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Han was concentrating on the field with his remarkably acute vision. There, guidance lights and warning beacons were dark, understandable at a hidden base; but they seemed to be of a very outdated design. He could make out several craft that appeared to be about the size of spaceboats, and five larger ones. It was difficult to see any details because their tails and afterburners were pointed in his direction. Then he knew what was bothering him.

“Badure, they’ve got those ships parked and tied down with their rear ends into the wind.” Since the craft on the field followed common aerodynamic design principles, the sensible way to position them would have been with their noses into the prevailing air currents.

Badure lowered the scope and handed back Han’s blaster. “The wind’s been steady, at least since last night. Either they don’t care what kind of knocking-around their ships will take if a storm kicks up, or the place is deserted.”

“We haven’t seen a soul down there,” Hasti said.

Han turned to Bollux. “Are you still getting those signals?”

“Yes, Captain. They originate from that antenna mast down there by the field, I would say. They’re very weak. I only picked them up because the summit we climbed was close on a direct line of sight.”

Han and Bollux had ascended that summit, a laborious session of trudging and scrambling and occasionally climbing, because of a suspicion of Han’s. In the mining camp, Hasti and Badure had heard rumors that J’uoch and her partners were increasing camp security. Adding to that an apparent interest in the mountains on the part of Lanni, Hasti’s late sister, Han thought it possible the mountains were seeded with antipersonnel sensors that were somehow tied in with the treasure. On the chance that, if there were sensors, they would be active rather than passive and therefore detectable, Han had taken the futilely protesting labor ’droid up to see if, now that they were approaching the lowlands, they could detect any signals. Using his built-in command-signal receiver, Bollux had tried all the standard calibrations and, when those yielded nothing, sampled others. Finally he had picked up a signal of a long-outmoded sort, and Han had taken a rough fix on it. The signal had led the group to this narrow valley, and the morning revealed what was apparently a landing field bracketed in stone.

They had been marching through the mountains for days; songs and high spirits had given way to sore feet, overworked servo-motors, aching muscles, and shoulders chafed by pack straps. The visit to the spa at the University of Rudrig seemed to Han like a dream of another life. According to the map, they were very nearly through the mountains.

That map had turned out to be their most important piece of equipment, allowing them to choose the easiest course. Nonetheless, they had hit a number of places where they had had to climb, where Skynx suddenly became a major asset. The Ruurian could scale or descend sheer rock faces, carrying one end of a climbing rope with him. Without Skynx, Han knew, they would still be somewhere far back in the mountains. As it was, their food was running low. Fortunately they had managed to find water on their route.

But even after they left the mountains they would still have to cross an expanse of open plains before reaching the mining site. A common thought was running through the group’s respective biological and synthetic synapses: acquisition of a ship, even an atmospheric craft, would mark an end to their walking days. In addition, the field might offer supplies as well as transportation.

“Could this be what Lanni was curious about?” Badure wondered aloud.

“We’ll see,” Han decided. They had concealed themselves behind some rocks within a kilometer of the field. “Chewie and I’ll go in first. If we give the all-clear sign, come on down.” He demonstrated a broad waving motion, left to right. “But if we don’t signal you within a half hour, or we give you any other