Gall Force:  The Day After
By Fred Herriot
450 Clare Avenue South, Welland, Ontario L3C 3B3 Canada
gorgo@net.co.kr
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Based on the "Gall Force" series created by MOVIC.
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NOTE:  This is a fan-fiction story written by a "Gall Force" fan for the
enjoyment of both other "Gall Force" fans and anime fans in general.  It is
not intended to act as a part of the official "Gall Force" continuity, nor
is it intented to infringe on the rights of all legal copyright holders,
including CBS-Sony Group, MOVIC and US Manga Corps/Central Park Media.
Permission to re-transmit this story through the Internet; to file this
story in Usenet ftp and other archives; and to print this story for
distribution in fan fiction magazines and APAs granted.  Full creative
credit is appreciated, though.

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PART FOUR - CONTACT

Derek Slater slams the door to his room.  "Shit!"

 The history student now attending Dalhousie University sits down on his
bed, glumly staring at the opposite wall containing his large collection of
books.  He wished some philosopher had sat down and taken the time to write
a detailed text on how to meet and form a relationship with a woman.
Perhaps then, a lot of the big problems between the sexes would have been
solved.  He then stares at the letter Sally had slipped in his locker a day
before.  Typical Dear John letter.  Crumpling it up, he tosses it in the
wastepaper basket.  No need to re-read it.

 Laying back, he stares at the ceiling.  What had gone wrong?  He certainly
paid as much attention to Sally as possible, trying to show her that he did
care.  However, there were times that he needed to concentrate on his
studies and hobbies.  He wanted his degree just as badly as he had desired
Sally, still desired her.  Obviously, she had a different set of priorities.
Oh, well.  Now was the time not to worry about it.  Relax and carry on.

 The door opens and Philip Chatterly looks in.  "I say, old boy, you seem a
little piqued."

 "Of course I'm piqued, Chat, old son," Derek waves the Englishman in.
Philip, who preferred his friends to address him as "Chat," was from
Cambridgeshire, on foreign student exchange to attend Dalhousie.  That had
never made sense to Derek.  Chat had one of the best universities in the
English-speaking world right around the corner from his home, so why did he
cross the pond to attend one?  "Sally sent me a Dear John."

 Chat winces in sympathetic understanding.  "Oh, dear!  Right across the
bows.  I warned you she wasn't your type."

 "Next time, I'll listen to you," Derek laughs.  Chat was a decent enough
fellow, bred from old English aristocracy although the Canadian had forgot
how exactly Chat related to whom.  "Ah, it doesn't matter now.  Let's go
sink our depression with the telescope."

 "I think Akira's already there," Chat muses.

 The two step out of Derek's bedroom.  They, along with the seven other
Dalhousie students who called it home, had chosen the small apartment
building some distance from Lunenburg because of its remoteness from any
major city.  Derek, a Halifax native, had felt the need to get out of the
city when he started to attend Dalhousie.  His parents understood.  "You
want to get out in the world, son," his father smiled at him when he
announced his decision.  "Now's your chance."  To date, Derek had no real
complaints.

 They walk onto the upper floor balcony.  The apartment building, owned by
an elderly widow whose husband had died on the high seas, reminded him of
the run down apartments Japanese animation sometimes depicted.  Akira
Takada, the lone Japanese resident of the apartment, had loved watching
shows like "Macross" and "Space Cruiser Yamato" (Derek knew them as
"Robotech" and "Star Blazers," the names of the English translations) when
he was younger, and had brought loads of tapes with him when he came from
Tokyo to get his master's degree in English.  He was now at work observing
the stars with the home-made telescope Chet had built with the American,
Leonard Porter and the Frenchman, Maurice Foch.  "Konban wa, Akira-kun,"
Derek waves, greeting him in Japanese before switching to English.  "What's
new in the galaxy out there?"

 "Konban wa, Derek-kun, Chet-kun," Akira does not glance up.  "Not much.  It
seems to be quiet in our little corner of the cosmos."

 The Japanese straightens himself to allow Derek a look.  The telescope was
an amazing work of engineering, much more so because Chet, Len, Maurice and
the apartment's Israeli resident, Oskar Bernstein, were all engineer
students.  They had decided one day to build the most light-sensitive,
highest magnifying telescope possible outside of whatever NASA used.
Designing it was easy enough; it was all a question of how to manipulate
light waves and lenses.  Building it was a different matter until a
philanthopic organization called the Chaos Foundation had granted them the
money.  With the design proven, the Foundation had put the telescope on the
mass market, earning the four budding engineers a pleasant stipend in
royalties.  It was nice that high-view organizations like that were willing
to give down-to-earth people a hand when they needed it, Derek muses as he
looks in the general region of Jupiter.  He himself worked as an English
tutor for many of the foreign students who transferred to Dalhousie from
Nova Scotia's six other universities.  It was enough.  Perhaps a BEd in TESL
might be a good idea after his BA studies were complete.  "Yeah, it's pretty
quiet out there tonight.  Not like when Shumacher-Levy Five came tearing
through sometime back.  Any news on 'Atlantis' and Mir?"

