At last Saxton sighed heavily. "Livable," he said.
"Closer to Earth norm than we could have hoped," Wallace agreed.
"What do we do now?"
"We could stay here for two years—until the bloodhound runs out of fuel. That's the estimated time it's supplied for."
"That doesn't sound like a very encouraging prospect." Saxton's dark tan features were lined with worry. "We don't have food enough, for one thing. Maybe the aliens will get discouraged and go away."
"Hardly. You've forgotten that the bloodhounds are fully automatic, and unmanned. A machine doesn't discourage very easily."
"We sure as heck ought to be able to outwit a machine," Saxton said. He thought for a moment. "If we waited until it was across the planet from us, we might have time to get out, and take another jump toward home. One more and we'd be far enough in so our own cruisers could take care of the bloodhound."
Wallace shook his head. "Its speed is too great. Our best chance is that it doesn't hold to a straight path around the planet. The aliens—not knowing the size of any body we might land on—wouldn't set it for a dead-line trajectory. I hope."
There was nothing for them to do until the s-tracer had followed the movements of their stalker long enough to make an adequate graph. They decided to go outside while they waited.