"He could, Stine," Jon said. And the big man whirled. "With those antiquated pop guns he carries? Don't try to make me angry, Kane. He's going to sweat it out there until he and his whole damn crew drops. And then I'm sending you in! By that time things'll be so bad I'll _know_ I can trust you. You're the type, Kane! Fight like hell up to the last second, and then comes the noble, heroic sacrifice part. Oh, you'll do the job, all night after you've sat here watching long enough!" Jon bit his lip, watched the big man stalk back and forth before the wide banks of screens. "I could beat him in less time than it takes to tell it with E-blasters!" Stine was saying. "But they say there's a better way of winning arguments than with guns, don't they, Master Kane? Slaves are always more valuable than corpses, for one thing, and for another, I think people ought to know that Martin Stine has more to his string than guns alone! Yes...." His broad back was to both Jon and Deanne, now, and he was staring out through a wide port into the gem-studded blackness, and his words were for his own ears. "They will know who is a technician and who is not! The ITA is weak with age--and the weak become the slaves, and the strong become the masters! They shall see." "Stine, you're a fool!" The big man turned, faced Jon, and his big face blanched in sudden anger, and then the color flooded back to it and he laughed. "Stine, do you know what B-Haaq will do when he realizes that he has failed? When he realizes that the woman who spurned him and the man who deserted his ranks are aboard this ship? Do you know what he'll do rather than knuckle under to you? He's the same kind of man you are, Stine. He'll come gunning with everything he's got! You'll be a seive before you know what hit you ... and for once I'll be glad to see B-Haaq take a trick!" He heard Deanne gasp, could almost feel the trembling of her body. "That's enough out of you, Kane, or there'll be a couple dozen more bandages on that honest face of yours! If that puppy even turns his nose toward me, I'll show him what real guns are! And let him sweat out there without his engines for awhile!" "You only think you will! You haven't the faintest idea of what alloy the Tinkers build their ships, and you know it! And it's going to be fun watching you find out." "If they use the tin they use to fix everything else." "They may be stupid, Stine, but they've been around quite awhile." "All right, so you know what alloy their hulls are built of! So my batteries of electro-cannon will--" "Bounce off like a flashlantern beam, Stine. But I guess you'll want to wait and see for yourself. And if I know B-Haaq, you'll get the chance!" And suddenly Stine was towering over him again. Jon winced at the vicious slap that landed squarely on his misshapen face. "You'll tell me the alloy! Do you hear me?" A slap harder than the first. "Do you understand, Kane?" Jon felt blood trickle down his chin.