 "They just hooked up, mon ami," Maurice Foch announces as he arrives on the
balcony with Len Porter and Oskar Bernstein.  "Nothing out there?"

 "Nope," Derek yawns.  "All quiet."

 The other students nod.  All were in their early twenties.  Akira and Oskar
were the oldest, the former already working on his graduate degree and the
latter coming to Canada after spending his manditory time in the Israeli
Defence Force.  They were a interesting group, both physically and
psychologically.  Derek was descent from Nova Scotia fishermen's stock, at
home at sea with a schooner as in the classroom.  Chet had the demeanor of
an aristocrat, although he was capable of nasty pranks when the mood struck
him.  Len was pure New Yorker, in speech and in looks.  All Maurice needed
was a thin moustache and he would exemplify the classic stereotype of a
Frenchman.  Akira, a brown-belt in both shorinji kempo and kendo, seemed to
exemplfy the mix of traditional samurai with modern Japan.  And Oskar, a
grandson of one of the legendary Schindlerjuden (who was named after the
German industrialist later annointed as a Righteous Gentile for his saving
over a thousand from Auschwitz's gas chambers), both bore his ancestors'
horrible tragedy with a nasty determination never to see it happen again.
All different, but united in their combined interest in science fiction,
fantasy, astronomy and worldwide culture.  In the language of jocks, they
could have been seen as nerds...but then, what did jocks know other than sports?

 "Where's Steve, Dave and Jack?" Len looks around before taking a look in
the telescope.

 "Out with the 'Enterprise,'" Derek yawns.  The group all owned a share in
an old forty-foot fishing trawler they had picked up cheap when the
Newfoundland cod fisheries collapsed.  They had been split on the name for
their ship.  The four Canadians and the American chose "Enterprise" after
Captain Kirk's starship.  Akira had proposed "Yamato" after the
space-battleship in the animation show of the same name.  Chet, Maurice and
Oskar had sided with Derek and his friends, but had, to preserve Akira's
pride, proposed they get another boat and name it "Yamato."  They had almost
saved up enough money to do just that, which had picked up Akira's spirits
considerably.  "Probably going over to where the 'Saguenay' was scuttled to
sniff around," he adds, mentioning an old Canadian helicopter destroyer
which had been scuttled off Lunenburg recently as a diving park.

 "Hope they get back soon," Len drawls as he straightens himself to allow
Oskar a look at the telescope.  "I wouldn't mind a spell on the old Atlantic."

 "Same here, old boy," Chet nods.

 "Hey, what's that!" Oskar exclaims.

 The others look quizzically at the Israeli.  "What's what?" Akira asks.

 "There's something out there," Oskar points into space.  "Look for yourself."

 Akira glances into the telescope.  "It just seems to be an old comet," he
muses, seeing a bright point of light in the middle of the picture.

 "Yeah, but it just appeared out of nowhere!" Oskar explains.  "One minute
nothing, the next poof!!" he waves his hands in an explosive gesture.

 "That is odd," the Japanese muses.  "Perhaps this might be a new star forming."

 "Maybe we should get on the 'Net and tell someone," Len muses.

 "Probably," Derek hums.  "And get on the radio and tell the others that
we've found something, so they can get back here and look for themselves."

 "Right!" the New Yorker waves as he runs to his room.

 "I say, there's the 'Enterprise' right now," Chet points to the bay below
their apartment.

 Derek looks.  Sure enough, a perly white trawler was coming to rest at the
local dock.  Trimmed in red and bedecked with the six national flags of
their owners, it also had "NCC-1701" in the print style of the "Star Trek"
movies stencilled on both sides along with the assymetrical arrowhead at the
bow below the boat's name and civil registry number.  Len had proposed
putting "U.S.S." in front of the name, but the Canadians had shot that down.
"This is Canada, dope!" Dave Holland screamed at him, the pride of his
father being in the Canadian Navy swelling in him.  "If you call a ship by a
title, it's 'H.M.C.S.!!'"

 "Hey, Len, the 'Enterprise' is in!!" Derek yells into the building.

 "Yeah, they just called," the American confirms.

 By that time, Maurice is taking a look in the telescope.  "It seems to be
growing larger by the minute," he muses.  "It could be a comet.  I've never
seen anything like this before."

