"There's no ill wind that doesn't blow some good, is there," Nimisha said, rising and stretching the tension out of her shoulders before she embraced her daughter. "Better now than during the necklacing." when jon saw the stricken look on the girl's face, he added hurriedly, "they're dawn or dusk attackers, lady cuiva. Your ceremony's safely scheduled for noon." "So my birthday fireworks were a little early," cuiva said and, though her voice was a little shaky, she managed a fairly humorous grin.

"Attagirl!" jon grinned approvingly at her.

"Do you have any more surprises like this on your erehwon?" caleb asked in a dry tone.

"None quite as dangerous as those," jon said. "As Nimisha mentioned, we haven't had a raid in a while. Either they saw you landing and thought to catch us off guard.

"If they're clever enough to think of such a thing," Nimisha put in.

"Which I doubt," jon replied. "They should have got the message that now we've got ships, the cliff batteries and enough ammunition to keep hammering them until they leave, that maybe they should give up." "Or," and Nimisha didn't like to voice the suspicion, "they've called in reinforcements from the other continents and that means they're more intelligent than we've suspected." "Fiver's helm wishes me to inform you that the number of avian casualties are the largest so far on record," reported the five b helm.

"I can't say I'd be sorry if the species does commit mass suicide ," Nimisha said. "Oh, I shouldn't say such things, love," she added when she saw the stricken look on cuiva's face. "But those monsters killed so many of the pootheg's crew." "My deepest apologies, captain svangel," cuiva said with formal but sincere remorse. I had no idea you had suffered any casualties from those dreadful creatures." "How were you to know, lady cuiva?" jon said kindly.

"Briefly, are there any other predators of that ferocity that we have to guard against while we're on-planet?" caleb asked.

"There's a smaller continent," jon said, "that has some very large grazers that can be dangerous if something stampedes them but we tend to stay clear of their herds whenever possible. The smaller grazers are easily frightened and very fast in making strategic retreats. We haven't seen any of the slime slugs on this continent..

"Which is just as well," Nimisha said with a grateful sigh.

"Plenty of scavengers, usually small and ground burrowers that are attracted by the smell of blood. In fact, I suspect they're already at work on this morning's carnage," and jon gestured to the hills from which the last attack had come and then the distant area beyond the repeller screen, "cleaning up the ... remains.

Lakes and rivers, other than the ones we have seined out and made safe here at clifftown and the five sh'im towns, are not suitable for bathing. I'd warn your crew, sir. We have domesticated deer-like creatures to use as a farm and draft animal and the sh'im are trying other types that might be stronger for such things hing to get some as hauling heavy loads." "Sir--' kendra oscony, ian hadley, and nazim were all trying to get through the hatch at the same time. Kendra, being the slimmest, slid in sideways, saluted. "Reporting for duty." "Good of you, xo," caleb said, "but I'm given to understand that the natural ... denizens of the planet will remove the ... remnants of the recent air attack." "They will?" hadley asked, his eyes wide. "Some of those--2'

He cleared his throat hastily and rephrased what he had been about to say. "-monsters are the biggest things I've ever seen alive." jon explained about the scavengers, and caleb issued the warnings with the advice to pass them on until he could post the notice as well as vids of the indigenous wildlife.

"Those sh'im are dead shots," hadley said, shaking his head in approval.

"with only three digits to work with, too, on controls built for five," nazim said.

"I gather you had a chance to become acquainted with our allies ?" jon asked, grinning.

"Hell's bells--sorry, ma'am," ian interrupted himself with a grimace at his rough speech. "Before your com message reached us, we'd been tackled and sat on, so we couldn't make a dash back here to assist." "Whoever was flying that gig is some pilot," kendra said approvingly.

"Globan escorias, formerly of the acclarke," jon said.

"Escorias has a reputation for being a clever pilot," kendra said with a grin. "Then who was manning your fiver, ma'am?" "Please address me as Nimisha, kendra," she said firmly, and kendra made a grimace of apology. "Helm handles the fiver's offensive." "And the five b's, as well," caleb said, forestalling kendra's next question.

