'Raise your hands,' said the man behind Varon, 'and walk slowly into the control room.' Varon obeyed the man's order.
'Now sit down on that seat,' said the voice. 'And do it slowly.' Varon stopped in front of the seat. He slowly turned round and sat down. Now Varon could see the man. He was tall and his black hair was cut short.
'What are you doing, Garth?' asked the woman. 'Why have you brought that man in here?'
Garth stood back against the wall. He held his laser gun loosely. But it was pointing straight at Varon's head. Varon knew that Garth could kill him easily and that he would enjoy doing it.
'I did not bring him here, Miranda,' Garth replied. 'I found him standing outside the door. He was listening to you and Omega.'
'But how did he get out of the room?' asked Miranda. 'I closed and locked the door. No one can open the door from the inside.'
'I can get out of any room if I have the right tool,' said Varon. He smiled at the woman. She looked beautiful, but she did not smile back at him.
'You're a fool, Miranda,' said Garth. 'You did not search him. Do it now.'
Miranda walked behind the seat Varon was sitting on. She leant forward and searched his pockets. She took out the metal tool and handed it to Garth. Garth looked at it carefully.
'You're right,' Garth said to Varon with a cold smile. 'You can get out of any room if you have a tool like this. It's a sonic key. It can open almost anything. Now, why do you need a tool like this?'
'For my work,' replied Varon.
'What is your work?' asked Garth. He was still smiling but it was not a friendly smile. Varon did not reply. Garth spoke to Omega.
'Who is this man?' he ordered sharply. 'Tell me what he was doing on the planet Zeron.'
Omega was standing quietly at the controls of the spaceship. He did not reply for a few seconds. Then he spoke. 'Varon is a thief. The Zeron guards were chasing him,' came the quiet reply.
'Why were the guards chasing you?' Garth asked Varon.
'Your friend knows everything,' replied Varon.
'Ask him.'
'Omega is not a friend of ours,' said Miranda. 'He is a robot.'
'I know that,' said Varon. 'But a robot can still be a friend. He must be a friend. He's controlling your spaceship.'
'This is not their spaceship,' said Omega. 'And I am not their friend.'
'Omega is right as usual,' said Garth, with a sharp laugh. 'The owner of this ship was his friend. Unfortunately, we had to leave him on Earth when we stole the ship.'
'You did not leave him on Earth,' said Omega in his quiet voice. 'You killed my master when you stole this spaceship.'
'And we found out how to control you,' said Garth in a cold, hard voice. 'Now you must obey our orders. We are your masters.'
Omega was silent. 'That's interesting,' Varon thought to himself. 'If I can learn how to control Omega, I can make him fly the ship back to Earth. I must watch the robot carefully.'
Varon looked at Garth and Miranda. The woman was beautiful, but her eyes were hard and cruel.
'Why did you steal this spaceship?' asked Varon. 'Because we needed it,' replied Miranda. 'We had to leave Earth quickly. We were being chased by the Earth police.'
'Why were they chasing you?' asked Varon. He was interested now.
'Because we succeeded in stealing the most valuable thing on Earth,' Miranda said quickly. Her eyes were bright with joy.
Varon laughed loudly. 'Then you are both the same as me. I am a thief too. We are three thieves together.'
'We are not the same as you,' said Miranda coldly. 'We are successful thieves. We only steal things of great value. What can you steal on Zeron? It is a poor planet. There is nothing to steal on Zeron. Everyone knows that.'
'Yes, Varon,' said Garth, 'we are not the same as you. We are successful thieves.' They both laughed.
'They are very stupid,' thought Varon to himself. 'They do not know the secret of Zeron. They do not know that a Zeron crystal is the most valuable thing in this Universe.'
Then Omega spoke quietly. He stood at the controls of the spaceship with his back towards the three humans. 'Varon is exactly like you.'
Garth stopped laughing. He turned sharply towards the metal figure. 'You are wrong, Omega.'
'I am never wrong,' was Omega's reply. 'And I can prove that Varon is the same as you.'
'I hope he isn't going to tell them about the Zeron crystals,' Varon thought to himself.
'Tell Varon why you and Miranda left Earth,' Omega said.
'You say you know everything,' said Garth to Omega in a cold voice, 'you tell him why we left Earth.'
'They stole the newest and most powerful computer on Earth,' said Omega in a quiet voice. 'They stole it. But the Earth police discovered that they were the thieves. They had to escape and so they stole this spaceship.'
'The most powerful computer on Earth?' said Varon. 'Then you are rich - very rich.'
'They are not rich yet,' continued Omega. 'They had to hide the computer on Earth. It is