"Jed. He had been in that engine room without air for at least ten minutes before we got there. He can't be alive."
"No air. Temperature diving toward absolute zero. He was frozen stiff, Jed, before we moved him. We left him where he was until long after we landed."
"I know," Hargraves said. "There is no doubt about it. I used a stethoscope on him as soon as I could get to it after we landed. He was dead. There wasn't a sign of life."
Frightened faces looked at him. Awed faces. Bewildered faces.
"What did you mean when you told Ron Val to find out if that is really Sarkoff?"
"Just what I said. That may be Sarkoff. It may be something that looks like Sarkoff, acts like him, talks like him—but isn't he!"
"That—that's impossible."
"How do we know what is possible here and what isn't?"
"What are we going to do?"
"We're going to act just as we would if that were Sarkoff. We're going to pick up our cues from him? You remember he said he was out scouting. That is his story. We will not question it. We will act as though it were true, until we know what is happening. Now everybody back to his post. Act as if nothing had happened. And for the love of Pete, don't ask me what is going on. I don't know any more than you do."