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Austin descended the stairs to a lower deck, quietly opened the door to Zavala’s cabin, stepped inside, and poked the roaned, then pushed the covers aside and sat up on the edge of his bed

“Oh, hi, Kurt,” he said with a yawn “What’s up?”

“Didn’t you hear the captain tell the crew to gather on deck?” Austin asked

Zavala rubbed the sleep out of his eyes

“I heard him,” he said, “but I’m not crew, so I stayed in the sack”

“Your skill at splitting hairs may have saved your butt,” Austin said

Zavala suddenly came to life

“What’s going on, Kurt?”

“Uninvited coentlemen in ninja suits”

“How many?”

“Four that I know of, but therefor Kane Gannon told them Doc’s not on the ship, but they didn’t believe him He was forced to round up the crew”

Zavalain Spanish, then bounded out of bed and pulled on a pair of jeans and a windbreaker He yanked his lucky skullcap down over his ears

“What sort of firepower are we dealing with?” he asked

Austin told hiuns and pistols the coht to bring along a weapon on a peaceful scientific expedition

“We’ll have to improvise for now,” Austin said