, no personal possessions
of any kind. Barrent left and inspected the officers' and captain's
quarters. He found no sign of recent human habitation.

He returned to the control room. It was apparent now that the ship had
no crew. Perhaps the authorities on Earth felt so certain of their
schedules and of the reliability of their ship that they had decided a
crew was superfluous. Perhaps....

But it seemed to Barrent a reckless way of doing things. There was
something very strange about an Earth that allowed starships to run
without human supervision.

He decided to suspend further judgment until he had acquired more facts.
For the time being, he had to think about the problems of his own
survival. There was concentrated food in his pockets, but he hadn't been
able to carry much water. Would the crewless ship have supplies? He had
to remember the detachment of guards, down below in their assembly
room. And he had to think about what was going to happen at the
checkpoint, and what he would do about it.

Barrent found that he did not have to use his own food supplies. In the
officers' mess, machines still dispensed food and drink at the push of a
button. Barrent didn't know if these were natural or chemically
reconstituted foods. They tasted fine and seemed to nourish him, so he
really didn't care.

He explored part of the ship's upper levels. After becoming lost several
times, he decided not to take any more unnecessary risks. The
life-center of the ship was its control room, and Barrent spent most of
his time there.

He found a viewport. Activating the switch that opened the shutters,
Barrent was able to look out on the vast spectacle of stars glowing in
the blackness of space. Stars without end stretched past the furthest
limits of his imagination. Looking at this, Barrent felt a strong surge
of pride. This was where he belonged, and those unknown stars were his
heritage.

The time to the checkpoint dwindled to six hours. Barrent watched new
portions of the control board come to life, checking and altering the
forces governing the ship, preparing for a landing. Three and a half
hours before landing, Barrent made an interesting discovery. He found
the central communication system for the entire ship. By turning on the
receiving end, he could overhear conversations in the guardroom.

He didn't learn much that was useful to him. Either through caution or
lack of concern, the guards didn't discuss politics. Their l