CHAPTER 15The Ship from Outside
Three times they circled the planet, their hulls glowing with the friction of their passage, through the thick air, and Laurance stood, like a thing of stone, counting them as they swept over the settlement.
“...seven. eight, nine… Nine! Nine ships!”
“Nine?” Hogarth frowned and turned to the ultra beam transmitter, its shrilling attention signal dying as he adjusted a control.
“Hogarth! Hogarth! Come in Hogarth!”
“Hogarth speaking. Come in.”
“Ship One here. We’re in trouble.”
“Where is the other ship?”
“Blasted. I told you that we’re in trouble. That vessel which was following us, the one I told you about…”
“The Federation ship?”
“Federation hell!” Brittle anger echoed in the voice vibrating from the speaker. “That’s no Fed ship. It streaked down o
