"How can I get to City 1?"
"I'll lend you a patrol flier. They're all old crates, rocket drive. If it gets you there, you can leave it; we'll pick it up. If not, maybe we'll get some decent equipment."
Heydrick walked down the dim passageway to the cell in which he had deposited Ria Tarsen. She glowered at him.
"Did you kill my leopard?"
"He's all right. Be stiff a couple of days, that's all. I used the paralysis gun. How d'you feel."
The girl did not answer. Heydrick went on. "I'm sorry, Ria. I'll have to take you back now." He unlocked the cell, and the girl strode into the corridor. She was still arrogant and glared at him with cold insolence.
"You must feel proud of yourself," she said icily. "You'll never get me back to Mars."
"I thought of that." He took a metal bracelet from his pocket. "Try this on for size."
"That's a funny handcuff; it's not chained to anything," she said as he clasped it on her wrist.
"Try running away," he suggested. Ria darted down the corridor, then stopped as if she had run smack into a dur-steel wall.