"Shall we tell the others?" asked Tiny. "No use of their wasting their
labor now--"
"Not just yet," said Wilding. "Finish the loading. We may be able to
bluff our way out."
"They'll be coming in after us soon," warned Concor. "Then it'll be a
choice of surrender or being blasted out with atomic torpedoes."
Wilding sighed unhappily. "We'll surrender ... if it comes to that. But
they won't try anything like that until they've tried to bargain with
us for the hostages. Stall them along. When the ship is loaded, seal it
up and take-off. We'll meet them in space and try to run a bluff with
the hostages...."
"It won't work," prophesied Grouth gloomily. "You can't make a deal
with the Security Patrol."