Lancelot Biggs answered quietly,
"Sparks, didn't I tell you he's an esper?"
I stared at Thaxton. I said,
"Is—is that right? Did you really read my thoughts?"
"You might call it that," he said amusedly. "At any rate, I divined your purpose through my gift of extra-sensory perception. The gift that"—he preened himself, the bandy-legged little rooster—"that makes me the Number One secret agent of the Venusian Intelligence Bureau."
I said savagely, "If you can read my thoughts, why don't you go there?"
But Thaxton was through with pleasantries. To Cap Hanson he said,
"And now, Captain, that we may not again be interrupted, this time by a more capable intruder"—that swift, mocking grin at L. Biggs—"I must ask you to call the bridge, the engine room, the holds. Tell every member of the crew and command to remain just where he is at the present time. And make it forceful!"
He "made it forceful" himself by jabbing the hand-gun into Cap Hanson's loinchops. And since Hanson isn't an idiot, he did as he was told. He moved to the audio, spoke the necessary commands.
Dick Todd was puzzled, but said, "Aye, sir!"