 "Perhaps we're about to get our own Schmacher-Levy Five hitting us," Chet
dryly muses.

 "Oh, shit, I hope not!" Derek shudders.  "You've heard of all the theories
about what happened to the dinosaurs!"

 The others nod.  "Wait!" Maurice holds his hand up in caution.
"Something's wrong here.  This isn't a natural object, I think!"

 Everyone looks surprised.  "How can you tell?" Oskar muses.

 "Because it just seemed to grow two legs," the Frenchman warns.

 "WHAT?!?!?!" everyone else exclaims.

 Chet leans in to take a look.  "We should have built in a couple of more
spyglasses," the Englishman hums, then blinks.  "Good God!  Maurice is
right!  It seems to look like a spacecraft of some sort."

 "Perhaps a communications satellite," Akira proposes.

 "Not one shaped like this, old boy," Chet shakes his head.  "Why, I'd
swear...!"

 The Englishman falters as he tries to form words to what just name to him.
"Swear what?!" Derek urges him.

 Chet stares at his friends.  "That this actually is an honest-to-goodness
spaceship!"

 The others blink at that proposal.  "A real UFO?!" Oskar scratches his head.

 Everyone bursts out laughing.  "That's a ricidulous idea!!" Akira howls.

 "Look for yourself, you bloody baka!" the Engishman waves the Japanese to
the telescope.

 "Fine, gaijin," Akira sneers as he looks into the eyepiece, then blinks.
"Sacred Buddha!!"

 "See!" Chet nods.

 Akira stands, then bows.  "My apologies, Chet.  It seems you are right!"

 Derek and Oskar leap up to look.  "Let me see!!" the Canadian urges, then
whistles.  "Shit, it IS a UFO!"

 "But from where and why?!" the Israeli wonders.

 "Too early to speculate," Derek shakes his head.  "Shit, she's coming on
strong now!  I can see a main central hull and I think those side hulls are
engine boosters!"

 "Wish they'd turn to give us a profile view," Oskar hums.

 Derek blinks.  "Just got your wish, Oskar.  She's turning!"

 "I see her," Oskar nods.  "Can't tell size from here.  What do you think?
About the 'Yamato's' size?"

 "Maybe," Derek hums.  Switching from fact to fantasy was the only way to
make sense out of this crazy situation.  Earth had never really encountered
aliens before, despite the rash of UFO sightings which had filled
supermarket tabloids for years.  Science fiction stories like "Star Trek"
seemed the only decent source they could use as a reference marker.  "Next
telescope we build, guys, we get a range finder on her."

 "Amen to that," Oskar sighs.  "How far up is she?"

 "If we're picking up some details now, depending on her size, I'd say low
orbit...maybe two hundred miles," the Canadian speculates.  "Which reminds
me, where's Mir?!  Somebody get a globe!"

 "Right here!" Dave Holland walks onto the balcony, a globe in hand.  Behind
him, Steve Calhoun has a labtop in hand with modem.  Jack Rice drags out a
length of modem cable.

 Steve sets up the labtop and hooks in the modem.  Typing in commands, he
waits, the light of the computer screen flashing off his glasses.  "By the
looks of it, Mir's over the North Pacific right now," he reports.  "By the
time they're over the Atlantic, they'll be over the SOUTH Atlantic.  They
probably won't see the UFO."

 "Let me see it," Jack walks up to the telescope, then peeks in as Oskar
gives way.  "Holy shit!"

 "A real UFO...with real aliens!" Dave hums.  "Why do you suppose they're
here?!"

 "You think we should tell someone?" Len muses as he steps onto the balcony,
having caught the last of his housemate's comment.

 "Shit, Len, you've seen 'Independence Day' too often!" Derek snarls.

 The American shrugs.  "Nothing wrong with being safe, isn't there?"

 "It's only one ship," Chet muses.  "If there were others, say a whole
fleet, then NASA or the observatories would have spotted them by now.  CNN
would know about it almost immediately."

 The others nod.  "Hey, something's wrong here!!" Jack yelps.

 "What?!" Derek looks over.

 His face pales.  "Oh, God!  She's blowing up!!"

 Everyone looks at each other...

    *    *    *

 It had come on them without warning.

 The "Starleaf" had just settled into low orbit over Terra.  Eluza had
chosen the smaller bihemispheric ocean because of Mir's presence over the
larger one.  Further, most of the communications networks Catty had detected
seemed to link the triangular shaped continent to the west with the western
end of the largest land mass the planet possessed.  No one had learned any
names yet; Catty was still working on trying to segregate Terra's insane
number of languages into working groups so they could choose one by which
to...what?  Communicate, perhaps?  Would the Terrans listen to them, or
panic on facing the unknown?  There was one possibility, the android had
told them.  The communications network operated on a series of codes,
letters and numbers which were very similar to the Solnoids' own alphabet.
Eluza had ordered Catty to locate a language who made use of that.

