.
Ryan n o dded. “ Y ou've got a telepath on hand, I see," he said flat-voiced. “ H e could make sure that my call in Hawaiian tells how everything is hearts and flowers. Except if he reads my mind, he'll see that I ain't gonna do it, no matter what. Or, okay, maybe they can break me, but Bob will hear that in his old pal's voice. ”
“ I 've explained this to Hraou-Captain," Markham said, cooler now. “ I t is necessary to neutralize those boats, but they don't pose any urgent threat, so we will start with methods less time-consuming than ... interrogation and persuasion. later, though, when we are on Secunda-that's where we are going-later your cooperation in working up a plausible disaster for me to return with, that is what will buy you your lives. If you refuse, you'll die for nothing, because we can always devise some deception which will keep humans away from here. You'll die for nothing. ”
“ W hat the hell can we do about the boats? We don't know where they've gone. ”
Markham's manner became entirely impersonal. I have explained this to Hraou-Captain. I went on to explain that their actions will not be random. What Captain Saxtorph decides-has decided to do is a multivariable function of the logic of the situation and of his personality. You and he are good friends , Ryan. You can make shrewd guesses as to his behavior. They won't be certain, Of course, but they will eliminate some possibilities and assign rough probabilities to others. Your input may have some value, too, Professor. And even mine-in the course of establishing that I have been telling the truth .
“ S it down on the deck. This will not be pleasant, you know." Hraou-Captain, who had stood like a pillar, turned his enormous body and growled a command. The telepath raised his head. Eyes glazed by the drug that called forth his total abilities came to a focus .
In their different ways, the three humans readied for what was about to happen. They'd have sundering headaches for hours afterward, too.
Small though it was, at its distance from Prima the sun showed more than half again the disc which Sol presents to Earth. Blotches of darkness pocked its sullen red. Corona shimmered around the limb, not quite drowned out of naked-eye vision .
Yoshii ignored it. His attention was on the planet which Fido circled in high orbit. Radar, spectroscope, optical amplifier, and a compact array of other instruments fed data to a computer which spun forth interpretations on screen and printout. Click and whirr passed low through the rustling ventilation, the sometimes uneven human breath within the control cabin. Body warmth and a hint of sweat tinged the air. Yoshii's gaze kept drifting from the equipment, out a port of the globe itself. “ U nbelievable," he murmured .
Airless, it stood sharp-edged athwart the stars, but the illuminated side was nearly a blank, even at first and last quarter when shadows were long. Then a few traces of hill and dale might appear, like timeworn Chinese brush strokes. Otherwise there was yellowish-white smoothness, with ill-defined areas of faint gray, brown, or blue. The whole world could almost have been, a latex ball, crudely made for a child of the giants.
“ W hat now?" Carita asked. She floated, harnessed in her seat, her back to him. They had turned off the gravity polarizer and were weightless, to eliminate that source of detectability. Her attention was clamped to the long-range radar with which she swept the sky, to and fro as the boat swung around .
'Oh, everything," said the Belter .
“ A ny ideas? You've had more chance to think, these past hours, than I have. ”
“ W ell, a few things look obvious, but I wouldn't make book on their being what they seem. ”
“ W hy don't you give me a rundown?" proposed the Jinxian. “ N ever mind if you repeat what I've already heard. We should try putting things in context. " Yoshii plunged into talk. It was an escape of sorts from their troubles, from not
Ryan n o dded. “ Y ou've got a telepath on hand, I see," he said flat-voiced. “ H e could make sure that my call in Hawaiian tells how everything is hearts and flowers. Except if he reads my mind, he'll see that I ain't gonna do it, no matter what. Or, okay, maybe they can break me, but Bob will hear that in his old pal's voice. ”
“ I 've explained this to Hraou-Captain," Markham said, cooler now. “ I t is necessary to neutralize those boats, but they don't pose any urgent threat, so we will start with methods less time-consuming than ... interrogation and persuasion. later, though, when we are on Secunda-that's where we are going-later your cooperation in working up a plausible disaster for me to return with, that is what will buy you your lives. If you refuse, you'll die for nothing, because we can always devise some deception which will keep humans away from here. You'll die for nothing. ”
“ W hat the hell can we do about the boats? We don't know where they've gone. ”
Markham's manner became entirely impersonal. I have explained this to Hraou-Captain. I went on to explain that their actions will not be random. What Captain Saxtorph decides-has decided to do is a multivariable function of the logic of the situation and of his personality. You and he are good friends , Ryan. You can make shrewd guesses as to his behavior. They won't be certain, Of course, but they will eliminate some possibilities and assign rough probabilities to others. Your input may have some value, too, Professor. And even mine-in the course of establishing that I have been telling the truth .
“ S it down on the deck. This will not be pleasant, you know." Hraou-Captain, who had stood like a pillar, turned his enormous body and growled a command. The telepath raised his head. Eyes glazed by the drug that called forth his total abilities came to a focus .
In their different ways, the three humans readied for what was about to happen. They'd have sundering headaches for hours afterward, too.
Small though it was, at its distance from Prima the sun showed more than half again the disc which Sol presents to Earth. Blotches of darkness pocked its sullen red. Corona shimmered around the limb, not quite drowned out of naked-eye vision .
Yoshii ignored it. His attention was on the planet which Fido circled in high orbit. Radar, spectroscope, optical amplifier, and a compact array of other instruments fed data to a computer which spun forth interpretations on screen and printout. Click and whirr passed low through the rustling ventilation, the sometimes uneven human breath within the control cabin. Body warmth and a hint of sweat tinged the air. Yoshii's gaze kept drifting from the equipment, out a port of the globe itself. “ U nbelievable," he murmured .
Airless, it stood sharp-edged athwart the stars, but the illuminated side was nearly a blank, even at first and last quarter when shadows were long. Then a few traces of hill and dale might appear, like timeworn Chinese brush strokes. Otherwise there was yellowish-white smoothness, with ill-defined areas of faint gray, brown, or blue. The whole world could almost have been, a latex ball, crudely made for a child of the giants.
“ W hat now?" Carita asked. She floated, harnessed in her seat, her back to him. They had turned off the gravity polarizer and were weightless, to eliminate that source of detectability. Her attention was clamped to the long-range radar with which she swept the sky, to and fro as the boat swung around .
'Oh, everything," said the Belter .
“ A ny ideas? You've had more chance to think, these past hours, than I have. ”
“ W ell, a few things look obvious, but I wouldn't make book on their being what they seem. ”
“ W hy don't you give me a rundown?" proposed the Jinxian. “ N ever mind if you repeat what I've already heard. We should try putting things in context. " Yoshii plunged into talk. It was an escape of sorts from their troubles, from not
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