Something crashed into Pappas, spun him around. Birkerod had jumped too, hitting him hard in midair.
The cabin whirled about them. He felt Birkerod's powerful grip around the hand which held the gun. Simultaneously they reached the ceiling; Pappas's head hit metal with a crack. The gun fell free. Weightless, the two of them wrestled desperately.
The cabin whirled around them ... the gun fell free....
Suddenly Birkerod pulled loose and jumped away. Pappas found himself alone in the middle of the cabin, drifting slowly from the pilot's seat.
In the pilot's seat Garcia was again sitting calmly, his gun leveled. Birkerod had the other gun. There was silence while Pappas reached the bulkhead, pushed back to his seat, and belted himself in.
Garcia said, "Suppose I try answering some of these questions. When Arne and I left Callisto, the Beldens learned our orbit and high-tailed in to the inner planets. With plenty of fuel, they arrived before us, and got you, their agent, on the job. You got yourself included in our return trip on the Tang. Then you calculated an orbit for us that would run us smack into Earth at a relative velocity of thirty-odd kilometers a second!