 Catty had just begun her search when OX-11 warned that the G-canceller,
nearly burned out because of the virus affecting the temporal field
circuits, was seriously overheating.  No matter how much Mal tried to stop
it, the ship's fate was certain.  With urgency born of experience, Rabby
ordered everyone to the Blossom.  No matter what, matters had been taken out
of their hands.  OX-11 dumped its amassed knowledge into the escape pod's
mainframe as everyone boarded.  As Lufy boards, she looks around the pod's
recreation room, quickly noticing that someone is missing.  "Where's
Catty?!" she demands.

 Rabby bolts up.  "She should be with us!!"

 Lufy runs to the boarding gangway, looking over to the catapult machinery
room.  Catty was there.  "You crazy idiot, get a move on!!" the Attacker
yells.  "We've got no time!"

 "The catapult circuits are burnt out!" the android yells back.  "Get in!!
I'll get you going!"

 Rabby joins Lufy at the gangway.  "No, Catty!!  Don't do this!  We can't
afford to lose you!!"

 "It's my life, Commander...!" Catty replies.

 Before the android could say anything else, one of the four surviving
cyborg soldiers walks up, zapping Catty in the shoulder with a stun-baton.
The lavender-haired woman gasps as her circuits are overwhelmed, collapsing
into another's arms.  "You are more important than we, Catty," Eni muses,
boosting the unmoving android in her arms and proceeding towards the Blossom.

 "Oh, thank the Mother!" Rabby sighs as Eni comes up, then reaches over to
take Catty in her arms.  "How bad are the circuits?"

 "They are not bad, Commander," the cyborg responds.  "Secure yourselves.
We will come shortly."

 "Don't wait!!" Lufy warns as the three women proceed inside.

 If Eni was still human, she would cry.  "We shall not," she muses as her
hand falls on the controls to seal Blossom.

 Rabby sits Catty down in a chair, then straps her in...just as the door
leading them back to the doomed carrier slams shut.  "What the hell...?!!"
she screams.

 "Damn!!!" Lufy gasps.  "They're still aboard!!"

    *    *    *

 "Come on!!!" Derek urges, watching helplessly as the explosions consume the
side pods of the UFO, racing forward like the fires that consumed the
"Hindenburg" when it was about to dock at Lakehurst on its last voyage.
"Get out of there, you people!!  Don't stick around!  Get out, damn you!!"

 The others anxiously watch the Canadian, understanding too well what a
death in space could be like...

    *    *    *

 In the "Starleaf's" catapult machinery room, Maini forms herself as a
living circuit, allowing the controls to come back on line.  "Launch the
Blossom!" she urges.

 Eni punches the control, sending thousands of volts surging through her
fellow cyborg.  Maini screams as the electricity overwhelms her, but it does
the trick.  "Farewell, Captain," Eni salutes as the Blossom breaks free of
the "Starleaf."

 The bow of the doomed carrier pries open like a morning flower uncurling
its leaves, allowing the Blossom to sail free.  By that time, most of the
"Starleaf" is on fire.  One of the weapons pods explodes as a magazine goes
up, then the G-canceller detonates.  The battlecarrier falls away as the pod
soars on ahead, now without motive power to keep it free of Terra's gravity.

 "NO!!!!" Rabby screams.

    *    *    *

 "A lifepod!!!" Derek screams.  "Son-of-a-bitch, that baby just put out a
lifepod!!!  They got out!!!"

 Cheers of joy and relief echo from his friends as Derek wipes a tear from
his eye.  This was the craziest day of his life, but with the aliens,
whatever and whoever they were, now safe, he could accept it...

    *    *    *

 Everyone runs to the Blossom's windows to watch the "Starleaf's" final
moments.  The whole ship was on fire from stem to stern, now dropping in
free-fall towards the distant ocean below.  Fortunately, it would not land
on any inhabited area, if it survived contact with Terra's atmosphere.
Watching her third home destroyed before her eyes, Rabby shakes her head,
then salutes.  "Farewell, old friend.  Thank you for seeing us this far."

 The others find themselves saluting the "Starleaf" as it finally explodes
in a shower of twisted metal and exploding gasses...

    *    *    *

 Derek was now seated, wiping his eyes, allowing them to rest after watching
the alien ship self-destruct.  Akira was now watching the lifepod as it sped
safely away.  "I was just wondering," Chet muses.  "If that lifepod doesn't
have any decent booster engines of its own, it'll come landing somewhere on
Earth."

