"But if we get spaceborne before the stabilizer's working, we'll only be floundering around again."
Cassidy started for the ladder. "There's one thing we can do—patch up the hatches and jump over to another spot on this planet. Maybe we'll find somebody who's normal, at least."
But Mason caught his arm and pointed toward Riva's estate where a skimmer car was now parked on the side of the manor opposite the guest house.
"Anybody who can drive one of those things," he suggested, "must know something about the city and how to get there. Maybe he'll even give us a lift."
Mason circled the skimmer craft. "It's a fine piece of workmanship," he said in admiration.
"I'll say," Cassidy agreed. "If we can find out where that was made, I'm sure we'll—"
His vision was suddenly cut off by a pair of hands that came around his head from behind and clamped themselves over his eyes. If he had any doubt as to the identity of their owner, it was soon cleared up by a soft voice next to his ear:
"Not right this is. It's chasing me you're supposed to be."
"Riva," he said, facing her, "we'd like to meet the person who came here in that skimmer."