"Listen," said Birrel suddenly, "Listen, there's one thing we might do." He went over to Kara and shook her until she opened her eyes. "There isn't much time, you've both got to play along with me or it won't work. It might give us an edge, to use against Vannevan. Listen--"
He spoke rapidly, forcefully, and they listened, while the life-boat of the Irrian ship came closer, riding its fiery jet across the black gulf outside.
"It'll be dangerous," whispered Kara. "If he finds out--"
"I don't figure I have much to lose anyway," said Birrel dryly. "Hurry up!"
When Vannevan and his men came into the broken ship they found Thile and Kara clinging quietly together, apart from the Earthman Birrel, who was strapped into a recoil chair with his hands bound tightly behind him.
There were six of the Irrians, counting Vannevan. They wore vac-suits and they were all armed. Two of them went immediately to Thile and Kara and searched them for weapons, but they had none. The time for resistance was past.
Another man, on Vannevan's instructions, began to tear open the lockers that were still intact, looking for papers. The others stood guard. They handled themselves easily, experts at null gravity.
Birrel looked at Vannevan and said sourly, "Out of the frying pan into the fire. I don't know which of you is worse."
Vannevan's eyes were bright, cruel, competent and happy. Very happy. He had wiped out, and with interest, the defeat he had suffered at the farmhouse. He had crushed the Ruunites completely. For him, it was a good day.
He smiled at Birrel. "You see what happens to meddlers."
"I wouldn't call it meddling," Birrel said. "We caught a spy. It was natural to want to know who he was working for, and why."
"When you found out," Vannevan said, "why didn't you report back to your superiors? You were free. I remember distinctly that you were free."
Birrel indicated Kara with a savage movement of his chin. "She talked me out of it, damn her. With a gun."
"So," said Vannevan, and smiled, and shook his head. "But she had no weapon. I myself had seen to that."
"She had one," Birrel said bitterly. "In the hopper. She told me there was another car hidden there for emergencies, and like a fool, I believed her. Instead there was that flying-thing, and she pulled a weapon from inside it. The next thing I knew I was aboard this ship, a prisoner. They were going to take me back to Ruun whether I wanted to go or not."