It was midafternoon on a calm preharvest day when the child's cry was heard throughout the campground.
"SPACESHIP!"
The children rushed from their cabins and tents to see the rare sight, with the adults soon following them. The glint of reflected light slowly became a gleaming silver pigeon that swooped rings around the settlement in a slow descent before landing somewhere beyond the cornfields, beyond the hills.
The childrens' awe was not reflected in the faces of the adults. One man spoke his mind for all of them.
"Oh, God, no."
An optimist placed the situation in a better light. "At least there is only one... so far. It might even be ours, although we... we never had anything like that." She could only hope.
Scene: Cabin
Inside one of the larger cabins, a bearded young man led a small group in weaving reeds. The products of previous sessions, a few baskets and a skirt, lay around a room that also contained woodworking tools, an anvil, and a fireplace. The craftsman himself wore a woven object of his own making, a square reed mat that hung from his neck by a leather strap and was decorated by columns of feathers and knotted strings of seashells.
A twelve-year-old boy was not really into it. "Why don’t we just go into town again? The old clothes keep us warmer than anything we’ve made."
The lead craftsman explained that there was a greater purpose to this activity. "The old clothes will eventually run out and wear out. It won’t be in your time, but maybe in your grandchildrens’ time. By then, everyone will have forgotten how things are made if we do not make the effort to remember."
The man and woman who had seen the spaceship opened the cabin door and entered. The male witness spoke directly to the leader of the weaving session. "We are having a meeting. Immediately."
Scene: Dining Hall
Two other adults had joined these three around the campground dining hall. The male witness repeated the group’s decision. "So. We are going to send… her."
"We have to," accepted the female witness.
Scene: Teepee
Set on a field away from the main campground was an amateurly constructed cone of long sticks that formed a simple shelter.
A two-seat hovercraft slowed down and settled to the ground outside. It was driven by the craftsman, and the female witness was his passenger. They looked like children inside the craft, which had been built for users that were a few feet taller than the average human adult.
The two stepped out of the craft and walked towards the shelter’s entrance. "Jill?" the woman spoke. "Are you in there?"
Jill was curled up in the floor inside the shelter, wearing a full dress of woven reeds. A pair of sandals lay beside her. Behind her head, something large and rectangular was covered by a blanket and a pillow was propped against it.
The woman spoke again. "It’s Sandra and Chris. Could you come out?"
Scene: Landing point
The oval ship's two tails had descended to a horizontal alignment when the speedy hovercraft drew near. A man was standing on a ramp at what might have been the rear of the ship.
The hovercraft's pilot, Jill, reported in on her radio. "I'm at the ship. There's one person here, a human. At least, he looks human." The passenger in the seat beside her was her large gun.
The response was quick. "What does he want?"
"I'll find out." Jill drove onward toward the ship. As she got closer, she could see that the visitor was a middle-aged man wearing casual pre-strike clothing. Most clothes that old were worn to rags by now, but this visitor's clothes were in excellent condition. Jill's own dress was woven from grasses and reeds during one of Chris’s crafting sessions.
At the ramp, Mick spoke to someone still inside the ship. "She's supposed to be in a village around here. It shouldn't be too hard to find. We'll just head up to the top of a hill and look around. Someone has to have a fire going."
Mick's companion walked down the ramp in hard leather boots. She wore the armor of a medieval soldier, with iron leggings and an iron chestplate covered by a sleeveless waist-length cloth drape with a green-and-white diamond pattern, and a well-worn cape that had originally been a creamy white color. Strands of blonde hair escaped from her gold-trimmed, open-faced helmet. She carried a sword in a scabbard at her side. Her equipment was very worn and had clearly been in many battles. She was a head's height shorter than Mick was, which became clearer to see as she stepped down the ramp towards him.
The armored woman spoke to Mick in a concerned voice. "I have no power here either. I maybe not be able to protect you."
They were interrupted by Jill's voice calling to them from the hovercraft. "Hello there!"
The startled Mick turned around to see his guest. He looked at her through his scanner, then pulled the apparatus away to reveal his full face. His smile grew wider. "Jill! It's you! I've found you already and you aren't shooting at us! This is great!"
Jill hefted her heavy gun as she stepped down out of the hovercraft. She held the bulky weapon in both hands, pointing it away to the side while she addressed the strangers. "Who are you and how do you know my name?"
Mick smiled again, "Ah, that's a long story. You can call me Mick. Seeing as how that's my name, it wouldn't make sense to call me anything else unless you didn't like me." He chuckled.
Jill was not sure how to react. She glanced at Mick's companion, who met her eyes and raised a hand to salute her. "Good day, Miss Ross."
Jill reflexively answered. "Hi. um..." She stammered in her confusion and then shouted in a demanding voice. "How do you people know my name?"
"Oh," Mick explained, "I'll get to it. The short version is that I travel from world to world and we heard about your story. We'd like to make a deal with you and your village." He introduced the armored woman next to him. "This here is Tia. You might consider her another 'anomaly', not quite like yourself but she's had similar things done to her. Tia, go ahead and introduce yourself."
'Tia' stepped to the side of the ramp and spoke confidently. "My name is Celestia van Rijndael. It is a pleasure to meet you."
Jill fumbled her response. "I'm... Jill Ross but you already know that."
Celestia nodded understandingly and smiled. "Formalities are worth maintaining for their own sake."
"Thank you." Jill was not quite sure what Celestia had said but she appreciated the accepting tone of voice.
Mick clasped his hands. "So, I'm here on business. Let's make a deal."
Scene: Dining hall
Jill attempted to explain the offer to the leaders of the survivor camp. "He wants me to fight this… bounty hunter in outer space, someone very powerful who he says is as strong as I am."
One of the leaders responded. "And he offers us food?"
Jill lifted a large sack and tossed it onto the table. The table shifted a bit as it landed. "He says this is seed grain. He says that the crops grown with it will produce viable seed and not die off. I was not aware that that was something we needed to be concerned about, but he said that there are other dealers that are not as reputable. There are more sacks on the hovercraft outside."
Another leader nodded approvingly. "Our next harvest could feed everyone for five years."
Chris, the craftsman, was not so convinced that was a good thing. "If people know that we have this to fall back on, they will not put the effort into farming. And when it runs out..."
Jill continued. "He has some books on math, simple mechanics, nuclear power. He can provide us tools and equipment so we don’t have to scavenge for them. We can start civilization over again."
Scene: Landing point
A small crowd of about twenty villagers had gathered. Jill drove the hovercraft to the ship, turned off the engine, and stepped out, carrying her large gun.
Mick stood at the bottom of the ramp to greet Jill. "Hey! Glad you're on board. Come on up and I'll show you around the ship." He patted her on the back as she walked up the ramp. A tear rolled down her cheek as she understood that she might not be coming back.
Celestia noticed that Jill was crying. "May I assist you with anything?"
Jill hesitated to say anything. "Please tell me that this will turn out all right."
Mick answered enthusiastically. "Oh, it's going to be fine! Everything is gonna go great!"
Celestia was cautious but confident. "I cannot make promises, but I will do what I can to see that all goes well."
Jill felt better at hearing that. "Thank you."
The ship's ramp rose up. A minute later, Mick's voice boomed over a loudspeaker to the assembled villagers. "Could you all stand back a bit further? Further. Keep going. Alright, stay there."
They heard Jill's voice next. "I love you all, and I hope to be back soon."
A slightly annoyed Mick complained. "Hey, I thought I told you not to touch anything."
Some said the ship simply vanished, while others swore they saw it rise into the sky at an unimaginable rate of speed.
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