Wrattleham

They turn to look at Xeni as he approaches the farm deck, but nobody moves or acts hostile. One dark-skinned chap with a beard of fingers in a kevlar vest and wearing a tin helmet raises a rifle, but doesn't fire. A strange man is floating over their farms; mostly they want to get back to work and think about what they've Seen, but if the man wants to stop them they'll act accordingly. Even if most of them will have to do so with hoes and sickles.

Through the windows (which are not very good quality; they're made of plastic bottles melted down and poured flat and screwed into place) Xeni sees the Lord Mayor of Wrattleham and his Steering Committee! It's six people, four sat at desks with screens, dials and gauges in front of them, one sat in an armchair and one with a rifle standing near the door. The mayor is immediately obvious, as he's the oldest guy aboard the whole town. He's a bald chap in his fifties, and his faded orange overalls have been ripped and torn by a network of glassy roots which have grown from his legs and back, curling about the battered armchair that serves as his throne and anchoring him in place. His eyes reflect the night sky. Sat nearest him is a twelve-year-old boy with four arms in the sleeves of his fur-lined coat; fortunately, it's several sizes too large and he hasn't ripped it. His skin is translucent, like it's made of glass, and dotted with constellations of stars. On his head is half a plastic globe, serving as a hat. There's a draconic-looking woman covered in dark scales, with glassy antlers, a pair of arms growing from her shoulders before branching into two forearms and four hands and too many fingers each, pressing one of her many organic eyes to a seaside pier telescope bolted to the floor. The radio-operator looks like the mayor, minus the roots; she has an arm growing from the centre of her chest and an extra leg that ends in a seven-fingered hand at her hip. She's covered in eyes and mouths, most of them seeming to open into the gulf of interplanetary space, a few more organic or glassy in their look, and her skin is glowing just enough to be noticeable. The final person sat down has three faces overlapping each other, one slightly to the left of the original and one slightly below, giving them five eyes, three noses and two mouths. Their arms look like wings, covered in feathery leaves, fingers and tongues.