She smiled. "I was right then when I gave you that thumbnail biog. You
_were_ looking for him, weren't you?"
"Who is he?"
She sat on the chair beside him.
"My husband," she said softly.
He began to understand. "And your husband needs an astrogator? That's
why you saved me?"
"We need all the good men we can get."
"Where is he?"
She cocked her head in mock suspicion. "Somewhere between Mercury and
Pluto. He's building a new base for us--and a home for me. When his
ship returns, I'll be going to him."
"Why aren't you with him now?"
"He said unexplored space is no place for a woman. So I've been
studying criminal reports and photos from the Interplanetary Bureau of
Investigation and trying to find recruits like yourself. You know how
we operate?"
He told her the tales he'd heard.
* * * * *
She nodded. "There are quite a few of us now--about a thousand--and a
dozen ships. Our base used to be here on Venus, down toward the Pole.
The dome we're in now was designed and built by us a few years ago
after we got pushed off Mars. We lost a few men in the construction,
but with almost every advance in space, someone dies."
"Venus is getting too civilized. We're moving out and this dome is only
a temporary base when we have cases like yours. The new base--I might
as well tell you it's going to be an asteroid. I won't say which one."
"Don't get the idea that we're outlaws. Sure, about half our group is
wanted by the Bureau, but we make honest livings. We're just people
like yourself and Jacob."
"Jacob? Your husband?"
She laughed. "Makes you think of a Biblical character, doesn't it?
Jacob's anything but that. And just plain 'Jake' reminds one of a
grizzled old uranium prospector and he isn't like that, either."
She lit a cigarette. "Anyway, the wanted ones stay out beyond the
frontiers. Jacob and those like him can never return to Earth--not even
to Hoover City--except dead. The others are physical or psycho rejects
who couldn't get clearance if they went back to Earth. They know
nothing but rocketing and won't give up. They bring in our ships to
frontier ports like Hoover City to unload cargo and take on supplies."
"Don't the authorities object?"
"Not very strongly. The I. B. I. has too many problems right here to
search the whole System for a few two-bit crooks. Besides, we carry
cargoes of almost pure uranium and tungsten and all the stuff that's
scarce on Earth and Mars and Venus. Nobody really cares whether it
comes from the asteroids or Hades. If we want to risk our lives mining
it, that's our business."
She pursed her lips. "But if they guessed how strong we are or that we
have friends planted in the I. B. I.--well, things might be different.
There probably would be a crackdown."
Ben scowled. "What happens if there _is_ a crackdown? And what will you
do when Space Corps ships officially reach the asteroids? They can't
ignore you then."
"Then we move on. We dream up new gimmicks for our crates and take them
to Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto. In time, maybe, we'll be
pushed out of the System itself. Maybe it won't be the white-suited
boys who'll make that first hop to the stars. It _could_ be us, you
know--if we live long enough. But that Asteroid Belt is murder. You
can't follow the text-book rules of astrogation out there. You make up
your own."
* * * * *