"What are you, voice?" Caroline asked. "Tell us what you are.”
"I still don't think," said the voice, "that what you are doing is a good way to fight a duel. I think you're making a great mistake.”
"What makes you think so, Butch?" asked Gary.
"Because," the voice said, "the Hellhounds are building a fire under your ship. It will be just a matter of time until they smoke you out.”
Gary and Caroline glanced swiftly at one another, the same thought in their mind.
"No power," said Caroline, weakly.
"The heat absorption units," Gary cried.
"No power," said Caroline. "The absorption cells won't work.”
Gary glanced toward the forward vision ports. Thin streamers of smoke were curling up outside the glass.
"The mushrooms burn well," the voice told them, "when they get old and dry.