"About the Nebula? Why should I? Give me one good reason why an Ansan
should care what happens to a Solarian ship."
"Perhaps only that we're all human beings here, that those boys have
earth and rain and sunlight and wives waiting for them."
_And Valduma--no, she isn't human. Fire and ice and storming madness,
but not human. Too beautiful to be flesh._
"This trip was your idea," he said defensively.
"Donovan, you wouldn't have played such a foul trick and made such a
weak, self-righteous excuse in the old days."
He looked away, feeling his cheeks hot. "Well," he mumbled, "why not
turn around, get out of the Nebula if you can, and maybe come back
later with a task force?"
"And lead them all into this trap? Our subtronics are out, you know.
We can't send information back, so we'll just go on and learn a little
more and then try to fight our way home."
His smile was crooked. "I may have been baiting you, Helena. But if I
told you everything I know, it wouldn't help. There isn't enough."