Home Again by Jerry Boyd

Author:Jerry Boyd [Boyd, Jerry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-09-16T22:00:00+00:00

“You can pick up a saucer with one of those, no problem. That ought to be strong enough.”

Will and Angus made sure he wouldn’t be able to get his head out the door, once they had him chained up. He said, “How is this supposed to scare me, when I know that you aren’t willing to let the air out?”

I replied, “I guess we’ll just have to get creative, won’t we?”

They closed him in, and I opened the outer door. I said, “There’s nothing between you and deep space but a force field, and I can cut that off whenever I want.”

“Big talk. You already said you need me to talk.”

“Need? No. It would be more convenient, but I’m sure someone else from your ship would be more talkative, if we show them the record of you dying in the airlock.”

“You wouldn’t kill me without a reason. We all know you’re a goody-two-shoes.”

“But, I have a reason. Whatever you did to Joanna must have been pretty nasty, for her not to want to tell me. I don’t take kindly to people who treat women that way. I’ve spaced a man before, for that. I don’t see any reason not to make it two.”

“I don’t believe you!”

“How about a little taste of what you have to look forward to? Gene, drain the lock to eight thousand feet, please.”

I saw the pressure indicator go down. The prisoner said, “Big deal. Anybody can survive at this altitude.”

I said, “Gene, twelve thousand, if you please.”

The indicator dropped again. He said, “I’m in good shape. You’re not going to scare me.”

“Fifteen thousand, Gene.”

He realized he was beginning to get a little loopy, and decided to keep his mouth shut.

“Eighteen thousand, Gene.”

He got loopy enough to start babbling. I said, “Gene, be sure and get a good recording of what he says. Back him off to seventeen thousand.”

I killed the intercom, and turned to Joanna. “Now get him mad. That should loosen him up.”

“Won’t the hypoxia hurt him?”

“If it does, we have autodocs. See what you can find out. If you get him mad enough, he’ll probably tell you more than you thought he knew. Gene can monitor his vitals, and tell you if he needs more pressure.”

“What should I start with?”

“I’m guessing you’ve seen things you could comment on the size of. That should rile him up, don’t you think?”

“It usually does. You think that will get him mad enough to start talking?”

“I don’t know, but it’s a good start. You could always go to how dumb he was to open the door to a ship that was so obviously a trojan horse.”

“And then I could throw in something about being so lame, to get posted to the middle of nowhere in the first place. I think I see what you mean, Bob.”

“I’m going to head out, and let you take care of him, then. Call if you need anything. I expect a report of what he had to say by the end of the day.

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