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the tractor lurched leftward.
?There's something out there. Clouds parted for just a second, and I saw
it. I don't know what it is, but it's big. And it's ours. Yours and
mine-and the kids'.?
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The alien spacecraft dwarfed the tractor as the big sixwheeler trundled
to a halt nearby. Twin arches of metallic glass swept skyward in
graceful, but somehow disturbing, curves from the stern of the derelict.
From a distance they resembled the reaching arms of a prone dead man,
locked in
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advanced rigor mortis. One was shorter than the other, and yet this
failed to ruin the symmetry of the ship.
The design was as alien as the composition. It might have been grown
instead of built. The slick bulge of the hull still exhibited a peculiar
vitreous luster that the wind-borne grit of Acheron had not completely
obliterated.
Jorden locked the tractor's brakes. ?Folks, we have scored big this
time. Anne, break out the suits. I wonder if the Hadley Cafe can
synthesize champagne?"
His wife stood where she was, staring out through the tough glass.
?Let's check it out and get back safely before we start celebrating,
Russ. Maybe we're not the first to find it.?
?Are you kidding? There's no beacon on this whole plateau. There's no
marker outside. Nobody's been here before us. Nobody! She's all ours.?He
was heading toward the rear of the cabin as he talked.
Anne still sounded doubtful. ?Hard to believe that anything that big,
putting out that kind of resonance, could have sat here for this long
without being noticed.?
?Bulll.?Jorden was already climbing into his environment suit, flipping
catches without hunting for them, closing seal-tights with the ease of
long practice. ?You worry too much. I can think of plenty of reasons why
it's escaped notice until now.?
?For instance?"Reluctantly she turned from the window and moved to join
him in donning her own suit.
?For instance, it's blocked off from the colony's detectors by these
mountains, and you know that surveillance satellites are useless in this
kind of atmosphere.?
?What about infrared?"She zipped up the front of her suit.
?What infrared? Look at it: dead as a doornail. Probably been sitting
here just like that for thousands of years. Even if it got here
yesterday, you couldn't pick up any infrared on
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this part of the planet; new air coming out of the atmosphere processor
is too hot.?
?So then how did Operations hit on it?"She was slipping on her
equipment, filling up the instrument belt.
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He shrugged. ?How the heck should I know? If it's bugging you, you can
winkle it out of Lydecker when we get back. The important thing is that
we're the ones they picked to check it out. We lucked out.? He turned
toward the airlock door. ?C'mon, babe. Let's crack the treasure chest.
I'll bet that baby's insides are just crammed with valuable stuff.?
Equally enthusiastic but considerably more self-possessed, Anne Jorden
tightened the seals on her own suit. Husband and wife checked each other
out: oxygen, tools, lights, energy cells, all in place. When they were
ready to leave the tractor, she popped her wind visor and favored her
offspring with a stern gaze.
?You kids stay inside. I mean it.?
?Aw, Mom.?Tim's expression was full of childish disappointment. ?Can't I
come too?"
?No, you cannot come too. We'll tell you all about it when we get
back.?She closed the airlock door behind her.
Tim immediately ran to the nearest port and pressed his nose against the
glass. Outside the tractor, the twilight landscape was illuminated by
the helmet beams of his parents.
?I dunno why I can't go too.?
?Because Mommy said so.?Newt was considering what to play next as she
pressed her own face against another window. The lights from her
parents' helmets grew dim as they advanced toward the strange ship.
Something grabbed her from behind. She squealed and turned to confront
her brother.
?Cheater!?he jeered. Then he turned and ran for a place to hide. She
followed, yelling back at him.
The bulk of the alien vessel loomed over the two bipeds as they climbed
the broken rubble that surrounded it. Wind howled around them. Dust
obscured the sun.
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?Shouldn't we call in?"Anne stared at the smooth-sided mass.
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