The captain gulped—a hollow, dyseptic sound. "Wh-where do you want to go?" he asked finally.
Dane grinned. "Callisto."
"Callisto!" The grey hair was certainly sticking straight out now. "Mister, why don't you talk about Alpha Centauri or the Coalsack? They'd be every bit as easy!"
"Oh?"
"Security's got the Belt guarded like a vault. They'd brain-drain us before we were half-way through."
"You could set the guides for Callisto before we hit the Belt, couldn't you?"
"A computer-guide ramping on a satellite clear on the other side of the Asteroid Belt, with Jupiter's gravity pull to figure for?" Captain Helstrom shuddered. "Mister, you don't know what you're asking me for. Better to blow up your bomb now and be done with it!"
"Fair enough, if that's the way you feel about it," Dane agreed. He started to unwrap the yat-stick.
As if on springs, Helstrom sprang at him. "No, no, mister! I didn't mean it! We'll go; we'll go!"
Bleakly, Dane nodded. "I thought you might see it that way. So let's get started. And just for safety's sake, to make sure you don't change your mind—I'll stay right in your astrogation chamber with you!"