Free Footsteps in the Sky by Greg Keyes Page A

not in keeping with. …”
    â€œKewa,” Hoku interrupted softly. “This is very important. A short time ago, a craft of some sort emerged from one of the orbiting ships. Do you understand? Another one of them—perhaps more than one—is coming down here. Now I want you to make all information regarding this creature available to my personal staff. This does not represent a precedent, but a singular occurrence. Good?”
    Kewa regarded him for a long moment.
    â€œThis could be rendered moot,” she finally suggested, “If I were a member of the immediate contact team.”
    So. Hoku steepled his fingers before his face to hide his expression.
    â€œKewa, loyalty is my chief concern, now. Loyalty and security. As a member of the Tech Society, you have other allegiances.”
    â€œAllegiance comes in layers, Mother-Father, each layer subordinate to the one above it. I can see my duties in this light quite clearly.”
    Hoku uttered a calculated chuckle, devoid of any real humor. “You really want to meet one of these monsters, don’t you?”
    â€œThat’s very true.”
    Hoku inclined his head. “Come up to my offices. And I still want those files. Don’t try to barter with them; you’ve convinced me.”
    â€œThank you, Mother-Father.” Kewa vanished, leaving the cube a sullen, lightless brown.
    Hoku shook his head in self-admiration. Let Kewa think this subversion of the biology chief was her victory rather than his own plan. People who thought they were making their own clever decisions were better help than those who felt coerced. That much he had learned from the Old Woman, when she was manipulating him so.
    Hoku was still musing over this, planning his next, careful steps, when the cube pinged for his attention.
    â€œGo ahead,” he said.
    â€œMother-Father. The craft has entered the atmosphere and begun its descent. The flyers are on standby, ready to go.”
    â€œHave you calculated its trajectory?”
    â€œIt will land on the plateau, not far from where the last one did, unless it deviates significantly.”
    Hoku was already out of his chair, reaching for his coat.
    â€œI’m on my way. Check the weapons once more and get me a sidearm. Also, Kewalacheoma Hoye will be joining us. See that she is properly outfitted but not armed.”
    â€œYes, Mother Father. Which craft should she ride in?”
    â€œPut her in mine. And Kaya—keep an eye on the mesas. I don’t want any of the traditionals nosing around. I have gone to great lengths to keep this from them.”
    â€œOkay.”
    Very great lengths indeed, he thought, and then put that out of his mind. For the second time in his life, Hoku went to greet the unknown. He reveled in it.

Chapter Five
    â€œNo,” was all that Sand could manage.
    â€œNo” meant a lot of things. No, there could not be something alive in the tiny ship. No, it could not be her dead mother. No, she couldn’t be losing her mind. No, the world could not be this different from what she thought it was. No, no, no.
    It also meant no, get away from me, let me think, damn it. But the ghost—or Kachina spirit—of her mother kept coming towards her, slowly, tentatively. But she was coming, dressed in an ugly robe of blue material (the same material as the parachute, one lonely, reasoning part of her mind noted for later reference). And her mother looked young, stripped of hard years.
    â€œNo!” Sand gasped again, and then she ran. She ran as if her own spine were the enemy, feet thuttering at the dusty crater floor. There was nothing in her brain to prevent this, nothing between her fear and her feet.
    Breathless moments and maybe half a kilometer later, she tripped on a cyan barrel, some relative of the whiskyberry. Her knees and palms slapped against the earth, but she scrambled back up despite the bruising impact. Sand ran twenty more paces before she turned