A fourteen year old boy walks out of the rainforest with a bundle of firewood for tonights meal. Wearing a white shirt, light blue shorts, a cap with the Blue Sun logo on it, and bear, muddy feet, he struggles with his load to the village. Primitive looking, the village is made up of makeshift cottages and tents, with one landed trans-U spaceship, from which the settlers arrived from, serving as a townhall and a circular arranged rocks for bonfires. Within the village, people go about doing there chores and businesses. The boy stops by a water pump where his friend is pumping water. "How's it going Minh? Working hard or hardly working?" Chi Minh looked up. Of Vietnamese descent, he was thirteen years old, with a brown shirt, camouflage shorts, a tan cowboy hat, and a pair of brown sandals. "Working hard until I was interupted by you Ten Bear, but now I'm hardly working." Jonas Ten Bear, of Cherokee descent, scoffed. "Yeah, cause staring at Maria across the field is really hard work." Minh grinned. "No, it's just looking at something pretty while working hard." He nodded at the wood. "And hauling those must be back-breaking." "Nope. Just feet-breaking," Ten Bear retorted while showing his left foot. A slightly swollen area with two bite marks on them were position near the toes. Minh shuddered. "You should've worn shoes." "I did. That snake chewed right through it." "So now you go barefoot after that?" Ten Bear put his foot back down. "I like the feel of the soft, wet mud on it. It helped the swelling. Especially when it is hot. I swear the farther we are from the core, the hotter it gets." Minh nodded in agreement. "The people who engineered this planet wanted it to be hard on us. But that makes us tough." bending down and picking up the buckets he added, "Let's go before it's noon. Then it will be really hot." The two friends walked to the villages, talking about whatever teenagers talk about in the 'verse. They were nearing their destination when Minh said, "Look over there." Ten Bear glanced over and saw Tommy Gunpowder talking to Rabbi Benjamin at the Rabbi's cottage. Both were of European descent. Ten Bear looked back at Minh. "So." Minh rolled his eyes. "So? The criminal is talking to the most religious man in the whole of the planet and the most respected person is talking to the most low-lifed scumbag in the whole of the planet. Why?" Ten Bear looked back at the Rabbi and the convict. That did seem weird. "I don't know. Let's go ask them." When they reached the house, Tommy Gunpowder turn and left quickly. Rabbi Ben was about to do the same, but spotted the two boys. With a smile he said, "Wonderful day isn't?" Putting down the buckets of water Minh replied, "Yeah smokin' glamous. What was Old Tom talking to you about?" The Rabbi frowned. "Thats none of your business. It's between him and me." "I pretty sure we have the right to ask a question. Whether or not you answer it is your business and Tommy's. Since you won't maybe he will," Ten Bear Pointed out, putting down his bunble of wood. As Ten Bear predicted, the Rabbi wouldn't want two young souls to be corrupted by a convict. Checking to see that no one would notice, Benjamen ushered the boys into his cottaged and closed the door. Pulling out the Old Testament he asked, "Do you two swear to not reveal to anyone what I'm about to tell you until I allow it?" Placing their right hands on the book they said, "We swear." Relaxing slightly, the Rabbi spoked. "Mr. Gunpowder just informed me that an Alliance Carrier has appeared outside our atmosphere." Surprised and shocked the two boys were about to open their mouths to ask questions when Rabbi shushed them. "I don't know why they here, but I'm going to ride to Daves Docks in a couple of hours to find some answers. I don't want to cause a panic so don't tell a soul okay? Now go!" Pushed outside, the two were stunned to say anything until they saw the wood and water and picked them up. "You two get get in trouble again?" The boys looked at Maria Cortez, the very attractive, thirteen year old Mexican daughter of the rancher. Minh's ears began to turn red. Not trusting him to talk, Ten Bear answered "No just taking our wood and water to the Townhall." The boys started walking away. "Townhall is back that way." The boys stopped, looked at her, looked at each other, and then looked to where she was pointing. "Oh, right. We knew that," and walked to the right direction. When outside hearing ranged, Minh asked in a low whisper, "What would the Alliance find about this place so important to send a Carrier over here?" * * * Unknown to both of them, in the Alliance Carrier, Colonel Meria Book was asking the same thing.