Manning looked up at him with a calculating eye. Rynason met his gaze
directly, daring the man to take offense. He didn't.

"All right, it's a break for me," Manning shrugged. "What did you
expect? There's precious little opportunity on this desert rock for
leadership in any sense that you might approve of." He paused. "I don't
know if it will be necessary to kill any of them. Take it easy and we'll
see."

Rynason's eyes were cold. "All right, we'll see. But just remember, I'll
be watching just as closely as you. If you start any violence that isn't
necessary...."

"What will you do, Lee?" said Manning. "Report me to the Council?
They'll listen to me before they'd pay attention to complaints from a
nobody who's been drifting around the outworlds for most of his life.
That's all you are, you know, Lee--a drifter, a bum, like the rest of
them. That's what everybody out here on the Edge is ... unless he does
something about it.

"I hold the reins right now. If I decide to do something that you don't
like, you won't be able to stop me ... neither you, nor your female
friend."

"So Mara's against you too?" Rynason said.

"She made a few remarks earlier," Manning said calmly. "She may regret
it soon enough."

Rynason looked at the man through narrowed eyes for a moment, then