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were once aquatic beings who had evolved into an amphibious, intelligent civilization. It had been noted that the natives had no objection to their world being colonized. It would be interesting to find out how the ‘Zangian aborigines really felt about offworlders.
    Maybe they would be more friendly than Terrans were. Which meant they wouldn’t spit on the ground when I walked by.
    “Prepare for final approach, Doc,” Dhreen called back through the shuttle’s display.
    Slight turbulence from entering into the upper atmosphere shuddered through the hull of the Bestshot, but I didn’t react to it. I wasn’t afraid. I was a thoracic surgeon, a trained professional. If working as a physician on K-2 proved to be a disaster, I’d survive. Like Dhreen said, I could always open a restaurant.
    I was not going to beg the Oenrallian to jaunt me back, no matter how many knots formed in my stomach. I was much more afraid of what waited for me if I returned to Terra.
    It took an intolerable amount of time for Dhreen to land, dock, and secure the shuttle. I didn’t remember launch taking this long, why all the delay? Once on the ground, requisite procedures dictated full biodecon of the ship, cargo, and both of us before we could step foot on the surface.
    I was at the about-to-scream stage by the time Dhreen reported to Colonial Transport. “Scans are negative.”
    Permission to disembark was given by a transdrone after clearance was confirmed. Thank God for efficient automation. I gathered up my cases, Jenner’s carrier, and hurried out to the main cabin.
    Dhreen stood next to me as he pressed a panel release and the outer hull doors parted. “Doc, meet Kevarzangia Two.”
    The recruit station had given me the usual planetary survey vids and statistical facts along with my assignment contract. Dry, dull facts. None of that prepared me for the breathtaking vista that sprawled out like a primitive Eden all around the ship.
    “Oh, my.” If I looked and sounded like an awed kid, I didn’t care. Around me, K-2 flourished with a bewildering profusion of life. Towering groves soared hundreds of feet in the air, making Terran forests look like a bunch of leafy twigs. The planet was an enormous ocean of vegetation upon which the colony’s structures floated. My homeworld might have been like this hundreds of centuries before Terrans began manipulating the environment.
    I looked up. Above my head lacy swirls of cloud drifted peacefully across the bright emerald sky. The unusual color effect, I understood, was attributed to a harmless biochemical substance in the atmosphere reacting with the strong radiant light coming from the suns. A verdant world, mirrored in the sky, a seamless envelope of life.
    I knew the atmosphere was almost identical to that of my homeworld, with a rather heavier content of nitrogen. My first breath was crisp and oddly invigorating.
    “Fair place, isn’t it?” Dhreen said, noticing my rapt interest. “You’ll do well here, Doc.”
    I turned to him. “I plan on it.” My hand, I was glad to see, didn’t tremble as I held it out.
    The Oenrallian pressed his wedge-shaped palm to mine. “If you ever need this hand again, signal me.”
    “Thank you, Dhreen.” There were a thousand things more I wanted to say, but my throat was suspiciously tight. Acting like an awed kid was fine, crying my eyes out and getting Dhreen’s flight suit all damp wasn’t. I smiled instead, picked up my cases, and strode down the gently swaying ramp.
    It took a moment to register that I had walked straight into chaos.
    The Bestshot was docked in the center of a noticeably improvised Transport zone. Ships of myriad shapes, sizes, and origins hovered, landed, and took off all around me. I thought of bees, racing back and forth to the hive. There was an incredible amount of beings milling back and forth to the stationary shuttles, and an even greater amount of cargo being off-loaded by huge automated conveyors. Beyond the