“You’re making a mistake,” Ailiss said, with the sudden prim severity of a
schoolteacher. “We’re not doing you any harm.”
“No, indeed. Nor will you. We’ve been listening to you talk to yourselves
ever since your probe picked us up; we know what’s on your mind-and we know
about your other starsbips waiting outside. We mean to make an example of
you. This system is ours.”
ney may wind up making an example of you,” Miss said, seizing instantly
upon the slight apparent error. “For that matter, we are not as helpless
as you think. We could very well plant nuclear bombs in a good many of your
cities before we’re forced down.”
“The cities are empty,” the black man said indifferently. “Do you know why
you didn’t detect us until now? We evacuated this planet completely when we
heard you coming, and shut down electromagnetic activity throughout our
system. If your main force looks too strong for us, why then we won’t be
found; and if it isn’t—!’
Symbolically he cut his throat, with a gesture an the more shocking for its
complete-and completely spurious-familiarity.
Ertak, out of sight of the, screen, beckoned to Jorn,
And all the Stars a Stage 151 motioning for silence. Jorn
walked over to him, and tried to understand his pointing
finger and odd gestures. Kambfin understood first, and once he
fumblingly began to carry out the action, Jorn could see what
was wanted: a jury-rigged “take-off” sequence without benefit
of the computers. It looked like sheer suicide, but there was
no time to argue; he could no more successfully rig such a