Good. I'm anxious to see those jewels.
"Don't worry about it, Thaklaru."
I'm not worrying. But I know you'd be quite willing to blast off in the other direction and keep them all for yourself.
Kiley grinned. "Nothing's secret from you, eh, Thaklaru? You don't miss a thing."
I can't afford to, the alien's telepathic voice said. The first rule in thievery is never to trust an accomplice.
"That makes sense," Kiley admitted. "Only there's no way I can escape you—not when you can telepath anywhere in the galaxy. How do I get to your planet?"
Don't trouble yourself. Simply blast off and I'll assume mental control of your ship once you're out in space. I'd prefer that the location of my world remain a secret even to you.
Kiley shrugged. "Okay. I won't argue. I'm blasting off now."
He jabbed down on the firing stud.
The stolen spaceship sprang up into the void, and Kiley felt the alien's mental emanations enfolding him, seizing control of the ship, guiding it—just as, a month before, similar emanations had come to him in the darkness of a jail cell in the Under-Dungeon of Alpheraz VII.