”
“Earth. The original world—”
Incomprehension flooded her even features. But her confusion was only temporary. “Let’s play.”
It seemed like an altogether acceptable suggestion, Cassidy thought, eying the attractive girl. But he went on, “This is our ship and—”
“Ship?” Then she chased away her puzzlement with a sudden smile. “Some nice games I know.”
There was no space technology on this planet, Cassidy decided. They’d be strictly on their own as far as repairing the directional stabilizer was concerned.
By this time Papa, his eyes focused afar, had exploded again. “Charge!” he roared. “After him! Wa-hoo! Away don’t let him get!” He was gripping the fence and straining toward the field.
Cassidy turned and saw, in the distance, a skimmer vehicle floating along several feet off the ground. In full pursuit was a shouting youth who paused occasionally to seize a rock and hurl it at the craft.
The old man turned toward his daughter. “A good chase that be. Bet he wins.”
“Not a chance.” The girl frowned. “That be Nedal. Not so swift is he. Loses interest too quick, he does.”
She surveyed Cassidy. “Be you a chaser?”
“No, but I could do with a couple of stiff shots.”
This drew Papa’s attention back to the matter at hand. “Trespassers! The road hit! Scat! Some dust kick up!”
“Quiet!” Cassidy shouted. “Will you listen a minute? I—”
Two loyal Fuzzy Tails came charging up to the fence and added their raucous chatter to Papa’s screeching diatribe, which had continued unchecked despite Cassidy’s loud, desperate plea.
In the next instant, though, it seemed that a dam had burst overhead. Materializing from nowhere, at least a ton of water poured down on the agile-tongued native, the two Fuzzy Tails, Riva and Cassidy himself, bringing an abrupt end to all the commotion.
The animals streaked for the safety of the bushes while Papa and the girl dived back through the hedge. Bedraggled, Cassidy headed for the ship, wondering what sort of meteorological quirk he had encountered.
*
“No, sir,” he said some time later as he attacked the directional selector with pliers and a screwdriver, “I don’t like the setup. I don’t like it worth a damn.”
Mason traced the power lead to the junction box beside the hatch. “Maybe they aren’t all like that.”
“In this sort of place, chances are that the first people you run into are typical. I’m afraid—”
“Say!” Mason interrupted, staring outside. “Look
