The planet did not look promising, but they had no choice. When a ship’s drive blows between star-systems, it has to be fixed. If metal parts must be recast and machined, and burned-out wiring has to be pieced together and insulated by hand, the job takes literally months. And if, then, getting home is a matter of more months of journeying with a drive that still limps, while coughing and cutting off for seconds or until it is tinkered with—why, the traveler has to find some way to renew his food supply.
It is for such occasions that the Interstellar Code requires all ships to carry an emergency kit with seeds and agricultural directions.
The Danaë, therefore, limped to the nearest Sol-type star to hunt for a planet on which to plant some crops. There was Borden and his wife, Ellen. Ther
