"I want you to end this senseless resistance," said the Quedak, speaking with Eakins' voice. "You've had enough time to think over the situation. I want you to join me. Surely you can see there's no other way." "We don't want to join you," Sorensen said. "You must," the Quedak told him. "Are you going to make us?" "That poses problems," the Quedak said. "My animal parts are not suitable for coercion. Eakins is an excellent mechanism, but there is only one of him. And I must not expose myself to unnecessary danger. By doing so I would endanger the Quedak Mission." "So it's a stalemate," Sorensen said. "No. I am faced with difficulty only in taking you over. There is no problem in killing you." The men shifted uneasily. Drake, working on the transmitter, didn't look up. "I would rather _not_ kill you," the Quedak said. "But the Quedak Mission is of primary importance. It would be endangered if you didn't join. It would be seriously compromised if you left the island. So you must either join or be killed." "That's not the way I see it," Sorensen said. "If you killed us--assuming that you can--you'd never get off this island. Eakins can't handle that ketch." "There would be no need to leave in the ketch," the Quedak said. "In six months, the inter-island schooner will return. Eakins and I will leave then. The rest of you will have died." "You're bluffing," Sorensen said. "What makes you think you could kill us? You didn't do so well today." He caught Drake's attention and gestured at the radio. Drake shrugged his shoulders and went back to work. "I wasn't trying," the Quedak said. "The time for that was at night. _This_ night, before you have a chance to work out a better system of defense. You must join me tonight or I will kill one of you." "One of us?" "Yes. One man an hour. In that way, perhaps the survivors will change their minds about joining. But if they don't, all of you will be dead by morning." Drake leaned over and whispered to Sorensen, "Stall him. Give me another ten minutes. I think I've found the trouble." Sorensen said into the walkie-talkie, "We'd like to know a little more about the Quedak Cooperation." "You can find out best by joining." "We'd rather have a little more information on it first." * * * * *