Read The Pirates of Sufiro (Book 1) (Old Star New Earth) for Free Online Page B

ship's provisions. After dinner, Firebrandt and Roberts walked across the grassy meadow and down the embankment to the river. Using the poison detection kit, they tested the water. The water proved to be safe. The captain reached down, took a handful of water and drank it. Roberts lunged at him to stop him, but was too late. "You don't know whether or not there are any microbes in that water that could kill you," he said. His thin black eyebrows closed together, worried.
"Any microbes that tried chewing on my insides would probably get a stomachache." Firebrandt grinned, then slapped Roberts on the shoulder. He saw that Roberts was still worried. "Look, we won't know whether or not we can survive here unless we're willing to take chances. The water tastes great, by the way."
"It's a big river," sighed Roberts, knowing he wouldn't be able to stop his captain from taking chances. The sun was on the horizon. The reddish light played across the water.
"What'll we call it?" Firebrandt sat down on the sandy bank and let his gaze travel up and down the length of the river.
Roberts looked back toward the river. "When the first conquistadors came into New Mexico on old Earth, they called the big river they found, Rio Grande."
"I'm not up on old Earth languages," said Firebrandt, absentmindedly. "That's Spanish, isn't it?"
"Yeah," said Roberts wryly. "It means 'Big River.'"
"Well, if there's a Rio Grande on Earth, we can't call this Rio Grande. No matter how much we like the name." Firebrandt grinned.
"Who else'll ever know?" When he saw that his captain was unconvinced, he made a new suggestion. "How about Nuevo Rio Grande—New Big River. Besides, this river's bigger than the Rio Grande of Earth."
The captain took another drink, then stood and brushed pinkish sand from his trousers. Turning in unison, the two returned to the ship. On the walk back, the captain looked around at the countryside. "So, if that's the Nuevo Rio Grande, are we in New New Mexico?"
"Don't give me that 'New New' shit." Roberts cringed. "They did that on New Earth. There's New New York, New New Delhi—it's the least original planet in the galaxy." As they topped the hill and started walking across the meadow, Roberts said, "How about Nova Granada?"
"Sounds like an explosion on a white dwarf." Firebrandt's bushy eyebrows raised in unison.
Suki looked up at their arrival. "What sounds like an explosion on a white dwarf?"
"The name Roberts suggested for this continent," said Firebrandt. "He wants to call it Nova Granada. We decided to call the river Nuevo Rio Grande."
She smiled. "After the Rio Grande of Earth." She nodded approvingly.
"On the ancient Spanish maps, what we call New Mexico was then called Nova Granada," explained Roberts. "I happen to like the name."
"I do too." Suki's gaze swept the countryside. "It has a certain flair."
Firebrandt finally acquiesced. They built a fire as the stars began to appear. The captain and Suki sat, arm in arm, creating names for the new constellations they saw. Finally, they decided to set up watches while the others slept. So far, they hadn't encountered any potentially dangerous animals, but it wasn't worth the risk to find out if there were nocturnal predators. Suki took the first watch while Firebrandt and Roberts crawled into their sleeping bags.
* * * *
    That first night in Nova Granada proved uneventful. Suki hadn't seen anything, but both Roberts and Firebrandt reported seeing nocturnal animals in the glow of the fire. The captain never got sick on the water.
    Roberts and Suki spent the next several days testing plants in the area for poison. The soil tested good for growing Earth plants. Reed-like plants growing a short distance from the river proved to be a grain. "You know," said Roberts. "I think we could malt this grain and make an ale of sorts."
    "You would need to find some yeast cultures for fermentation," commented Suki doubtfully.
"The admiral didn't take all the ale stores from the ship," said Roberts,