thinking over the situation and it seems to me that I should declare myself mated to one of you, whichever of you wants to be captain. Then I could devolve the responsibility." "Well, I don't want to be captain. Let Fomar do it." Nasha studied him, tall and blond, striding along beside her in his pressure suit. "I'm rather partial to you," she said. "We might try it for a time, at least. But do as you like. Look, we're coming to something." They stopped walking, letting Tance catch up. In front of them was some sort of a ruined building. Dorle stared around thoughtfully. "Do you see? This whole place is a natural bowl, a huge valley. See how the rock formations rise up on all sides, protecting the floor. Maybe some of the great blast was deflected here." They wandered around the ruins, picking up rocks and fragments. "I think this was a farm," Tance said, examining a piece of wood. "This was part of a tower windmill." "Really?" Nasha took the stick and turned it over. "Interesting. But let's go; we don't have much time." "Look," Dorle said suddenly. "Off there, a long way off. Isn't that something?" He pointed. Nasha sucked in her breath. "The white stones." "What?" Nasha looked up at Dorle. "The white stones, the great broken teeth. We saw them, the Captain and I, from the control room." She touched Dorle's arm gently. "That's where they fired from. I didn't think we had landed so close." "What is it?" Tance said, coming up to them. "I'm almost blind without my glasses. What do you see?" "The city. Where they fired from." "Oh." All three of them stood together. "Well, let's go," Tance said. "There's no telling what we'll find there." Dorle frowned at him. "Wait. We don't know what we would be getting into. They must have patrols. They probably have seen us already, for that matter." "They probably have seen the ship itself," Tance said. "They probably know right now where they can find it, where they can blow it up. So what difference does it make whether we go closer or not?" "That's
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