Liddell sat at the plotting table without moving. For a moment he stared defiantly at Short, but the escaped killer got up and placed a hand impersonally on Linda's shoulder. He closed the fingers and Linda's face went chalk-white. He looked at Liddell, challenging him with his eyes. "Better do what he says, Lidd," Linda told her husband. Liddell sat there and didn't answer. Linda turned to Short and said, "Let me talk to him for a minute." Short shrugged and released her. She came over to Liddell and bent close to him and said, "Listen to me, darling. Do everything he says." "He's not going to take you with him," Liddell said fiercely. "You've plotted his sub-space pattern. He could take a chance and kill us both and try the transfer mechanism himself. You forget, he has absolutely nothing to lose." "Don't you see the way he looked at you? He's not hiding it. He wants you, Linda. If we let him take you to Deneb Twelve, he can lose himself there. With you. It would take the law officers of a frontier world like Deneb Twelve months to find you. I can't let him do it." "I'll be all right, believe me." "Linda, listen to me. I know you're saying that because you don't want Short to do anything violent here--to both of us. But there's another way." "I know. To refuse. To let him go alone--and probably kill us first." "No," Liddell whispered while Short watched them from across the room, unable to hear the words they spoke. "There _is_ another way. Do you trust me, Linda?" "You know you don't have to ask a question like that. I trust you, Lidd. I trust you with my life." "Then listen. I'm going to send you. I don't want to say any more. I don't think he can hear us from where he's sitting but let's not chance it." "But you said if he took me to Deneb--" "I'll send you," said Liddell grimly, his voice fading until Linda could barely hear it. "But not to Deneb. Trust me, darling." "I trust you." "And we don't have to worry about law officers. I'll come for you." "But where--" "Hey, you two," Short yelled suddenly. "That's enough of that. I said I was ready to get started!" He crossed the room in half a dozen powerful strides and grasped Linda's arm. Liddell had time to kiss his wife briefly, quickly, then watched as she went to the transfer screen with Jason Short. "You sure you won't try any tricks?" Short asked. Instead of answering Liddell said, "Do you think I'm crazy? You have my wife, haven't you?" Short laughed and said nothing. With Linda, he climbed the three steps up to the transfer screen. "I still can't get used to the idea," he admitted. "We stand here, in this screen like this. You press a few buttons, and what happens? We go sailing off into sub-space and the next thing we know we're materializing on Deneb Twelve. It's like magic."