The air was a bit musty, but otherwise good, and I judged the temperature to be about fifty degrees now. Ever strip in mid air? I peeled off my spacesuit and watched it float down too, agonizingly slow, and finally I alighted in my leather jumper.
Clair said, "It's a—"
She never finished the sentence. Something jarred the ground under me like a miniature earthquake, and I sat down hard.
"A ship," Gramps said. "Clair saw a ship coming in on the other side!"
"Now it's landed," Clair told us. It wasn't necessary. That jar could only have been produced by a ship or a man-sized meteor.
"So what?" I wanted to know. "So someone made a mistake and landed here. Our claim's already in. When their claim goes through, Vesta'll tell them."
"Sure," Gramps brightened.
Clair smiled too, as if to say, you're right, so what are we worrying about?
Only my enthusiasm didn't last long. My reasoning was tilted. It was warped. Crazy. "Uh-uh," I shook my head. "It isn't as simple as that. First place, Vesta was supposed to beam a broadcast all over the Belt, telling who landed where."