"Is this true?" he repeated.
"Yes—yes! Damn you, shut it off."
"At the time you had the network installed in your body, it was with the understanding that you'd be loyal to the combine and so it would never need to be used. But you took advantage of circumstances and cheated us. Where's the current consignment of stones?"
"... suitcase lining," Mardlin muttered.
"Good," Herndon said. He scooped up the needler, pocketed it, and shut off the master-control switch. The pain subsided in the Vonnimooro's body, and he lay slumped, exhausted, too battered to rise.
Efficiently Herndon ripped away the suitcase lining and found the packet of starstones. He opened it. They were wrapped in shielding tissue that protected any accidental viewer. He counted through them; there were thirty-nine, as Brennt had said.
"Are any of these defective?" he asked.
Mardlin looked up from the floor with eyes yellow with pain and hatred. "Look through them and see."
Instead of answering, Herndon shifted the control switch past six again. Mardlin doubled up, clutching his head with clawlike hands. "Yes! Yes! Six defectives!"
"Which means you sold six good ones for forty-eight thousand stellors, less the three thousand you kicked back to Brennt to keep quiet. So there should be forty-five thousand stellors here that you owe us. Where are they?"