We get to ride a dragon! Yes, leathers look more glamorous than a space suit.
Saska had wondered if she would be able to sleep after the travelling and explanations, but she woke suddenly when a dragon bugled, another answered, and she sat up in bed and stared around the room.
Her box had been delivered not long after she had arrived, so after washing and changing, she had had an evening meal with the dragon riders and their partners, seated at the top table with the Weyrleader and Weyrwoman, trying to satisfy them about Terrvert. If the two colonies were different, people were not, she had decided, and they shared a common liking of music and dance, although this was a lot more free style than Terrvert, the tables being pushed to one side, instruments produced, and an impromptu party starting.
Saska had excused herself during the partying, and come back to her quarters and gone to bed, her head whirling with impressions, but now she was awake and rested and ready for the day. She had had no real chance to examine the room the night before, and was pleased her brief impression of comfortable utility was confirmed by daylight. The bed with a deep mattress and lightweight bedding including a colourful woven cover, a wardrobe, a small desk, and plain curtains at the window were the only things in it, but that would be sufficient for her needs since she hoped to be out and about in the Weyr.
The guest quarters were in a two storey building with its own kitchen and dining area, she had been told, and she made her way to the kitchen to make a meal, only to find a cook already there.
"Oh - you're awake - they said to let you sleep in."
"I think someone arrived?"
"Yes, they did. You heard the watch dragon, I expect? What would you like to eat? Hot? Cold? Klah?"
"Are there any other guests?"
"I'm expecting a party of six Harpers in a few days, but they won't bother you much. Was your room all right? Comfortable? Who escorted you last night?"
"I found my own way, thanks. I had keys."
The woman stared at her, and then at the dishes in her hands.
"Oh. I wondered - K'var's been on about you for days - "
Saska managed to keep her smile impersonal as she ate and drank, whilst the woman, who had not introduced herself, clattered in the background. Saska wondered what she was going to do, what she had agreed to do. Her contract stated she was to investigate the biological state of the Dragons of Pern with particular relevance to their travel on and off their home world.
"Is there a record room in the Weyr?" Saska asked when she had tidied her own place, only to have the dishes almost snatched out of her hands.
"Records are kept at Harper Hall."
"Surely not! Surely you have your own records here?"
"You'd best ask the Weyrwoman about that."
"I most certainly will," Saska answered with a pleasant smile, and went to fetch her notator and briefcase.
Coming out onto the street Saska heard the soft whoosh of wings, and looked up to see a wing of dragons going out over the ocean. She stared, transfixed, at the sight of so many dragons, and the way their colours flashed in iridescence in the sunlight.
"Doctor Freeman?"
Saska looked around, blinking away the afterimages of having stared up into a blue sky and a yellow sun. The boy Vorodin was standing watching her.
"Weyrlingmaster K'var said I was to look after you, be your runner, explain anything."
"Very kind of him. I'd like to consult your records, please."
Vorodin frowned.
"Records?"
"You must have lists of dragons past and present? Their illnesses or wounds? Things like that?"
"Oh yes, the Weyrwoman keeps those. This way."
Saska followed the boy across the square to the large building. That must be the Admin headquarters, she thought, and made a mental image of the square and its buildings.
- you could fly with those images
who is that?
- Lateth, the big man's dragon
yes, I had realised K'var is the big man Laroth said was so excited
- no one from your world has ever spoken to dragons before
because they didn't recognise the sounds
"Doctor Freeman? Are you all right?"
Saska blinked back into awareness.
"I'm fine."
"There's the Weyrwoman. You can call for me if you need me, I'll be in classes."
Saska thanked him and crossed the path to the Admin building where Myryn was waiting.
"Wyeneth said you were coming. Who were you talking to?"
"Lateth."
"Can you hear every dragon at Respite?"
"I don't know. I've not tried to make any conversations, only to answer when a dragon speaks to me."
"That's probably the best way to start. What can I help you with?"
She showed Saska the records, the meticulous hand written records and the brief computer notes, and Saska thought ruefully that she would need some time to assimilate the information about generations of dragons written here.
"K'var said you had a contract with the High Council, to investigate illnesses?" Myryn asked. "We deal with our own, here, we rarely bother Healer Hall."
