"Let me tell you," Kirk said with great feeling, "That I'm really happy to be here. You're doing a wonderful job. A magnificent job."
The deputy governor in charge of Fort Alaya looked uncomfortable while he searched for hidden criticism in Kirk's praise. Fort Alaya currently consisted of a dozen shacks housing a dozen colonists and essential workshops. It had no pier - Kirk had come ashore in the dinghy stored aboard the Albatross - and it bore no resemblance whatsoever to a fort.
One of the two cows providing the settlement with milk stood near Kirk's landing spot, watching him with its big wet eye. Kirk grinned and winked at it, and the cow raised its tail and squirted a jet of liquid shit onto the ground.
