alph Redfeather's
Project Engineer office. He opened it. He stepped outside.

It was like stepping into an oven. The sand was still hot from the
sunshine just ended. The air was so utterly dry that Bordman instantly
felt it sucking at the moisture of his nasal passages. In ten seconds
his feet--clad in indoor footwear--were uncomfortably hot. In twenty the
soles of his feet felt as if they were blistering. He would die of the
heat at night, here! Perhaps he could endure the outside near dawn, but
he raged a little. Here where Amerinds and Africans lived and throve, he
could live unprotected for no more than an hour or two--and that at one
special time of the planet's rotation!

He went back in, ashamed of the discomfort of his feet and angrily
letting them feel scorched rather than admit to it.

Aletha turned another page.

"Look, here!" said Bordman angrily. "No matter what you say, you're
going to go back on the _Warlock_ before----"

She raised her eyes.

"We'll worry about that when the time comes. But I think not. I'd
rather stay here."

"For the present, perhaps," snapped Bordman. "But before things get too
bad you go back to the ship! They've rocket fuel enough for half a dozen
landings of the landing boat. They can lift you out of here!"

Aletha shrugged.

"Why leave here to board a derelict? The _Warlock_'s practically that.
What's your honest estimate of the time before a ship equipped to help
us gets here?"

Bordman would not answer. He'd done some figuring. It had been a
two-month journey from Trent--the nearest Survey base--to here. The
_Warlock_ had been expected to remain aground until the smelter it
brought could load it with pig metal. Which could be as little as two
weeks, but would surprise nobody if it was two months instead. So the
ship would not be considered due back on Trent for four months. It would
not be considered overdue for at least two more. It would be six months
before anybody seriously wondered why it wasn't back with its cargo.
There'd be a wait for lifeboats to come in, should there have been a
mishap in space. There'd eventually be a report of noncommunication to
the Colony Survey headquarters on Canna III. But it would take three
months for that report to be received, and six more for a
confirmation--even if ships made the voyages exactly at the most
favorable intervals--and then there should at least be a complaint from
the colony. There were lifeboats aground on Xosa