Free Dragonsdawn by Anne McCaffrey Page A

today’s horde.”
    As the first arrivals, the Hanrahans got their choice of seats, and Sorka suggested that they take the last row so they would be the first out. It was almost agonizing to have to wait until everyone else was strapped in and the drop begun. Excitement almost strangled Sorka. She was disappointed that the forward screen was malfunctioning, because then she did not know exactly when the shuttle left its bay. And a display would have given her something to distract her from the shuttle’s vibrations. She looked anxiously at her parents, but they had their eyes closed. Brian looked as bug-eyed as she felt, but she would not give him the satisfaction of appearing scared. Then, suddenly, she remembered Sean Connell, hiding in the garden, and forced herself to imagine Spacer Yvonne Yves leading an exciting mission to a mysterious planet.
    And then they were there. The retros pushed her back into her padded seat, nearly depriving her of breath, and the shuttle bumped lightly as its landing gear made contact.
    “We’ve landed! We made it!” she cried.
    “Don’t sound so surprised, lovey!” her father said with a laugh, and reached over to give her knee a pat.
    “Can we eat when we get out?” Brian asked petulantly. Someone up front chuckled.
    Sorka heard the
whoosh
as the passenger hatch was cracked. Then the two pilots appeared at the top of the aisle and gave the order to disembark. A blast of sunlight and fresh air streamed into the spacecraft, and Sorka felt her heart give an extra thump of gladness.
    Laughing, her father flipped open her safety belt and urged her to move. But a moment of nervousness held her back.
    “Go on, you little goose,” Red said, grinning to let her know that he understood her hesitation.
    “Hey, Sorka, you can leave now,” Sallah called.
    Sorka’s legs were a bit wobbly as she stood. “I’m heavy again,” she exclaimed. Full weight was a new sensation after the half gravity of the
Yoko
. At the exit, she stopped, awed by her first glimpse of Pern, a vast panorama of the grassy plateau, with its knobs of funny bluish bushes and the green-blue sky.
    “Don’t block the exit, dear,” said a woman who was standing outside by the ramp.
    Sorka hastily obeyed, though how she got down the ramp with so much looking around to do, she never knew. The ground cover was subtly different from grass on the farm. The bushes were more blue than green, and had funny-shaped leaves, like the put-together geometric shapes of a toy she had played with as a toddler.
    “Look, Daddy, clouds! Just like home!” she cried, excitedly pointing to the sky.
    Her father laughed and, with an arm about her shoulders, moved her forward with him.
    “Maybe they followed us, Sorka,” he said kindly, smiling broadly. Sorka knew that he was just as excited as she was to be landing on Pern at last.
    Sorka threw her head back to the fresh breeze which rippled across the plateau. It smelled of marvelous things, new and exciting. She wanted to dance, free once more under a sky, without ceiling or walls to constrict her.
    “Are you Hanrahan or Jepson?” the woman asked, a recorder in her hand.
    “Hanrahan,” Red replied. “Mairi, Peter, Sorka, and Brian.”
    “Welcome to Pern,” she said, smiling graciously before she made a tick on her sheet. “You’re House Fourteen on Asian Square. Here’s your map. All the important facilities are clearly marked. Now, if you’ll just lend a hand to unload and clear the shuttle . . .” She handed him a sheet, gestured toward the float that was backing up to the open cargo hatch, then moved on to the Jepsons, who had just emerged.
    “We made it, Mairi love,” Red said, embracing his wife. Sorka was surprised to see tears in her parents’ eyes.
    There was more to be unloaded than just the personal luggage of the passengers. Cartons of stores still had to be checked off the supercargo’s lists.
    “Tell the dispatcher that more furnishings are required,”