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"Take it easy," he said quietly, resting his good hand on the Little One's shoulder.
The Little One apparently understood--either Xris's words or his thoughts--for the empath calmed down, though he kept casting longing glances at the corridor. Xris studied the professors in their immaculate coats. The female doctor was tall, stem-faced, gray-haired. The other--a male--was tubby and pink-faced. Neither looked the least bit sinister, only upset and frightened and---in the woman's case--mad enough to chew off the cyborg's steel hand. She started in again, yammering about pirates.
Xris decided to continue the hard-line approach, see where it got him.
"Shut up!" His metal-edged voice cut off all further protests. He fixed his attention on the female doctor. "Listen to me, sister, and no one will get hurt. We're not pirates. We have reason to believe that you are holding a friend of ours hostage on board this vessel. His name is Raoul. He's an Adonian. Release him, turn him over to us, and we'll fly away and leave you to your books."
He expected evasions, denials, more protests. What he got instead were baffled looks, disbelief, and incomprehension. He might have been speaking Tycho's language, without benefit of the translator.
"You're accusing us--us--of ... of kidnapping?" Dr. Brisbane was so angry she was spluttering.
Her tubby cohort actually giggled, then blushed red at the doctor's baleful gaze
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