New Earth by Ben Bova

There’s no way to entirely avoid the shock, of course, but we do want to make it as easy for you as we can.”
    “Then you’re not really human?” Meek asked.
    “Oh yes, I’m as human as you are.”
    “Convergent evolution,” de Falla said, his voice awed.
    Adri shook his bald head. “Not quite. It’s a bit morecomplicated than that.” He slid the little pet into the folds of his robe, then clasped his long fingers together, as if in prayer.
    But only for a moment. Pointing to the rifle still in Jordan’s hands, Adri said softly, “If those are weapons, you won’t need them here. There are no dangerous animals in this forest.”
    Ignoring that, Brandon asked, “This is your home world? You live on this planet?”

    “Yes. Of course,” said Adri. “I would be pleased to show you our community.”
    “By all means!” said Brandon.
    “Wait a moment,” Jordan said. “We should report this to the others.”
    “Your colleagues aboard the ship. Of course. I’ll be happy to greet them.” Adri started toward the buggy, the four men following him. Brandon rushed ahead, dumped his rifle in the back of the buggy, then slipped intothe driver’s seat. Jordan heard him speaking excitedly over the communications link.
    Jordan moved beside Adri, who paced along leisurely. The glossy-furred animal peeked out from the robe, big round eyes glittering, then ducked back inside again. Meek came up on Adri’s other side, and de Falla trailed a few paces behind.
    “By the way,” Adri said, “you really don’t need those protective coveringsyou’re wearing. There’s nothing in the air here that can harm you.”
    Jordan felt his brows knitting. “How can you know that? How can you be so sure?”
    Pointing to Brandon, still jabbering excitedly with Thornberry, Adri replied, “He’s breathing the air.”
    “He’s an impetuous young man,” said Jordan.
    “But he’s unharmed.”
    Jordan stared at the alien for a long, wordless moment, thinking, Can wetrust him? Does he know what he’s talking about? Is he telling us the truth?
    Turning to Meek, Jordan asked, “Harmon, what do you think? Would it be all right to get out of the biosuits?”
    Glancing toward Brandon, Meek answered, “Let your brother be our guinea pig. He’s volunteered for the honor.”
    Jordan asked Adri to sit beside Brandon so that Thornberry and the others aboard the ship couldsee him. On the smallish display screen their expressions were almost comical as they crowded around Thornberry: wonder, surprise, open-jawed awe. That must be what I looked like a few minutes ago, Jordan thought.
    They were all talking at once. Thornberry began to look irritated as the rest of the team jostled him.
    “I am pleased to meet you all,” Adri said, his voice suddenly strong enough tocut through their jabber. “I am delighted that you made the journey here, and I wish you well.”
    Literally pushing the others away, Thornberry admitted, “To say that we’re surprised would be a grand understatement.”
    “I understand,” said Adri.
    Standing outside the buggy at Adri’s side, Jordan wondered, “Why aren’t you surprised? You seem almost to have been expecting us.”
    Adri turned to himwith his patient smile. “We’ve been observing you for a long time: watching your video broadcasts, monitoring your radio emissions. We detected your ship taking up an orbit around this planet. We projected a laser beacon to inform you of our presence. You quickly grasped its significance and sent your pair of machines here.”
    “And you conked them out,” said Thornberry’s image on the comm screen,almost accusingly.
    Adri looked slightly embarrassed. “Yes, I’m afraid we did disable them. We wanted you to come here yourselves. Making our first contact through your machines would have been … awkward.”
    “Can you turn the rovers back on?” Thornberry asked.
    “Oh yes, of course. You’ll find that they are both in perfect working order