Precipice

The group’s other female stepped forward and spoke with quiet contempt. “You’re not the first offworlders we’ve met. Or the second. Or the third.”

Naya glared at the younger woman, who backed away half a step. Looking back at Qui

McLellan folded her arms. “May I ask why?”

“Previous visitors to Golmira left when they learned we had no resources worth exploiting,” Naya said. “Our carbon fuels and fissionable elements are long since depleted. Some aliens came in search of special crystals but found we had none. Others were looking for worlds to colonize, but with so much of our planet covered in ice, and the rest barely arable, we must not be worth the effort it would take to make us habitable.”

Qui

Naya frowned. “I don’t understand.”

McLellan tried to cut her partner off. “Qui

“If you folks are willin’ to trade with offworlders, I’ll tell you who to do business with: the Federation.”

Wrinkles creased Naya’s high forehead. “The what?”

“The United Federation of Planets,” Qui

With a glare and a smile, McLellan replied, “Of course.”

The De

It was to McLellan’s dismay that Naya’s question made Qui

It was the strangest farming village that Qui

The walk from the Rocinanteto the center of the hamlet was short. Along the way they passed patches of grain that sprouted from the gutted foundations of crumbled buildings. Broken chunks of what looked like steel-reinforced concrete had been used to build everything from low property walls to sturdy small homes.

Half of a lone skyscraper jutted up in the middle of the fallen city. Its upper portion had apparently fallen away, but there was no sign of its debris. Qui

Cresting the horizon were the planet’s two moons—one full, the other a waxing crescent. They bathed the pastoral but decidedly post-apocalyptic landscape in a pale blue glow.

Naya, her daughter, and their entourage led Qui

As Bridy and Qui

“Please, sit down,” Naya said, motioning the humans toward the closest chairs at the dining table. “My brothers and nephews will bring us food and drinks momentarily.”

“Thank you,” Bridy said, taking a seat.

Qui

Moments later, a procession of young men carrying plates of food and pitchers of beverages entered through a swinging door. From the kitchen behind them wafted the aroma of cooked meat, pungent spices, and something sweet. A bite of woodsmoke also lingered in the air.

In less than a minute, the long table was covered with food, plates, cutlery, and linens. Qui

He expected the half-dozen men to sit down and join them, but instead Naya’s male kin all retreated back into the kitchen. So that’s how it is here,Qui

After quickly perusing the offerings arrayed before him, Qui

Under the table, Bridy kicked her heel into his shin. He jerked his hand back to his side and whispered to her, “What?”

Her voice was hushed but sharp. “Do you see herreaching for the food?”

At the head of the table, Naya sat with her hands folded in her lap. No drinks had been poured, and no food had been served.

“Sorry,” Qui

He heard the front door open. A steady patter of footsteps followed. Ilka had returned with five other women, all of them adults like Naya. Their hair colors ranged from pale copper to silver, but otherwise they looked much the same as their hostess.

Naya stood as the women fa

“Bridget, Cervantes—allow me to introduce the landgraves of Leuck Shire: Yan Cova, Adeva Oros, Enora Yova, Decin Rokon, and Urova Pren.”

“Hello,” Bridy said.

“A pleasure,” Qui

Gesturing for everyone to sit, Naya said, “Let us eat.”

Qui

For most of the meal, the landgraves spoke only to Bridy Mac. They asked her banal questions: How many worlds had she been to? What was the life expectancy of a human female? Did men on Earth know their place as they did on Golmira? For the sake of satisfying his hunger and staying out of trouble, Qui

He was in the middle of enjoying his dessert, which bore an unca

“The collapse was centuries ago,” Naya said. “Journals from that time spoke often of instabilities and upheavals, but no one thought the end could happen so quickly.”

The landgraves nodded, and Yan said, “Survivors of the collapse spoke of a tipping point. Pollution had been warming the air and the seas for centuries before then, but no one did anything about it.”

Decin continued the story. “Our polar caps and permafrost melted, and the seas began to rise, destroying many of our coastal cities. Then the change in the ocean’s salinity disrupted the deep currents that moved warm water from the equator out to the polar latitudes, and the deep freeze began.”