Corriston paused for the barest instant, knowing that the commander too was listening, knowing from the absence of sound and movement behind him that his words were being weighed. "I think you know that I would not break my word. I'll stand up in court and defend you under oath. I'll be speaking the simple truth. You _did_ save Helen Ramsey from a very great danger; you probably saved her life. That is sure to weigh in your favor with any impartial judge and jury. You won't get the death penalty; I can promise you that." It was the commander who spoke first. He said, very quietly. "He's right, of course. Completely right." One of the officers nodded. "There's no reason why we shouldn't let him talk to the girl. We can decide later whether we like his offer." "We're going to like it," the commander said, coming around in front of Corriston. "He has more sense than I would have given him credit for." "So have you, commander," Corriston said, and meant it. The commander's eyes were still hostile, unfriendly, but the cold rage had gone out of them. "All right," he said. "Let him see the girl now. Make sure a guard is stationed at the door. Keeping that cruiser from berthing won't be easy. They'll keep the Station under fire with small projectiles, even if they don't attack us with atomic warheads. They'll risk some damage just to throw a scare into us." The officer next to Corriston nudged his arm. "All right," he said. "But remember this when you talk to her. She doesn't know the truth about us. She doesn't even know we're wearing masks. We'd like it better if you didn't say anything about it." "Whether she knows it or not isn't too important," Corriston said. "I suppose you wouldn't care to tell me what you've done with Commander Clement and the other officers." "No, we wouldn't care to tell you. Anything more?" "I guess not," Corriston said. "Take me to her." 12 He was staring at her across a shadowed room, with the pale glimmer of a cabin viewport above her right shoulder, a very small port that looked like a full moon glimmering high in the sky through a sea of mist. Her face was very white and she was staring back at him as if he had come suddenly out of nowhere. She hesitated only an instant and then walked straight toward him, walked right up to him and touched him gently on the face. "I'm so glad," she said. She drew back then and looked at him and smiled. "I was afraid you were in trouble because of me," she said, "some terrible kind of trouble, and I couldn't help you at all. I kept blaming myself for everything foolish that I had ever done, going way back to the day when I broke my first doll, deliberately and spitefully, because I was a very headstrong little girl." "I'm afraid I've always been pretty headstrong myself," Corriston said. "But being a boy, I naturally couldn't break dolls. I just wrecked the family's peace of mind."