by Keith Laumer
“And who knows?” Leatherwell said. “It may turn out to contain some surprisingly rich finds.”
“And if they won’t accept it?” Retief asked.
“Then I daresay General Minerals will find a remedy in the courts, sir!”
“Oh, I hardly think that will be necessary,” Magnan said.
“Then there’s another routine matter,” Leatherwell said. He passed a second document across to Magnan. “GM is requesting an injunction to restrain these same parties from aggravated trespass. I’d appreciate it if you’d push it through at once. There’s a matter of a load of illegally obtained ore involved, as well.”
“Certainly Mr. Leatherwell. I’ll see to it myself.”
“No need for that. The papers are all drawn up. Our legal department will vouch for their correctness. Just sign here.” Leatherwell spread out the paper and handed Magnan a pen.
“Wouldn’t it be a good idea to read that over first?” Retief said.
* * * *
Leatherwell frowned impatiently. “You’ll have adequate time to familiarize yourself with the details later, Retief,” Magnan snapped, taking the pen. “No need to waste Mr. Leatherwell’s valuable time.” He scratched a signature on the paper.
Leatherwell rose, gathered up his papers from Magnan’s desk, dumped them into the briefcase. “Riff-raff, of course. Their kind has no business in the Belt.”
Retief rose, crossed to the desk, and held out a hand. “I believe you gathered in an official document along with your own, Mr. Leatherwell. By error, of course.”
“What’s that?” Leatherwell bridled. Retief smiled, waiting. Magnan opened his mouth.
“It was under your papers, Mr. Leatherwell,” Retief said. “It’s the thick one, with the rubber bands.”
Leatherwell dug in his briefcase, produced the document. “Well, fancy finding this here,” he growled. He shoved the papers into Retief’s hand.
“You’re a very observant young fellow.” He closed the briefcase with a snap. “I trust you’ll have a bright future with the CDT.”
“Really, Retief,” Magnan said reprovingly. “There was no need to trouble Mr. Leatherwell.”
Leatherwell directed a sharp look at Retief and a bland one at Magnan. “I trust you’ll communicate the proposal to the interested parties. Inasmuch as time is of the essence of the GM position, our offer can only be held open until 0900 Greenwich, tomorrow. I’ll call again at that time to finalize matters. I trust there’ll be no impediment to a satisfactory settlement at that time. I should dislike to embark on lengthy litigation.”
Magnan hurried around his desk to open the door. He turned back to fix Retief with an exasperated frown.
“A crass display of boorishness, Retief,” he snapped. “You’ve embarrassed a most influential member of the business community—and for nothing more than a few miserable forms.”
“Those forms represent somebody’s stake in what might be a valuable property.”
“They’re mere paper until they’ve been processed!”
“Still—”
“My responsibility is to the Public interest—not to a fly-by-night group of prospectors.”
“They found it first.”
“Bah! A worthless rock. After Mr. Leatherwell’s munificent gesture—”
“Better rush his check through before he thinks it over and changes his mind.”
“Good heavens!” Magnan clutched the check, buzzed for Miss Gumble. She swept in, took Magnan’s instructions and left. Retief waited while Magnan glanced over the injunction, then nodded.
“Quite in order. A person called Sam Mancziewicz appears to be the principal. The address given is the Jolly Barge Hotel; that would be that converted derelict ship in orbit 6942, I assume?”
Retief nodded. “That’s what they call it.”
“As for the ore-carrier, I’d best impound it, pending the settlement of the matter.” Magnan drew a form from a drawer, filled in blanks, shoved the paper across the desk. He turned and consulted a wall chart. “The hotel is nearby at the moment, as it happens. Take the Consulate dinghy. If you get out there right away, you’ll catch them before the evening binge has developed fully.”
“I take it that’s your diplomatic way of telling me that I’m now a process server.” Retief took the papers and tucked them into an inside pocket.
“One of the many functions a diplomat is called on to perform in a small consular post. Excellent experience. I needn’t warn you to be circumspect. These miners are an unruly lot—especially when receiving bad news.”
“Aren’t we all.” Retief rose. “I don’t suppose there’s any prospect of your signing off that claim so that I can take a little good news along, too?”
