Or was that only his imagination?
Regardless, they had to adjust to each other's presence; to work out some solution to their mutual problem.
Cautious exploration finally convinced him that the monsters had vanished from the ship as mysteriously as they'd come. It didn't surprise him; it had been the pattern in every such invasion—nightmare figures materializing out of the void to wreak chaos aboard the IC's Titan-bound craft, then disappearing again, back into whatever dark limbo they called home.
Too, the carrier towards which the dead ensign had been running when the monster seized him was still aboard; apparently the blast-charge had jammed its locks. So there was at least a slim chance for escape.
It was enough for Boone. He persuaded Eileen that, weak as she was, it would be best to stay in her cabin and eat and sleep and rest while they waited for night and stars that might give them some clue as to where they were.
For his own part, he moved from one empty carrier-cradle to another, studying the landscape and the sky.
The effort brought only bafflement. Here and there in the distance, great mountains towered. But always, the blue of the heavens seemed to chop off their highest peaks, as if the sky were a translucent ceiling that they pierced.
Nor could he find the sun, save as a vague, luminous glow that shifted slowly towards the far horizon.
Yet the astrogation microreels showed no satellite or planet short of Venus with an atmosphere thick enough to give such an effect.
Then, at last, the light began to fade. Eagerly, Boone waited for the stars.