Only it was not beautiful because it was a ship—and it was not their ship.
And neither was it the Star Victory. She'd watched it so often on the scanner that every line of it was etched in her mind.
She hurried to gravity center, every step an effort. Why couldn't they have been discovered later? She would have preferred an alien ship, anything to this. Where had it come from?
Jordan was waiting at the entrance. "I knew you'd be here. You saw the scout?"
It was simple if she had thought about it. The Star Victory was large and carried auxiliary landing craft. "When did it come?"
"Less than an hour ago. Go on in. I'll wait for Anti."
Docchi was leaning against the command unit. The telescreen on the opposite wall was glowing but there was nothing on it except harsh white glare. "I tried to get you at the hospital as soon as they stopped talking. You'd just left."
"They didn't call until they got close?"
A smile had died on his face and the corpse of it was still there. "They nailed us dead. We should have had someone checking on the scanner. It works turned away from the planet. I guess it wouldn't have done any good though—there was just too much space to cover. First thing we knew they were on the telescreen. Jordan went outside, and there they were."
She was thinking of the people on the planet. The asteroid couldn't abandon them. She hoped the scout didn't know how vulnerable they were. "What did they say?"