"Who knows? Maybe. Maybe not. But before that super weapon was completed, Earth fell beneath Mar's assault. The 51 Scientists destroyed themselves and their Base when the Martians came. The—myth—says that if the Martians had been only a month later—the weapon would have been out of blueprint and into metal."
Brandon stopped talking and looked at the long-boned, easily slumbering Scientist.
"And now he shows up. One of the original 51. I wonder what happened? Maybe he tried to reach Earth and had to leap into space to escape the Martians. Logan, we've got history with us, pulled in out of space, cold and stark under our hands."
Logan laughed uneasily. "Yeah. Now, if we only had that weapon. Baby, that'd be something to sing about, by God."
Brandon jerked.
Logan looked at him. "What's eating you?"
Brandon laid his fingers on the dead Scientist's skull.
"Maybe—just maybe—we have got the weapon," he said.
His hand trembled.