Matt interrupted, "But it's possible, Isaac, that there are communities without a radio."
"Yes," agreed Trigg. "We're not in a position, though, to send out extended exploration parties. That'll have to wait—"
Suddenly, Barb Poindexter screamed!
She was sitting close to the starboard passage. Matt whirled around, his eyes almost starting from his head.
A gaunt, half-naked man crouched in the doorway!
For seconds an absolute silence gripped everyone in the room. The man continued to crouch there, a frightened expression in his sunken eyes. He was barefooted and clad only in the ragged remnants of a pair of trousers.
And there was an iron collar about his neck from which a short length of chain dangled!
Matt stared at it in disbelief.
Suddenly, the man seemed to hear something. His expression of fright intensified. He took a half-step into the room, clasping his bony hands before him.