"Or you can activate the counters, Mr. Throne. This ship is equipped with long range equipment. The point of highest incidence of count will be your mark."
"Yes, sir. Will you be at the controls?"
"For the landing, yes. Mr. Rogers and I will be in the control room shortly."
"I'll get to this immediately, then," Throne said.
He left the cabin and Kingsford shifted his gaze to me. "You seem disapproving of my methods, Mr. Rogers."
"Not really, sir. Just your timing. You can hardly call it fair to have kept to yourself during all these months."
"Perhaps, but remember one thing, Mr. Rogers. You have been my buffer during all these months. You are a conspirator to the silence. I think that my address to the crew brought them very much over to my side, don't you?"
"They haven't had time to think," I said. "Or maybe they don't know how to, or prefer not to. They might wonder why you waited until now to tell them about your hunting plans. They might begin to feel, much as I do now, that this whole trip should never have taken place."
"No, Mr. Rogers. It had to take place. It had to."
"Why?"