keep this emotion out of his voice.
"I don't know that you have anything to offer me," he said.
"Power! A share in the new Pandora!"
"Is that all?"
"All?" Gallow appeared truly surprised.
"Seems to me the new Pandora's going to happen anyway. I don't see where you're going to have much influence in it, the kelp wanting your hide and all."
"You don't understand," Gallow said. "Merman Mercantile controls most of the food sources, the processing. Kareen Ale can be bent to our needs and her shares will -"
"You don't have Kareen Ale."
"With your foil ... and the people in it ..."
"From what I could see, Shadow Panille has Kareen Ale. And as far as Scudi Wang is concerned -"
"She's a child who -"
"I think maybe she's a very wealthy child."
"Exactly! Your foil and the people in it are the key!"
"But you don't have that key. I have it."
"And I have you," Gallow said, his voice hard.
"And the kelp has Chairman Keel," Twisp said.
"But it does not have me and I still have the means of recovering the hyb tanks. The LTAs will be clumsier and slower, but they can do it."
"You're offering me a subordinate position in your organization," Twisp said. "What's to prevent me from grabbing it all once I'm back on the foil?"
"Nakano."
Twisp chewed his lip to keep from laughing. Gallow had very little buying power. None at all, really, with the kelp against him and the foil in the hands of someone who wanted to beat him to the tanks. Twisp looked up at the sky. The tanks would be coming down within sight of this place, Gallow said. His people at the Launch Base had alerted Gallow. And that was another consideration: Gallow had followers in many places ... Islanders as well.
But the hyb tanks!
Twisp could not prevent a deep sense of excitement at the thought of them. He had grown up on stories speculating about the tanks' contents. They were a bag of prizes meant to humanize Pandora.
Could the kelp prevent that?
Twisp turned and looked at the LTAs. No doubt those things could move above the kelp's reach. But would the kelp let airborne humans pluck the prize from the sea? It all depended on where the tanks came down. There was kelp-free sea surface visible from this high point. A very uncertain lottery, though.
Gallow moved up beside Twisp to "share his view of the outpost's interior basin and its waiting LTAs.
"There's my fallback position," Gallow said. He nodded toward the LTAs.
Twisp knew what he would do now if this were bargaining for his catch. Threaten to go to another buyer. Get caustic and let this buyer know he had no status in the larger game.
"I think you're nothing but eelshit," Twisp said. "Concentrate on the facts. If the tanks land in kelp, you're finished. Without hostages, you're just a pitiful handful of people on one little bit of land. You may have followers elsewhere but I'm betting they'll desert you the second they recognize how powerless you really are."
"I still have you," Gallow grated. "And don't make any mistakes about what I can do to you!"
"What can you do?" Twisp asked, his voice at its most reasonable. "We're alone up here. All I have to do is grab you and dive off this place into the sea. The kelp will get us both."
Gallow smiled and slipped a lasgun from the pouch pocket at his waist.
"I thought you'd have one of those," Twisp said.
"I would take great pleasure in cutting you into pieces slowly," Gallow said.
"Except that you need me," Twisp said. "You're no gambler, Gallow. You like sure things."
Gallow scowled.
Twisp inclined his head toward the LTAs. The bags were beginning to swell. Someone was pumping hydrogen into them.
"Those are not a sure thing," Twisp said.
Gallow forced his features into a semblance of a smile. He looked down at the weapon in his hand. "Why are we arguing?"
"Is that what we're doing?" Twisp asked.
"You are stalling," Gallow said. "You want to see where the tanks come down."
Twisp smiled.
"For an Islander, you're pretty smart," Gallow said. "You know what I'm offering. You could have anything you want - money, women ..."
"How do you know what I want?" Twisp asked.
"You're no different from anyone else in that," Gallow said. He sent his glance along Twisp's long arms. "There might even be a few Mermen women who wouldn't find you objectionable."
Gallow pocketed his lasgun and displayed his empty hand. "See? I know what'll work with you. I know what I can