 The others jolt in shock at the Englishman's words.  "Shit, that's right!!"
Len gasps.  "Where the hell would they put down?!"

 Everyone muses on the point, then Jack sits up.  "Why not here?"

 "WHAT?!?!?!" everyone else exclaims.

 "Look, if other people spotted the UFO, we'd've heard about it by now,"
Jack points to Steve's labtop computer.  "News of that sort would be
screaming through the 'Net!!"

 "And if we had a television up here, CNN would be announcing it," Maurice adds.

 "Speaking of which, someone go down and turn on the tube," Derek hums.
"Let's make sure."

 "Right, I'll go!" Oskar runs downstairs.

 "So if they could come here, how do we persuade them of that?!" Dave hums.

 "If we can see them, they could certainly see us," Akira stands.  "Now, all
we need is a searchlight!"

 "Who says anything about a searchlight?" Derek laughs at the sheer
absurdity of the very idea of bringing the aliens to their front doorstep.
"Don't you remember the 'Gilligan's Island' episode where they tried to send
an 'SOS' to an orbiting Gemini capsule?!"

 "I remember!" Len snaps his fingers.  "Shit, let's go find some wood and a
few bottles of booze!  That'll get their attention!!  We can do it on the
beach!"

 The others nod as they run off the balcony...

    *    *    *

 "Why?!" Catty moans as her internal systems come back on line.  "Why did
they do it?  I was prepared."

 "We weren't prepared to lose you," Shildy smiles at the android.  "We need
you, Catty."

 "I...I understand," the lavender-haired woman nods.

 Rabby and Eluza look at the looming hulk of Terra in the distance.  "Where
can we put down?" the first officer points at the giant cities in the near
distance.  "We certainly couldn't put down anywhere near those places," she
points at the largest mass of lights, off to the south-west.

 "Agreed," the captain nods.  "I'm not interested in producing a panic of
any sort.  By the way, Catty, did you get some names for these places?"

 The android has by that time moved to the Blossom's main computer console.
"OX-11 was running a program by which we could translate the Terran's main
alphabet into our own.  Remarkably enough, Captain, this alphabet has
twenty-six characters, the same as ours.  In fact, many of them are similar
to our own."

 "Really!!" Rabby looks relieved.  "Then at least we could read their
language!  It goes a hell of a long way towards understanding it!"

 "We seem to be running into our fair share of miracles on this trip, eh?!"
Spea muses to Amy.

 The younger woman laughs.  "OX-11 has also discovered what the Terrans
address their subdivisions as," Catty continues.  "They call themselves
'nations,' although I do not understand what that exactly means at present.
The two nations we are closest to address themselves as 'Canada' and 'the
United States of America,' whatever that means."

 The others blink in confusion; Catty pronounced the name of Earth's
reigning superpower in English, having yet been able to understand how it
would translate in Solnoid.  The android produces a map schematic on the
viewing screen near Patty, showing the area around them.  Canadian territory
is marked in red, American blue.  A targetting marker shows the Blossom's
position.  Yellow lines immediately mark state and provincial boundaries.
"Canada and the United States of America are split into sub-divisions on
their own.  I have their names in the computer."

 Names appear.  "We seem to be close to the subdivision of Canada
called...Nova Scotia," Spea reads, then blinks.  "Weird name."

 "They're all weird," Patty adds.

 "They'll probably think we're weird," Rabby warns.  "Catty, what's Nova
Scotia's population?"

 "Approximately a million sentients, Commander," the android looks back.
"Mostly concentrated in three large cities."

 Icons marked HALIFAX, DARTMOUTH and SYDNEY appear on the map of Nova
Scotia.  "It is also my belief that Halifax," Catty stammers the harsh
English name, "...is Nova Scotia's administrative centre.  All local
communications lines seem centred around that city."

 "A million people doesn't seem too crowded," Rabby muses.  "If we put down
along this shore," she points to the shore between Halifax and Yarmouth,
"...we stand the chance of not being spotted."

 "Maybe we should put down in the ocean itself," Eluza hums, then looks
over.  "Catty, alter the Blossom's flight path.  Let's start looking for a
safe landing place.  Somewhere where we don't drown, but out in the ocean,
away from major towns."

 "Understood," the android nods, then manipulates the controls...

    *    *    *

 Finding wood was easy enough; the landlady's husband was planning to
construct a boat shed before he died, and she had not got around to
disposing of the large timbers.  Alchohol, mostly beer with some gin, brandy
and sake mixed in, would act as the fuel.  The hard part was deciding on
what to say.  Finally, the men settled on COME HERE.  Hopefully, it would be
spotted by long-range cameras on the lifepod.  "Okay, light it!!" Derek orders.

