Biggs had, in his customary ambling, stork-on-roller-skates fashion, stumbled into the room with nothing on his mind but hair. And had thus fallen an easy victim to our "guest's" holdup. Now, dazedly, he searched our faces for an explanation.
I shrugged. "Don't look at me," I told him. "I've got as many ideas as a broken down college professor."
Cap Hanson renewed his attack on Thaxton.
"You're a fool," he snarled, "to think you can get away with this! Why, blast you, it's still five days to Sun City! You don't think you can hold us at the point of a gun for five days, do you?"
Thaxton smiled negligently.
"It won't be necessary to do that, Captain. I'm afraid you underestimate the Intelligence Bureau and the resources of the present Venusian government. The one"—he hinted malevolently—"you are trying to overthrow.
"When the Saturn prepared to leave Earth, I suspected it might be the transport for contraband. I became a passenger, as you will subsequently learn, by—"
"Forging papers," I sneered. "An ethical practice in your profession."
Instead of getting red, he took it as a compliment.
"Ah, you've already learned that? Congratulations, Sparks! I didn't know you had such depths of perspicacity."