"But if I have to squeeze into one of those boats with three hundred other people crowding against me, I'll go crazy! We'll go to some out-of-the-way planet, and you can change your identity and be perfectly safe. Can't you understand, man? My life is at stake, and my sanity. I'll give you fifteen thousand credits!"
"Well," said Davis. "Could you make it twenty-five?"
"Done! Meet me at Boat F in five minutes."
Jasperson rushed to his cabin. Yanking open the wall safe he dragged out his brief case and the locked memorandum book, thrust his pistol into his pocket, and ran to the door.
"Follow me!" he called to his startled secretary, and hurried from the room.
Running past the library door, he glimpsed Tanya at work, her auburn head bent over her sketching. On impulse, he stopped and ran back.
Panting from the physical punishment of running, nearly smothered by the pounding of his terrified heart, he gasped out his invitation.
"Tanya! The ship is going to blow up! Don't tell anyone. Come with me now, before the crowd, and I'll get you off safely in my lifeboat. I'll take care of you, Tanya."
She pulled away. "Have you lost your mind, Mr. Jasperson?"
"Don't argue. There's no time. Come, I'll protect you. We'll have plenty of room. If you wait, it may be too late."