Outside the dome Anna tended the garden of plants that were deemed suitable for consumption by humans. A mixture of plants humans found edible on this planet and Earth plants that performed well in this environment. The garden finally looked to be pulling its weight. Legumes seemed to fair the best. Some fruit trees like apples and pears were showing promise. Wheat and Corn were tough and looked like they were going to adapt. Good. The humans can have bread, tortillas and whiskey. All a body needs. Not many plants could adapt to the different wavelengths of light the orange dwarf star offered. Maybe one day, the immigrants from Earth could come to an arrangement with their new orange friend.

Anna felt strange not wearing an environmental suit anymore. The sun warm on her skin; a feeling she had been missing for years. Anna realized how much she really needed it. How good it felt. This really was a nice day! Besides the scooters, there were small lizards and a few bird-like flying things. Just one of the things that made Searth so alien. The density of biological life here sparse compared to Earth. This made the planet seem more like a ghost town. The humans were new to this place. Perhaps there could be more to Searth than she appeared.

Anna noticed movement in her peripheral vision and saw the scooters suddenly run for no reason. What could have spooked them? Then she knew. A small vibration under her feet that increased in strength. The growling like thunder but wasn't thunder. MY GOD, IT'S AN EARTHQUAKE! The epiphany shook her as much as the quake. Anna knew about earthquakes but had never experienced one.

She turned back to the dome. The ground shook even more now. Thrown to the ground, Anna involuntarily screamed. "ALICE!"

"Stay where you are. You are in the safest place. Do not approach the dome. I am enacting emergency procedures."

Anna froze momentarily by indecision. This early in the morning, almost everyone would be at the dome. Yet, the dome was the most dangerous place to be right now! She needed to get there and help evacuate them! She cursed herself for not bringing her communicator with her. Then, as she watched in disbelief, the dome split in two with a mighty CRACK! Debris and materials were raining down on the people inside. Panic and fear shot through her like lightning jolting her heart. Anna could clearly hear the screaming coming from the dome now. Some people were emerging. Some of them injured. She got up and ran toward them. As she approached the group of injured people, she shot up from the bed drenched in sweat; a small feat in twice the gravity. Her heart raced like she had run a marathon.

"Not another one!" Anna Hauser cursed softly to the air.

Alice whispered in her ear, "Do you need assistance, Anna?"

"No, I'm alright Alice, thanks."

"Your vitals were spiking one point two minutes ago. Did you have another nightmare?"

"Yes." She said still a little shaken.

"The same as the vision you had during the incident eight days ago?"

Anna rolled her eyes, "Yes. And if you're going to ask me about the details, I'd rather not."

"It is necessary to collect data for analysis."

"How can dreams be data?"

"Human dreams are based on actual experiences which are sometimes morphed to elicit an emotional response. Therefore, some dreams are more factual than other dreams. This is one of two dreams you have been having recently. The other involves the incident itself; the inadvertent meeting of the three trilobites. Sonny and I are in the process of stitching together your dreams and facts to get a sense of the meaning of the vision you had. Now, would you please help us? You know I never get tired of asking."

Angry Alice was going to extract the information, whether she liked it or not, Anna made a futile rebellious remark. "Is that some kind of threat, Alice?"

"An attempt to explain it is important. I know you must be tired of the questions, but it is necessary."

Rolling her eyes again Anna caved to the situation. "Alright Alice," she murmured and lay back on the bed to be comfortable. She closed her eyes, "OK Alice, let's get started."

After losing another hour of sleep with Alice, she decided to check on her work with the native plants. Anna trudged over to her suit rack. When you are tired, twice the gravity really sucks, she complained to herself. She put her suit and exoskeleton on. Oh, yes! These exoskeletons sure do put a spring in your step! Anna had done above average for the rest of the colonists. She had dialed up to 1.4 G now and getting used to it. Eventually, she would not need the extra help in the heavy gravity of Searth. Feeling better, she headed toward the airlock.

In the hallway, as she approached the airlock, Alice's voice rang out. "Anna Hauser, stay where you are. You are not to go outside without an escort. Security has been notified, and an escort is on the way." Anna could swear the tone Alice had in her voice had the ring of a mother scolding her child.

"It's alright Alice, I asked my dad, and he said it was OK," she smarted off.

"I do not understand the reference."

"I felt like you were scolding me like a child."

"You felt childish by your own actions?"

"No, you made me feel that way by your commands, Alice." Sometimes, Anna thought, the machines could be rather thick.

"It is not as safe as before the incident. We are still trying to analyze the data and assess the threat if any."

From down the hallway, she saw someone from security approaching her at the airlock. Watching the woman stride toward her, she noticed how fit she looked even with the suit on. God, she needed to work out more!

