"And you think I'll navigate for you?"
"You'll have to," Kent said in blunt tones. "You see, we're going to turn the ship around. If you don't navigate, the ship will never get back to Earth." He smiled coldly. "Surely, an idealist like yourself would never allow a shipload of innocent people to drift through space for all eternity."
Conroy felt a chill at Bayliss Kent's words. He knew that Kent was right. He had to do it—unless he could stop Bayliss Kent first. And it didn't look as though he had much chance. There were five men against him.
"What are you going to do?" Conroy asked. "Lock up the main officers?"
"I'm afraid we'll have to kill them," Kent said flatly.
"But why? Once you turn the ship around and start back, there won't be anything they can do."
"Not to the ship," said Kent. "But they could have us killed anyway. And, after all, the main reason for this mutiny is to make sure that we see Earth before we die."
Kent signalled to two of the men. "Take him back and lock him up in the cell. Watch him while the rest of us finish the job."
He gestured behind himself. The Executive Officer was the law-enforcement officer aboard the ship, and behind his office the detention cells were located.
Conroy felt the two men grab his arms and push him through the open door into a cell.