Bondmate

Early pre-metal Earths like VFH330 are the most difficult to keep on track. When Frasina discovers that her anthropologist predecessor still hasn't raised the local hunter/gatherers to the level of basic metallurgy after his 30-year stint, she is determined to surpass his efforts. With the help of her team, she instructs the local tribes how to smelt copper. Then, when all the clans have mastered the methodology, she must teach them to mix in additives like tin to make their metal spear and arrowheads last longer. All goes well until a newly acquired satellite system locates an area where the natives are more highly developed and are using stone to build city structures. These people are a very different from the primitive hunter/gathers, whose lack of personal hygiene is difficult for a Varan to cope with; and Frasina, always curious, wonders if the rumours of cross-culture mating might be true.