“Come into my ship,” said the voice of Robinson,” and come peaceably.”
There was a horrible threat in the words. The two knew there never would be a moment, except perhaps when they were actually in the air chamber, that they would not be under the guns of the vessel.
In long hops they moved forward and set foot on the gangplank of the pirate ship. There they halted to unfasten the ropes about their waists.
“What are you stopping for?” growled Robinson.
“To unfasten our safety cables,” Vince explained. “The gravity is so low here we anchored ourselves to our ship.”
Robinson chuckled.
“Bright idea,” he applauded. “I’ll never forget the time one of my men jumped off one of these lousy little worlds. We scouted around for hours before we picked him up. He was dead.”
They could hear the raider chuckle again, deep in his throat
“Scared to death,” he explained.
The brothers did not answer; neither of them at the moment could find anything particularly funny about a man being frightened to a point where death claimed him. With their ropes free they stepped up the gangplank into the air chamber. Noiselessly the door swung against the port, spinning into the threads. There was a sharp hissing, continuing for several minutes, then the inner door slipped its threads and swung open.