Breakfast was the same old boring meal. Work would start again and there was nothing about it that had changed. The camp was settled down back into it’s previous routines and habits. Today was normal. It was everything that had driven the group insane. As Jack sat at the corner of the big tent and watched his people, ate his cardboard like food, he marveled at the change in them. Despite the return of the mundane they were charged in a way that he had not seen them in a long time. Had it been his official day off or was it the contact? Considering that no one had stopped talking about the two ET's, now being loosely called Moemen, it was obvious to Jack that his good idea had been completely overshadowed. Oh well, who cared anyway?

The effect was all that mattered. After seeing so many friends die, losing their ship, and then crashing in this desert just maybe they had found the tonic to shake the blues. While the reality was that they would eventually be rescued and go home, no one really felt it. A rescue was just some distant day that would never really happen. These two Moemen had restored hope. The scientific types amongst them were already talking about their Nobel Prize papers. Wu was marveling in being the first Xenobioligist in history and hoping to one day have a building at Cal Tech named after him. Even the military types were getting in on it.

Everybody was in on the excitement except Vitosk. He quietly ate his food and sat on the opposite side of the tent. Finally, it was Red who decided to find out why, "What's wrong with you Vitosk? You look like somebody just shot your dog."

Dee was sitting right next to the Journalist. She cocked her head, smiled at the Russian and then went back to eating. Vitosk took note, "All right Dee, you deserve it. I am sorry for doubting you. I am not too big of a man to apologize when I am wrong. I must however point out that you were not right either."

"Yeah," Dee did not even bother looking at him, "Well at least my theory was more realistic than yours. I didn't accuse you of anything in the process either."

"You must admit it seemed logical. A previous OK mission would certainly be more of a possibility than what we have found so far."

Harry was all smiles as he ate, "you're the one always saying it Vitosk. We're going to have to rewrite the textbooks now. I mean this is a sure an indicator that our thoughts on evolution are totally wrong. The forces that shaped us are more common than we ever thought possible."

There seemed to be almost a hint of remorse in Vitosk’s voice as he responded, "If Jerry were still with us. I'm sure he would have credited our find to his all mighty. That God indeed made all intelligent life in the universe in his image. As it is now, I find that what we are doing is no different."

Red turned up an eye, and decided the meal he was eating was not as good as he imagined earlier. He shoved it aside and turned in his seat to face the Russian. "What exactly does that mean Vitosk? You know, as for me I'm not so sure I would say that was wrong. You know, what you were talking about Jerry saying."

Vitosk went back to his meal, "I don't rule anything out Red. I'm a scientist and that goes to heart of being one. However, I do like to stay in an area that I actually have concrete data to work with. Right now, we are talking evolution, microbiology, and astrophysics like they are all our gods. Like we have used them to solve the universe. Yet we do so in the humility of discovering, after one small step to the closest star, that so much of what we once took for granted is completely wrong."

Up until now, McCandles had been content to just eat. His only words on the subject now were right to the point, "here, here."

There was silence in the tent. Jack let them have it for a while but finally he broke it. "Let's get back to the here and now shall we. Yesterday our battle drill was pathetic. The next set of Moemen might not be as forgiving. Today, we're going to fix that. Starting with our esteemed mortar crew. Julia you would have dropped an HE round right on our heads with the setting you had. Yurgani, you switch with her. As for everybody else, the word is ass holes and elbows. So let's get cracking."

McCandles took a break from the water condenser he was working on. He sat down next to Dee in the dirt. So far she had been as good as useless beyond passing tools. McCandles had to wonder how a woman smart enough to build a star ship engine could be so lacking in something as simple as a glorified air conditioner. It might have had something to do with this morning's battle drills.

"Are you going to just sit there all day and throw rocks at the ground?"

"I'm sorry Sergeant Major," replied Dee, "I'm just pissed. That's all."

That certainly narrowed it down for the old soldier, "Vitosk or Colonel Kelly?"

She looked at him, "are you psychic or something?"

"Ah, it's the good Colonel isn't it? You're mad because he put you and Gary in the same hole during battle drills this morning."

Dee stood up and started kicking around the pebbles she had just been tossing about, "Well if you know so much McCandles, tell me why I'm pissed?"

He groaned and then got back to work on the love/hate relationship of his life, at the moment. Now that he had Dee on her feet just maybe he could get some work out of her. The moment was not one to be passed lightly. "You think it's something personal, don't you? I mean I noticed the way you and the Colonel always kind of palled around on the ship. Well at least when you were anywhere to be seen."

That made Dee just a bit defensive, "It was professional. I mean we had a ship to run. Not an easy thing when you're flying the prototype. We had a lot of work to do. Professional, yeah, that's a good word for it."