"The brief I have is to look at the biological drift of dragon genetics," Saska replied. "In other words, how the dragons are changing and evolving from the chromosomal modifications Kitty Ping formulated."
"Changing? Dragons don't change much from generation to generation."
"They're smaller," Saska said bluntly. "I know that just from studying the Weyr on Benden. The dragons of the Ninth Pass were the biggest, the full fruition of Kitty Ping's work, so I've been told. Since then, the dragons have been getting smaller again."
Myryn frowned at her.
"I hope the High Council isn't going to interfere with the Weyrs," she said at last. "We are autonomous. Respite looks to Fort Weyr on the Northern Continent as the leader of the Weyrs."
"My work has nothing to do with who is boss," Saska replied. "I have a brief, and I hope to be able to fulfil it."
"Who's paying you?"
"The High Council of Pern."
Myryn gave an annoyed snort and left the room, and Saska fetched out her equipment and began scanning the hand written ledgers, turning the pages methodically and storing the information. The Weyr might have some technology, but she would make a bet they had nothing as sophisticated as the pieces she had brought with her.
At midmorning the boy Vorodin came into the room and looked at the record books.
"Weyrlingmaster K'var said to fetch you for a meal, Doctor. What's a doctor?"
"In my case, someone who studies science."
"Is it like a Healer or a Harper?"
"I don't know that there is an equivalent. Let me put this in my case."
She stowed her own equipment and put the case over her shoulder and followed the youth out of the building, blinking at the strong sunlight. The Admin building had most of its large windows on the south side, she realised, leaving those rooms in shadow for most of the day.
"Did you find what you were looking for?" Vorodin asked.
"Not yet, but I'm sure I'll find a pattern somewhere in those records."
Vorodin led her across to the main dining hall again, and brought her to K'var's table, held her chair for her and then went to join the scrum of boys and girls at the bottom tables.
"You've been keeping yourself busy?" K'var asked.
"Yes, now I've been shown the records of the Weyr."
"You can ask for transport to any other Weyr, and to Healer or Harper Hall," K'var said as he passed the dish of meat and tubers to her. Saska put a small portion on her plate, accepted the jug of sauce, and passed it on.
"Have you had to take anti-toxin pills?" K'var asked unexpectedly.
Saska stared at him, and then grinned.
"Not this time around. I'm sure being on Benden for so long has immunised me to most nasties."
"What's it like there?" someone asked. "H'mel, rider of brown Vorenth."
"The sun is red," Saska replied. "That the most distinctive feature, that the sun is what's called a red dwarf, and although it's very old, it's stable enough for the colony to exist, mostly under domes, but my parents are working on food plants to grow in the open."
"A - red dwarf - I never heard of that one!"
"There's all kinds of stars, you must be able to see different coloured ones in Pern's skies?"
"Yes. But red - isn't a colour we're fond of, in stars."
"Oh I see. Yes, of course, but that was a planetoid, rather than a star."
"Quite enough for us, though, in the early days," H'mel said. "You seem to know a lot about Pern?"
"It's taught in all the history classes, how Terrvert developed, and then Contact, and the history of Pern." Saska replied, refusing another serving of the main meal, and asking for a drink of water, seeing everyone else was drinking klah.
"What about before the colonies? G'tor, rider of bronze Balith."
"We know much the same as you do, I suspect. That there were disastrous interstellar wars, and our two sets of colonists struck out on their own to make new lives for themselves."
"Is there anything left? Of Old Earth?"
Saska paused and thought about that, remembering such speculation at Uni.
"I don't know. I don't know if anyone would know."
"Could a dragon go there?"
"To Old Earth? Only if you had an impeccable map, or a means of stopping off at regular intervals. I doubt if you could go there directly, from either of the home colonies, Pern or Terrvert."
"Told you so," someone else muttered, and K'var made a shushing motion, but Saska turned to the rider who had spoken.
"Why would you want to?" she asked bluntly. "Why would you invite them here?"
"They wouldn't want to come, would they?"
"It depends what state Old Earth is in," she replied. "If it still exists in any viable form after all this time, and if they still regard us as colonies, they might want to impose taxes and sanctions."
"Are there factions on Terrvert that want to find Old Earth?"
