He returned to the crowd clustered at the viewing screen and took Alice by the arm to draw her away.
She looked quizzically at him. "This is the most exciting thing yet. I want to watch it."
"We haven't got much time," Mel said. "We've got a lot of things to get in our suitcases. Let's go down to our stateroom."
"Everyone else has to pack, too. There's no hurry."
"Fifteen minutes, the Captain said. We don't want to be the last ones."
Unwillingly, Alice followed. Their stateroom was a long way from the salon. The fifteen minutes were almost up by the time they reached it.
Mel closed the door to their room and put his hands on Alice's shoulders. He glanced about warily. "Alice—I don't want to go aboard that ship. There's something wrong about this whole thing. I don't know what it is, but we're not going aboard."
Alice stared at him. "Have you lost your mind? After all our hopes and all our planning you don't want to go on to Mars?"
Mel felt as if a wall had suddenly sprung up between them. He clutched Alice's shoulders desperately in his hands. "Alice—I don't think that ship out there is going to Mars. I know it sounds crazy, but please listen to me—we weren't told anything about the Martian Princess being merely a shuttle and that we'd transfer to another ship out here. No one was told. The Martian Princess is a space liner perfectly capable of going to Mars. There's no reason why such a huge ship should be used merely as a shuttle."