Lundgard didn't answer at once. The only noise was the murmur of machinery and the dense breathing of three pairs of lungs. Then his laugh jarred forth.
"All right," he said. "I hadn't meant it to come yet, or to come this way, but all right."
"Why did you kill Johnny?" Tears stung Bo's eyes. "He never hurt you."
"It was necessary." Lundgard's mouth twitched. "But you see, we knew you were going to Achilles to pick up Valeria and her data. We needed to get a man aboard your ship, to take over when her orbit brought her close to our asteroid base. You've forced my hand—I wasn't going to capture you for days yet. I sabotaged the Drake's fuel tanks to get myself stranded there, and shot your friend to get his berth. I'm sorry."
"Why?" Horror rode Valeria's voice.
"I'm a Humanist. I've never made a secret of that. What our secret is, is that some of us aren't content just to talk revolution. We want to give this rotten, over-mechanized society the shove that will bring on its end. We've built up a small force, not much as yet, not enough to accomplish anything lasting. But if we had a solar power beam it would make a big difference. It could be adapted to direct military uses, as well as supplying energy to our machines. A lens effect, a concentration of solar radiation strong enough to burn. Well, it seems worth trying."
"And what do you intend for us?"
"You'll have to be kept prisoners for a while, of course," said Lundgard. "It won't be onerous. We aren't beasts."
"No," said Bo. "Just murderers."
"Save the dramatics," snapped Lundgard. "I have the gun. Get away from those controls."