While they waited for Captain Marshall's group, Tolen and the others submitted with amusement to scans and questions from the science contingent. Ethan, on orders, kept a close eye on what their people were doing, and saying, while Colonel Patterson and the others kept watchful eyes on the perimeter.

"I just don't understand what the issue is," Lydia was saying as she hooked up her scanner to download into their mobile unit.

"The issue is trust," Ethan replied, keeping his voice low. "We don't know these people, and they don't know us. Right now, that's the closest thing we have to a level playing field."

"Level playing field?" She huffed. "You talk like we're at war or something. Look at these readings, Ethan. These people are human. Slight variations in body temperature, organ size, and eye development, but other than that, they're human."

"And who do you think we've battled with since the dawn of time?"

Lydia stared at him.

"Humans," Ethan replied. "Not once in all of history have we fought with, or gone to war against, anything other than fellow humans."

"We crashed here!" She retorted in a slightly hushed tone. "What's the harm in explaining to them that we didn't mean to come, and we can't leave?"

"You honestly don't see the harm in that?" Ethan looked intently at Lydia. He knew she couldn’t possibly be this ignorant. She probably just wanted someone to be angry with. Someone she could blame if everything went to hell and blood started pouring.

Well, he was used to that role.

"You're putting our human values onto these strangers," Lydia replied. "They're aliens. This is a new world. What makes you think they're going to have the same suspicious or react with violence, just because you can envision it yourself?"

"Because you just told me they're human," Ethan replied. "And I've had a lot of experience with humans in the past." He gave her one final look, then turned and strode purposefully to the edge of their small camp.

Their friends weren't accustomed to the white lights, and found them far too painfully bright to look at, preferring their own small hand held torches that held a flame without burning through the wood holding them.

Tolen was explaining to Colonel Patterson how the wood was tipped with a cloth soaked in oils, that burn with strong orange light but little heat. The wood itself was protected from burning by more rags, soaked in a solution that prevented fire.

Ethan passed by the pair and continued out into the darkness, where Eferia and two other men were chatting with Stake about the rodents that ate the flowers.

"They call these things mera," Stake informed Ethan proudly. He turned to Eferia. "That's right, mera?"

She nodded, smiling. "Yes, that is correct. They are harmless creatures, very friendly, and good at keeping watch."

"Keeping watch? They alert you to dangers?" Ethan asked.

Pleased with his new information, Stake was offering one of the small creatures a flower stalk.

"Yes. They can sense approaching beasts and will run away," she explained. "If you see mera running in fear, you become aware."

"We saw a beast in the forest, on our way here," Ethan said. He held out a hand. "About this tall, with long, sharp fangs. It attacked our group, and we had to kill it."

Eferia's eyes widened. "You saw only one?"

"Yes, only one."

"You were lucky." She turned to the two men with her and spoke in a native language, eliciting surprised reactions and awed looks directed at Ethan. "They are called beasts because they hunt all animals. Those that are friendly are given names, and a place of honor. Those who would kill us, or the other creatures, are beasts." She explained. "But those beasts never hunt alone. The one you saw must have been ill, or dying."

Ethan laughed shortly and glanced at Stake. "If that was one of them ill or dying, I'm not anxious to meet a healthy one. Let alone a pack."

Eferia looked confused. "Pack? I do not know this word."

"Pack," Ethan explained. "Herd, group. When several beasts stay together and hunt."

"Ah," She nodded. "Pack. My Starlight is not as good as some."

"Your Starlight is remarkably good, considering," Ethan replied. "Not everyone speaks it, though. Why is that?"

"It is an ancient language, very old and dusty." Eferia started walking, making a slow circuit around the group as she explained. "Many many ancestors ago, they learned Starlight, and used it during the time of dying. But now, with the gray area nearly a generation old, few of the villages keep the language. One member of each family must learn, and in the gray they all speak it, much better than I do."

Ethan was taking it all in, trying to fill in some blanks that were most likely simple language issues. He and Eferia were making a slow circle, walking casually around those still being scanned or excitedly interviewed.

"Tolen mentioned that before, that time of dying," Ethan said casually. "What does it mean?"

"What does it mean?" Eferia glanced at him as they walked. "You must have a better word, one that I do not know."

"Perhaps if you described it to me," Ethan offered.

Eferia stopped walking and knelt down, pushing some grass out of the way until the dirt was exposed. With a finger, she drew a stick figure, then a line, then another stick figure. "You see, when one people discovered the other people," she pointed to each figure in turn. "They began to fight. It came naturally, that the two peoples should fight, but there were so many of them that it took generations. Many generations. Since the beginning of the two peoples."

