The reply from Field Ops came with instructions and sooner than they expected. Mitigation actions would begin immediately, and MO-126 and Tam would play a major part. The report received from the team sent to Tallie’s village confirmed that the primitives there did have boats, and it also revealed that they were building a larger one to go down the river to search for her. This, combined with the activities in the village that MO-126 and Tam were at, presented a situation considered potentially detrimental to the project. The Mark Seven Project Manager devised a multistep plan to minimize the harm.
By this time, sunset fast approached, and the sounds of people repairing storm damage dwindled. Humans instinctively fear the dark and gather together in the comforting light of a fire or retreat to their huts when the day is done. On their home planet, this instinct held survival value because they were often the prey of nighttime predators that possessed far better senses than they did. Here, those predators did not exist, and the native ones large enough to consider a fully grown human as a likely meal did not find them tasty enough to bother. Their biochemistry proved different enough to make them virtually indigestible. Nonetheless, the instinct remained, and the villagers returned to their homes.
Tam and his four-legged partner needed to accomplish one more mission before they settled in for the night.
Emrie’s hut was typical of those in this village, a rectangular stone building with a dirt floor and a thatched roof. The door of rough-hewn planks, hinged on one side by strips of tough gond leather, was closed. Tam knocked.
“Master Trader Tam,” Emrie greeted him. “Are you here to talk with Tallie again, the poor thing? I still can’t understand much of what she says, but she seems very sad.”
“I have some news that may help with that,” Tam said.
Tallie looked up expectantly from a jump disc board resting on a table between two stools. Judging by the number and position of the pieces, she was winning.
“Hello, Tallie,” Tam said in her language. “How are you feeling?”
She returned a frail smile. “Like I’ve been dragged down a river, but I’m getting better. Emrie and her people have been very kind to me.”
“Do you think you’ll be able to travel tomorrow?”
Field Ops determined that returning Tallie to her people represented the best of the bad options open to them. There was a risk that she might have noticed the new wheel technology being developed here and spread the idea to her village, but if she did not return soon, her people would attempt to look for her. That effort would lead them to learn more about boats, river navigation, and the land around them. They might anyway, but the PM wanted to delay such things as long as possible. Returning their lost villager to them might do that.
“Travel? You mean, home? Back to my village?” she said, her voice rising with excitement.
Tam nodded. “Yes. Except for my travel gear, everything I had on my pack animal will be staying here. You can ride on it, and I can bring you back to your people.”
That was not exactly the plan, but it was close enough. She did not need to know the logistical details. It would be impossible for her to understand them.
“Do you know where it is? My village? Can we just follow the river?”
“No,” Tam said. “That way may not be safe. Many wild animals come to drink at the river.” He possessed a talent for making true and completely misleading statements. All of the trade androids did. “But I do know a safer way. If you’re feeling up to it, we can leave in the morning.”