“Don"t drink the water.”
Janine looked back, startled.
A man stood a few paces behind her, towering over her.
Kneeling at the end of the dock, nothing between her and the poisonous Nartressan sea, Janine felt a moment of vulnerability, as though a slight nudge might send her to her death. “I know,” she replied, “I"m a biologist.” Why do I have a sudden sense of déjà vu? she wondered.
The night fading, a blue penumbra to the east, only a few cottage lights illuminating him from the side, she couldn"t see his face. She stood and looked at him fully, recognizing him finally from the numerous vid coms they"d exchanged. “You must be Doctor Thomas Carson. I"m Janine Meriwether, Assistant Xenobiologist at the Alien Microbiology Institute.” She stepped nimbly over the equipment at her feet to
