"We can find it quicker," Vicenzo said and turned away. Aziz followed him through the door.
"What?" Joachim muttered. "Where? The gangsters!" He stared around the compartment and cried, "There is one! Henry is a gangster! You are also, Ranjit! I have long suspected that the destruction of the Rings of Saturn could only be the work of gangsters! No one—Morna! Are you injured?"
"No," Morna blubbered. "Stay away from me, Henry!" One of her wings of black and yellow hair had fallen over her face.
"Sorry," Henry said, blushing and moving his legs. "I didn't notice which way I was drifting."
Joachim said, "Where are the other gangsters? Have they gone to steal my ship? It is rented! The SPRS would never recover if we had to pay for the ship!"
"Let's figure some way to get loose," Ranjit suggested. "Those fellows won't find the control room out there. No motors, anyhow, but all they've got to do is wait till enough fuel melts and use their ship to move the sweeper. Think how that'd look on my record."
"You said an SG ship would be here in a few minutes," Morna objected.
"I was just telling them that. There's no ship due for two days."
"You actually told a falsehood?" Morna gasped.
Ranjit said, "When you get to be my age, you'll find you can do lots of things they didn't teach in school. How'd you clinch up with two fellows like them, Henry? They're space happy, both of them. Didn't you have no education?"