He yelled, "Do you hear me?"
"Yes." Then he asked, "Why did you patch me?"
It was a perfect opening. "Because we don't want to kill you. Listen. We
have all but four of you. Understand?"
"Yes. What will you do with us?"
"Treat you as prisoners--if you behave. Get on your communicator and tell
those four men to surrender. Tell them to come to the boats, with lights
on. Tell them we'll give them five minutes. If they don't come, we'll
hunt them with rockets. Make that clear."
"They will come," the Connie said. "They don't want to die. I will do
it."
Rip kept his helmet against the Connie's, but the man spoke in another
language, which Rip identified as the main Consops tongue. When he had
finished, Rip told his Planeteers to have weapons ready and to keep
lights off. Time enough for light when the Connies were all disarmed.
It didn't take five minutes. The Connie teams came quickly and willingly,
and they seemed almost glad to give up their pistols and knives. This was
not unusual. Rip had seen many Planeteer reports that spoke of the same
thing. Many Connies, it seemed, were glad to get away from the iron
Consops rule, even if it meant becoming Federation prisoners.
Inside one of the snapper-boats a light glowed.
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