“None whatever,” Magnan snapped. “They’ve been made a most generous offer. If that fails to satisfy them, they have recourse through the courts.”
“Fighting a suit like that costs money. The Sam’s Last Chance Mining Company hasn’t got any.”
“Need I remind you—”
“I know. That’s none of our concern.”
“On your way out,” Magnan said as Retief turned to the door, “ask Miss Gumble to bring in the Gourmet catalog from the Commercial Library. I want to check on the specifications of the Model C Banquet synthesizer.”
An hour later, nine hundred miles from Ceres and fast approaching the Jolly Barge Hotel, Retief keyed the skiff’s transmitter.
“CDT 347-89 calling Navy FP-VO-6.”
“Navy VO-6 here, CDT,” a prompt voice came back. A flickering image appeared on the small screen. “Oh, hi there, Mr. Retief. What brings you out in the cold night air?”
“Hello, Henry. I’m estimating the Jolly Barge in ten minutes. It looks like a busy night ahead. I may be moving around a little. How about keeping an eye on me? I’ll be carrying a personnel beacon. Monitor it, and if I switch it into high, come in fast. I can’t afford to be held up. I’ve got a big meeting in the morning.”
“Sure thing, Mr. Retief. We’ll keep an eye open.”
* * * *
Retief dropped a ten-credit note on the bar, accepted a glass and a squat bottle of black Marsberry brandy and turned to survey the low-ceilinged room, a former hydroponics deck now known as the Jungle Bar. Under the low ceiling, unpruned Ipomoea batatas and Lathyrus odoratus vines sprawled in a tangle that filtered the light of the S-spectrum glare panels to a muted green. A six-foot trideo screen, salvaged from the wreck of a Concordiat transport, blared taped music in the style of two centuries past. At the tables, heavy-shouldered men in bright-dyed suit liners played cards, clanked bottles and shouted.
Carrying the bottle and glass, Retief moved across to an empty chair at one of the tables.
“You gentlemen mind if I join you?”
Five unshaven faces turned to study Retief’s six foot three, his close cut black hair, his non-commital gray coverall, the scars on his knuckles. A redhead with a broken nose nodded. “Pull up a chair, stranger.”
“You workin’ a claim, pardner?”
“Just looking around.”
“Try a shot of this rock juice.”
“Don’t do it, Mister. He makes it himself.”
“Best rock juice this side of Luna.”
“Say, feller—”
“The name’s Retief.”
“Retief, you ever play Drift?”
“Can’t say that I did.”
“Don’t gamble with Sam, pardner. He’s the local champ.”
“How do you play it?”
The black-browed miner who had suggested the game rolled back his sleeve to reveal a sinewy forearm, put his elbow on the table.
“You hook forefingers, and put a glass right up on top. The man that takes a swallow wins. If the drink spills, it’s drinks for the house.”
“A man don’t often win out-right,” the redhead said cheerfully. “But it makes for plenty of drinkin’.”
Retief put his elbow on the table. “I’ll give it a try.”
&nbs
p; The two men hooked forefingers. The redhead poured a tumbler half full of rock juice, placed it atop the two fists. “Okay, boys. Go!”
The man named Sam gritted his teeth; his biceps tensed, knuckles grew white. The glass trembled. Then it moved—toward Retief. Sam hunched his shoulders, straining.
“That’s the stuff, Mister!”
“What’s the matter, Sam? You tired?”
The glass moved steadily closer to Retief’s face.
“A hundred the new man makes it!”
“Watch Sam! Any minute now….”
The glass slowed, paused. Retief’s wrist twitched and the glass crashed to the table top. A shout went up. Sam leaned back with a sigh, massaging his hand.
“That’s some arm you got, Mister,” he said. “If you hadn’t jumped just then….”
“I guess the drinks are on me,” Retief said.
* * * *
Two hours later Retief’s Marsberry bottle stood empty on the table beside half a dozen others.
“We were lucky,” Sam Mancziewicz was saying. “You figure the original volume of the planet; say 245,000,000,000 cubic miles. The deBerry theory calls for a collapsed-crystal core no more than a mile in diameter. There’s your odds.”
