she says the last word so quietly that i almost do n't hear it , and her tense , worried look returns . she hesitated , then gave a jerky nod . `` they 'd use you as a guinea-pig lab rat and bleed you dry . but it was nothing very terrible , old man . she 'd only been an experiment , like poking a snake with a stick to see how fast it moved . i could feel my eyes fill with tears . `` tell them the ship is ours . '' 