* * * * *
Within ten minutes, all the beaters had been called in. Barling's big
ship, the _Frank Buck_, snorted back and forth angrily on its landing
jets.
"Are they gonna land or ain't they gonna land?" someone said as Kevin
broke out the neutron guns and saw that every third man had one.
"Depends on their boss," said Kevin. "If he figures we can be scared
off, he'll land. Otherwise, maybe he'll go away."
"Not that little stinker," Teejay told him. "Not Schuyler Barling. He
won't go away. Will the fact that we're here first matter? It will
not, for Schuyler knows we can't prove it. You ought to know better
than to hope for that, Kevin. No, we can figure that Schuyler will move
in on us."
"What happens then?" Steve demanded.
Teejay shrugged her bare, beautiful shoulders. "That I don't know.
Schuyler may be a stinker and may be predictable, but he's not _that_
predictable. Hey, it looks like the _Frank Buck_ is coming down!"
The big ship, Steve saw, was doing precisely that. Its jets had been
cut, and the ship fell like a stone. Twice its length separated it from
the rubble-strewn pumice when the pilot kicked his jets over again, and
something seemed to slap the _Frank Buck_ back up toward the starry
sky. The result was a first-rate landing.
"That would be Schuyler showing off," said Teejay wearily. "He must
have been born in a tube and weaned on jet-slag, and he sure lets you
know it."
Fifteen minutes later, Schuyler Barling and three of his officers
entered the _Gordak_.
Barling got out of his vac-suit first, a tall, handsome man of about
thirty, with short-cropped blond hair, pale blue eyes and petulant
lips. "Captain Moore," he said, bowing slightly from the waist. Making
fun of Teejay.
"Mr. Barling." As ever, the woman seemed cool and unruffled.
"With us," said Schuyler Barling, "it's in the family. I work for my
father. Obviously, it means something to me whether he succeeds or
not. But you, Captain Moore, you're a hired hand. You work for Brody
Carmical, on a paycheck. Therefore, your loyalty could not possibly be
as strong as mine, and--"
"Get to the point!"
"We arrived here on Ganymede almost simultaneously. One of us will have
to leave."
"It didn't look simultaneous to me."
Barling ignored her. "Yes, one will have to leave, because the
anthrovac is frightened off easily and unless a hunt is carried on with
the utmost precision and timing, no one will catch any anthrovacs."
"Go on," said Teejay. She spoke quietly, but Steve knew the woman well
enough to realize her temper was coming to a boil, inside.
"My _Frank Buck_ got here first," Barling told her blandly. "Therefore,
you will leave."
"That's a stinking lie!" Teejay cried. "We were here first and you know
it."
"Who can prove it? The _Frank Buck_ landed first." Barling's hand
flashed down to his waist, came up gripping a neutron gun. "If we have
to, we'll force you to leave."
Teejay stood with hands on hips, facing him. "I know I'm not conducting
myself like a lady, but then, this is the twenty-second century," she
said, smiling--and struck out with her balled right fist. It bounced
off Barling's jaw with savage force and the man stumbled back against
the wall and crashed to the floor, his neutron gun clattering away.
Barling shook himself, tried to rise. He got to hands and knees, then
fell forward on his face.
Teejay whirled on his officers. "All right, get him out of here! Come
on, move."
* * * * *
The three men looked at each other. None of them did anything.
"You see, boy?" said Kevin, grinning. "That's our Captain and we'll
fight for her. She won the beauty pageant five years ago in Cerestown,
and she can fight like a man. She's a woman for the stars, and we're
proud to--"
"Shut up," said Teejay. "That won't get us anywhere."
By now, Barling had stirred, had come up, dazed, into a sitting
position. He rubbed his jaw, winced. "Assuming we return to our ship,
we still won't leave Ganymede. Not without our anthrovac."
"Nor will we."
"But you had to hit me! You had to flaunt your--"
"No one told you to draw your gun."
"--flaunt your Amazonian prowess."
"Stop sniveling, Schuyler. I think we'll have to reach some sort of a
compromise, but I'll dictate terms, not you."
"Yes?" Barling growled up at her. "Who says we'll obey?"
"Oh, get up off the floor! You look so silly, sitting there and rubbing
your chin."
Barling stood up, retrieving his gun but holstering it. Kevin watched
him, toying with his own weapon--not pointing it at anyone in
particular, but tossing it back and forth idly from hand to hand.
"Give us twenty four hours," said Teejay. "We'll look for our
anthrovac. In that time, none of your men is to leave the _Frank
Buck_. After that, you get twenty four hours, and we're confined to
the _Gordak_. Then us, then you. And so on, till one of us gets his
anthrovac. Then he pulls out and the other is left here. Is it a deal?"
Barling considered, said: "Well, yes--with one change. _We_ get the
first twenty four hours."
"No."
"Then you can forget your deal, Captain Moore."
"Well, then let's toss for it." Teejay reached into a pocket of her
cape, flipped a coin to Steve. "Here, Stedman. You toss it."
"Who gets to call?" Barling demanded.
"Do you want to?"
"Well--"
"Good. Then I will. Ladies first, you know. Go ahead, Stedman."