Of Fire and Night - Kevin J. Anderson [99]
"I hope we don't have to eat furry crickets," Orli said with a grimace.
"Don't kid yourself. We'll find something just as nasty here."
Soldiers stood around the transportal. Military barracks surrounded the alien ruins containing the stone trapezoid, as if to prevent colonists from making a break for the transportal and slipping away. That wasn't a good sign.
A group of people came forward to greet them. Most wore strange costumes, garishly embroidered or adorned with colorful scarves, quite different from the plain but serviceable jumpsuits she was familiar with from Dremen or Corribus. And with many more pockets.
"Never expected to see so many Roamers here," Steinman said.
Orli soon got the impression that she and the Crenna refugees were the only ones actually happy to be on Llaro. It turned out the Roamers were prisoners of war rounded up during various EDF raids, and they were naturally frustrated and miserable. The original settlers resented having their promised land turned into a POW camp, and the EDF personnel felt stuck in an isolated outpost babysitting a bunch of colonists. Nobody liked it here.
But Orli and the people from Crenna had no place else to go.
The leader of the Roamer detainees, a potbellied man named Roberto Clarin, crossed his arms over his chest, trying to make his displeasure as plain as possible. "Shizz, this is more of their stupid plan to integrate us into Hansa society. The Big Goose thinks that if we're satisfied with this place, we'll just forget everything they did to us."
Thinking of her own struggles, how many new starts and setbacks she and her father had faced, Orli studied the Roamer man. "No one can make you forget the bad things that happen, mister. But you've got to move ahead. Otherwise, the memories are like quicksand."
Clarin looked down at the girl and chuckled. "By the Guiding Star, I hope all the newbies are like you, kid."
After passing through the transportal, the fresh arrivals inventoried their sacks of clothes and keepsakes, Hansa-issued tools, packages of favorite foods, souvenirs they had salvaged from their world before it had frozen over. Orli clutched her satchel, feeling the flexible bulk of the cheap music synthesizers.
The whole gathering soon became a swap meet. The Roamers and first settlers were eager to see what new items the Crenna refugees had brought. Introductions were made all around, and Orli's mind quickly blurred with the dizzying names and clans and connections.
Before long, everyone pitched in to erect prefab structures as temporary homes for the Crenna settlers. Orli wondered whether she might have a small hut to herself, or be adopted by one of the colonist families. She wasn't sure what she wanted. She wasn't really a child anymore. Not really.
Mayor Ruis, representing the people of Crenna, met with the Roamers and the council head of the original settlers. "I promise we'll do everything possible to make ourselves self-sufficient." With an infectious grin, he turned to a tall, quiet man with dark brown skin. "We've got plenty of expertise among us, so we won't be a drain. We can get through anything together. Right, Davlin?"
The other man answered with a thin smile that wrinkled a crosshatching of scars on his left cheek. "Yes, we do have a considerable ability to solve problems." He lowered his voice to Ruis, though Orli could still hear what he said. "But we'd better think of a new name for me, Mayor, if I'm going to stay here with you. I'd rather the Chairman doesn't find out that I'm still alive."
58
CHAIRMAN BASIL WENCESLAS
Accompanied by Deputy Cain, Basil rode a shuttle up to the battered Juggernaut that General Lanyan had liberated from the Soldier compies. He studied notes on his datapad, ignoring the pilot's announcement that they would be aboard the Goliath in