The captain was speaking to him.
"... care to check the flight-pattern coordinates? Sergeant Zukar here is quite justifiably proud, I think, of his ability to delay terminal compensation until the last fraction of a minute before C-limit is reached...."
"No—no thank you, captain. I am quite satisfied. I would like, however, a routine check of the remaining crew."
"Remaining crew, sir?" The captain's face was suddenly a mask of perplexity, and his features were again taut. "I'm afraid I fail to understand, sir. Unless there were last-minute orders which I failed to receive assigning two additional—"
He had discovered what he wanted, but he had been awkward....
"Yes, yes of course, captain. The orders for Tayne's ship. For some reason I—"
"Of course, sir."
Not a natural, but he'd made the point. But he couldn't let the dice get cold now. Only the two of them aboard; that made it simpler. And the sergeant had said the power-pack used a 250 Kemp input, the same as the wall current at the house. Usable, then, and he had to get it back....
He walked slowly over to a bulkhead seat, sat down.
He groped uncertainly for the brief-tube he'd brought, let it fall with a clatter to the deck.