Soon Lather appeared with a handful of records.
“Let’s see the video-record first,” said Zimbardo, and pushed his computer a little closer to his lieutenant. The man inserted the disk. In seconds, a view of the prisoners appeared on the screen, each one shuffling by as they entered the Silver Cloud.
When all the prisoners had passed by, Zimbardo turned his head down in disgust. Lather opened a file and brought out another disk. “I’ve got—” he began.
“You fool!!” spat out Zimbardo through gritted teeth. “I don’t need to see any more! I know who we’ve got now! How could you miss seeing that the three Starmen who completely destroyed our plans on Mars were your passengers for three days! How could you miss it??” He was shouting now. “They’ve been on the news for two weeks! How—” Zimbardo paused and tried hard to get control of himself. “They were our prisoners! —and now they’ve escaped! They’re loose inside this asteroid, and we don’t know where!”
“But sir,” inserted Lather when Zimbardo paused to take a breath and clutch the air. “There aren’t many places they can hide. There’s not much to the inside of the complex—only five floors.”
Zimbardo turned to the ship captain. With words that smoldered, he said, “The complex of this asteroid is far larger than you think! I have barely begun to explore, and St. George knows more than I do!”
Back in control now, Zimbardo punched his desk communicator. “Gene! Get a search party together and have them scour every part of the asteroid they can find.” He filled in the details about the Starmen. But he knew that neither the miners nor the Starmen would be found. With George St. George leading them, they could be anywhere—anywhere but where his men would be able to search.
Mark came out of a deep sleep into a light doze. He knew he was sleeping, but he was also mindful of his surroundings. It gradually washed through him that he was hearing voices. Two voices were conversing in very low tones, far away. He had a feeling that the air was thick and the sound had to struggle to get to him. He became aware of his eyelids, and they fluttered. Fully conscious but deeply relaxed now, he slowly opened his eyes. He saw only darkness, but it was not absolute.
He turned his head slowly to the left. Through an open door, about twenty feet away along a corridor were two tall, vaguely humanoid beings wrapped in shadows. Mark’s heart leaped and began to race, but outwardly he showed no trace that he was alert. His eyes narrowed in an attempt to see more clearly. He knew instinctively that the creatures were alien. They walked in utter silence and stepped into the room. Mark lay frozen. They looked around for a few seconds, then went back into the corridor to the place where he had first seen them. They manifested no ill intent toward the sleepers.
The figures began conversing in low voices. Mark sensed a deep sadness in their tone. He strained to hear what they were saying, what their words sounded like.