"You weren't cleared to berth here. Do you have an emergency aboard?"
"Never mind that, you," the speaker rumbled. "I tracked the bird in. I got the lifeboat on the screen now. They haven't gone far in nine hours. Let's have 'em."
"You're wasting your time," Tove said.
There was a momentary silence.
"You think so, hah?" the speaker blared. "I'll put it to you straight. I see two guys on their way out in one minute, or I open up."
"He's bluffin'," Chip said. "The popgun won't bear on us."
"Take a look out the window," Retief said.
In the white glare of the moonlight, a loading cover swung open at the stern of the ship, dropped down and formed a sloping ramp. A squat and massive shape appeared in the opening, trundled down onto the snow-swept tarmac.
Chip whistled. "I told you the Captain was slippery," he muttered. "Where the devil'd he git that at?"
"What is it?" Tove asked.