Ethan nodded, his jaw clenching in reaction. "We call that war," he said. "When two peoples try to end each other, it's called a war."

"War." Eferia tried out the word. "Yes, war." She turned back to her drawing. "Only in our time," she touched her chest. "In my time, has the . . . war, come to an ending. Now we have two peoples, and the gray."

"You've been at war for generations?"

"Yes, all generations, until my time."

Ethan sat back, balancing on his heels. "And now you're two peoples have come to a truce? Is that the gray?"

"The gray is our half. Where our peoples go to half, and to be halved." She brought her hands together and intertwined her fingers. "Only in half, can our peoples become whole."

He nodded. "So you have a neutral area, this gray area, where your peoples can come together in peace? Do they trade with each other? Is there a council or group who make your rules?"

"Oh, yes," Eferia nodded. She stood and waited for Ethan to stand, then started walking again. "In the gray is where you take a dispute. Those who live in the gray have been taken out from the peoples, so they can not sit in judgment of their own."

"Is the gray far from here?"

"Not far. Tolen will take you there, after your people have rested in the village."

They passed by the camp and both mobile units, then circled around the large boulder. As they moved within earshot of Lydia and another scientist, Eferia leaned in a bit and lowered her voice.

"Why do you not allow them weapons?"

Ethan looked at Lydia. "They're scientists. They don't carry weapons, which is why the rest of us do."

Eferia looked slightly bemused. "We remove weapons only from the mad. Those who would do harm to themselves. Even in the gray, they are wise enough not to shoot themselves."

Ethan laughed.

It wasn't terribly diplomatic of him, and drew a bemused look from Eferia and a glance from Colonel Patterson as they walked by, but it felt too good to be embarrassed by.

"I do not understand," Eferia said when Ethan had stopped laughing. "Did I say a joke?"

"No, not intentionally," Ethan replied as he regained his composure. "Those others, the ones without the weapons, probably would shoot themselves, but not because they're mad." He'd keyed his mic so the colonel could hear his explanation. "Although I admit, I don't always understand them."

"I see." Eferia smiled. "Then we shall look after them, as well."

Ethan heard the colonel's soft chuckle over the com.

________________

It took the better part of eight hours to get Captain Marshall's group there, then bring them all up to speed while Tolen and his four Starlight-speaking colleagues offered Greetings from Earth to as many people as they could manage to meet personally.

Everyone was exhausted, but too excited to mention it to anyone who mattered, so word was spread that they'd be moving out. Colonel Patterson ordered the entire group to stay together, with Marines and armed Navy guards all around, while Tolen and his people led the way across the grasslands, toward the pass in the hills they'd been walking toward.

"So, they've been at war, you say?"

Colonel Patterson and Ethan were walking in the front of the group, just behind their new hosts. Torches had been passed around the group, offering up enough light to see by, but interfering with the night vision to the point of making them useless.

Ethan clipped his headset onto the back of his belt. "It seems that way," he replied. "From what I think Eferia was telling me, her people and another people have been at war as long as anyone can remember. Only now, some time in her childhood, they've reached a peace accord, and now this neutral area they call the gray serves as their law giving community."

"The gray." Patterson took a breath. "I don't suppose there's any chance it's on the light side of this world?"

"I got that impression," Ethan replied. "But she didn't say as much. In fact, with their eyes as light-sensitive as they are, I doubt they venture far into the light side."

"So there could be another group on the other side, in the light?"

"The other peoples," Ethan agreed. "It's a good assumption."

"But you didn't ask?"

"Not outright, no."

Colonel Patterson grunted. "Just as well. You're making friends, Griff. I want you to keep it up. Seems to me you stand the best chance of learning the truth without getting us all slaughtered."

Ethan glanced over his shoulder, toward Lydia and her group. "It would have been easier before Captain Marshall's group joined up."

"I've had a talk with Marshall, and Ellis. They know the score," the colonel replied.

Ethan was about to add his opinions of Eferia's views toward the fauna of her world, when then darkness suddenly erupted with shouts.

Both Marines raised their weapons. Colonel Patterson raised a fist, stopping the group in their tracks.

Ahead of them, Ethan saw Tolen point out over the grassland to their left. He turned, squinting in the dark, and saw movement.

Too much movement.

Eferia rushed toward him, pointing. "Beasts! A herd of them! They'll attack the center!"

Colonel Patterson began barking orders, but Ethan was already running.

He ran back along the line of Marines and civilians for several yards, then turned and headed out into the dark, rushing toward the beasts that were charging straight at them. To his left, Marines rushed out, guns ready. To his right, Tolen's people kept up, shouting and brandishing their weapons.