"So was what he did this morning. He wanted to put you two together to make it easier to keep an eye on the both of you. He may be an officer, but his eyes can only point in as many directions as you and me."

That was insulting. Dee's face turned red, "well you are blunt aren't you?"

McCandles looked up from his condenser, "I'm a Sergeant Major. I can afford to be. You know when we left Earth they told me to treat you like I would any military officer. So that's what I'm doing."

Julia came running up. She stopped in front of Dee and grabbed her by the shirtsleeves. The girl was so excited that she was shaking Dee violently, "Jack said yes! It's tonight!"

That caused Dee to stop and think. "Wait a minute, I thought that you and Pete had a thing here..."

McCandles was doing his best to ignore something that he was sure he did not want to hear. Then Julia explained anyway, "No silly, he's going to marry me and Pete! I mean he’s like a ships Captain and all. We decided to yesterday, you know, before all the hoopla with the space men!"

Dee forced a smile. She picked her words very slowly and carefully, "well Julia, I think that's just great. Congratulations I guess."

Before another word could be said Julia ran off in a tizzy. McCandles finally showed up from behind the condenser. He wiped the sweat from his forehead. It certainly did not come from the heat.

Dee shook her head and an asked for his expert opinion, "I didn't sound so convincing did I?"

"Don't worry," replied the Sergeant Major, "don't think I could have been ether. Don’t matter no how. Julia didn’t notice. She’s not going to be noticing much of nothing right now. Just glad it turned out to be better news than it sounded at first."

On request, Dee handed her colleague a screwdriver. "You know Sergeant Major, this just isn't the place to get married, or the time. I kind of think those two are rushing things a bit."

"Well," McCandles crawled back in his box, "no time like the present to get things done."

No time like the immediate future to get a divorce either. Dee was down on the institution of marriage. After her own experience she was convinced that it was a dated institution. A dated something that Dee was sure came about solely as a way to put a happy face on women’s enslavement to men. Her own experience reinforced a notion that she had always had in the back of her mind. Sex was fine, dating was fine, and marriage was out. It got in the way of important things and it created a situation that Dee found she would be handicapped in from the start.

"You ever been married Sergeant Major McCandles?"

"Oh yeah," he responded, "twice. Well three times counting this thing I'm working on here. Tell you the truth. I feel like using the same kind of language on this condenser as I did when both my wives took me for all I had. Except of course you're around."

Dee blushed, "Why Sergeant Major, are you old fashioned?"

"Sure am," came the voice from inside the condenser. "I never cuss around officers unless they deserve it."

Ever since the first contact, and the battle drill that followed, Pam had decided to leave her clinic in the belly of the shuttle, permanently. Most of the heavy medical machines were still in there anyway. That included an examining table, a whole cabinet of pills, an EKG, a field portable x-ray, and an entire section that had yet to be inventoried or tested. It was a sure bet that some of it had been irreparably damaged by the crash. Pam had been working on some of it but she doubted if she could ever fix them. As she liked to point out, "I only worked them, not on them."

As Pete was sitting down on the table for his check up he laughed, "Yeah, where's an EKG repairman when you need him. What's the word on the X Ray machine?"

She pulled his shirt back, and he slid it off. Pam reached down and took some scissors from her tray. She began cutting at the tape on his ribs. "You're going to find out. I think it's working now. X-ray machines are actually pretty simple. Just blast your insides with a healthy does of gamma and let it hit the film."

"Hey!" That was something that Pete had never really given any thought to. He, like everybody else, just assumed that such things worked and never really questioned how. The idea of having his insides cooked by a microwave was not a happy one.

"How's my rib's anyway. No thanks to you that is."

Pam stopped cutting. She flashed a pair of mean eyes at him, "If I patched 'em, then I think I can best judge what'll un-patch ‘em."

"Now what text book did you find patch 'em in? That sounds real medical." The moment he finished the question she poked at his now bare and exposed ribs. Pete responded with only a slight yelp. "Hey!"

"You sound fine to me. If that rib was still broken you would have hit the roof right then." Pam put her scissors down and walked over to her x ray machine. It was a compact deal that allowed the entire thing to pack up into one crate. Everything in here, medical or otherwise, was designed to be carried around. There was a twinkle in her eye when she asked, "Still hurts though don't it?"

"Yes!" Pete grumbled as he rubbed the spot, “I think you liked that too much, you know?”

"Good," replied Pam as she took out a plate of film for her machine. "Don’t worry though. I'm going to have you up and ready for tonight."

As Pam began setting up for the shot, Pete started building up his nerve. He had wanted to ask her something for a while. "Pam?"

Moving around to the front Pam stepped up next to Pete and dropped the camera unit down into the slots on the side of the table. "Yes oh patient of mine."

