Bordman nodded.
"That's true, too. Also it's probable that your fellow-terrestrials wouldn't cooperate with me as they have with you. You seem to have the whip hand, even with my blaster trained on you. On the other hand, you could have killed me quite easily after the boat left, when I'd first landed. I'd have been quite unsuspicious. Therefore you may not really intend to murder me."
Huyghens shrugged again.
"So," said Bordman, "since the secret of getting along with people is that of postponing quarrels, suppose we postpone the question of who kills whom? Frankly, I'm going to send you to prison if I can. Unlawful colonization is very bad business. But I suppose you feel that you have to do something permanent about me. In your place I probably should, too. Shall we declare a truce?"
Huyghens indicated indifference.
"Then I do," Bordman said. "I have to! So—"
He pulled his hand out of his pocket and put a pocket blaster on the table. He leaned back.
"Keep it," said Huyghens. "Loren Two isn't a place where you live long unarmed." He turned to a cupboard. "Hungry?"
"I could eat," admitted Bordman.
Huyghens pulled out two meal-packs from the cupboard and inserted them in the readier below. He set out plates.