"Only partly fertile, and the mines that brought the Earthmen are pretty well worked out. But a few ships still land there, and a few Earthmen still hang on."
"That is best. A small place, to begin...."
"To begin what?"
"Who can tell? You don't understand, Trevor. For centuries I have known exactly what I would do. There is a kind of rebirth in not knowing."
Trevor shivered and went back to studying the controls. The wiring, protected by layers of imperviplast insulation and conduit, seemed to be in fair shape. The generator room below had been knocked about, but not too badly. There were spare batteries. Corroded, yes, but if they were charged, they could hold for a while.
"Will it fly?"
"I told you I don't know yet. It would take a lot of work."
"There are many slaves to do this work."
"Yes. But without fuel it's all useless."
"See if there is fuel."