"You know, I'm kind of nervous about all of this."

"It's all right Pete. I was only kidding about the Gamma's. You actually get more from just living an average year on planet Earth."

That made Pete switch tracks of thinking. She might have been a medical person but he wondered how much she knew about doses of radiation and what it did. No, this machine was safe. It had to be, right? "No, I'm not talking about that Pam."

"Ah," Pam leaned forward and got directly in his face, "well no matter what you do Pete Winston. I'm going to make sure you don't wimp out on this. She's my best friend, she loves you, and that is that." Pam pulled away and started looking for her apron, "I think she's a very lucky girl."

Pete was letting his head hang kind of low. He somewhat sarcastically replied, "Well thank you."

Pam grabbed her apron and slid it on, "I didn't mean that as a compliment to you Pete. No! I... I... never mind."

"I guess everybody turns numb the first time," said Pete.

Pam stopped what she was doing for a second, "first time? You've never been married before? I would have sworn you had."

"No, believe it or not. I almost did once though." Pete hesitated like he had just reached a sign that said “keep out.”

His eyes roamed around the cargo bay and he squirmed on the table. Finally he ignored that sign he had reached. "Back during the war. Just before really. I was stationed in Florida. I was fresh out Pensacola back then. I met this girl one night at Panama City beach. We did what you would have expected two young, drunk, well you know..."

There was a half smile on Pete's face recounting this part. Pam giggled and shook her finger, "You naughty boy you."

"Yeah well..." Pete's smile vanished. "You know we gave each other our phone numbers and everything but, who would expect? She called me about a month later so I drove up to Alabama where she was living. She was pregnant."

Puzzled about this, Pam replied, "You didn't marry her? Why? I didn't think you would be like that, Pete."

"I'm not. I was, still am, a Marine. I do what I think is right. You know? Simper Fi… always faithful?"

That would have meant she turned him down. What a fool. Pam couldn't see any girl doing that, "so what happened?"

"The war," his answer was short. "Daily's brigade shot through Alabama a month later. I was up in New York by that time but she was coming to join me as soon as possible. She was in a car with two friends riding down a little road near Dothan. Nobody knows exactly what happened but there was an ambush on the road and they got caught in it."

"Oh my god. I'm sorry Pete,"

There were tears in his eyes. Pam reached out started to wipe them away.

"Pam!" Julia came running in. She stopped at the doorway. Her voice had been one of unrestrained excitement and joy. Now she deflated and looked confused, "What's going on?"

Pam wondered how she was going to explain this one. It was an innocent exchange between two friends but it sure did not look that way. "Julia. Pete was just telling me about..."

"About what?" her eyes were very accusing.

"About Florida" said Pete.

Julia stepped forward and became more resolute, "why?"

There was no response. Julia took another step forward, "why Pete? What business is it of hers?"

"We were just talking Julia," protested Pam.

"Yeah with his shirt off," Julia turned around and stormed out. Pam chased after her.

They stopped between tents when Pam grabbed her friend by the arm, "What is your problem Julia? After all this time and you don't trust me?"

"I've seen the way you look at him. The way you always did!"

Pam recovered, "OK... OK... Julia I'm sorry all right? You're right, but how many other guys have I ever not failed to notice? I think he's a great guy but I don't love him. I know you do and what's more important I think he loves you. I'm not trying to take him away from you."

"I know!" Julia began to sob. She turned her back. "I can't help it!"

"Julia..." There were no words that Pam could think of. All Pam could muster before walking off was, "I'm sorry sweetie."

Jack replaced Pam a second later. He watched Pam walking back to the shuttle bay and then saw Pete coming out of it while putting his shirt on. Here was Julia crying right in front of him. The only good news Jack could think of was at least nobody was dead.

"What happened Julia?"

"Nothing!"

Red, Saiid, and Gina came strolling up to see what the commotion was about. Jack promptly ran them off. "You going to be all right, Julia?"

"Please leave Jack."

The answers that Jack wanted were walking out past the perimeter at the moment. He did just as the lady requested and went after Pete. This was not something that Jack needed to be dealing with at the moment. He stopped the Lieutenant Colonel and made that plain to him, after they were cleared of the camp naturally.

"Damn it Pete! I don't need to be dealing with this shit right now!"

"It's not your problem Jack!"

"The Hell it's not! Whether you like it or not, your personal problems and everybody else's are mine. Anything that might compromise the safety of these people greatly interests me. Now you're a Marine damn it! Act like the professional you are. These people expect that of you. They have a right too."

