Wine of the Gods 4: Explorers by Pam Uphoff Page B

dangerous."
     
    ***
     
    Lon found Naomi Haskell in the mapping trailer. "So, have any of the balloons made it across the ocean?"
    Naomi reached to switch channels. "Not as of half an hour ago, but number eight looks like it may actually make it.  . . . ah. Perfect timing, it's almost local dawn. That dark line on the oblique camm is land, we should be crossing it in . . . The balloon's dropped a bit, must have lost some helium . . . about half an hour. And yes it is recording everything." Naomi busied herself with the other balloons, but switched the main screen back to number eight as it approached shore. The sun was just clearing the horizon, lighting the land and sea below the balloon.
    The balloon passed a thousand meters over the sailing ships, over the fortifications on the point, over the good sized city located on the large bay. The balloon was low enough, with good enough magnification to get a top down glimpse of horse drawn wagons in the grid of streets draped over the hills. The two tallest hills sported palaces facing each other across a strip of parkland. A defensive wall around the inner city showed that the city had long outgrown its defenses, and now felt secure enough to not build new walls. City gave way to suburbs, to farmland, to scattered farms among rough terrain, dry scrubby forests and brushy desert, foothills and pine trees and rising ground until the balloon crashed somewhere in the snow capped mountains, this world's equivalent of the Rockies.
    Lon had been glued to the screen for hours, and sat back now, suddenly conscious that he was sweating in the air conditioned trailer, his stomach upset, hands shaking. "Well. I'd better go add this to my report home." He walked out quickly, and sought the privacy of his own quarters.
    He fought off a desire to go fetal under the covers in bed and tried to calm down. The Native's were obviously more numerous in the other hemisphere. Maybe they didn't even need to contact them? Maybe he could order his people to pack up immediately. T hey could be out of here in ten days, when the gate opened. Damn Jackson, taking half his early gates. He shivered, cold now. This world was cheap, a gamble. Not worth the hassle of dealing with the authorities, the Department of Native Affairs. Maybe the company could be persuaded to put this world on the back burner, and they could go on to Twelve-forty.
    Lon shook his head. "We'll just study the world for three more months, then pack up and leave. No further contact needed. No negotiations needed. I'll talk to the scouts about how they are to avoid the natives. And not shoot at them no matter what."
    He took a couple of deep breaths and started writing a report for management. It would go back through the gate in ten days. Or three weeks. God only knew what gates JJ would steal from him. But whenever this report got there, the board of directors was not going to be happy. He stared at the screen. Damn. He was going to have to report this in person. Talk to the Department of Native Affairs. And Nelson had half a month to find something that would make this world worth the hassle of all the paperwork.
    Damn. Damn. Damn.
    At least there wouldn't be a problem communicating with the natives.
    The question of languages nagged at him.
    Lon pulled up Rae Galina's preliminary report on the dimensional split. It was easy to calculate splits from DNA changes. Usually. Of course the more recent the split, the more inaccurate this particular method. Heh. Yes, as he remembered, some species suggested a split thirteen thousand years ago, others a very recent bottleneck at under two thousand. He got up and walked over to the Biology and Medical box. The labs were joint, and the two women experienced at working together. At the moment, Rae was the only one there.
    "Have you heard about the natives?" he asked.
    "Of course. What's on your mind."
    "How about a dimensional spilt thirteen thousand years ago, and an Early Diaspora between one and