"
They got into the awkward, bulky suits and squeezed into the hatch while
Weeks slammed the lock door at their backs and operated the outer
opening. Then they were looking out across the ground, still showing
signs of the heat of their landing, and lighted by the dome beam.
"Nobody hurrying out with an aid and comfort kit," Rip's voice sounded in
Dane's earphones. "A little slack aren't they?"
Slack--or was it that the Eysies had recognized the Queen and was
preparing the sort of welcome the remnant of her crew could not
withstand? Dane, wanting very much in his heart to be elsewhere, climbed
down the ladder in Rip's wake, both of them spotlighted by the immovable
beam from the Stat dome.
Chapter XI
DESPERATE MEASURES
Measured in distance and time that rough walk in the ponderous suits
across the broken terrain of the asteroid was a short one, measured by
the beating of his own heart, Dane thought it much too long. There was no
sign of life by the air lock of the bubble--no move on the part of the
men stationed there to come to their assistance.
"D'you suppose we're invisible?" Ali's disembodied voice clicked in the
helmet earphones.
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