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Jorja and Beth putstu put on the harnesses and managed to pull the pod free of the tree. Jorja set to work, taking apart the crushed nose casing, trying to determine what needed repair or replacement. Beth wanted to take the hot spacesuit off Greta. She had already stripped off her hot coveralls and was now dressed like Jorja, in just a t-shirt, bra, and panties.
Slowly, the night gave way to dawn. Beth had managed to get the spacesuit and coveralls off Greta. Now she wore a t-shirt and panties. No bra. Showoff, Beth thought. Greta still had not awakened. Beth scanned her head again, looking for anything she might have missed, but found nothing new. She had better equipment aboard the ship that might give her a clue.
She looked up as Jorja approached. The engineer looked dejected. "What's the story?"
"It's junk. The outer skin is cracked, which means we need a titanium welder to get it space-worthy again."
"Shit." There was no such equipment on board the Letanya due to weight considerations.
"You got that right."
They sat dejectedly for a few minutes.
Greta groaned. The two women froze and turned toward her. Beth was beside the commander in a flash. "Greta? Commander?"
Greta opened her eyes and squinted against the dawn light. "Ouch." She turned away. Beth let her shadow fall over her.
"Here, have some water." Beth let a little trickle into her mouth. Greta coughed but drank it down. "Do you remember what happened?"
Greta shook her head, then groaned from the pain that caused. "No. Am I on the ship?"
"No. We're still on the planet's surface. We need to get you back."
The commander opened her eyes. "We landed?"
"Yes."
"How did we get here? Who flew the pod?"
"You did." Beth looked over at Jorja, worry etched on her face. "You did a good job, but you hit your head when we landed."
"I flew?" Greta was groggy. "I landed?" She clearly had no recollection of anything that had happened since they left the Letanya. "Help me sit up."
"That's not a good idea, commander. You have a bad concussion. You need to rest."
Greta didn't argue, which told Beth a lot about the woman's head injury. It wasn't like her to accept advice, even from her doctor. In another few minutes, she had passed out again.
"Well, I guess we'd better call and give the bad news."
"Yeah. The captain isn't going to like it." Beth wet a cloth and placed it on Greta's head.
"Shit!"
Beth looked up at Jorja, surprised to hear the sudden exclamation from the normally cool and calm engineer. Jorja was looking off to Beth's left. She turned her head and was so surprised, she sat down suddenly on her haunches, the breath forced out of her.
There was a humanoid standing between the trees, about forty feet away, watching them. He seemed as shocked as they were. He was a big man, easily six-foot-six. Beth guessed he weighed 275 pounds. Back home, he'd be a football player nicknamed "Lumpy" or "Bubba." Like the holographic image they had seen, he wore only a loincloth. Animal skins covered his feet. His chest was hairy, his legs and arms less so.
Lumpy grunted something the women could not understand. His thick brow furrowed. He took a step forward, grunted again, and made a sweeping gesture with his arm.
Beth caught a movement out of the corner of her eye and turned to see Jorja pulling her phaser from the pile of discarded coveralls. "Jorja," she warned.
"I'd say this constitutes an emergency, wouldn't you?"
Perhaps, she thought. But stunning one of them will probably just make things worse. "I don't think that's going to help."
"Well, I'm not going to be murdered, either. Get on the radio and call for the pod. I don't think we should wait for nightfall anymore."
Beth nodded. She stood slowly and backed away. The creature just stared at her, as if trying to figure out who these strange beings were. He took another step toward them, and Jorja raised her pistol. "Don't come any closer," she warned.
The humanoid stopped, as if confused by Jorja's strange words.
Beth found the radio and called the ship. "Eagle One, calling Letanya, Eagle One, calling Letanya!" She fought panic. They were in deep trouble. They faced a Hobson's choice, and no matter how it turned out, they would have still violated the Prime Directive. "Hunter is going to run us out of NASA," she said aloud without realizing it.
"Eagle One, this is Letanya, go ahead."
"Captain, we've got a situation here."
Then all hell broke loose. The humanoid took another step toward Jorja, who pointed the weapon and seemed ready to fire when, suddenly, she cried out, and the pistol fell from her hand. Beth looked over and saw a second humanoid, just as tall but more slender, stepping out from the trees to Jorja's right. He held something in his hand. What the hell? They aren't supposed to have sophisticated weapons!
"Go ahead, Eagle One."
Beth raised the radio, and the humanoid flicked his arm. A rock struck her fingers, knocking the radio from her hand. "Ow! Shit!" She danced around, holding her fingers. Jorja dove for her pistol, and the creature flicked another rock, striking her on the head. She collapsed.
"Eagle One, come in."
Beth dropped down and crawled to the coveralls, trying to uncover her phase pistol. The humanoids were closing in on her. Greta sat up, confused. She looked around and saw their attackers, but it didn't seem to register. "Who are you?" she said.
"Eagle One, please come in. Eagle One."
Beth's hand grasped the pistol. She brought it up, aimed at the rock-throwing man, and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. With sudden horror, Beth realized she had picked up Greta's phaser by mistake. Before she could find her weapon, the slender man ran up and backhanded her across the head. She fell, dazed.
"Eagle One, come in!"