Darkover Landfall by Marion Zimmer Bradley

“Oh, damn it, don’t you spout Article Four at me,” MacAran muttered. “If Heather wants to wear out her shoe leather and you want to let her, who am I to argue the point?” He still suspected Ewen of arranging it. Hell of a way to start a trip! And here he’d been, despite the serious purpose of this mission, excited about actually having a chance to climb an unexplored mountain‑-only to discover that he had to drag along, not only a female crew member‑-who at least looked hardy and in good training‑but Dr. Lovat, who might not be old but cer­tainly wasn’t as young and vigorous as he could have wished, and the delicate‑looking Heather. He said’ “Well, let’s get going,” and hoped he didn’t sound as glum as he felt.

He lined them up, leading the way, placing Dr. Lovat and Heather immediately behind him with Ewen so that he would know if the pace he set was too hard for them, Camilla next with MacLeod, and the mountain‑trained Zabal to bring up the rear. As they moved away from the ship and through the small clutter of roughly‑made build­ings and shelters, the great red sun began to lift above the line of faraway hills, like an enormous, inflamed, bloodshot eye. Fog lay thick in the bowl of land where the ship lay, but as they began to climb up out of the valley it thinned and shredded, and in spite of himself’ MacAran’s spirits began to lift. It was, after all, no small thing to be leading a party of exploration’ perhaps the only party of exploration for hundreds of years, on a wholly new planet.

They walked in silence; there was plenty to see. As they reached the lip of the valley, MacAran paused and waited for them to come up with him.

“I have very little experience with alien planets,” he said. “But don’t blunder into any strange underbrush, look where you step, and I hope I don’t have to warn you not to drink the water or eat anything until Dr. Lovat has given it her personal okay. You two are the specialists.” he indicated Zabal and MacLeod, “anything to add to that?”

“Just general caution,” MacLeod said. “For all we know this planet could be alive with poisonous snakes and reptiles but our surface uniforms will protect us against most dangers we can’t see. I have a handgun for use is extreme emergencies‑‑if a dinosaur or huge carnivore comes along and rushes us‑‑but is general it would be better to run away than shoot. Remember this is preliminary observation, and don’t get carried away in classifying and sampling‑‑the next team that comes here can do that.”

“If there is a next team,” Camilla murmured. She had spoken under her breath, but Rafael heard her and gave her a sharp look. All he said was, “Everybody, take a com­pass reading for the peak, and be sure to mark every time we move off that reading because of rough ground. We can see the peak from here; once we get further into the foothills we may not be able to see anything but the neat hilltop, or the trees.”

At first it was easy, pleasant walking, up gentle slopes between tall, deeply rooted coniferous trunks, surprisingly small in diameter for their height, with long blue‑green needles on their narrow branches. Except for the dimness of the red sun, they might have beep in a forest preserve on Earth. Now and again Marco Zabal fell out of line briefly to Inspect some tree or leaf or root pattern, and once a small animal scooted away in the woods. Lewis MacLeod watched it regretfully and said to Dr. Lovat, “One thing–there are furred mammals here. Probably marsupials, but I’m not sure.”

The woman said, “I thought you were going to take specimens.”

“I will, on the way back. I’ve no way to keep live specimens on the way, how would I know what to feed them? But if you’re worried about food supply, I should say that so far every mammal on any planet without exception, has proved to be edible and wholesome. Some aren’t very tasty, but milk‑secreting animals are all evi­dently alike in body chemistry.”

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