The Chronicles Of PernFirst Fallby: Anne McCaffreyCopyright 1993VERSION 1.1 (Feb 15 00). If you find and correct errors inthe text, please update the version number by 0.1 andredistribute.CONTENTSThe Survey: P.E.R.N.cThe Dolphins BellThe Ford of Red HanrahanThe Second WeyrRescue RunTimeline forThe Chronicles of Pern: First FallYear 1 Landing6 Torene Ostrovksy b.8.6 First Fall10 First HatchingMichael Connell b.Fort Hold establishedEvacuation of Landing-The Dolphins Bell16 The Fever YearEmily Boll dies17 Pierre de Courcis starts Boll Hold19 Red Hanrahans yarn-The Ford of RedHanrahan22 Michael Impresses Brianth at twelveOngola moves his people to found hold25 Jim Tillek diesTorene Ostrovsky Impresses Alaranth26 Paul Benden dies27 Queens battle-Porth, Evenath, Siglath20FF 28 Sean announces three new Weyrs-The Second Weyr20FF = Twenty Years: First FallTHE SURVEY: P.E.R.N.cIts the third planet we want in this pernicious system, Castor saidin a totally jaundiced tone, his eyes fixed on the viewscreen. Hows thehairpin calc going, Shavva?Looking up from her terminal, Shavva screwed up her face for a momentbefore she spoke. Im happy to report that thatll work out fine. Pity wecant have a look at the edge of the system, she added. Id love to havea look at those heavy-weight planets and the Oort cloud, but that cant bedone when weve got to do an entry normal to the ecliptic. As it is, theslingshot will only give us ten days on the surface. She cast him anexpectant, wry look.He groaned. Well have to double up again. At her half-stern,half-sardonic glare, he added, Fardles, Shavva, after so long together weall know enough of each others specialties to do a fair report.Fair? Ben Turnien repeated, his quirky eyebrows raised in amazement.Fair to whom?Damn it, Ben, fair enough to know when a planets habitable byhumanoids. None of us needs a zoologist anymore to tell us which beastiesare apt to be predatory. And each of us has certainly seen enough strangelife-forms and inimical atmospheres and surface conditions to know when toslap an interdict on a planet.There was a taut silence as the four remaining team members eachvividly recalled the all-too-recent deaths: Sevvie Asturias, thepaleontologist-medic, and Flora Neveshan, the zoologist-botanist, both loston the last planet the Exploration and Evaluation team had visited. Castorhad inscribed, in bold letters on the top of that report, D.E. Dead end.Terbo, the zoologist-chemist, had been felled in a landslide on the firstplanet of their present survey tour, but as that world had clearlysupported some intelligent life, the initials I.L.F. ended that report.Theyd lost Beldona, the second pilot and archeologist, on the third worldin the same accident that had injured Castor: a planet initialedG.O.L.D.I.-good only for large diversified interests. And theyd orbitedone that probes had given them all the information they needed to label itL.A.-lethal, avoid!To a team that had been together for five missions, the casualties weredeeply felt. And this mission had yet to be completed. The system they hadjust reached, five planets orbiting the primary Rukbat, was the fifth ofthe seven to be investigated on their latest swing through this sector ofspace.We can handle the geology, the biology, and the chemistry, Castorwent on, frowning at the gelicast on his leg. The compound fractures hadnot quite healed. Well, I can do the analysis when youve broughtappropriate samples back. We might not be able to do the usual in-depthanalysis of all the biota, but we can find the requisite five possiblelanding sites, regular or serious meteoric impacts, any gross geologicalchanges, and if theres a dominant major life-form.Hospitable planets are few enough, but Numero Tres does look veryinteresting, Mo Tan Liu remarked in his gentle voice. I get good readingson atmosphere and gravity. I think probes are in order.Send em, Castor said. Probes we got to spare.Were in a good trajectory to send off a homer, too, Liu added.Federated Sentient Planets ought to know about the D.E. condition of FloraAsturias. Following the bizarre and perhaps macabre practice of theExploration and Evaluation Corps, they had named the last planet after theteam personnel lost during that surface survey. We are obliged to reportthose and that L.A. immediately.All right, all right, Castor said irritably.Shall I do the report? Shawa asked.I did it, Castor replied in a tone that ended discussion. He calledup the program, and when the copy was ready, he rolled it up into a tube tobe inserted in the homing capsule. It would reach their mother ship someweeks before their projected return. They will want to know wevediscovered another Oort cloud, to