Chapter 33: First Contact

This time, the trip to the Alpha Centauri system took a mere nine hours. I had already decided that we should first upload the data from the school and study it for a while. It proved to be interesting as we understood it much more easily. Their history lessons indicated that they knew of their origins and now abhorred the thought of armed conflict. It gave some small measure of confidence in what we were about to attempt.

The next decision to be made was where to land. Our observations of the planet had suggested that their largest town was their capital and that the largest dwelling housed one of their leaders. Moreover the enclosed grounds that encompassed the dwelling gave us a suitable landing area for our shuttle. Hollis, Chubb and I had an early night so that we could make a landing before dawn on the following morning.

As we descended, I realized that the landing spot I had chosen was occupied by what I took to be a hen run. Sliding slightly further away from the house I landed the shuttle quietly and gently. We then sat back and waited for someone to appear and take notice of us. Soon after sun up, a door opened and a young woman appeared. She was wearing what looked like a beige tunic over a sage green top. She wore wooden clogs on her bare feet.

She came down the steps and crossed to the run. I was surprised and a little irked, that she took no notice of us ... After spreading some grain around on the ground and letting out the birds, she returned to the house.

About ten minutes later, the door opened again and a gray haired man emerged. He was wearing a dark brown tunic which was shorter than the young woman's. It was open showing that he was wearing a maroon shirt and dark brown bell-bottom trousers.

He paused on the back deck, before descending and crossing over to examine the exterior of the shuttle. The tinted windows ensured that it would be difficult for him to see us inside, I opened the door at the rear of the shuttle, and I approached him.

Speaking in Centauran, I greeted him with, "Good morning."

"Good morning ... er ... Who are you, and what are you doing here?"

"We are explorers," I replied, "and we wanted to meet you."

"Where are you from?"

"A world that's around another star."

"Are you from the world we came from?"

"No. We came from a star much further away."

"Then how do you know my language?"

"We have been to these stars before. We landed on the world you came from. We found books in your language and found that you had left your world. We found you here and studied you. We then went home to tell others what we had found and to study your words. Now, we have returned to meet you."

"Did you come all this way in such a small vessel?"

"No. this is one of the several small vessels carried by a larger one. It is still up there," I pointed to the sky.

"Have you eaten this morning?" he asked.

"No," I replied. "We wanted to come in the dark so that our coming down would not frighten anyone."

"How many of you are in this machine?"

"I have two companions."

"Then please bring them into the house for a first meal."

I called to Phyllis and Chubby to join us, and the man led us into his house. We passed an open kitchen door which gave us a view that a Victorian would have found familiar. We were led into a dining room where the tables and chairs bore tool marks betraying their manually made origin.

"I must apologize," the man said, "I did not introduce myself. I am called Kah."

"We have two or more names," I replied, "a personal name and a family name. May I ask if that is the same with your people?"

"Yes, it is, but it is usual not to give a family name. Its origin betrays on which side your family was in the last war on the homeworld. We are usually known by our personal name and in many cases by a name acquired during your life."

"In that case, I am called Bill," I replied.

"Phyllis."

"Tom," said Chubby. I had never known his first name before.