miranda went out into the corridor and walked the short distance
to Varon's cabin. She touched a button in the wall and the door
opened immediately. Varon was lying asleep on the bunk.
Miranda looked down at him.
'You're a fool,' she thought. 'How can you lie there sleeping?
Anyone who trusts Garth is a fool.'She shook Varon by the shoulder until he woke up.
'What's wrong?' he asked sleepily. 'Are we ready to leave?'
'Not yet,' replied Miranda. 'I have come to talk to you. I want you
to help me.'
'I am going to help you to get the Zeron crystals. What more help
do you want?' asked Varon.
'You know very little about me and Garth,' began Miranda.
'I know enough,' interrupted Varon. 'You are thieves. And you are
murderers.'
'I am not a murderer,' said Miranda. 'I helped Garth on Earth. But
I did not kill the owner of this spaceship. It was Garth who murdered
him. I don't want to stay with Garth any longer.'
'Why are you telling me this?' asked Varon.
'Because we need to help each other,' replied Miranda. 'When you
have opened the compartment in the strongroom, he plans to kill you.
And he will not want to share anything with me. When he has killed
you, he will kill me.'
'But what can we do against Garth?' asked Varon. 'There is only
one laser gun on the ship and he never lets it go.'
'That's true,' agreed Miranda. 'But do you remember when Garth
wanted to use the gun and kill you in the control room? Omega was
able to stop him using the gun. But Omega will not be able to help
when we are on Zeron. He cannot go down there with us. Robots
cannot steal.'
'So there is nothing we can do against Garth,' said Varon.
'Yes, there is,' said Miranda. 'We can ask Omega for help.'
'Ask Omega for help! How can he help us?'
33
'Omega has to help us,' explained Miranda. 'Omega is a robot. He
is programmed to obey us. We can order him to give us something to
stop Garth using the laser gun.'
'What can Omega give us?' asked Varon.
'Omega will think of something,' replied Miranda. 'Let's go now
and speak to him.'
'What about Garth?'
'He is asleep,' said Miranda. 'Let's go to the control room.'
Omega was waiting for them when they arrived in the control
room.
'Omega,' said Miranda, 'we need your help.'
'What do you want?' asked Omega.
'We are afraid of Garth,' Miranda explained. 'He wants the Zeron
crystals for himself. He may try to kill us on Zeron.'
'I have warned you,' said Omega. 'Death is waiting for you on
Zeron.'
'But you can help us,' interrupted Miranda.
'I cannot help you to kill one another.'
'We know that,' replied Miranda. 'You are a robot. We are not
asking you to kill anybody.'
'What help can I give you?'
'Give Varon something that will stop Garth using the laser gun,'
said Miranda.
Omega stood for a few moments in silence. Then he spoke to
Varon.
'Your sonic key needs to be recharged,' he said. 'You must tell
Garth to give the key to me.'
34
'Why? What will you do to it?' Varon asked.
'I will give it more power,' replied Omega. 'If you point it at
Garth's hand, the power will knock the gun to the floor.'
'And I will be ready,' said Miranda. 'I will pick it up and I will make
sure that Garth does not do any harm to us.'
Varon thought about this idea for a few seconds. Miranda watched
him carefully. Omega was working at the control panel.
'There is something else,' said Varon. 'I need something else.'
'What do you need?' asked Miranda.
'Omega obeys your orders,' explained Varon. 'And he obeys
Garth's orders. But he has not been told to obey my orders.'
'There is no need for him to obey your orders,' answered Miranda.
'What orders do you need to give Omega?'
'The most important order of all,' said Varon. 'The order to
teleport us back from Zeron to this ship.'
'But why do you need to give that order?' asked Miranda.
'I am the only person who has been in the Zeron strongroom,'
explained Varon. 'I will know first if the Zeron guards learn that we
are there. It will be safer if I am able to give the order to teleport us
back to the ship.'
Miranda thought of the injection gun which she had hidden in her
overalls.
'If I agree to this it will please him,' she thought to herself.
'He will trust me if I tell Omega to obey him. But it will be me who
will tell Omega to take me back to the ship. When I use the injection
gun on him, he will fall unconscious in a few seconds.'
'Omega, you will obey Varon's orders,' she said. 'You will obey his
35
orders when we are on Zeron.'
'I understand,' said Omega quietly. 'But no orders will come to me
from Zeron. You will be dead.'
Miranda did not listen to Omega. She was thinking again about
the Zeron crystals. She was thinking of wealth and power.
'Now we can sleep,' she said to Varon. 'Omega will tell us when we
are ready to leave.'
'That will be in two and a half hours' time,' said Omega. 'I will tell
you when we are ready to leave.'