Jon Saxon became aware of a thought emanating from Murdock: "Seize the girl. Dictate terms to the others." The same thought, Saxon realized, was forming in their bio-chemist's mind as well.
Ileth must have suspected something, because her hand crept up to her small high breasts and she said, "Before I go on, you'd better know that I'm not so unprotected as I look. We were all hypnotized back on Earth and our orders given to us in that condition. Then we were commanded to forget them until after the Little Death. I'm telling you this so you'll understand."
The prisoners exchanged glances.
"General Atomic," Ileth continued hurriedly, "prepared for any eventuality. If anything happens to me, Q63 will take over. I don't know who he is, and he doesn't know it himself, but any accident befalling me will be the post-hypnotic signal for him to remember. There's also a Q64, Q65—all the way to Q70. So you see it's useless to think that by doing anything to me you can get the upper hand."
"Rather like queen bees," suggested Saxon. "Secret order with a vengeance."
"Even from you, darling!" he caught Ileth's irritating thought.
He saw Murdock relax on his bunk, intercepted his furious frustration. The T.I.S. agent, he realized, was like cold flame on the inside.
"But that's not my news," Ileth said. "I've come to offer you your freedom—within limits, of course."
"Eh?" said Villainowski in surprise, and the rest tensed expectantly.