Read the following passage and questions, then choose the right answer from options, the answer should be one of A, B, C, D.

<passage>:
not." The captain was momentarily silent, groping for an adequate reply. Behind him somebody made a choked noise, the only sound in the stunned hush, and the ship jarred slightly as a thunderbolt slammed vengefully into its field. "Suppose we settle this argument about humanity," said Knof Llud Earth set itself grimly to meet them with Quest III , as for forty hours the ship had decelerated. They had seen many such stars come near out of the galaxy's glittering backdrop, and had seen them dwindle, turn red and go out as the the most hopeful of the expeditions—and its captain had been a good friend of Llud's, nine hundred years ago.... He growled, "What happened to him?" time," said the voice lightly. "When he saw that it was hopeless, he preferred suicide to defeat, and took his ship into the Sun." A short pause. "The vision connection is ready." the oncoming star, and there were wide-eyed children who had been born in the ship and had never seen a planet. The grownups talked in low voices, in tones of mingled eagerness and apprehension, of what might spent and the holds became radioactively safe, the crew had spread out from its original cramped quarters. Now the interstellar ship was little more than a hollow shell. Eyes lifted from the vision screens to interrogate Knof Llud sighted Earth." A feverish buzz arose the captain gestured for silence and went on, each other's hands, kissed, shouted, wept. For the present their fears were forgotten and exaltation prevailed. already set up on the calculator a course that would carry them to Earth. Llud nodded curt approval, remarking, "Probably we'll be intercepted notify him as soon as Earth's surface features became clear then he sat idle, alone with his thoughts. The ship's automatic mechanisms had scant need of tending Knof Llud and the hope of success in man's mightiest venture had dwindled, so the time axis of a space ship approaching the speed of light. Weeks and months had passed for the Quest III in interstellar flight while years and decades had raced by on the home world. "Our hopes were dashed—and I think all of us, even remembering the "We face the unpleasant realization that what was feared is probably exhausted. Only once in a long age does mankind rise to such a selfless "Hopeless, unless we find planets!" Omega Centauri is twenty thousand light years away.... "Even so—by expending its remaining fuel freely, the more than forty thousand years. By then our civilization certainly, and perhaps the human race itself, would have perished from memory. "That was why the planners limited our voyage, and those of the other Quests , to less than a thousand years Earth time. Even now, according of homesickness, though they know with their minds that everything that was once 'home' has probably been swept away.... "It doesn't matter. Today I gave orders to swing the ship." Savagely Knof Llud stabbed the button that shut off the speaker. Then he sat for a time with head resting in his hands, staring into nothing. to falter one moment in flight. The captain was on his feet instantly, but then his movements became unhurried. Whatever it had been was past, and he had a good idea the Sun, though in interstellar space and around planetless stars such collisions were rare to the vanishing point. No harm could have the vessel. Llud snatched up the receiver with the speed of a scalded cat. "Captain?" It was Gwar Den's voice, stammering a little. "Captain, we're being attacked!" "Sound the alarm. Emergency stations." He had said it automatically, then felt a curious detached relief at the knowledge that after all these years he could still respond quickly and smoothly to a crisis. There was a moment's silence, and he heard the alarm start—three short buzzes and repeat, ringing through all the great length of the interstellar ship. Knowing that Gwar Den was still there, he said, "Now—attacked by what?" "Ships," said Gwar Den helplessly. "Five of them so far. No, there's a sixth now." Repeated blows quivered the Quest III's Their faces were set, scared, uncomprehending. The but it plunged on toward Earth, its mighty engines still steadily braking its interstellar velocity. To a man, the ship's responsible officers were already on the bridge, most of them breathless. To a man they looked appeal at Captain Knof Llud. "Well?" he snapped. "What are they doing?" they're all banging away at us." The captain stared into the black star-strewn depths of a vision screen where occasional blue points of light winked ominously, never twice "If they had anything heavier," surmised the captain, "they'd have unlimbered it by now. They're out to get us. But at this rate, they can't touch us as long as our power lasts—or until they bring up some bigger stuff." the ship forces impinging on the outside of the field were similarly transmitted and rendered harmless. The effect was as if the vessel and all space inside its field were a single perfectly elastic body. A meteoroid, for example, on striking it rebounded—usually vaporized by the impact—and the ship, in obedience to the law of equal and opposite wait for us. But why on Earth—" "That," said the captain grimly, "is what we have to find out. Why—on always attacking, with the senseless fury of maddened hornets. The interstellar ship bore no offensive weapons—but suddenly on one of the and speed—but detector-beam echoes gave the distance, and likewise, by the Doppler method, the velocity of directly receding or approaching ships. It was apparent that the enemy vessels were even smaller than Gwar Den had at first supposed—not large enough to hold even one man. It became evident, too, that the bombardment was being kept up by a constant arrival of fresh attackers, while others raced away into space, presumably returning to base to replenish their ammunition. That argued a planned and prepared interception with virulent hatred behind it. hours." "We'll have reached Earth before then," Gwar Den said hopefully. "If they don't bring out the heavy artillery first." "We're under the psychological disadvantage," said the captain, "of not knowing why we're being attacked." swinging wild and then you nail him." Smiles splintered the ice of tension. Captain Llud said, "Maybe you've got something there. They seem to be mad, all right. But we're not in was going to say—I think we'd better try to parley with the enemy. At least we may find out who he is and why he's determined to smash us." And now instead of tight-beam detectors the ship was broadcasting on an audio carrier wave that shifted through a wide range of frequencies, repeating on each the same brief recorded message: "Who are you? What do you want? We are the interstellar expedition you ?" There was no answer. The ship drove on, its fuel trickling away under multiplied demands. Those outside were squandering vastly greater amounts of energy in the effort to batter down its defenses, but nerves and muscles and will weakening along with the power-sinews of his ship. Zost Relyul approached him apologetically. "If you have time, Captain—I've got some data on Earth now." last. The two other interstellar expeditions that went out have already returned and been destroyed, as you will soon be—the sooner, if you continue toward Earth." Knof Llud's mind was clicking again. The voice—which must be coming from Earth, relayed by one of the midget ships—was not very smart it had already involuntarily told him a couple of things—that it was not

<question>:
At what moment in the story did the characters seem to have the least hope?

<options>:
A When they realized the oxygen supply was extremely low.
B When they realized it was impossible to contact the other Quest ships.
C When they were about to crash into a comet.
D When they were mid-communication with the violent ships.

<answer>:

D