"You tailed me," I said into my suit radio. "You sneaked up on me, and now you're going to rob me and kill me. Right?" I looked at the zap gun and remembered the joke. "Right, sir?"

I don't suppose it got it. Silhouetted against a violet doorframe was a humanoid sketch in gun-metal gray. Its head was a cartoon; all the action was in a porthole in its stomach, through which I caught grotesque hints of faces. It was like an inside-out bathyscaphe with weird sea-bottom creatures peering out of darkness.

And it had the zap gun. The details of that don't really matter; it was essence of gun and it was pointing at me.

I labeled it the Statue.

The silence dragged on, maybe for dramatic effect, more likely because the Xeelee-derived translator box I saw strapped to one metal thigh was having trouble matching up our respective world pictures. Finally it spoke.

"Allow me to summarize the situation." The box's voice was a machine rasp; the stomach monster twitched. "I have discontinued your vessel. I estimate your personal environment will last no more than five human days. You have no weapons, or any means of communication with your fellows -- none of whom are in any event closer than a thousand light years."

I thought it over. "Okay," I said, "I'm prepared to discuss terms for your surrender."

"The logic of the situation is that you will die. You will therefore move outside this structure--"

Actually the logic was that I was dead already. I thought fast, looking for the edge. "Of course, you're right." I stepped forward--

-- and whirled like a leaf -- and snapped one sky blue hoop off its pillar -- and draped it around my neck.

It was over before either of us had a chance to think about it. The whirling pink sparks faded and died.

The Statue's limbs were motionless but its stomach thrashed. I felt breathless and foolish; the hoop around my neck was like a lavatory seat put there during a drunken teenage party. "Logic's not my strong point," I apologized.

You see, I had a plan. It wasn't a very good plan, and I was probably dead even if it came off. But it was all I had, and I noticed I was still breathing.

The Statue stared. "You have damaged the artifact."

"You see, there had to be a reason why you didn't shoot me in the back before I knew about it. And that reason's got to be your ignorance of humans. Right?" I snapped. "Despite the fact that you and your kind have been tailing me for months--"

"Actually years. We find humans are resourceful creatures, worthy of study."

"Years, then -- if you zapped me, maybe I'd explode, or melt, or in general make a horrible mess of the Xeelee equipment. And you won't hurt me now for fear of doing even more damage." I clung to the frail hoop around my neck.