"Listen," he said. "Listen, you're going to get this thing working. Understand?"
The man shook his head dazedly from side to side and said something in his own language.
Wyatt's grip became cruel. "You're going to send a message to Earth," he said, and then Makvern spoke quietly behind him.
"He can't understand you, Wyatt. Let him go."
Wyatt spun around, still holding the man. Makvern had got up. He was standing beside the door with a weapon in his hand. The door was now open and Brinna was standing in it, her thumbs hooked in her belt, watching. Men were arriving behind her in the corridor.
Wyatt said, "If you shoot me you'll get your own man too." He shifted his grip, dragging the man closer to the control panel. Feeling even while he was speaking the absolute hopelessness of this last ditch play, he said,
"Tell him what I want or I'll smash your communication system so thoroughly—"
"It was a good try, Wyatt," said Makvern, not without a certain admiration, and pressed a stud on his weapon.
Wyatt never knew what hit him.