"Nothing," he said. "Exactly nothing. We've no more control over our fate at present than we've had since we started."
Sally gave a mirthless laugh. "That makes it swell! All we've got to do is wait—and wait—and see what this old ball intends to do with us."
Pearl volunteered a remark which, in its unexpectedness, caused them all to look at her.
"So many stones," she breathed. "Lonely stones."
DuChane leaped to his feet.
"The girl knew!" he shouted. "She knew! We thought she was talking gibberish, but she was telling us where we'd wind up. Stones! Lonely stones! Asteroids!"
"Of course Pearl knows!" crowed Maw Barstow. "Didn't I tell you?"
Norma rarely took part in their discussions. She spoke now with bitter conviction. A flush of intensity lighted her wan features.
"It was all intended! I could feel it when I lay there in my stupor—just as if I was a part of it and knew where we were going and why. It's a soulless thing! We don't mean anything to it—not any more than grubs. This is only the beginning—it's going to be more and more terrible. We'll be ground to fragments—"
She closed her lips and stared, shudderingly, as if into space.