Richard and Kavita stood next to one another, enjoying the palpable atmosphere of jubilation. The burble of the Karran tongue was like music, filling the space. Food was passed back and forth through the standing group, people sharing their spongy bread and pieces of fruit in a celebratory exchange.

Kavita nudged Richard with her elbow, holding up a piece of jaja. She broke it into two pieces and extended one to him.

He met her eye, returning her smile. They tapped their pieces of jaja together as if it were a champagne toast, and they ate the small bites.

"What I mean to say is thank you," she said. "What you've done for these people...It's important, Richard."

"I know. But all I did was follow some plans. You brought us together."

"Don't be modest."

"I'll stop if you do."

Kavita laughed and looked away, feigning exasperation. "It really turned out to be a gorgeous day," she said. "I wonder how our world compares to what the Karra are used to. Will they miss it when they leave, do you think?"

Richard considered the question, or tried to. He was rather focused on the wisps of dark hair at the nape of Kavita's neck. "Yeah," he said. "They probably will. Who wouldn't?"

Suddenly, the Karran standing next to him jolted backward and then sprawled to the ground, bleeding freely from a wound in their leg. It was Sah-Ladri, one of the Karra he'd met in the dining hall the first time he'd ventured there with Garth. They blinked up at him, shocked and in pain.

Another Karran near them slumped to the earth, a gaping hole in their back glistening with dark green blood.

"Holy shhh..." Richard breathed. He looked around, unable to understand what had happened.

"Richard?" Kavita sounded distant, uncertain. "Oh, my God."

Richard dropped his dish and bent to grab Sah-Ladri by their arms. He hauled them up and started to stagger toward the ship, ignoring their cry of pain. "C'mon," he urged, "we've got to run! Kavita, run!"

Sah-Ladri couldn't run, but they could stagger. Richard supported them, trying to make up for their jolting gait with speed on his side, but he had never been a track star. The last time he'd jogged had been a half-hearted attempt at Charlise's urging six or seven years into their marriage.

There was a metallic ping, then another; something was still shooting, and the bullets were bouncing off of the ship's hull.

Somebody shouted, raising their voice above the din of feet crunching over corn stalks and panicked cries. The tinny voice was unfamiliar to Richard. Although he couldn't understand the words, they were clearly spoken in the Karran tongue or something very like it.

Again, he he looked around wildly, seeking the source of the voice, but he could see nothing. Just then, Ol-Maran stepped out from around the ship, their fist raised and leveled toward the cornfield. The familiar flashes of light and silence accompanied the first officer's return fire. They covered Richard and Sah-Ladri as they staggered toward the jetbridge. Kavita ran before them, looking over her shoulder.

"We're coming, don't wait!" Richard snapped.

She hesitated, but picked up speed again, disappearing onto the jetbridge.

Garth. Where was Garth?

Richard strained for a glimpse of his friend over his shoulder as he stumbled toward the jetbridge, but all he could see was the crop circle, the shushing corn, and a few Karra running.

And then the air at the edge of the crop circle shivered, and two familiar, terrifying silhouettes stepped through: Chorodonians.

"No, no," Richard said, staggering backward toward the jetbridge.

The attackers raised their weapons and hailed him in Karran. As he turned to flee again, Richard shouted, "Stop! Just leave us alone!"

The two Chorodonians glanced at one another. Then, the one who'd shouted spoke again, this time in English. They must have had a translator like Aialo-El's.

"Return the fugitives!" they barked.

"They're just trying to survive! Leave us alone!" Richard shot back. He stumbled onto the jetbridge, Sah-Ladri dragging along at his side. Only once they were well up the jetbridge did he slow, allowing Sah-Ladri some relief from the brutal pace.

"What's happening?" It was Kavita. She had stopped partway up the jetbridge before actually entering the ship.

"It's them," Richard gasped. "The crabs."

"My God," Kavita breathed, seeing Richard's wounded companion as if for the first time. She rushed toward them and slid an arm underneath Sah-Ladri's, and together, she and Richard continued toward the med-bay, their combined strength relieving their companion from having to put any weight on their feet.

"Where's Garth?"

"I don't know. I didn't see him." Kavita looked back where they'd come, worry creasing her brow. "I'll go look."

"Don't!" Richard's instinct was to grab her arm, but with Sah-Ladri between them, he only ended up jolting the poor person. "Kavita, don't, it's too dangerous. He's either onboard or on his way."

He was certain of it.

He wanted to be.

Richard slammed his free hand onto the control panel by the navigation pod, eager to get Sah-Ladri to the med-bay so that he could look for his friend. When the door to the nav pod slid open, Garth stared out from inside.

"Holy shish-kebabs," Garth breathed, gaping at Sah-Ladri.

"Oh, thank God. Move back, mate, they're hurt."

