The Medic was bleary-eyed and inclined to stagger when they freed him.  And for several minutes he seemed unable to grasp either his surroundings or the train of events which had brought him there.

Long since the Police must have broken into the entrance corridor below.  Perhaps they had by now secured a riser which would bring them up.  Ali had forced the Com-tech to throw the emergency control which was designed to seal off from the outer world the entire unit in which they now were.  But whether that protective device would continue to hold now, none of the three were certain.  Time was running out fast.

Supporting the wobbling Hovan, they went back into the panel room and under Ali’s supervision the Com-tech took his place at the control board.  Dane put the cage with the pest well to the fore on the table of the announcer and waited for Rip to take his place there with the trembling Medic.  When Shannon did not move Dane glanced up in surprise—­this was no time to hesitate.  But he discovered that the attention of both his shipmates was now centered on him.  Rip pointed to the seat.

“You’re the talk merchant, aren’t you?” the acting commander of the Queen asked crisply.  “Now’s the time to shout the Lingo—­”

They couldn’t mean—!  But it was very evident that they did.  Of course, a Cargo-master was supposed to be the spokesman of a ship.  But that was in matters of trade.  And how could he stand there and argue the case for the Queen?  He was the newest joined, the greenest member of her crew.  Already his mouth was dry and his nerves tense.  But Dane didn’t know that none of that was revealed by his face or manner.  The usual impassiveness which had masked his inner conflicts since his first days at the Pool served him now.  And the others never noted the hesitation with which he approached the announcer’s place.

Dane had scarcely seated himself, one hand resting on the cage of the pest, before Ali brought down two fingers in the sharp sweep which signaled the Com-tech to duty.  Far above them there was a whisper of sound which signified the opening of the play-back.  They would be able to check on whether the broadcast was going out or not.  Although Dane could see nothing of the system wide audience which he currently faced, he realized that the room and those in it were now visible on every tuned-in video set.  Instead of the factual cast, the listeners were about to be treated to a melodrama which was as wild as their favorite romances.  It only needed the break-in of the Patrol to complete the illusion of action-fiction—­crime variety.

A second finger moved in his direction and Dane leaned forward.  He faced only the folds of a wall wide curtain, but he must keep in mind that in truth there was a sea of faces before him, the faces of those whom he and Hovan, working together, must convince if he were to save the Queen and her crew.

He found his voice and it was steady and even, he might have been outlining some stowage problem for Van Rycke’s approval.