Winfield called as he finished the file.
"Perkins is in contact with them," he said, "They were just about to give up and go away. He didn't think it necessary to go aboard since they seemed to be doing all right for the time being. One of ihem is very sick, they said. That's one reason why they're in such a steam to get the ship repaired."
"All right. We still have no official clearance on them. Get them down. Use one of the pressure hangars, just in case. We wouldn't want to smash them with our atmospheric pressure in case of accident. And I'd hate to have theirs get loose on the field."
"Think we ought to have quarters for the crew?"
"Do you know how many there are?"
"Just two, they say."
"Two? On a ship that size?" Joe recalled the photographs and plans of Neranian ships. "I'd say there ought to be a hundred of them at least. Something funny if only two are aboard. Anyway, we'd better get quarters ready. It might be necessary to evacuate the ship to work on it."
It was about a half hour later that the dark oval of the ship appeared over the field. The service ship in which Perkins and his crew rode followed at a little distance, talking the strangers down.
It wasn't without reason that Old Joe had picked a desert site for his operations. Some of the visitors were sloppy pilots near a planet, and at other times ships came in almost completely out of control, crashing all over the landscape in a futile attempt to set down normally.
But the Nerane ship was adequately controlled. Joe wouldn't have called it a first-class landing, but it was good enough. He Saw Perkins land a short distance away. Within minutes the ship was being towed towards the large, pressurized hangar where no damage would be done if the obnoxious atmosphere within the ship were to get free.