"Sort of makes gunners redundant, doesn't it?" hadley said with dismay.

"Only if you're shy of personnel, ian," Nimisha said. "We need marksmen when we hunt for food here on erchwon, so if that's an interest of yours and your commander has no objections, I'm certain you can join a hunt." "Young tim tells me he leads them," ian said, still slightly miffed.

"Young tim?" cuiva asked.

"Syrona's ten-year-old," jon said. "He's our resident language specialist." "He was displaying his skill during the raid," kendra said, grinning. "And taught us a few words and when to nod and when to shake our heads," she added with feeling.

"That's where cherry is," ian hadley said. "She's got units she'll want to adapt but she's vowel deep in the sounds the sh'im make. You never mentioned their size or their three fingers "there's a lot we haven't had time to mention," Nimisha said, thinking of the other surprises in store for her daughter.

I think lady cuiva's feeling a bit faint, lady Nimisha," perdimia began.

Even as Nimisha rushed to help get cuiva to the nearest chair, she added, "Nimisha, please, perdimia. And cuiva. We don't have my dam to scowl at us for dispensing with formalities.

Sometimes we've precious little time to worry about protocol on erehwon. Cater, what's cuiva to have next?" "Broth and it's ready." "oh. Would you get it please, perdimia?" "Is it just dizziness?" caleb asked, anxiously.

"I'm fine, really I am," cuiva replied, but the hand she tried to use to dismiss her problem was noticeably shaking.

"What do you expect, overloading the girl with so much excitement barely out of sleep?" doc said. "Cater's put the necessary additives to the broth." "Perhaps if you took her to the relative quiet of the fiver," caleb suggested.

Nimisha and jon exchanged guilty glances. "Relative quiet" with young triplets depended entirely on their whimsical feeding times.

"Casper's?" jon suggested and immediately cancelled that idea.

No, hope and the twins will be there." "What's the matter with the fiver? It's only a step away. I'll carry her," caleb began.

"Let's let her drink the broth first, shall we?" Nimisha said brightly.

"She can stay here, of course," caleb said, "but we thought you'd like her with you." kendra cleared her throat. "I think that perhaps there are others staying in the fiver?" she managed to avoid direct eye contact with Nimisha by striding over to the dispenser and asking for two coffees. She brought one back to hand to caleb, who absently thanked her.

"Yes," Nimisha said, still not quite having the moral courage to deal cuiva yet another shock, "that's right, kendra." low-" "we have children," jon said bluntly. "We had no way of knowing how long any rescue mission might take," he went on, addressing cuiva more than the others.

"Understandable," caleb remarked amiably. "First duty of the marooned explorer is to survive." Nimisha was relieved at how well caleb reacted to the initial announcement. If only he doesn't fault jon when the full truth is known.

"It is one reason exploratory crews are mixed," jon added, carefully choosing his words and still looking straight at cuiva.

"You mean, I have a brother or sister?" cuiva asked.

"Not slow on the uptake, is she?" kendra remarked drily.

"Twins, in fact," jon said very brightly. "They run in my family.

I'm a twin." "Oh, mother, if you knew how I yearned for siblings ... " cuiva had recovered sufficiently to hug her mother enthusiastically. "Boys or girls?" she asked jon.

"Actually, both." he cleared his throat, and rattled on, trying to get to the critical part-the recent arrival of the triplets. "Tim was the only child who survived our initial attempt to increase the human population. There was a pretty nasty fever we couldn't seem to reduce with what medicines we had left. just before Nimisha arrived syrona got pregnant with hope, who's four now. Then syrie had twins, too." "She did?" cuiva replied, blinking.

Caleb was beginning to wonder at the curious recital of erehwon genesis, but all cuiva heard was the last.

"Twins?" she exclaimed, her eyes round, "mother, you had twins?" Nimisha gave a nervous laugh.

"Two sets of twins did much to increase the esteem in which the sh'im hold us humans," jon continued laboriously.

"More than your ability to destroy those avians?" caleb asked, more confused than surprised. "And erect repeller shields?"

"I think it's a species sort of thing," Nimisha put in. "Sh'im females start breeding at two years, have two to three offspring every year for the next ten." "But we're humans," caleb said in objection.