Then he saw them.

Not a herd, exactly. At least he wouldn't have used that word to describe what was attacking them through the tall grasses.

It was the beast from the forest. Not that one, exactly, but over one hundred of his closest relatives.

Ethan stopped several yards ahead of the charging animals and knelt, while the Marines fell into a line parallel to him. To his surprise, Eferia and her people did the same, spreading out to form a protective line of defense, kneeling down to provide a harder target for the beasts.

"Lights!" Ethan ordered as he flicked on the rifle's bright beam. "Fire!"

With the combination of bright lights, explosive firepower and screaming beasts, the air erupted into a deafening battlefield.

There were fangs and flashes of white teeth coming at them through the darkness, and energy bullets ripping through the grasses. The front line of creatures dropped quickly, but they kept coming.

Eferia's people fired relentlessly into the mass with deadly accuracy, their weapons making very little noise as they launched sharp arrows that ripped through the creature's tough hide.

Ethan pulled out an empty clip, and Mortar offered cover fire. When he snapped the cartridge in place, one of the creatures launched into the air.

"Cover!"

Mortar fired, but missed, and the beast landed behind Ethan.

"Mine!" He raised the weapon, but the animal continued running toward the group.

With careful aim, he took it down, then had to spin back around to find another target.

They were everywhere, leaping over their dead herd mates without slowing down, charging through the grass in an effort to overwhelm the front lines and attack the huddled masses of their group.

Ethan used his light to anger a beast that had been charging toward Eferia while she reloaded her crossbow.

It screamed, then ducked its head under the beam and charged.

He hit it in the shoulder with an energy bolt, but the creature didn't flinch. Another shot into its chest made the animal stumble, but it continued charging forward.

Ethan stood and took a step forward.

"Come on, you bastard!" he shouted.

The beast leapt toward his face, claws extended.

Ethan fired, hitting it between the eyes, but the animal already had forward momentum, now fueled by its own dead weight.

The body slammed into Ethan full-force, knocking him down.

He heard a tearing sound as he rolled to the side, but the creature didn't flinch.

"Incoming!" Mortar shouted.

Ethan got back up and found more targets, firing at anything that moved among the grasses.

The attack seemed to last for hours, then suddenly it was over. Not one beast had given up, or turned away, not even at the end.

They'd been forced to kill each and every one, and now the grass was stained with the blood and bodies of more beasts than Ethan could count in the dark.

Several minutes of silence went by before Eferia stood and declared the fight over. She spoke to her people, who had begun to gather, while the Marines checked in and drew closer to where Ethan was standing.

She turned to him, smiling widely, and touched his shoulder. "You fought well."

Ethan nodded, feeling slightly out of breath. "And you," he replied. "We're grateful to your people for the help."

Then suddenly they were all there, touching Ethan on the shoulder and moving through the Marines, touching each one on the shoulder with smiles, nods and words they didn't understand.

Colonel Patterson approached, his own rifle still smoking from heavy use. He pointed to the beast on the ground behind the lines.

"Let one slip by you, Griff?"

"Let one fall on top of me, sir," Ethan replied with a shake of his head. "Damn things can really jump through the air."

"Well, I think we can count our lucky stars we only saw one of those in the forest," Patterson quipped. He unclipped his rifle and flicked the cooling unit on. After an instant of steam burst, he slid the weapon around to his back and knelt down for a closer look at the dead animal.

"This one's larger than the first," Ethan noted, easing himself down for a better look. "I'd say a solid two feet taller, and an extra hundred pounds."

"Damn," colonel Patterson whistled appreciatively, then reached out and grabbed Ethan's sleeve. "What he hell, Griff?"

"Huh?" Ethan looked at his forearm. It was covered in blood, he'd assumed from the dead animal that slammed into him as it died.

"You're injured."

Ethan was going to correct the colonel, but his sleeved was pushed up now, revealing a solid gash from his elbow halfway down to his wrist.

The moment he noticed it, the burning started.

"Okay, great," he said with a slight wince. "Must have caught on its claw as it was knocking me over."

"Get a medic to look at this, right now." Colonel Patterson stood, tugging Ethan up by his sleeve.

"Yes, sir."

Just then Tolen approached, smiling widely and shouldering his crossbow. "We must stop here and harvest the meat. Your peoples can rest, this will take many turns."

"Many turns?" Patterson asked.

Tolen pointed up to the stars. "Many turns. Three, perhaps four."

"I'd say their equivalent of hours, sir," Ethan offered.

"Oh, the stars, yes," colonel Patterson nodded. "They turn in the sky here, don't they? Still not used to that." He looked at Tolen. "My people will help, if you like."

