"Good-bye, dear. I'll jump first, down this side, you follow."
To leap into that black patch, with the rocks under it....
"Gregg—"
She was trying to tell me to look overhead. She gestured, "Gregg, see!"
I saw it, out over the plains, a little speck amid the stars. A moving speck, coming toward us!
"Gregg, what is it?"
I gazed, held my breath. A moving speck out there. A blob now. And then I realized it was not a large object, far away, but small, and already very close—only a few hundred feet off, dropping toward the top of our dome. A narrow, flat, ten foot object, like a wingless volplane. There were no lights on it, but in the Earthlight I could see two crouching, helmeted figures riding it.
"Anita! Don't you remember!"
I was swept with dawning comprehension. Back in the Grantline camp Snap and I had discussed how to use the Planetara's gravity plates. We had gone to the wreck and secured them, had rigged this little volplane flyer....
The brigands on the rocks saw it now. A flash went up at it. One of the figures crouching on it opened a flexible fabric like a wing over its side. I saw another flash from below, harmlessly striking the insulated shield.