Listen.
I'm a crew-dog, general purpose, plenty smart says Ray. Ray's my handler. I work with any crew-person the Captain says-so, but Ray's my number one. I sleep outside Ray's door. When I have the shaking sickness, Ray lets me sleep on his rug.
I am plenty smart, but my dam was smarter. Don't play with the story like a cat with a mouse, she said lots of times. She said things like that, things like person-people do. Cut to the chase, said my dam.
There's two hours on this disk, lots of time. But I remember my dam, so I am quick.
We land on this planet three, four ship cycles ago. Before we land, the Captain says over the shipwide, This is a very important mission, top priority.
As soon as I hear the Captain's voice, I stop what I am doing. I put my head down between my front legs, and I listen and listen. The Captain says, I expect all of you to be on your best behavior. Do exactly what your handlers tell you.
Ray is on First Team, so I am too. We are a group of six people, four crew-dogs. I like one of the bitch-dogs, but this is work time, so I only sniff her once. We have no gunpacks, and so I am happy. It hurts when the gunpack fires, and after there is the blood smell. But Ray tells me who the enemy is, and says I am a good dog.
This time we go Outside in a pack, us dogs at the front. The planet has a hundred smells saying find-me. Over us is the sky-roof, big and windy, and I try to remember it for later.
We walk over rocks a while. Then there is dry earth, then mud, then a stream. We splash through water. The other side I smell person-people and animal-people. The animal-people smell is like a crew-dog smell, but not the same. We walk more. There are plants taller than I am. Ray's machine says the plants are corn.
There are buildings ahead and shouting. My mouth waters and I can't stop it because I smell food. Ray says, Stop. Our pack stops. Ray comes forward, and puts his hand on my shoulder.
A pack of the planet-people approach. They have dogs, but these dogs walk on two feet and they do not smell like crew-dogs or ground-dogs.
Hello, says Ray, We are strangers here, we come from far away. The machine Ray wears echo-says the same thing with different noises. A long time ago, says Ray, Your ancestors settled this world.
Yes, says one of the upright-dogs.
My tail goes out straight. I smell the fear-surprise of the three crew-dogs beside me. Why is the upright-dog talking? I wait for its handler to say, Bad dog, be quiet, no supper.
It does not happen.
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