Kendra cocked her head and then ducked away, grinning.

"Oh, please, mother,"could I meet our twins right away? How old are they?" cuiva asked eagerly.

"I'd say about three years," kendra said. "They were with dr. Qualta and valina kelly when the attack started. Your sister resembles lady Rezalla. Don't know who the boy looks like." "Then will you kindly tell me exactly what's bothering the pair of you?" caleb asked in a command tone. "You've acted with common sense and practicality, considering your situation." "What bothers us-" jon began again, and stopped.

"Is that our doc"-Nimisha rushed in with the rest of the explanation-"is of the opinion that there's some element in the soil of this planet that encourages fertility. Grazers and even the boks have multiple births, too." "So who's on the fiver?" cuiva asked.

Triplets," Nimisha said and pointed a finger at jon and then at herself. "We've named them tionel, tyrone, and teresa." cuiva stared, shocked, for a long moment at her mother, gulped and then burst out laughing. "So I'm big sister to five brothers and 7 sisters?" "I'm afraid you are, dear heart, but don't for an instant think that diminishes my love for you, my firstborn and body-heir." cuiva embraced her mother so tightly that Nimisha gave a little squeak. "Of course not, mother mine. Only we'll have to figure a way to keep such news from lady Rezalla. She'd be appalled!" the tension that had been growing during that drawn-out recital evaporated in laughter and congratulations.

I must say, mother, you have certainly provided me with a spectacular birthday," cuiva said, standing and urging her mother to her feet. I must see them. I really must." she turned to the doc.

"And don't you dare deny me." "Joy is a far greater stimulant than any I could give you, young cuiva."

Chapter 12.

>> to suggest that the rest of that auspicious birthday was anticlimactic would be inaccurate. Once the skiff and gig had returned, caleb ordered that the five b's stored gig and the disassembled shuttle be put into service as quickly as possible. However, the pootheg gig, piloted by an eager nazim, would accommodate quite a few, if they didn't mind a little crowding on the short hop to the broken bird. Ool and ook indicated that they would be guides for a tour of their ancient vessel. There was space to accommodate the senior officers of the five b: caleb, kendra, chief engineer hadley, and tim to act as interpreter. The officers were fascinated and frustrated at the number of sections of the crushed ship that couldn't be accessed.

"The sh'im don't know much about the ship really, sirs," tim said. "Jon thinks it came down about a hundred and fifty of our years ago, and the sh'im life span is only about thirty, so it's dim, dark history to them." "would they mind me poking about?" hadley asked, seconded by nazim.

Tim made the request. "No, not since you arrived in such a fine ship with no marks on it at all." he grinned.

I gather they came through the wormhole," caleb said, "but the ship doesn't appear capable of making a surface landing. Not the right design." I got into one of the cargo holds, commander. They did have landing craft, but they're all messed up. And, sir," tim went on, grinning with mischief, "don't tell 'em you didn't come through the wormhole. They were real impressed with the fiver having only a few scratches. Since there're none on the five b, it'll raise you in their eyes if they think you did even better." "Good point, tim," caleb said while the others grinned.

"Think cherry'll be able to sort out her translators, ian?" "She won't have any trouble, captain," tim said. I showed her a lot already, so she could get right to work." they had reached the gig and now went aboard.

"I'd like to see more," caleb said, taking the seat beside nazim and peering out the wide front screen at the sun-parched landscape "but I think we'd better return to the settlement and file an initial report." "Yeah, there's a lot to be done," tim said with a grin. "But your being here is the best. Of course, you wouldn't be here if the necklacing wasn't to be done, would you?" "Not entirely, tim. We came to rescue Nimisha once we knew where to find her. However, the necklacing is an event we have looked forward to now for a long time," caleb remarked. Then he and the others took the short trip up and over the cliff, observing the battery installations where busy sh'im were servicing the tubes, and down to the landing strip. "I see that the gig is missing." I think globan promised to take cherry and mareena to see the avian corpses," tim said. "They're xeno and biologist, aren't they? That's what they told me during the raid. Right now's a very good time for them to record the scavengers." he gestured directly east and then to the north where most of the avian corpses would be.

