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 It fed on ash or grass or something? Ensign Nev asked.
 We ll check that out later. Let s look at the buildings. Scag, stay by the
gig, Benden ordered one of the marines. He gestured for the others to follow
him up to the empty settlement.
 Not empty, Ross said an hour later, increasingly pessimistic about finding
any survivors. Contact with a cousin or two would have been something to
write home about! So he clutched at a vain hope:  Emptied. They didn t
leave a thing they could use.
Nasties would have obliterated any trace of humans.
 That s true enough, Saraidh said.  And there s no evidence of Nasties at
all. Merely an evacuated settlement. There is that second beacon to the
southwest. There s certainly nothing here to give us any explanations. Your
point about everything being emptied is well taken, Benden. They closed shop
here, but that doesn t mean they didn t open it up elsewhere.
 Using the three missing shuttles, Nev added brightly.
Airborne again in the Erica, heading directly toward the beacon, they
overpassed the rest of the settlement, taping the one smoking volcano crater
and the melted structures below it. No sooner were they over the river than
the landscape showed another form of devastation. The prevailing winds had
minimized the dispersal of volcanic dust, but oddly enough, there were only
occasional stands of vegetation and large circles of parched soil.
 Like something had sprinkled the land with whopping great acid drops, Cahill
Nev said, awed at the extent of the markings.
 Not acid. No way, Benden replied. He keyed the relevant section of the
report he knew so well.  The EEC survey team found similar circular patches,
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and they also reported that botanical succession had started.
 It has to be the Oort organism, Nev said enthusiastically.  On the cruiser
it died of starvation. It had plenty to eat here.
 The organism had to get here first, mister, Ni Morgana said bitingly.  And
we haven t established how it could cross some six hundred thousand miles of
space to drop on Pern. Ross, glancing at her set expression, thought she was
rapidly considering improbable transport media.  Terrain s flat enough here,
Mister Benden. Try a low-level pass, and give us a closer look at that--that
diseased ground.
Benden obliged, noting once again how responsive the Erica was to the helm as
it smoothly skimmed the often uneven terrain. Not that he expected something
to pop up out of those polka dots, but one never knew on alien worlds--even
ones thoroughly surveyed by
Exploration and Evaluation teams. They might not have found any predators,
but something dangerous had put in an appearance nine years after the settlers
took hold. And the Tubberman appeal hadn t mentioned a volcanic eruption.
Klick after klick, they passed over circles and overlapping circles and triple
circles. Ni Morgana remarked that some succession was visible on their
peripheries. She asked Benden to land so she could take more samples,
including clods of the regenerating vegetation.
Across a broad river there were swaths of totally unharmed trees and acres of
broadleafed and unscathed vegetation. Over one wide pasture they caught sight
of a cloud of dust, but whatever had stirred it up disappeared under the broad
leaves of a thick forest. They spotted no trace of human habitation. Not
even a dirt-covered mound that might be the remains of a building or a wall.
The second beacon signal became stronger as they neared the foothills of a
great barrier of mountains, snow-clad even in what must be high summer in this
hemisphere. Gradually the pips altered from rhythmic bleeps to a sustained
note as they homed in on the beacon.
 There s nothing here but a sheer cliff, Ross said, disgusted as he let the
gig hover over the destination, the single note grating on his nerves.
 That may well be, Ross, Saraidh said,  but I m getting body-heat readings.
Nev pointed excitedly.  That plateau below us is too level to be natural.
And there are terraces below it. See? And what about that path down into the
valley? And, hey, this cliff has windows!
 And is definitely inhabited! Saraidh exclaimed, pointing to starboard,
where a doorway appeared in the cliff face.  Put her down, Ross!
By the time the Erica had settled to the smoothed surface, a file of people
were running down the plateau toward it; their cries, piped in via the
exterior sensors, were of hysterical welcome. They ranged in age from early
twenties to late forties--except for one white-haired man, his mane trimmed to
shoulder length, whose lined face and slow movements suggested a person well
into his eighth or ninth decade. His emergence halted the demonstrations, and
the others stood aside to allow him a clear passage to the gig s portal, where
he halted.
 The patriarch, Saraidh murmured, straightening her tunic and settling her
beaked cap straight on top of her braids.
 Patriarch? Nev asked.
 Look it up later--if the term is not self-explanatory, Benden shot at him
over his shoulder, operating the airlock release. He glanced warningly at the
marines, who replaced their drawn hand weapons.
As soon as the airlock swung open and the ramp extruded, the small crowd was
silent. All eyes turned to the old man, who pulled himself even more erect, a
patronizing smile on his weathered face.
 You finally got here!
 A message was received at Federated headquarters, Ross Benden began,  signed
by a Theodore Tubberman. Are you he?
The man gave a snort of disgust.  I m Stev Kimmer.  He flicked one hand to
his brow in a jaunty parody of a proper Fleet salute.
 Tubberman s long dead. I designed that capsule, by the way.
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 You did well, Benden replied. Inexplicably, he suddenly did not care to
identify himself. So he introduced Saraidh ni Morgana and Ensign Nev.  But
why did you send that capsule to Federation headquarters, Kimmer?
 That wasn t my idea. Ted Tubberman insisted. Kimmer shrugged.  He paid me
for my work, not my advice. As it is, you ve
taken nearly too damned long to get here. He scowled with irritation.
 The Amherst is the first vessel to enter the Sagittarian Sector since the
message was received, Saraidh ni Morgana said, unruffled by his criticism.
She had noted that Ross had not given his name and assumed he had his reasons.
She hoped that Ensign Nev had also noted the omission.  We ve just come from
the site on record.
 No one came back to Landing, then? Kimmer demanded. Bender thought his
habit of interrupting Fleet officers could become irritating.  With Thread
gone, that d be the place they d return to. The ground-to-ship interface s
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