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.