Sam slid in under no power, using the inertia of the ship, lights off, alongside the Fleetblast. He said, "Let's hope your father is alone."
Timas Rorke was alone. He was hard to convince, but his daughter could work wonders with him. "Very well," he grumbled. "I'll see if I can get Pell over here." He shrugged into a space-suit, and slipped his own dory out of the lock. He blasted away to find Pell.
"Look, Sam," Nancy called. "It's the Aeries."
The Aeries slid by the Fleetblast, moving her nets to some other sector of space. The visaphone sounded, "Aeries calling Fleetblast ... Aeries calling Fleetblast...."
Sam gripped Nancy's arm. "We must not answer. Perhaps he will go on."
For a moment the Aeries paused, then it flared an orange trail of acceleration as it headed onward.
And the Fleetblast's dory scraped alongside. From the lock stepped Pell and Timas Rorke.
Sam Knox stood, wide-legged, facing Pell, a compact and resolute form. "I came to take you back to Terra."
Their eyes met and searched each other. Pell sighed. "Almost I am willing to trust you. You, too, are a man who will risk life for a principle."