When they landed and disembarked, tim said something to the dark-coats, who shook their heads.

"If you'll excuse us now, sir," he said. "They've got to go, too." the dark-coats, shading their eyes, bowed formally to the humans and set off at a good pace beside tim, heading for the settlement. That there was great activity was obvious by comings and goings and the construction of some sort of a circular edifice, being garlanded by colorful summer foliage and blossoms.

"That's a nice ]ad," hadley said. "Not at all self-conscious and certainly knowledgeable." "Makes a nice change from the kids in the restrictive upbringing in some of our planetary societies," kendra remarked.

"I'd say that the most amazing aspect is that the four of them survived as long as they did," caleb said. "I'll want to learn more of their history. Later. Right now, we have reports to make." as soon as the officers had left on their tour of the sh'im wreck, Nimisha escorted cuiva to the fiver. Jon accompanied them, and perdimia followed a short step behind, carrying the long coskanito necklace case and the dress box.

"See the scrapes, cuiva dear." Nimisha pointed to the marring on the port side. "Helm kept damage to a minimum." "Quite a feat, as you'll be able to appreciate," jon said, "when you see the condition of the other wrecks on erehwon." "So we came the safer way," cuiva said, not quite concealing an eager nervousness. "This is a very pretty valley," she added, glancing beyond the landing field and its hangar to the sh'im cliff and its settlements. "Is that large house over there where your friends live?" she asked.

"Yes, thanks to the prefab units in the freighter pod we found----' "you found, nim," ]on corrected her.

She rolled her eyes at his qualification. "All of us," she began in a starchy tone, "were extraordinarily lucky that so much of its cargo had been destined for a colony. We could use everything there was." "Weren't there any survivors?" cuiva asked softly.

"None we ever found," Nimisha said gently, patting her daughter's arm. "We think it originated in the second diaspora, so it's quite old. I don't know how they managed to fly such a crate, much less expect it to reach its destination. Which it didn't. Oh, dear," she added, for muted howls could plainly be heard through the open hatch.

"They're in good voice today," jon said with a chuckle as Nimisha hurried up the stairs ahead of them.

"They're hungry," Nimisha explained in a slightly apologetic tone. "Ah, food is on the way," she added as a sh'im female, clasping three feeding bottles to her furry chest, made her way from cater to the first cabin. The sh'im shook her head at Nimisha and kicked the half-closed door open. Nimisha caught sight of tezza ashke inside the room, jiggling tyrone, who was always loudest when hungry, his face contorted and red with outrage.

With an inaudible mutter, perdimia pushed past the others and hurried into the room, closing the door on all the hungry voices.

"That's good of her," jon said with a sigh of appreciation.

"Do you think she might take over? Or is that outside of her expertise cuiva?" "I suspect not, considering the alacrity with which she reacted ," Nimisha said, grinning and turned to look at her daughter.

"As I'm now fourteen, if not yet necklaced, and I'm certainly not anywhere near lady vescuya or lord vestrin, I don't think I need a bodyguard anymore." cuiva caught and held jon's eyes.

"Not with both your mother and me to be sure of your safe keeping ," jon said with a courtly bow.

"Thank you, jon," cuiva said with gentle dignity. "I'll need to know a lot more about this world. Before I went into cold sleep, caleb explained that, once we found you," cuiva put her fingers firmly around her mother's arm, "he never doubted we would, you know." Nimisha nodded. "Even when we got here. -."nowhere'-" cuiva giggled while the other two grinned at her amusement. "-he said we'd have to send a pulse-which they have managed to speed up by another giggle-"three months and then wait for its answer. Because what happens next depends on what's been found here. And you certainly have found a lot. All exciting, too!" "Tomorrow your mother and I demand the honor of showing you around, lady cuiva," jon said with a wink at Nimisha.

"But it's been an exciting morning, young lady, and if I may be so bold as to interrupt your reunion, I think a short nap might be advisable," doc said.

I was about to suggest one," Nimisha said, "but we could use another snack. Cater, have you something savory on hand?

