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Norton, Andre, 1912-2005

"Plague Ship"

The E-Stat asteroid was of a reasonable
size, but in their eyes it was a bleak, torn mote of stuff swimming
through vast emptiness.
"Identify--" the drone heightened in pitch.
Rip's lips were compressed, he made quick calculations. And Dane saw
that, though Jellico was the master, Rip was fully fit to follow in the
Captain's boot prints.
There was a sudden silence in the cabin--the demand had stopped. The
agents below must now have realized that the ship with the distress
signals blazing on her nose was not going to reply. Dane found he could
not watch the visa plate now, Rip's hands about their task filled his
whole range of sight.
He knew that Shannon was using every bit of his skill and knowledge to
jockey them into the position where they could ride their tail rockets
down to the scorched rock of the E-Stat field. Perhaps it wasn't as
smooth a landing as Jellico could have made. But they did it. Rip's hands
were quiet, again that patch of darkness showed on the back of his tunic.
He made no move from his seat.
"Secure--" Ali's voice floated up to them.
Dane unbuckled his safety webbing and got up, looking to Shannon for
orders.


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