As The Visitor remained silent, Garth paused and looked around him at the small, bare, naked-walled room. “This is a spaceship, isn’t it?”
The huddled figure in the wheelchair cackled in a brief laugh. “I’ve been hoping that somebody would get up enough nerve someday to ask that kind of question,” it said. “Yep, this is a spaceship. And a darned big one.”
“How did you happen to land on this planet?”
“Had an accident. Didn’t want to land here, but there wasn’t any choice. Made a mighty good landing, considering everything. It was a little rough, though, in spots.”
“How many people were there in the ship, in addition to yourself?”
The Visitor’s voice turned suddenly soft. “There were three thousand, nine hundred and forty-eight passengers and twenty-seven in the crew when the accident happened.”
“My Lord,” asked Garth, “did any survive, aside from you?”