Pwowp grinned and turned away. He was satisfied now. His surmise was correct. It had been the greatest good fortune to have obtained 2615.
He left the observation box and rode the travelwalk, jumped to another, then another, until he came to the entrance to one of the giant ships.
A door swung inward. He entered the space-lock. When the outer door closed, he divested himself of his human body.
He stretched luxuriously. It was good to be out of confining matter. To be free....
Larry wasn't sure at first. He was doubtful of his eyes anyway, by now.
It was a hard-white star. It blinked at him. Of course the blinking could be his eyelids, except that other stars didn't blink even while this one did. That's what attracted his attention to it in the first place after his radio went dead.
The blinking of the light began to take on a pattern. It was code. That was impossible too, because code blinkers were red or bright green.
It was code. He began to interpret it.
We have blanketed your radio until we can talk to you, it blinked. You have stumbled upon a top secret research base. A new weapon. Please instruct the girl on the S.P. ship not to send any messages, and to permit us to board her ship. We will rescue you afterwards. We repeat, you have stumbled on a top secret research base. Please cooperate.