This morning's raid shorted me on breakfast." "I do, lady Nimisha, and helm has informed me of lady cuiva's special needs. May I welcome you to erehwon, ma'am?" "I'm very glad to be here, I assure you, cater, and happier to be awake again. But mother," cuiva said, turning appealingly to Nimisha "how long do I have to eat that awful stuff?" I have prepared a broth and toast, lady cuiva," cater said with bright encouragement.

"I'll leave you, then, since you have perdimia to help now. I've got some checking to do." jon bent to kiss Nimisha's cheek, gave her daughter a quick bow and a grin, and then strode away.

Cuiva waited only until she could no longer hear his footsteps and then she smiled joyfully at her mother. "Kendra will be so relieved mother." "Ah, I thought that was the way the wind blows," Nimisha said.

"She's nice, and a very good mathematician. I learned a lot from her." "I'm told you qualified as a junior officer. And signed off very high in all the specialties." Nimisha gave cuiva a big hug for her achievement.

Cuiva flushed. "Well, I had to learn all I could if we were to find you, my mother, so I thought learning about astronomy, mathematics physics, and all that might prove useful." "Which it still can, since it would appear that we're stuck here for at least two years-unless they've also made significant changes in how to speed up pulse messages. Now eat, my pet," Nimisha said.

"Then can I meet my siblings?" cuiva asked, looking over her shoulder at the closed cabin door.

"Yes, and then you may all have a morning nap." when casper and syrona got back to their quarters, they found neat packages awaiting them.

"Now that's real thoughtful," casper said as he saw the tropicalweight dress whites. Since the hat was on top, he settled it to his head at the proper angle. "Someone's clever at guessing sizes." "That tunic's a new cut," syrona said. She fingered the material. "Much lighter, too. You won't know you're wearing it." she held up trousers that had a crease almost sharp enough to cut a hand. "I guess I've got the same," she said with a sigh. She and Nimisha had fashioned a very elegant sarong-length skirt and sleeveless top for the necklacing. Nimisha could design clothing as well as spaceships.

"We can change once the ceremony's over, but we are navy," casper said, appreciating her reluctance after spending so much time making the special outfit.

"Are we, casper? Still?" "Until otherwise notified." then he added, in quite a different tone of voice, "I don't know about you, syrie, but I'd hate to have to leave here. We've made such progress, and there's so much I want to see done." "Me, too," she agreed softly, turning away to open her parcel.

"Well, at least we won't swelter," she said, tilting her uniform hat at civilian angle on her head. "I'll have to do something with my hair after all." she'd let it grow long and usually wore it in a braid.

"Braid it up, like you used to. I'd hate to see you cut your hair, dear. But I sure need a trim if I'm to be correct in uniform again," casper said, regarding himself in a mirror that had been retrieved from the pootheg.

Syrona was doing that for him when tim burst in, full of his successful escort duty "chief engineer ian wants to see as much as he can of the broken bird and the freighter and that ancient wreck that Nimisha found and nazim's one o'olio of a pilot. Ook and ool said so. With two gigs, the skiff, and two fivers, can we do more exploring now, huh?" "I shouldn't be at all surprised," casper said, grinning at tim's ebullience.

Hey, casper, looks good," tim added, then frowned as he peered into the open parcels. "Don't I get new clothes, too?" "You will also notice that these are uniforms, and ten is too young even to be a cadet," syrona said with mock severity. "You'll be a lot cooler in the clothes I made you than we will come noontime. We'll be changing out of uniform as soon as we can, I assure you. Now go shower. You've got rust on your legs and arms again.

Showing off in the broken bird, were you? You be sure to put antiseptic on any cuts under all that dirt, hear me?" she listened for acquiescence delivered in a disgusted tone of voice.

Then she ran one hand over the smooth fabric of the dress whites until casper, changing into his uniform, noticed her apathy.

"What's the matter, syrie? You're not annoyed by the whites, are you? I think it was a damned nice gesture so we wouldn't have to wear the only proper attire we have left." syrie sank on to the end of the bed, her face at once sad and angry.

"When I think of what we went through ... never knowing ...