one which stood a little apart from its neighbors and, as Raf could
see, was not overlooked except by a ruined tower. He circled the
flitter. The machine had been specially designed to land and take off
in confined spaces, and he knew all there was possible to learn about
its handling on his home world. But he had never tried to bring it
down on a roof, and he was very sure that now he had no margin for
error left him, not with Hobart breathing impatiently beside him, his
hands moving as if, as a pilot of a spacer, he could well take over
the controls here.

Raf circled twice, eyeing the surface of the roof in search of any
break which could mean a crack-up at landing. And then, though he
refused to be hurried by the urgency of the men with him, he came in,
cutting speed, bringing them down with only a slight jar.

Hobart twisted around to face Soriki. "Still getting it?"

The other, cupping his earphones to his head with his hands, nodded.
"Give me a minute or two," he told them, "and I'll have a fix. They're
excited about something--the way this jabber-jabber is coming
through--"

"About us," Raf thought. The ruined tower topped them to the south.
And to the east and west there were buildings as high as the one they
were perched on. But the town he had seen as he maneuvered for a
landing had held no signs of life. Around them were only signs of
decay.

Lablet got out of the flitter and walked to the edge of the roof,
leaning against the parapet to focus his vision glasses on what lay