The passenger lock swung ponderously shut behind him.
"Now what?" Jordan asked, worried.
"First, let's see what you can get on the telecom," said Docchi.
The angle was impossible, so close to the ship, but they did manage to get a corner of the tank on the screen. Apparently it was resting where Docchi had last seen it, though it was difficult to be sure because the curve of the ship loomed so large.
"Maybe we'd better get out of here," suggested Jordan nervously.
"Without the tank? Not a chance. Vogel hasn't got complete control of them yet." That seemed to be true. The geepees were nearly motionless, paralyzed.
"What shall I do?" asked Jordan.
"Give me full power on the radio," said Docchi. "Burn it out if you have to. I think the engineer is at the wrong angle to broadcast much power to them. Besides, the intervening structure is absorbing most of his signal."
He waited until Jordan had complied. "The tank must be placed in the ship," he added.
Geepees were not designed to sift contradictory commands that were nearly at the same level of urgency. Their reasoning power was feeble, but the mechanism was complicated enough. In that respect they resembled humans. Borderline decisions were difficult.