That meant the other ship, or whatever it might be, was approaching the planet in something resembling a free fall. A crash was not inevitable—there was plenty of time to apply sufficient lateral thrust to insure a miss—but why? Time and fuel would be wasted before a landing would become possible.
The meters stopped clicking, the buzzer became silent, and the ring disappeared from the screen, which changed back to first position. The object had passed beyond accurate range.
Will Archer frowned and pressed a key to his left. After a moment, the face of the radio operator appeared on a small video plate: "Yes?"
"Any calls from outside in the last few minutes?"
The radio operator looked surprised. "No. Why?"
"Stay on audio." The pilot pressed another key, and the buzzer began droning again. This time, it would be heard in all parts of the ship. Captain's call. After perhaps ten seconds, the broad, placid face of Captain Rogan appeared on the screen: "Will? What's the trouble?"
The captain rested his claim to respect on an amazing percentage of sound decisions, and held formality very lightly.
"Cap, a ship just crossed our course in what looked like a free fall to the planet—too fast for a landing. No signals of any kind."
Archer added nothing to the simple facts, since Captain Rogan was as well qualified to speculate about them as anyone. He knew that the Vega system harbors few, if any, meteorites of the indicated size. There is no asteroid belt; apparently there have never been more than the present twenty-three planets.
The only answer which seemed consistent with the facts was an ugly one. The object was a ship out of control—its occupants either dead or helpless.