"No," Saska replied bluntly. "It's not something that's actively promulgated, and in fact you can get into a lot of trouble if you suggest it. With the network of colonies Terrvert and Pern are making between them, I should think there's more than enough adventure for anyone, without venturing into such a huge unknown."
K'var nodded.
"That's been much the thinking since the dragon-ships were first made," he said. "Let Old Earth get on with its own life, and leave us alone, if they even remember who we are and where we are."
G'tor shrugged as he shovelled more food onto his plate and called for more klah.
"If you want to look around the Weyr, I can give you transport and company this afternoon," K'var suggested, and Saska willingly agreed to that as she left the table with him.
"Don't be put off by their questions," K'var said as he brought her to the stores rooms. "They're curious, and now the dragon-ships go interplanetary, why not think of Old Earth?"
"It's not allowed on Terrvert," Saska replied. "That's one of the few really hard and fast rules across all the colonies and stations. We have what we have, and that's all."
K'var held up various leather jackets and trousers against her, and asked her to try some on, telling her she could keep the set she found most comfortable.
"For flying between, you can use that ingenious suit," he explained. "But for little jaunts around the Weyr and holdings, the leathers should keep you warm enough, even if the air is thin."
"Thanks. Is there farmland all around the Weyr?"
"Yes, to the east and west. The nearer coves are settled as well."
He led her to Lateth who wore a double harness, and extended a forearm for Saska to climb into place and strap in, tucking her hair into the helmet K'var had found for her.
"We'll go up and hover for a while, let you see the lie of the land," K'var said. "Lateth tells me you project the most perfect pictures, better than most weyrlings even after training."
"Thanks. I've been told I have a good visual memory - it helps in exams."
"What are exams? Oh - examinations - like the tests we put the weyrlings through?"
"Something like that, yes. Weyrlings and their riders have to learn visual points, I suppose, to be able to go from one place to another? How do the dragon-ships operate?"
"On much the same principle," K'var said as Lateth hovered over the Weyr, his wings beating strongly, their strength and power conveyed to Saska through her legs and body. "The focal points are learned, and reinforced at each visit. They're maintained by a crew so that they don't vary, much like the Star Stones on the old Weyrs on the Northern Continent, and that at Southern Weyr. The Star Stones aren't used to frame the Red Star any more, of course, but they're still useful orienting marks for weyrlings."
He fell silent as Lateth banked and wheeled to his left, flying along the coastline to allow Saska to see and appreciate the diversity of holdings, the houses, the fields, even the flower gardens in some places. Grain grew in some fields, dark green leaved plants in others, and there were animals as well.
"What's that silvery wire fence?" she asked, pointing down. Lateth spilled wind from his wings and went into a shallow dive along the fence.
"That's powered by those solar panels," K'var explained. "Even all these Turns after colonisation of the Southern Continent, there are still pockets of wild felines ready and willing to take an animal or two. Wild wherries can be a problem as well, diving in and taking a young animal if they can. Mostly, a flash of firestone chases them off."
"Firestone? The dragons still use firestone?"
"No. Not any more."
Saska wondered if that was regret or anger in his voice.
- there is no thread to flame, so we do not learn to chew firestone
do you want to?
- it might be fun to try
Saska shook her head and looked where K'var pointed, to the small installation where he told her firestone was ignited if wherries were in the area, producing smoke and a small flame and a satisfactory noise to chase them away.
"What did you use on Benden World?"
"Electricity as you do," Saska admitted. "Both the AIVAS must have been programmed with that basic necessity. There are some nasty predators on Benden World, and on Terrvert Two, there's a particularly venomous swarming creature, rising in population, swarming, and then dying back."
"So it isn't all sweetness and light in those worlds?"
Saska laughed.
"Far from it! Oh - are you going to land?"
"This is one of our favourite spots by this small lake - I've relatives farming in a small way here, and I think you'd like to meet them."
Saska agreed to that, and they glided down to an open field where Lateth landed.
"The hay's in," K'var observed. "Are you sunning yourself here, Lateth?"
Saska heard the dragon give an affirmative and stretch himself out on the sun warmed ground, as she and K'var went to meet the people coming out of the house to greet them. Not dragon riders, she reminded herself, but the backbone of Pern, farmers and cultivators working the land at a much lower agrarian level than Terrvert.