Planetfall — Susan Hart

The Refugee - A cowboy finds a downed balloon, he thinks, and is shocked when the inhabitant emerges and starts to yell at him in a strange language. Terran Spies On An Alien Planet - A government official on a planet currently at war with earth, finds two supposed spies at a bar and suspects they are Terran agents. They are pretty 'dense' and after grilling them for a period of time, he follows up on a couple of tips they give him. The Pied Piper of Spring - A galactic tinkerer is called to a small settlement on the planet known as Wesson, to take care of the rat population, which has exploded in the Spring. Weather Modification Sucks - A man with a restaurant on top of a hill worries about what will happen when local officials try to control the weather. He finds out much sooner than expected. Looking For Work In The Pop-Up Mall. A large mall springs up seemingly overnight in place of an apple orchard and suddenly; the number of stores inside intrigues the townspeople. Duplicity is a story set in the near future and it's about a female police detective investigating a crime.