It was a small ship outside, in space. But getting it into the vast cargo-hold of Barden’s ship required some more trimming. The alien ship finally lay in eight sections, stacked. The cargo-hold was now jammed with alien ship and much of the spare equipment and supplies were jettisoned.
Then they went in warily to examine the alien. They found the alien crew—four of them. They were spacesuited but unconscious.
“Hope they breathe air at twenty-percent oxygen,” growled Barden. They opened the suits and laid the unconscious aliens on tables in one of the operations rooms.
They were squat and wide, almost humanoid save for large eyeballs under the closed double lids. Their noses were almost nonexistent, and each hand splayed wide with seven stubby fingers. These hands were symmetrical, but