“And you believe you’ve found a fragment of this core?”
“Damn right we have. Couple of million tons if it’s an ounce. And at three credits a ton delivered at Port Syrtis, we’re set for life. About time, too. Twenty years I’ve been in the Belt. Got two kids I haven’t seen for five years. Things are going to be different now.”
“Hey, Sam; tone it down. You don’t have to broadcast to every claim jumper in the Belt.”
“Our claim’s on file at the Consulate,” Sam said. “As soon as we get the grant—”
“When’s that gonna be? We been waitin’ a week now.”
“I’ve never seen any collapsed-crystal metal,” Retief said. “I’d like to take a look at it.”
“Sure. Come on, I’ll run you over. It’s about an hour’s run. We’ll take our skiff. You want to go along, Willy?”
“I got a bottle to go,” Willy said. “See you in the morning.”
The two men descended in the lift to the boat bay, suited up and strapped into the cramped boat. A bored attendant cycled the launch doors, levered the release that propelled the skiff out and clear of the Jolly Barge Hotel. Retief caught a glimpse of a tower of lights spinning majestically against the black of space as the drive hurled the tiny boat away.
* * * *
III
Retief’s feet sank ankle deep into the powdery surface that glinted like snow in the glare of the distant sun.
“It’s funny stuff,” Sam’s voice sounded in his ear. “Under a gee of gravity, you’d sink out of sight. The stuff cuts diamond like butter—but temperature changes break it down into a powder. A lot of it’s used just like this, as an industrial abrasive. Easy to load, too. Just drop a suction line, put on ambient pressure and start pumping.”
“And this whole rock is made of the same material?”
“Sure is. We ran plenty of test bores and a full schedule of soundings. I’ve got the reports back aboard Gertie—that’s our lighter.”
“And you’ve already loaded a cargo here?”
“Yep. We’re running out of capital fast. I need to get that cargo to port in a hurry—before the outfit goes into involuntary bankruptcy. With this, that’d be a crime.”
“What do you know about General Minerals, Sam?”
“You thinking of hiring on with them? Better read the fine print in your contract before you sign. Sneakiest bunch this side of a burglar’s convention.”
“They own a chunk of rock known as 2645-P. Do you suppose we could find it?”
“Oh, you’re buying it, hey? Sure, we can find it. You damn sure want to look it over good if General Minerals is selling.”
Back aboard the skiff, Mancziewicz flipped the pages of the chart book, consulted a table. “Yep, she’s not too far off. Let’s go see what GM’s trying to unload.”
* * * *
The skiff hovered two miles from the giant boulder known as 2645-P. Retief and Mancziewicz looked it over at high magnification. “It don’t look like much, Retief,” Sam said. “Let’s go down and take a closer look.”
The boat dropped rapidly toward the scarred surface of the tiny world, a floating mountain, glaring black and white in the spotlight of the sun. Sam frowned at his instrument panel.
“That’s funny. My ion counter is revving up. Looks like a drive trail, not more than an hour or two old. Somebody’s been here.”
The boat grounded. Retief and Sam got out. The stony surface was littered with rock fragments varying in size from pebbles to great slabs twenty feet long, tumbled in a loose bed of dust and sand. Retief pushed off gently, drifted up to a vantage point atop an upended wedge of rock. Sam joined him.
“This is all igneous stuff,” he said. “Not likely we’ll find much here that would pay the freight to Syrtis—unless maybe you lucked onto some Bodean artifacts. They bring plenty.”
He flipped a binocular in place as he talked, scanned the riven landscape. “Hey!” he said. “Over there!”
Retief followed Sam’s pointing glove. He studied the dark patch against a smooth expanse of eroded rock.
“A friend of mine came across a chunk of the old planetary surface two years ago,” Sam said thoughtfully. “Had a tunnel in it that’d been used as a storage depot by the Bodeans. Took out over two ton of hardware. Course, nobody’s discovered how the stuff works yet, but it brings top prices.”
“Looks like water erosion,” Retief said.
