"How did I know he didn't have a shell in the chamber? I didn't want you to be hurt--" "Silence!" commanded the pirate. "Male prisoner, prepare to be perforated. Which wall shall we use?" "Outside. I wouldn't want Drusilla to see--" "Yes, outside. We shall spare the fair lady any unpleasantness. Don your armor, male prisoner." "What?" Flim said, "Your spacesuit." He bowed to Drusilla. "Soon, I shall return to claim you, fair lady. Together, we shall approach the speed of light." Drusilla began to pant. Jak pulled his spacesuit from the rack and squirmed into it. "Aren't you going to tell me seelata?" he asked. "Seelata, Jak," Drusilla said absently, her eyes on Flim. Several words, the meaning of which Jak did not know, seeped from his unconscious mind. As they became vocal, Flim glanced at him with an expression--indicative of faint admiration. The pirate said, "Avast, it is the custom. All male prisoners must be deathed unless they join the jolly crew. You wish to join?" Clutching his helmet to his aluminum breast, Jak thrust out his wedge of chin and cried, "Never! I regret having one vitality to give for my planet!" "I salute you," said Flim, and clamped on his helmet. Ger and Looge did likewise; and Jak, with a despairing glance at the entranced Drusilla, sealed his own. Flim adjusted Jak's tuning dial and said, "Hear me?" "Yes." "Men! Follow the prisoner. Forward!" They stepped out on the dark side of the Box, a right quadrangular prism of dull metal. A tube ran through the long axis of the craft with a swivel-mounted Carver Atomicket located at the center of gravity and steering jets slightly forward. By turning the Atomicket, acceleration or deceleration could result without the necessity for rotating the entire plane. Their suits glowing with luminous paint, the four men stood for a moment beneath the starry spectacle. Jupiter, the largest celestial object in sight, appeared as a small belted moon to left. Flim placed the muzzle of the Morgia against the face of Jak's helmet. "That's not correct!" Jak protested. Flim lowered the pistol slightly. He said, "Are you certain all this is not a trick? I suspected something below." Jak's heart shuddered. He wondered what would happen to Drusilla. This mental case would never take her to Earth, the only place she would have a chance. She should have realized her own peril instead of ogling the pirate. He pleaded, "No. No trick." Flim stated, "I am prepared to death you at any instant. Be careful. How do you wish it arranged?" "Stand at the tail, side by side, and I'll stand at the nose. That's forty meters apart. A good distance for the Firing Squad." Jak took two jerky steps which brought him into position over the control cabin. Jak said, "One last request. Shoot me through the faceplate. I'll devitalize instantly whether you hit the brain or not."