 With a burst of flame, the message turns from dark wood to near-neon
strength light.  Drawing out a cellular telephone from his pocket, the
Canadian dials a number.  "Oskar, where's the life pod?!" he asks.

 "It's turning around!" the Israeli calls back.  "It seems to be moving to
land!"

 Derek blinks.  "Are you sure?!!"

 "Yes!" Oskar calls back.  "Hell, it's going through the atmosphere right
now!  You can probably see it from the beach!!"

 Derek looks up.  Sure enough, a bright light had just appeared in the
evening sky.  "We got it!!  Now, if they'll only spot us!"

 "Use torches," Oskar suggests.

 "Right!!" Derek nods, then hangs up.  "Everyone, grab torches and light
them up!  Let's try to get their attention!!"

 The other men scurry off...

    *    *    *

 Blossom shudders as it punches its way through the upper layers of Earth's
atmosphere.  Everyone remains seated, awaiting the time when the glowing
fires around them would dissipate, they they would move to prepare for
landing.  Sending the escape pod to land in the ocean seemed a decent
option, although Mal was concerned about the emergency equipment, which was
stored in the Blossom's lower bays.  "We'll worry about that when we get
into the clear!" Rabby had told the engineer.

 At the communications station, Catty was working on using the Blossom's
cameras to try to discover if anyone had seen them.  While the south-west
coast of Nova Scotia was sparsely inhabited, there were several fair-sized
towns, the closest one being called Lunenburg.  Also, scanners were at work.
ECM reported several heavy-duty radar units near Halifax, but so far, no one
seemed to have noticed the escape pod.

 Or had they?

 Catty blinks.  Somewhere to the east of Lunenburg, a small bondfire had
been lit on the beach.  Also, there were sentients waving torches.  At
first, the android assumed that they were signalling an ocean craft or
participating in some sort of cultural ritual.  But the bondfire had been
composed of actual Terran letters:  COME HERE.  What did that mean?  And who
were they signalling?

 She makes use of the Blossom's most powerful camera to take a closer look.
There were eight sentients in all.  All of them were like Patty's offspring.
They seemed to be looking straight at the android, which shocked her for a
moment.  Then, she realizes that they were looking at the Blossom.  They had
been spotted!  So what were they doing?

 COME HERE.  What did that mean?  Out of curiosity, Catty switches the
letters to Solnoid standard.  She blinks.  The Solnoid homonym of the first
word was a verb, instructing a person to go to join the speaker.  The second
word meant the speaker's location.  If the Terrans actually meant for the
Blossom to "come here," they wanted the Solnoids to join them.

 Catty muses.  The Terrans seemed unarmed and were not dressed in any sort
of uniform.  They were not soldiers.  Obviously, they were what all Solnoids
had for so long wished to be:  civilians.  And they did seem honestly
concerned about the Solnoids.  Perhaps they had witnessed the "Starleaf's"
destruction.  If such was true, it seemed to contradict the Terrans' lack of
deep space travel capabilities.  Unless, of course, Terran culture had in
certain places outstripped its current technological heights.  Perhaps the
Terrans, while presently incapable of faster-than-light travel, could at
least concive of it.  If such was so, then these Terrans obviously had come
to some conclusions about them.  They certainly did not seem hostile.

 "I believe I have located a place to land," she announces.

 "Put us down, Catty," Eluza orders.

 "Yes, Captain," the android nods, then manipulates controls...

    *    *    *

 Derek's telephone rings.  "What's up?!"

 "The lifepod!" Oskar's voice calls out.  "It's altered course!  It's
heading straight for us!!"

 The Canadian blinks.  "Are you sure?!"

 "Of course I'm sure!" the Israeli responds.  "The damn thing is growing
like hell right before my eyes!"

 Derek blinks, then looks up.  The point of light was now clearly visible to
the naked eye, now forming into the lifepod's shape.  They had done it!  The
aliens were coming to them!  So now what?!  Derek looks to Chet, now
standing beside him.

 "We might as well be gracious hosts," the Englishman proposes.

 Derek smiles, then turns to the others.  "Okay, put the bondfire out!
Everyone to the 'Enterprise!'  They might run into trouble if they land out
there!  Let's go!!"

    *    *    *

 Catty watches as the people proceed down the beach towards a boat dock.
Awaiting them is a small craft, about the size of a Solnoid fighter.  A
ninth sentient, also like Patty's offspring, had come to join them from the
small building which seemed the only sign of inhabitation in the area.  All
board the craft, then they let themselves go from the dock, turning it to
the sea...in the general direction of where Blossom was landing.

 "How long?" Eluza calls out.

 "Four hundred seconds, Captain," the android responds.

