“Of course,” said the third observer. “Let us not waste any more time in discussion of the accepted.”

The five Outside specialists were suited and waiting in lock six when Broh and the science council arrived. The Zinramm would not dock with the alien vessel. Broh was not that confident of the derelict’s harmlessness, so the party moved from the lock into a small shuttlecraft, one normally used for conveying explorers to the surface of a solid body.

The lock sealed behind them. Anzeljermeit, leader of the Outsiders, fired the shuttle’s engines very briefly. The shuttle slipped free of its compartment and out into space, angling toward the intimidating bulk of the alien ship. Anzeljermeit’s four subordinates struggled to maintain the pose of professional indifference, but there was no mistaking their tense posture.

The alien was perhaps half again the size of the Zinramm. The perfect spherical body was unsettling to those on the shuttle. They were used to ships, those of the AAnn as well, that boasted a comforting alignment of planes and sharp angles. A vessel shaped as a smooth globe was something most disturbing.

At least the skin of the alien was marred by the expected projections. Antennae and samplers were more or less recognizable. Several blunt nozzles were not, though if they were anything but the business ends of weapons Broh would have been much surprised. They remained comfortingly angled away from the approaching shuttle and the motionless mass of the now distant Zinramm.

Anzeljermeit carefully adjusted the attitude of the shuttle, directing it around the flank of the alien and toward the stern. It did not take long to locate what had to be an exterior lock. The officer barely touched the maneuvering rockets. Tiny puffs of gas flared from the shuttle’s sides, moving it closer to the alien before firming its position in space.

The lock opening was no less aberrant than the shape of the alien ship. It was a squared ellipsoid, nothing like the familiar triangular hatches on the Zinramm. It looked a lot more like an AAnn airlock. The several similarities were beginning to trouble Broh. The shape of the lock was the first unarguable sign they had that the aliens might physically be related to the AAnn.

Boarding would be no problem. The tube that would extend from the shuttle was flexible and would conform itself to the alien opening while sealing tightly. Broh gave the necessary orders.

The Outside officer adjusted the shuttle slightly, so that it presented its left side to the stern of the alien. The boarding tube extended and secured itself to the alien craft. There was a pause while checks were performed.

“Mating completed,” Anzeljermeit announced tersely.

There was no reaction from the alien ship. Now Broh had to make a more difficult decision. To enter the alien they might have to blow the lock cover, an action that could be interpreted as offensive. Since no hint of life had manifested itself from the ship, he’d come to believe she was truly a derelict, floating free, engines as dead as her crew following an armed encounter.