"Naturally," Hale said.
Hale's hands were bound behind him, and the guard with the gun followed directly behind him.
There are no animals fit for riding purposes which are native to Cardigan's Green, and eking out a bare living from the planet left the colonists no time to develop mechanical aids to transportation. They walked.
Several hours later, Leland Hale was inside the hull of the freighter Morris. Under the watchful eye of Yon and his myrmidons, Hale went over the whole vessel, saying as little as possible, and evading the questions that were put to him. When he was finished, his face wore a speculative look, but inside he was feeling positively gleeful. In an hour, at the very most, he, alone, could put the vessel in working order! The original crew of the Morris had almost finished their work when they succumbed to the Plague.
Surely there must be some way he could turn this to his advantage!
"I think it can be done," he said judiciously. "There's not a lot of work to be done, but there are parts missing and so forth.... Hmmmm...." He looked around the control room in which they were standing. It looked like a mess. All the paneling had been taken off the circuit housings to work on the control systems. In the engine section, the refractor domes were still off. The ship didn't look in tip-top shape, but all that would have to be done was a half hour's work on the generators and another half hour to close everything up.
"I don't know how long it will take, though," said Hale.
"I've kept it sealed and kept it clean," said Yon. "I'm no engineer, so I kept my hands off of everything."
"Can you pilot her?" Hale asked.
"Easily. I have the piloting instructions that were left in Cardigan's ship, and I have the astrogation charts from this one." He smiled. "I have had twelve years to study."