Garth staggered back, allowing Richard, Kavita, and their wounded charge onto the nav pod. He pressed the controls that would take them to the med bay. "What's happening?"

"Three guesses," said Richard bitterly.

Huffing in disbelief, Garth cried, "Honestly? Again? They need to get a friggin' hobby!"

"Garth." Richard was relieved to see him safe, but he gave him a quelling look. "Read the room?"

"It's okay." Kavita's tone was soothing as she stroked Sah-Ladri's cheek. "You're going to be just fine."

Sah-Ladri said something, agitated, but the only sound Richard recognized was Belna-Ai.

It struck Richard then that the Karran who'd fallen in the field had been Sah-Ladri's companion. Any time he'd seen one, it had been with the other, ever since he had met them on his second full day aboard the ship. His stomach twisted into a knot of sympathy and grief.

"They'll get them," he promised without any right to promise it. But what was a promise when it couldn't be understood? His tone was what mattered, and he tried to make it soothing, tried to hold back the tremor in his voice. "Everything's going to be okay."

Moments later, Richard and Kavita helped Sah-Ladri onto a bed in the med-bay. They were sweating, their skin rather yellow.

"I don't know what to do," said Richard. "I should have paid more attention when Kin was here."

Garth darted across the room. He rummaged in one of the cabinets. When he came back, he had a silvery packet in one hand and a long, pale blue tube in the other. He tore the packet open with his teeth and shook out a white square, which he unfolded several times until it was as thin as tissue and as large as a dinner napkin.

"Tear the hole in their pants bigger," he instructed.

"What?" Richard gaped at him.

"Do it, Richard. Unless you know where a handy pair of scissors is?"

Richard bent over Sah-Ladri and tucked his fingers carefully into the hole the bullet had left in their clothes. With a couple of jerks, he had torn the hole quite a bit bigger, the fabric giving way easily.

Garth gently shook the tissue out and laid it over the wound. "I think this is the disinfectant," he said.

"You think?"

"It's what they did for me. There's no way I'm going to be able to help with the bullet, obviously, but maybe we can call Kin to help them."

"Maybe. When things settle down," said Kavita. She was standing at the head of the bed, one hand underneath Sah-Ladri's gently cradling their head. With the other, she held the Karran's hand.

"How'd they find us?" Richard asked as Garth carefully pressed the tissue down over Sah-Ladri's flesh. Within seconds, it began to dissolve. "The shield was supposed to keep us safe. They weren't supposed to find us here."

Kavita looked stricken. She passed her gentle hand over Sah-Ladri's forehead. "We stayed here too long. The shield means they can't see us, but it doesn't mean that the ship is completely undetectable. I have no idea what technology they have at their disposal."

"Okay, now these things..." Garth grimaced, waving the tube he held a couple of times. "This part, I didn't quite understand."

"What is it?" Richard asked.

"It's the pain thing."

"I thought those were the little dots?"

"Yeah. They are." Garth waved the tube again. "I don't know how they get it to work."

"Let me see it." Richard took the tube from Garth and turned it in his hands. He sought a button or some other way of making the thing work, but there was nothing obvious. "It just looks like a giant chapstick. Are we supposed to rub it on them, or what?"

"I dunno, try it," said Garth. He slipped his hand into Sah-Ladri's free one. "You alright, bud?"

Richard gently brushed the end of the tube along Sah-Ladri's thigh. Immediately, about half an inch of the tube separated from the rest. It flipped onto Sah-Ladri's skin and fastened there through the fading remnants of the disinfectant tissue, emitting a soft beep.

"Bud is gender-neutral, right?" Garth asked. "I'm gonna say yeah."

"I got it to work!" said Richard. He pressed the end of the tube to another spot on Sah-Ladri's leg, on the other side of the bullet wound, and another disc separated and stuck. "Excellent."

The Karran looked up at her, their tentacles turning with their focus, sensing the air. Their shoulders and limbs relaxed as their hand tightened in Kavita's.

Kavita nodded encouragingly. "We've got you. It's going to be okay. How's it going, Richard?"

"I think I've got as many on as I can," he replied. He had just applied the seventh pain relief device, having completely surrounded Sah-Ladri's bullet wound. The dots covered all of their exposed skin. "Give it a tick and that'll kick in."

There was movement at the door. Richard looked up to see Pey-Daika entering the med-bay, concern written all over their face. They strode to the bed and touched Sah-Ladri's face, looking around at the humans with a soft sound of acknowledgment. The Karra spoke quietly together as Pey-Daika surveyed the work the humans had done.

"Okay. We're going to go see what's going on," Kavita said, making eye contact with Pey-Daika and pointing toward the door. She waited until she had an affirmative gesture from the Karran before meeting Richard's eye. "C'mon."