“Yep. This could be another piece of surface, all right. Could be a cave over there. The Bodeans liked caves, too. Must have been some war—but then, if it hadn’t been, they wouldn’t have tucked so much stuff away underground where it could weather the planetary breakup.”
They descended, crossed the jumbled rocks with light, thirty-foot leaps.
“It’s a cave, all right,” Sam said, stooping to peer into the five-foot bore. Retief followed him inside.
“Let’s get some light in here.” Mancziewicz flipped on a beam. It glinted back from dull polished surfaces of Bodean synthetic. Sam’s low whistle sounded in Retief’s headset.
“That’s funny,” Retief said.
“Funny, hell! It’s hilarious. General Minerals trying to sell off a worthless rock to a tenderfoot—and it’s loaded with Bodean artifacts. No telling how much is here; the tunnel seems to go quite a ways back.”
“That’s not what I mean. Do you notice your suit warming up?”
“Huh? Yeah, now that you mention it.”
Retief rapped with a gauntleted hand on the satiny black curve of the nearest Bodean artifact. It clunked dully through the suit “That’s not metal,” he said. “It’s plastic.”
“There’s something fishy here,” Sam said. “This erosion; it looks more like a heat beam.”
“Sam,” Retief said, turning, “it appears to me somebody has gone to a great deal of trouble to give a false impression here.”
Sam snorted. “I told you they were a crafty bunch.” He started out of the cave, then paused, went to one knee to study the floor. “But maybe they outsmarted themselves. Look here!”
Retief looked. Sam’s beam reflected from a fused surface of milky white, shot through with dirty yellow. He snapped a pointed instrument in place on his gauntlet, dug at one of the yellow streaks. It furrowed under the gouge, a particle adhering to the instrument. With his left hand, Mancziewicz opened a pouch clipped to his belt, carefully deposited the sample in a small orifice on the device in the pouch. He flipped a key, squinted at a dial.
“Atomic weight 197.2,” he said. Retief turned down the audio volume on his headset as Sam’s laughter rang in his helmet.
“Those clowns were out to stick you, Retief,” he gasped, still chuckling. “They salted the rock with a cave full of Bodean artifacts—”
“Fake Bodean artifacts,” Retief put in.
“They planed off the rock so it would look like an old beach, and then cut this cave with beamers. And they were boring through practically solid gold!”
“As good as that?”
Mancziewicz flashed the light around. “This stuff will assay out at a thousand credits a ton, easy. If the vein doesn’t run to five thousand tons, the beers are on me.” He snapped off the light. “Let’s get moving, Retief. You want to sew this deal up before they get around to taking another look at it.”
Back in the boat, Retief and Mancziewicz opened their helmets. “This calls for a drink,” Sam said, extracting a pressure flask from the map case. “This rock’s worth as much as mine, maybe more. You hit it lucky, Retief. Congratulations.” He thrust out a hand.
“I’m afraid you’ve jumped to a couple of conclusions, Sam,” Retief said. “I’m not out here to buy mining properties.”
“You’re not—then why—but man! Even if you didn’t figure on buying….” He trailed off as Retief shook his head, unzipped his suit to reach to an inside pocket, take out a packet of folded papers.
“In my capacity as Terrestrial Vice-Consul, I’m serving you with an injunction restraining you from further exploitation of the body known as 95739-A.” He handed a paper across to Sam. “I also have here an Order impounding the vessel Gravel Gertie II.”
Sam took the papers silently, sat looking at them. He looked up at Retief. “Funny. When you beat me at Drift and then threw the game so you wouldn’t show me up in front of the boys, I figured you for a right guy. I’ve been spilling my heart out to you like you were my old grandma. An old-timer in the game like me.” He dropped a hand, brought it up with a Browning 2mm pointed at Retief’s chest.
“I could shoot you and dump you here with a slab over you, toss these papers in the John and hightail it with the load….”
“That wouldn’t do you much good in the long run, Sam. Besides you’re not a criminal or an idiot.”
Sam chewed his lip. “My claim is on file in the Consulate, legal and proper. Maybe by now the grant’s gone through.”
“Other people have their eye on your rock, Sam. Ever meet a fellow called Leatherwell?”