At the time of the crash, Hutch had automatically lined it up with three trees at the back of the beach. But that didn’t tell her how far offshore it was. She’d guessed three hundred meters. But it was a guess. “More or less,” she said. “How about if I go with you?”

They changed into their own disheveled gear, and Arin took them across the road and down a path to the ocean, where a motor yacht waited at a small pier.

They crossed a ramp onto the boat, which had an azure hull with a ladder and a white cabin and flying bridge. A rectangular blue pennant with a fish image flew above the cabin. They went inside. It was equipped with plumbing and a second set of controls. Arin was obviously showing it off. Humans weren’t the only ones with high tech. They sat down for a few minutes and he explained that the boat belonged to the temple. That they used it for various kinds of outings.

Hutch caught enough of the conversation to realize she was making progress. But it was limited.

Arin went outside and cast off the line. Then he returned, wished everyone good luck, and took over the controls. They headed out into the ocean and turned south.

“He wasn’t on the beach when we went down,” said Ken. “He told me the other day that he had no idea where it happened. He talked to a number of people who claimed to have been there at the time, but their descriptions were all over the place.”

They cruised along the coastline. The forest gave way to the beach and the usual crowd of sunbathers. Some waved, although Hutch doubted they could recognize her and Ken at that range. She concentrated on finding the tree cluster. At the time of the accident, she’d thought they’d be easy to recognize. One had been quite tall, with a bushy appearance, and the other two of average dimensions equally spaced on either side. Should have been simple. But it wasn’t.

Two sets of trees fit the description, one on each side of the beach. “That’ll be the easy part,” said Ken, as they lined up with the northern cluster. “It’s the distance from the shore that’s tricky. I think we should be farther out. Maybe fifty meters or so.”

Hutch didn’t agree. “I think we were considerably closer to the beach than that.”

“All right,” he said. “Let’s go in closer and work our way out.”

Arin appeared surprised that they didn’t know precisely where the lander had gone down, but he didn’t say anything.

“I think,” said Hutch, “he expected a bit more from us.”

•  •  •