Second Contact, Chapter One: Unarmed, Unafraid

Second Contact is now posted.

This is a unpublished tale from my Unconquered Earth Cycle, and takes place in the same background universe as Farthest Man from Earth, Not Born a Man, and Twilight of the Gods.

Chapter One of Four

These events date from 3250 A.D.

The entry for this century from the Historical Institute Analects reads only:
At about this time, the privately funded expedition multigeneration starship Aristotelian makes contact with the hidden Sfathshfain colony at Procyon.

However, the records kept by the Aristotelian expedition, including journals recording personal information, were meticulous, shared with the Sfaths, who revered them, and added them to first-priority long term memory chains. These records were later recovered intact by The Evelyn Drake and shared with The Alverin Cumae via the intercession of his sealwife.

The events have been compressed, and some dialog altered or added, for ease of reading or dramatic effect.