Norsemen!

As the sun rose he began to get a better look at this port as well as the tug boat escorting them in. On the tug, he could now see the crew as several just stood on the aft looking at them intently, as if a curiosity. At this distance he could see they were dressed much the same as their time period but they appeared different in that their skin was a dark reddish brown color, their hair was long black with some wearing long braids and others having it in a pony tail. He saw one, near the pilot house, with what looked like a Mohawk haircut and what looked like tattoos on his face, or, was he just dirty? Or....Native Americans?

“Gunny?” Someone called.

“Yeah?” The Gunny turned around, taking him out of his trance.

“Should we arm ourselves just in case?” The Captain of the ship, a tall hard looking woman asked.

“No”, the Gunny said as he entered the bridge. “I think that would make a bad impression.”

He walked back outside to see the majestic city with the morning sunlight shinning on the roof tops. The buildings seemed not to be the common square shape of his time rather, it had domed roofs with it being wider at the bottom than top, then getting cylindrical towards the top. The smaller buildings at the docks had their own shape with most having pointed (gable) roofs and slanting sides, round windows dotted the sides as if portholes in the side of ships. He could see vehicles driving on a road that paralleled the docks, some small car like things while others were obviously trucks, but, he could not hear any engines running. Now that he thought of it, the tug boat had no noise other than the water around it. His ship, however, still had smoke from the diesel engines and made a soft humming sound, leaving a slight vibration on the deck plates.

As they came along side the dock, his crewmen threw out a large rope to tie up to the pier. There was some yelling from the dock hands as if they were angry at what his crewman did, but he couldn't see anything they did wrong. Behind the dock crew stood one of the large buildings with slanted sides and portholes for windows, large sliding doors opened with several men walking out. He could see these men were all much taller than him as well as thinner in stature. All most alien like in appearance. Their dress seemed to be well made clothing, tailored to fit their thin body, with all having blond, all most whiter hair, and it was very long. As the dock crew threw the ships lines back aboard, they used something that looked like very thin cloth line, tossing it to our ship hands, yelling for them to tie it off.

"Ahoy, Captain and Gunny!" One of the thin men yelled.

The dock hands then put the gangway in place so the Captain of the ship and Gunny could debark.

Waiting at the end were the tall gentlemen, all out stretching their hands for a hand shake and welcome.

"Welcome home!" The first one said which confused both the Gunny and the Captain.

"I'm sorry but I don't understand." Was all the Gunny said as he shook their hands.

The tall men were all smiles as they shook hands with them both, making Gunny feel uneasy. This was all too strange, welcoming them home? Very friendly people he had never met before? This doesn't even happen back in his own time. He had a feeling something was about to happen and it was not good so, he kept his eyes and ears open for anything that would show an ambush. He turned briefly to his ship and yelled out.

"Set condition yellow, the smoking lamp is lit. Have all stations report!"

His Captain, a tall hard looking woman glanced at him briefly then back at the ship, then back to the tall men. As she looked back, the crew seemed to be going about normal business but she knew condition yellow was immanent danger with 'have all stations report' meant to be armed at their station, but stay calm and show no emergency.

"Does anyone care to explain what this is all about?" The Captain asked.

"We will be glad too." One of the tall blond haired men said. "But please step inside so we may get you refreshments."

She glanced at the Gunny who was just standing there but seemed to be in a fighting posture.

"PLEASE! Please relax." Another said with a smile. "We will not harm you in any way. We simply waited for your arrival for some time and are happy you finally made it."

The Gunny and the Captain looked at each other momentarily, as if a glance, then back to the blond men.

"Who are you anyway and what do you mean you have waited for us for a long time?" The Gunny asked.

"Well," one of them stepped forward and the Gunny could not see any weapons inside their tight fitting clothing.

"You have spoken to our Commander on several occasions, and he has spoken well of you, Gunny." Another said with a smile.

The Gunny was thinking of Odin but he wanted them to say his name for security reasons. If they did not know his name, he knew they were in trouble.

"OK...WHO is your Commander?" The Gunny asked, then glanced back to the crewmen on the railing and yelled out.

"Stand by for boarders!"

His crew began to scurry about, all knowing exactly where to go and what to do and in only seconds they were at their stations, armed and ready to fight.

The tall men took a few steps back with a terrified look on their face, some holding up their hands.

