"We are going out of here," Johnson said. "You are going with us as a hostage. Our lives for your life."
Unger lifted his hand. "One minute, if you please. There are questions I want to ask. Who is this man?" He gestured toward Martin.
"A very renowned human scientist."
"Ah, and what is he doing on Venus?"
"Don't tell him!" Caldwell spoke sharply. "It's none of his business."
"It might be some of my business if I knew," Unger said.
Warning voices were urging Johnson away from this place, screaming at him to get away while he had the chance. Inside of him, tiny voices were shouting warnings, his skin was reporting sweat again, his brain was reporting the pressure of an emotional overload. Inside of him was still another voice insisting that here he dealt with illusion and hallucination, shouting at him, "You saw a space ship where no space ship could exist! In this place how can you determine reality?"
The expression on the face of the Venusian was very strange but it was some kind of a smile. Seeing it, Johnson hesitated, spoke impulsively. "We three are a group of human scientists who have come to Venus to ..." he hesitated.
"Damn it, Johnny!" Caldwell gritted.