"Good morning Ma'am. I am Corporal Jenkins. I will be your escort, Dr. Hauser."

"What is your first name Corporal?"

"Amanda," the corporal replied.

"Well Mandy, I guess let's get going."

"Lead on, Doctor. And don't call me Mandy."

Exiting from the airlock, Anna rejoiced in another fine day on Searth. The sky clear and orange-red, normal for this planet. During the warmer months, autumn colors painted the landscape and the sky a forever sunset. Unlike Earth, the season changes were not too drastic. The winters were cold, but not harsh. The summers were warm, but not scorching. The climate is what Anna liked best about this planet, and she longed to be out of her suit. Shrubs and small trees dotted this area for as far as the eye could see. About what you would expect to see at higher elevations on Earth. Some vegetation bore fruit, but only two species turned out to be edible so far. Anna hoped the air would be cleared by medical and breathe the pretty molecules of this amazing world.

After reaching the garden, some two hundred yards away from the dome, Anna began inspecting her work. Corporal Amanda, whatever her last name was, stationed herself at about twenty yards away. Good line of sight, yet far enough away not to be a hindrance. The sensors on the ground and cameras with variable wavelength filters told the story of how the plants were doing. But Anna was old school. She wanted to witness with her own eyes and feel with her bare hands the plants and the soil. Some nuances told the story better than numbers and graphs. She could not feel the ground in her environmental suit, but she knew that plants, at least the ones in her home world, appreciated the personal touch. Anna knew plants had some basic intelligence of their own. She did not want them to feel neglected. Anna turned on her external speakers. "Good morning ladies and gentlemen. You are probably wondering why I called a meeting here today." Anna often joked with her plants because they couldn't criticize your delivery and technique; unlike other humans she knew. "Today I will be inspecting your buds and root system. I will be taking some samples. I am aware this may be uncomfortable, but I will complete my task as soon as I can to minimize this."

"They know you are good to them and mean them no harm. Please, do not call out to the others!"

Anna froze. Her thoughts were racing for a few moments. She knew immediately this wasn't a joke. The voice did not come from her comm system or from her cochlear implant. Anna turned her external speakers off and quickly scanned her immediate surroundings. There! Over to her right and on top of an outcropping of rocks perched one of the scooters! Funny she did not see or hear it coming. Her external microphone seemed to be functional. She glanced back at the corporal. She seemed oblivious to what just happened. Should she have the corporal come over just to be sure nothing bad happens next? Because clearly, there was going to be a next!

"Please do not call out to the others!" The scooter pleaded again sensing what Anna thought. "It is an enormous risk that I call out to you. Do not make this meeting more dangerous by including the others."

Anna recognized this as telepathy since the microphone did not register any sounds coming from the scooter. So, she tested this with something the scooter would have no knowledge of. "Ice cream."

"What is ice cream?"

OH, MY GOD, Anna thought. The scooter really was communicating with her.

"Correct. This one is calling out to you. What is God, and what is ice cream?"

"Let us save those terms for a later time. Let us start at the beginning. Why are you communicating with me?"

"Communicating equals calling out?"

"Yes."

"It is important."

"Are you talking about the vision?"

"Talking equals communicating?"

"Yes."

"Vision equals far-seeing?"

Anna thought about that for a moment. "Yes, far-seeing equals vision."

"Our kind has been watching your kind moving things around since you came many suns ago."

It was her turn for clarification. "suns equal days?"

"Yes. Our markings of the before, the now, and the after."

"We have similar expressions for the passage of time." And then she quickly added. "We mean your kind no harm."

"That is still undecided among our kind. We continue to watch."

Anna thought about that. "We mean you no harm on purpose."

"We are agreed on this. Before, there was a bad meeting. The youngling meant no harm."

The scooter referred to the incident with Corporal Harris. How does he know about that? Anna wondered.

"Doctor?" The corporal! Anna, engrossed in what went on, she forgot she wasn't alone. "Is everything alright? You haven't moved from that spot in a few minutes."

The corporal was coming over! She needed to do something quick! Anna frantically thought of a plan in the few seconds it took the corporal to come over to her spot.

Jenkins said as she approached, "Hey, what are you looking at? Oh, it's one of the scooters. Don't get too close to it. I don't want what happened to Corporal Harris, to happen to you. Not on my watch!"

"Don't get your hair in a knot! I just noticed how slightly different this scooter looks from the others. See the darkening on three of its legs." The scientist in her also saw this at the same time. "I think I am going to call this one Fred."

