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The treasure-hunters settled down for a long night. Drake, with a handkerchief tied around his forehead to keep the perspiration out of his eyes, continued working on the transmitter.

An hour later, there was a buzz on the walkie-talkie. Sorensen picked it up and said, “What do you want?”

“I want you to end this senseless resistance,” said the Quedak, speaking with Eakins’ voice. “You’ve had enough time to think over the situation. I want you to join me. Surely you can see there’s no other way.”

“We don’t want to join you,” Sorensen said.

“You must,” the Quedak told him.

“Are you going to make us?”

“That poses problems,” the Quedak said. “My animal parts are not suitable for coercion. Eakins is an excellent mechanism, but there is only one of him. And I must not expose myself to unnecessary danger. By doing so I would endanger the Quedak Mission.”

“So it’s a stalemate,” Sorensen said.

“No. I am faced with difficulty only in taking you over. There is no problem in killing you.”

The men shifted uneasily. Drake, working on the transmitter, didn’t look up.