Nothing of the kind happened, of course. I just got colder standing there.
"All right," Rene said. "We've had a moment of silence. Now let's go."
"I—there's something wrong," I told him. "Let's go in and see the—the body."
"We can't go in. That ship's sealed from the inside. You think they make those things so any painted alien can open the door and shoot in poisoned arrows? Believe me, he has to be inside if those outside ports are sealed. And he has to be dead because that port hasn't been opened in months. Look at the dust! It's a fourth of the way up the port."
Rene lumbered over to it and blew away some of the lighter dust higher up.
"See that?" he asked.
"No."
He groaned. "Well, you'll have to take my word for it. It's a raindrop. Almost four months old. A very light rain. You could see the faint, crusted outline of the drop if you knew how to look."
"I believe you," I said. "I hired you because you know which side of the trees the moss grows on and things like that. Still...."