"WAIT!" One yelled out quickly. "We are harmless! We only want to welcome you!"

"Then tell me who your commander is!" The Gunny said as he laid his hand on his side arm.

Their faces seemed terrified as they continued to back up with the Captain and Gunny slowly walking towards them, hands on their side arms. That is when they both heard a laugh not far away. Not an evil laugh but one of a belly laugh, then they saw a man that appeared as the tall, blond men laughing, holding his stomach as he leaned on a box near by.

"I'm sorry Gunny," the man said between breaths. "But I HAD to show them what you and your men were like. They simply did not believe me."

The Gunny and the Captain straighten up then walked slowly towards the laughing man.

"OK," the Gunny said in a rough tone. "Who are you!"

"I know you don't recognize me now, I'm not in form because I am not at my station but I am Odin." He continued to chuckle.

The Captain and the Gunny looked at each other momentarily, then back to the one that called himself Odin. Odin stood to his tall seven foot, thin height.

"Well...my actual name is Odien....but the locals pronounce it Odin," he said as he walked closer to the Gunny, sticking out his hand.

"Watch my back, Captain." Gunny said as he stepped forward.

"Aye, aye, Gunny." She said.

"Really, Gunny. It's me! Remember," he said as the Gunny looked up at him. "Remember the last time we met? Loki took my form and tried to get you to perform human sacrifice?"

The Gunny did remember then stood erect, away from his attack posture.

"I do remember that.....and you intervened."

"Exactly. Well," he said. "I am still having trouble with Loki." Odien motioned for them to follow him and spoke as they walked.

"Cancel condition yellow, Captain," Gunny told her and she yelled loudly for the crew to stand down.

"So!" The Gunny said as they walked towards the open doors and the fearful men that gathered.

"You wanted to just scare the hell out of your crew, did you?"

Odien laughed.

"That was because they absolutely refused to believe me that ANYONE could be as hard as you. NO ONE! It's the stories of myths!" He chuckled.

"But now that they have actually met you we can proceed."

Proceed?" The Gunny asked.

"Yes," Odien said as they entered the large building.

Gunny was amazed at the inside! It was much smaller than it looked with many computers like screens in colors he never imagined. There were hundreds of people at work at hundreds of stations with a low ceiling and it had air conditioning! He hadn't felt that for years! The Captain was a bit confused at the drop in temperature but he assured her it was fine.

"OK Odien," the Gunny said as he stopped near one of the desk looking stations. The occupant was wearing an ear plug and seemed to be talking into a small button.

"What is going on?"

Odien chuckled.

"This is our communications center and we communicate around the world." He said as he walked among the stations. "And in the outer atmosphere as well. Our station on this moon is in contact with us here as is our science station further out." He said nonchalantly as they walked.

"I'm impressed," was all Gunny said as they walked past the stations to the rear of the building.

The back of the building was something that was ultra modern to the Gunny. Huge glass windows stretched across the entire width of the building, separating the stations from the main offices. He could see many more of the tall people working at stations behind the glass, all seemed to be engrossed in what they did, and all of them, men and women, were tall and blond.

Odien opened a heavy glass door to the inner offices and he could hear loud noise from the people that worked there, all talking into the small buttons near their lips. The Gunny thought it was a microphone of some sort, it had to be.

"In here, we have more than three dozen stations monitoring your communications back at your home." He waved slightly with his hand at the stations as they continued to walk further into the back.

"What are all the other people monitoring?" The Gunny asked but got no reply.

At the side of the building there was a large metal door with heavy hinges. Odien stopped there, looked at them then stood still.

"In here you will see just part of how we manage to communicate with you but just part of it."

As he opened the door Gunny and the Captain could see semi darkness with low level lights around the sides. In the center it was too dim to make out anything. As they followed Odien into the room, it felt all most cold.

Odien led them around an isle that ran in a circle around the center, work stations on either side full of their people. It was then Gunny could see part of what was in the center; several small machines with lights on panels with several other tall blond men and women trying to work. Odien stopped near what seemed to be the main control with three other men and two women that paid them no mind.

"This place is the center of all activity...our main power supply." Odien said with a slight smile. "This runs absolutely everything in our system including ground transportation."

"Electricity!" The Gunny said.

"No!" Odien said as he walked around briefly looking at each station.

"We don't use electricity, at least not here within our city." Odien said then motioned for them to follow him as he walked out another door into the morning sunlight.