 Eluza unstraps herself, then looks to everyone else.  "Let's get down there
to get some gear.  We'll try to salvage the rest of it if we get the chance.
Move!"

 Everyone save Catty race to the lower decks.  There, along with some ground
vehicles and hovercycles, were some emergency tents, sleeping bags, rations
and weapons.  Grabbing as much as they can, they proceed back up to the
escape pod's upper levels as Catty's voice echoes through the PA system.
"One hundred...ninety-nine..."

 By the time Catty reaches forty, everyone is back upstairs.  "All lower
hatches secured," Mal reports from the engineering station.

 "Everyone, fasten yourselves in!  You too, Catty!" Rabby orders.

 The android secures the computer, then proceeds to her own chair...

    *    *    *

 "Thar she blows!" Len yells from the "Enterprise's" bow as the Blossom
passes the lowermost level of clouds.

 "About ten kilometres up, I'd say!" Chet looks at the escape pod through a
pair of binoculars.

 "Turn on the radio and see if Lunenburg or Halifax Harbour Control have
picked that ship up!" Dave yells to Derek from the helm.

 Derek nods, turning on FM channel 10, the Canadian maritime channel.  The
usual traffic from distant Halifax comes over the line.  Nothing seemed
wrong.  "Not a sound.  That ship must have some sort of stealth-like coating."

 "Not really," Akira shakes his head.  "Radars these days are actually radio
transmitter finders.  They're designed not to look for the planes, but for
their location beacons.  Not even Shearwater would pick this thing up."

 The only station which could have, Derek nods agreeingly, was the
recently-closed down Canadian Forces station at Barrington, south-south-east
of Yarmouth.  "It looks like we're the ones who get to meet them first!" he
laughs.

 "I just wonder if they're capable of living on Earth," Chet muses.  "Do you
think they've had time to take some sort of precautions?!"

 "I hope so," Derek sighs.  "No matter what, let's make them feel welcome!"

 "Right-o, old man!" the Englishman nods, then turns back to his binoculars.

 "I just thought of something," Steve taps Derek on the shoulder.  "What's
the ground like underwater here?!"

 "Dave?!" Derek looks to his fellow Canadian.

 Fortunately, Dave was a Lunenburg native.  "It's pretty soft sand under
here," he looks back.  "If they're smart, they'll vent in water to their
lower compartments as she hits!  That'll let them sink on an even keel.
Hopefully, they won't hit a rock."

 "Or a shipwreck," Chet adds.  "The bloody Germans made hash out of local
convoys during World War Two.  Most of the sea routes ran right by here!"

 "Amen to that!" Derek looks up.

    *    *    *

 "Atmospheric friction increasing," Mal reports from her station.
"Retrothrusters firing.  Captain, recommend we vent the lower decks to the
sea as we land."

 "If we do that, we'll lose all our vehicles," Patty warns.

 "No time," Eluza snaps.  "Do it!"

 "Right," Mal keys the controls.

 The Blossom's sides open up as the landing legs plunge into the Atlantic
Ocean.  A gentle wave rolls away from the escape pod as it sinks into its
final resting place.  The depth of the water was not so deep that the whole
of the Blossom would be submerged, but Fate steps in at that time with an
underwater rock, which remains stubbornly still as one of the landing legs
strikes it!  In a second, what was supposed to be a safe landing turns
dangerous.

 "Oh, God, they hit something!!" Len cries from the bow, watching as the
lifepod begins to tilt over.

 "Underwater rock!!" Dave spits out.  "Shit, they'll capsize!"

 On the Blossom, Mal transfers all control to one thruster rocket to keep
the escape pod on an even keel.  "What happened?!" Eluza demands.

 "We hit a submerged rock!" Catty reports from her station.

 "I've got one retrothruster working," Mal adds.  "It'll keep us on an even
keel for a while, but not indefinately."

 "Captain, there is a small craft approaching us at present," Catty reports.
"I believe they are natives who became aware of our presence shortly before
or during the 'Starleaf's' destruction."

 "WHAT?!?!" Eluza exclaims.

 "I do believe they mean us no harm," the android adds.

 Lufy runs to the window to see the "Enterprise" approach.  "I see them!"
the Attacker calls out.  "Shit, that's no bigger than a gunship!"

 "It'll have to do!" Rabby sighs, then blinks.  "Look!!  There're people
aboard!"

 Eluza sighs.  Mixed luck was better than no luck.  "Blow the windows!!" she
barks.

 Miti draws her pistol, then fires a full magazine into the window.  It
shatters, the glass flying into the sea now several feet below the lower
edge.  Seeing this, Derek points.  "Head there!!"

