"You told me—" Helena Jansky bit her lip, then slowly forced the words out: "You told me, and I believed you, that there was nothing immediately to fear when the Nebulites took over our controls. So we didn't fight them; we didn't try to overcome their forces with our own engines. And it cost us the ship and over half her crew."
"I told you what happened to me last time," he lied steadfastly. "I can't help it if things were different this trip."
She turned her back. The wind blew a thin hissing veil of dry snow across her ankles. A wounded man suddenly screamed out there in the dark.
How does it feel, Donovan? You made her trust you and then betrayed her for a thing that isn't even human. How does it feel to be a Judas?
"Never mind recriminations," said Takahashi. "This isn't the time to hold trials. We've got to decide what to do."
"They have a city on this planet," said Donovan. "Drogobych, they call it, and the planet's name is Arzun. It lies somewhere near the equator, they told me once. If they meant us to make our own way to it—and it would be like them—then it may well lie due south. We can march that way, assuming that the sun set in the west."
"Nothing to lose," shrugged the Terran. "But we haven't many weapons, a few assorted sidearms is all, and they aren't much use against these creatures anyway."
Something howled out in the darkness. The ground quivered, ever so faintly, to the pounding of heavy feet.
"Wild animals yet!" Cohen grinned humorlessly. "Better sound battle stations, Captain."