Hate welled up in Logan's eyes and curdled his soul. But he had to stand with raw nerves and take it. The entourage, pushing past him, entered the Patrol ship. Blood ran down his fingers where the nails had bitten into the palms.
The Jovian guards chained Snyder to the bunk behind the control bucket. When they re-appeared their spokesman approached Logan.
"The prisoner is secure," he reported.
"Then your duty is done."
"Not until you leave," the guard corrected. He hesitated. "We have heard what occasioned at the prison. I knew your brother and mourn his passing. His killer has a strange mind, but he is to die—."
"He'll die," Logan promised dangerously.
"But you will cheat us. He has killed my people too. Have we no share in vengeance? Let him be hanged. Think—"
"Save it for your children," Logan broke in savagely. He turned angrily and climbed into the Patrol ship, his mind blazing with a dozen tangent thoughts. The port clapped shut like the jaws of death behind him. He sank into the control bucket, not looking at his prisoner, only the panel chronometer. The hands met straight up. He touched off the gravity-clearing charge and the breath was sucked from his lungs.
The stars were pinpoints of light poking holes in the consciousness. He looked at them and wondered if Johnny were watching him. He didn't believe in ghosts, but—