The ensign slammed shut the hatch. He studied Boone curiously. "Just what are you looking for?"
Boone shrugged. "Monsters don't come out of nowhere; not really. My bet is that they get aboard our ships at the Titan base—in embryo, maybe, or as a virus. If we can spot one before it's grown to a full-scale nightmare, it may give us a hint as to how to beat them."
"But they say they're human, sometimes—"
"Maybe. But no man I know can appear and disappear at will, and so far we're the only humanoid race we've found anywhere in the system. Till I see more proof, I'll put my money on alien life-forms plus optical illusion."
"Oh." The ensign's brows drew together. He opened the next hatch.
Another blank.
It went on like that, section after section. They checked supply storage, power receptors, converters.
Still nothing.
In the control room, when they got there, Japetus was already fading from the visiscreen. Hyperion loomed ahead, a bead-like dot hovering in the shadow of the Rings.
Beyond it, dim and distant, lay Titan.