That hit below the belt, yet, there was nothing that Pete could say. Jack was right and they both knew it. Jack drove his point home after the lack of response from Pete. "I want you two to get some time away from each other. You, and Julia, need a little separation before you guys decide to take the final step. That's so the rest of us can have a little domestic bliss."

"Wait a minute Jack, now you're out of line."

"No hell I'm not," Jack was tired of this. Their little spats had been irritating back on the Hermes. Now they were turning far more serious. Jack turned to walk off, "Oh yeah, it might be wise of you to steer clear of Pam while you're at it."

The silence continued for the next several days. The lack of excitement mixed with the continuation of boring and routine work all combined with the sudden rift in their little family. It had all taken its toll. Pete not only avoided Julia but said very little to Pam as well. In return she was not talking to Julia even if it was really Julia who was mostly responsible for that. Soon after, Pete became withdrawn from everyone. He still managed to talk in passing to young Joey but, his words came out with little enthusiasm.

Joey noticed. He took the sudden lack of affection personally. McCandles and Red tried to make up for the sudden loss of his surrogate father. They even tried explaining the situation. It was of no use since the twelve year old already understood it more than the average adult might have expected. In fact he probably understood it even better. In the end none of it helped.

After one failed attempt at cheering the boy up, Red asked McCandles, "Well Joe, what do you think we can do for the boy now?"

The Sergeant Major shook his head. "I think we need to kick the Colonel’s ass. That might cure the problem. Right now Winston needs it."

All of this was suddenly placed aside. The needed diversion came as a cloud of dust rising from the southwest. Jack was surprised to find Pete following him up to the observation post on top of the shuttle. There was fire in Pete's eyes. It was something that had been absent for days. They stopped on the hull just in front of the aft vertical wing. Gina was settled up in a seat that had been hoisted up top just for the look out.

"What you got Gina?" yelled Jack.

Gina was intensely watching the cloud of dust. "I see a lot stuff coming this way Colonel."

Pete looked down to the camp. Everybody was in place. He reported that to Jack. It brought a smile to the senior Colonel's face, "You with me again Colonel Winston?"

"You bet Jack."

Taking his binoculars out, Jack then peered off into the distance. "Good Pete. You're not going to have gotten me involved in all this mess just to bring me here and get me killed. Pass the word down to reinforce the south holes. Tell Vitosk to swing his tube around and set the range for about a hundred meters out. If we have any advantage it'll be that mortar."

Pete took a good look at the dust cloud now. With binoculars he could make out some details. There were plenty of approaching Moemen out in front. They were riding on their Moe Chickens and looked much the same as their recent visitors. Unfortunately there was no way of telling what was behind the cloud of dust.

Another rider began to enter the picture. He rode up out of the cloud and while the others were all riding their chickens this man was on an animal that had four legs. He was not clothed like the rest of them either. There were no robes on this man. His shirt was black with a double row of buttons. He was wearing pants too. They were light colored and maybe even at one time had been white. He had something on his head that at this distance looked to be gold in color.

Jack never lowered his binoculars, "What do you make of that Pete?"

"I don't know Jack. Did we tell those two Moe’s from the other day… You know did we give them the line?"

Jack dropped his binoculars and looked at Pete, "What line?"

Pete never stopped looking out at the approaching group, "you know Jack. What alien visitors always say? Take me to your leader?"

The joke was a bad one. Jack didn't bother to laugh. He kept counting heads and there were more than enough of those to keep him busy for a while. The number of approaching aliens was worrisome.

Quite suddenly the implications of Pete’s little joke started sinking in. This guy on the four-legged animal did look different from the rest. Jack found him again with his binoculars. Maybe what the guy was wearing was some kind of crown?

Jack suddenly forgot about the rider when he suddenly realized what the man was riding on. He had recognized the animal on his first look but at that time it had no occurred to him that he should be stunned.

Jack called down from the top of the shuttle, "Vitosk! Get up here on the double."

The Russian pulled himself up the makeshift ladder. He walked over to the Marines and asked, "What in blazes do you want Jack?"

Jack filled him in about the man in the black shirt and then pointed the guy out. Vitosk took the binoculars and began to scan until he found the man in the approaching group. Vitosk quickly began working the focus like that might actually change what he was looking at.

Jack almost laughed, "Yurgani, what do you make of that?"

"It's impossible I tell you. Just plain impossible."

"What is?" asked Pete. He was looking at the guy too. He didn't see anything that looked all that spectacular. It was just a man riding on a, "Holy shit! That guys riding a horse?"

Jack reached out and took his binoculars back. "Well, what's your theory on this Yurgani?"

"I don't know Jack. I bloody well want to find out though."

"Well," said Pete. "Looks like if we live through this. You might get your chance. Mister black shirt and some of his buddies just broke ahead of the group. They're headed this way."