"If you shoot me," said Bo, "I'll live just long enough to pour on the juice. We'll hit that rock and scatter from hell to breakfast." Valeria emerged. Lundgard swung the needler to cover her. "Stay where you are!" he rapped. "What's happening?" she said fearfully. "I don't know," said Lundgard. "Bo's gone crazy--attacked me--" Wrath boiled black in the pilot. He snarled, "You killed my partner. You must'a been fixing to kill us too." "What do you mean?" whispered Valeria. "How should I know?" said Lundgard. "He's jumped his orbit, that's all. Look, Bo, be reasonable. Get away from that panel--" "Look in his suitcase, Valeria." Bo forced the words out of a tautened throat. "A Venusian shot my partner. You'll find his face and his clothes in Lundgard's things. I'd know that face in the middle of the sun." She hung for a long while, not moving. Bo couldn't see her. His eyes were nailed to the asteroid, keeping the ship's nose pointed at it. "Is that true, Einar?" she asked finally. "No," he said. "Of course not. I do have Venusian clothes and a mask, but--" "Then why are you keeping me covered too?" Lundgard didn't answer at once. The only noise was the murmur of machinery and the dense breathing of three pairs of lungs. Then his laugh jarred forth. "All right," he said. "I hadn't meant it to come yet, or to come this way, but all right." "Why did you kill Johnny?" Tears stung Bo's eyes. "He never hurt you." "It was necessary." Lundgard's mouth twitched. "But you see, we knew you were going to Achilles to pick up Valeria and her data. We needed to get a man aboard your ship, to take over when her orbit brought her close to our asteroid base. You've forced my hand--I wasn't going to capture you for days yet. I sabotaged the _Drake's_ fuel tanks to get myself stranded there, and shot your friend to get his berth. I'm sorry." "Why?" Horror rode Valeria's voice. "I'm a Humanist. I've never made a secret of that. What our secret is, is that some of us aren't content just to talk revolution. We want to give this rotten, over-mechanized society the shove that will bring on its end. We've built up a small force, not much as yet, not enough to accomplish anything lasting. But if we had a solar power beam it would make a big difference. It could be adapted to direct military uses, as well as supplying energy to our machines. A lens effect, a concentration of solar radiation strong enough to burn. Well, it seems worth trying." "And what do you intend for us?" "You'll have to be kept prisoners for a while, of course," said Lundgard. "It won't be onerous. We aren't beasts." "No," said Bo. "Just murderers." "Save the dramatics," snapped Lundgard. "I have the gun. Get away from those controls." Bo shook his head. There was a wild hammering in his breast, but his voice surprised him with steadiness: "No. I've got the upper hand. I can kill you if you move. Yell if he tries anything, Valeria."