"They'd have opened the ports and let all of you see, if you were going within several million miles of it," said Carrel. "Qoqol's figured it out. We're going pretty close this time."
"You want me to open the ports and let you see Jupiter?" asked Albrekt sarcastically.
"Something more serious than that," answered Carrel gravely. "It's the radiation."
Albrekt pushed himself back from the table and stared quizzically at Carrel.
"You wouldn't take advantage of my ignorance to rib me a little, would you now, Carrel?" he chided gently. "I studied elementary astronomy, you know."
"You're proving right now that you didn't study astrogation," retorted Carrel sharply. "Any spaceman can tell you the reaction of cosmic rays on Jupiter's atmosphere is fatal at the distance we'll pass in this orbit. If our convoy had been passing so close, every ship would have been shielded."
"Carrel, I can't see your object in lying, but I think you are. Some damned good spacemen plotted this orbit."
"And what do they care about your life or ours?" demanded Carrel hotly. "You know your Flanjo buddies as well as I do. We'll live long enough for them to get all the information they want out of us."
Albrekt studied him closely. Carrel returned his gaze with serious eyes.
"Maybe you're telling the truth," said Albrekt slowly. "If you're lying, I can't see your reason. You know I won't panic, and we can't change orbit."