"Yes, very good," Tolen nodded, then wandered out among the dead animals.

"Okie dokie," Patterson mumbled after him. He turned to Ethan. "Have Doctor Keller look at that arm. Right now."

"Yes, sir." Ethan clamped a hand over the gash and nodded toward the darkness. "I hope he has a way of lugging all this meat to that village of theirs."

Colonel Patterson grinned, then pulled a long, sharp knife from his belt. "I've read about hunters dressing meat from a kill. Best let Tolen show me how it's done."

Ethan nodded, then turned to walk back to the group while the colonel strode happily out into the carnage with his knife, looking for Tolen.

He couldn't find Doctor Keller, but he was hustled over to an aid station set up next to a mobile unit and handed a compress to cover the wound.

"I can handle this one."

Ethan looked up and saw Lydia approach.

"Doctor Keller is helping out with one of Tolen's men who dislocated a shoulder."

"I'll be fine, it's just a cut."

"Just a cut that needs cleaning," Lydia replied. "Sit down. I do have trained medic experience, you know."

Ethan sighed, then relented and sat down on the cot. "I've only seen you dissect things." He pushed up the sleeve while Lydia gathered some supplies from an open bin.

She glanced back at him, then waved an instrument. "Can you take all that off? The vest, the gun, they're in the way. I'll need to clean your arm."

While he failed to see how his battle vest and weapon were really going to hamper a simple cleaning up of his forearm, Ethan did as he was told. He was really too tired to argue, and didn't feel like fighting with her just now.

With the vest off and the rifle secured, he sat back and held out his arm.

Lydia pushed his sleeve up further, then eased the compress off and examined the wound. "It's not terribly deep, but it should be sealed."

"A claw caught me as one of those things fell," Ethan shrugged. "Like I said, it's really just a scratch."

"It still needs cleaned, and sealed," Lydia replied.

She wouldn't look at him, choosing instead to give the wound more concentration than Ethan felt it should warrant.

"Those things, there were so many of them," she said as she sprayed Ethan's arm with a numbing freeze. "They just kept coming, and coming."

Ethan nodded.

"I mean, animals don't do that, usually." She set the spray can down and picked up a cloth soaked in clean water. "They just kept coming."

"We haven't been around that many animals to say what they would and wouldn't do," Ethan replied.

Lydia was scrubbing the injury with a bit more force than he felt was warranted, but thanks to the cold spray, he really couldn't feel much of anything.

"Earth still had some predators," she continued as she scrubbed, still not looking him in the eye. "We had dogs, and there were still some of the large cat species. And we had historical information."

"You're equating those beats with dogs?" Ethan laughed shortly. "Those things weren't like any dogs I've ever seen."

"But they kept coming," she insisted, finally deeming his wound clean enough to be sealed together. "There were a few hundred of them--"

"Maybe one hundred."

"So many of them, against a thousand of us," she said. "And even when they started dying, the other ones just kept coming. Jumping over the bodies, following the same attack line, not wavering or being frightened away by our weapons."

"They weren't frightened of our friend's weapons, either," Ethan added.

Lydia applied a sealant to both sides of the cut, then pushed the wound closed and held it for several minutes. Finally she looked at Ethan.

"It was terrifying. That's all I'm saying. I thought -- I was sure I could handle this. Studying alien creatures. Their habitats, their patterns, their behavior. I've spent my entire career studying animal science, but I wasn't prepared for that." She found a roll of bandaging material and started to wrap Ethan's arm. "Not that."

"It's a little different when the animals are trying to dissect you, isn't it?"

Lydia shook her head, then sighed. "Maybe I'm just tired."

"Everyone's tired."

"When did you sleep last?"

Ethan blinked at her sudden change of subject.

"I mean, it is evening, isn't it?" She glanced around the camp as if trying to spot something. "Everyone's settling in, it must be evening."

"Does it matter?"

"It does," she replied, suddenly looking at him with a very concerned expression. "Ethan, you look exhausted. I can hear it in your voice, too. We've been on the move now for over twelve hours, and you'd already been awake long before that. Then there was this -- this mess."

Her suggestion must have carried more truth than he realized. Suddenly he could feel the weight of too many hours and too much tension collapsing on top of him. He glanced at his watch, then let out a snort.

"How long since you slept last?" she asked again.

Ethan looked up at the stars, but they were hard to see from under the camp's lighting. "Many, many turns," he said.

A moment later, something cold was pushing against his neck. He heard the hiss and grabbed Lydia's wrist, but it was too late.

"You need rest," she said.

As he glared at her, he felt himself slipping away into sleep.