 Dave guides the fishing trawler as close as possible to the Solnoid escape
pod.  Looking inside, Chet lets out a disbelieving cry of shock.  "I don't
believe it!!!" he points.  "They're human!!"

 Everyone looks.  "Son-of-a-bitch!!" Len whistles.  "And they're all women!!!"

 Agreeing echoes utter from everyone else.  Realizing that these aliens, if
they really were aliens, needed help, Akira grabs a line-throwing gun, loads
in a projectile, cocks a blank round into the firing bed, aims and shoots.
The ball, a thin line tied to it, flies straight and true into the Blossom.
Seeing it, Shildy runs over to grab the line.  "What's that?!" Amy gasps in
shock.

 "Lifeline, I hope!" Shildy replies.

 "Pass over one of the docking lines," Derek barks.  "We can use that to
allow them to get off that thing!"

 Oskar ties the heavy hemp rope to the carrying line, then passes it out
towards the Blossom.  On the escape pod, Shildy, Lufy and Miti team up to
drag the line in, then pass it to Rabby so she can tie it around one of the
chairs.  "TOIL, AIL, get across!" the first officer barks.  "Take whatever
you safely can!  We'll need it!  When you're on that boat, keep the line
secure!!"

 "Yes, Commander," both servobots race off to seize two emergency tents,
then load themselves onto the lifeline.

 On the "Enterprise," everyone blinks in shock as two small robots, one
white, the other blue, load themselves and their cargo on the lifeline, then
proceed to perform a balancing act the great Blondin would admire.  "They've
got servodroids, too?!" Maurice blinks.

 "If they're sentient in any way, they'll need 'em!" Len notes.

 Akira and Oskar help TOIL and AIL aboard the fishing craft, then shove the
tents aside.  Derek yells over.  "Get off there!!  Your retrothrusters can't
hold you up for long!!!"

 On seeing that the two servobots had made it, Eluza turns to her crew.
"Everyone, grab something!  Abandon ship!!"

 "Come on, come on!!!" Dave yells.

 Wrapping as many weapons as she can carry, Miti leaps onto the lifeline,
then overhand crawls her way across to the "Enterprise."  Next to go is Spea
with some rations, a scared Amy hanging on to her.  Shildy comes next with
another tent.  Patty heads over with some sleeping bags.  Mal carries
another tent.  Eluza takes the rest of the rations.  Lufy takes the rest of
the weapons.  Rabby moves to hop on the line, then notices Catty remaining
in place.  "Damn you!" the first officer yells.  "Get on that line!  What
did your mother program into you, anyway?!"

 "But if I fall...?" Catty stammers.

 "Go!!!" Rabby yells.

 Sighing, Catty leaps on the line, then imitates Miti's crossing.  The line
bends, but does not break...however, Rabby's knot begins to unwind.
Reaching the fishing boat's deck, Catty yells, "With haste, Commander!!!"

 "Coming!!" Rabby leaps on the line...

 ...just as the surviving retrothruster fails!

 Blossom lurches as its insides are vented to the Atlantic Ocean, keeling
over.  The jerk undoes the knot, which sends Rabby falling into the ocean.
"Bloody hell!!!" Chet yells as he mounts the guard rail, then leaps in after
her.

 "Rabby!!!" Lufy screams.

 The escape pod keels over, plunging to its final resting place.  The water
swamps Rabby and Chet as the "Enterprise" is shoved away.  Dave utters a
curse, then charges the fishing trawler's engines to stay close by.  A
second later, the heads of the Solnoid officer and the English university
student burst from the water, gasping for air.  Reaching over to take her
hand, Chet yells, "I say, old sports!  Would you pass a line over?!"

 Lufy laughs as she grabs the lifeline, then tosses it.  Rabby grabs it,
then both are pulled in to climb aboard.  "Ladies first," Chet ushers Rabby
onto the deck before stepping aboard himself.

 Derek turns to Dave.  "Take us back in!!  If we don't get there soon,
they'll both get a nice bout of pneumonia!"

 "Right-o, old son!!" the helmsman guns the motors, then turns
"Enterprise's" bow towards their home.

 Derek turns to look at the twelve strangers who just popped into all their
lives.  All look at him quizzically, even the two small R2D2-like robots who
had come first.  "Well, welcome to Earth!" he chuckles.

 One of the women, a girl with lavender-pink hair, stares at him
quizzically.  Derek hums.  He had never seen gold eyes before.  "Canada?"
she points towards land.  "Nova...Scotia?"

 The Canadian blinks.  "Yes," he nods, then makes a circular motion with
both hands to indicate a planet.  "Earth!"

 The women look at each other, then nod understandingly.  Well, that's the
first step, Derek muses to himself, realizing that his life, all their
lives, would never be the same again...

    *    *    *

To be continued...