"don't mind me," kevin said, within the frank buck. "if i'm confused it's merely because i can't believe this. not you, leclarc, not you."
they'd been ushered into the main lounge of the frank buck, a ship of about the gordak's dimensions, but two or three years older. leclarc stood there with his neutron gun, watching them carefully. in a few moments, schuyler barling joined them, a greasy salve covering the discoloration on his jaw. the jaw looked painfully swollen too, and barling rubbed it speculatively. "i won't forget this," he growled briefly to teejay, then turned to leclarc. "kevin mcgann i know, but what about this man?"
"stedman?" said leclarc. "you'll want him, because he's the extra-zoo man on the gordak. if you took mcgann and the woman alone, they still might be able to do their work on carmical's ship. but with stedman your prisoner as well, their hands are tied over there."
"what is this?" teejay demanded defiantly. "what's the meaning of—"
"will you be quiet and let me do the talking?" barling interrupted her. "it was leclarc who radioed and told me your coin had two heads. if you wanted to play the game that way, i wasn't going to stand by and let you. so—"
"so," leclarc took up the thread for him, "we got together, mr. barling and i."
"but you, leclarc," said kevin. "you'd jump through a fire-hoop into a pit of acid if captain moore told you to."
"would i?" leclarc chuckled softly.
"yes. yes, you would."
"perhaps there was a time i'd have done that, mcgann. perhaps. but then i thought the captain needed me, and wanted me to help her, too. now, with you and stedman—well, leclarc isn't so important, is he?"
"so that's it!" kevin roared. "you're jealous. not jealous the way a man should be, when he loves a woman, but jealous because you believed captain moore had discarded you—had decided you weren't such an essential cog in the gordak machine."
"shut up." leclarc took a quick step toward kevin and hit him, hooking his left fist at the bigger man's jaw. kevin staggered but did not go down. bellowing, he charged at leclarc, but the frenchman waved him off with the neutron gun.
"stop it, leclarc!" barling snapped. "i didn't have you bring them here to make a shambles of the lounge. just stand off in the corner—that's right, there—and watch them. i'll do the talking."
"you realize, of course," teejay told him calmly, "that this is kidnapping."
"is it? who is to say? you never entered the gordak; leclarc met you within the airlock. for all your crew knows, the three of you are out on ganymede somewhere—with not much air left. after a time, they'll have to give you up as dead. with the captain gone, and the exec, and the expert on extra-terrestrial zoology—their expedition won't amount to much. it looks to me like old man carmical will be without a circus this year, unless he resorts to a strictly terrestrial shindig."
"what happens then?" teejay wanted to know.
"well, i'll be frank with you. i haven't decided. i can't simply return you to civilization, of course."
"of course," teejay echoed him acidly.
"then you'd be able to holler 'kidnapper'. it would seem that you give me only one alternative. ah—excuse me a moment."
a trio of men had entered the lounge and the leader, a stocky man of about thirty-five, was beaming. "we've got three," he said.
"splendid, splendid. in that case, nothing remains to keep us on ganymede."
"chief, i'm sure glad of that. this place can give you the heebies, and you never know why. those three anthrovacs should be a fine core to build your circus around, though."
"three anthrovacs?" teejay cried, her composure fading for the first time. "you've got three anthrovacs?"
barling nodded. "leclarc here was good enough to tell us stedman's plan. a first-rate idea, as you can see, only we were able to carry it out. frankly, i wasn't so optimistic at first."
"let's get back to us," teejay suggested. "you were saying...?"
"umm-mm, yes. there's only one alternative, and much as i regret—"
"what is it? what's the alternative?"
"please, must i say it? i think you know, and there's no need for me to—"
"no, i want to hear it."
"suit yourself," said barling. "the only solution is this: we'll have to eliminate you."
"when?"
"the sooner the better. but captain moore, you're making me feel—"
"that's all i wanted to know!" teejay cried, and hurled herself at barling. "we might as well try to escape while we still have a chance."
