"I—uh—what? You're T. J.? You—a girl?"
"Will you please hurry with whatever you want to tell me? I haven't got all day."
"My name's Stedman." Steve felt his composure returning. The fact that T. J. Moore was a woman didn't make any difference. But unconsciously, Steve regarded her as a member of the weaker sex, and a large chunk of her fearsome reputation vanished because of it. "I wonder, if Mr. Carmical contacted you—"
"He sure did, Stedman."
"Good, then we can—"
"Maybe you think it's good. I think it stinks. Listen, Stedman, maybe you think you can pull the wool over my eyes like you did over Brody Carmical—but you can't. He didn't recognize your name, I did. No kid brother of Charlie Stedman's going to make trouble for me because he thinks I was responsible for his brother's death."
"I didn't say—"
"You didn't have to say. I can see it in your face. But get this straight, Stedman. Your brother died on Ganymede three years ago—of natural causes, that is, if you can call some of the local fauna 'natural causes'. He worked for Barling Brothers Interplanetary, so I guess the rivalry between them and us didn't help. But no one killed him."
"I didn't say—"
"Is that all you can say, 'you didn't say?' Try to tell me why you came aboard the Gordak; go ahead, try."