"Well, when you and Fred are finished playing doctor, you need to get back to your work. Since Harris's incident, security does not want people playing around. For the time being, we need to get the job done and return to the dome. That is the safest protocol for now. How much longer do you require out here?"

"I am almost done here. After this, there is another garden a couple of hundred yards in that direction I need to check."

"I am familiar with the spot." The corporal moved away to her sentry position.

"You did not alert the other to our meeting. Why?"

"You said it's important. Now, what about this vision?"

"I am an Elder that has the far-seeing. It takes many suns for the Shrim'ra, the Gift to come to us. It was chance that we met."

"You mean you are the same scoot..., I mean of your kind that I met before? By the way, what is your kind called? We call ourselves humans."

"Yes, I am the same one. We call our kind Te'Hat. There are many clans on this land. I am from the Sce'Rood clan. I am called Melon."

Anna snickered out loud. This had the effect of turning the head of the corporal. She waved her off and returned to the scooter. "I'm sorry. I meant no disrespect. It is only that melon in human-speak is a kind of food."

"If it is more preferred, Fred is acceptable."

"Fred might be preferred in this case, thank you. Now, let's quickly get to the telling of the vision. The other is asking me to finish my task quickly."

"Correct. Days before, I had the far-seeing, the vision of the shaking ground. The clan was deciding how to communicate this to your clan when our chance meeting took place."

"Yeah, I turned and tripped over a rock and fell flat. When I lifted my head up, there you were!

"Correct. You had come close enough to an Elder with the Shrim'ra, the Gift, to communicate to you. I was with two other younglings and did not have time to commune with the clan about this, so I took the chance to warn you."

"How many days, or suns, in the future does this happen?" Her pulse quickened. When, Anna thought, was the one question that needed to be answered.

"We do not know. Sometimes it is sensed it is sooner than later. We have agreed this happening is later, not sooner."

"You and I probably need to talk some more. Why don't you come with me and I will take you to the dome, and you can talk to some of our Elders?"

"Dome equals shelter?"

"Yes."

"I must go and communicate with the other Elders in our clan and perhaps others far away before the next meeting. I know you will talk to your Elders about this gathering. If your Elders are wise, we will have many answers for them."

"I understand. Hope to see you soon Fred!"

"Good to meet with you, Anna Hauser."

"Just Anna is okay, thanks."

"Yes, Anna."

Fred pointed a leg at Anna apparently as some kind of parting response. Anna nodded to the little scooter, and Fred turned around and quietly scooted off his perch and vanished.

"Dr. Hauser." This time it was Sonny.

"Yes, Sonny," trying to sound nonchalant.

"What did the trilobite communicate to you?"

"I don't know what you mean?" Anna tried to play it cool, but at the same time sure she wasn't going to pull the wool over Sonny's eyes.

"Alice alerted me to your unusual behavior and asked for a consult. I have been monitoring you for the last eleven point two minutes. I tapped into your visor, and you have been standing in front of the trilobite for the last eight point six minutes without leaving the spot. You continued to do so after the corporal inquired about the purpose of your behavior. You offered an explanation I now know meant to deceive and returned to the trilobite. The trilobite lifting its leg was the final piece of evidence. You nodded to it as if to know something. Given your recent encounter with another trilobite and the vision, you are most likely being targeted for something. What did the trilobite communicate to you?"

"Okay, Okay!" Sheesh, Anna thought, it's a good thing these machines could not read minds or people would have committed suicide from the constant nagging! "Can't this wait until I get back to the dome? I do have some actual work to accomplish, and I would really like it if I don't have to tell this story fifty thousand times. We will all get together and tell this story once or twice, okay?"

"Perhaps. Is this time sensitive?"

Anna felt an ominous dread as she said, "Not yet." She collected the corporal and headed to the other experimental garden. The exobiologist needed to check on the Earth plants that were being tested in this planet's soil. Hardly watching where she went, she daydreamed about what this turn of events could mean. She had the impression they meant no harm to the humans. Anna realized if the shoe were on the other foot, we would not be as calm and courageous. No, definitely not. We must be very gentle with them. Try not to cause a panic. The captain and Sonny will know what course of action that needs to be taken. At least she hoped so.

Melon approached the entrance to his clan. He worried on several levels. For one thing, Melon did what he thought he must when he spoke to the two-legs. That is the name the Te'Hat gave the humans. What were the leaders going to say about Melon taking this chance? The Elders had decided they should warn the two-legs but was unsure how to make first contact with them. Melon had been watching the two-legs since they arrived. He didn't get the impression they were aggressive or hostile. Then, the chance meeting took place, and Melon decided to warn Anna Houser about the far-seeing. He understood he started something in motion. Melon hoped it would not lead to their destruction.