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looked it up and decided it couldn't be true. I
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flatter myself that I can read people pretty well. At least I ought to be able
to tell a screwloose murderer after having a few meals with him. That's why we
put an ad on the board. Did you see it?"
"Yes. But we didn't want to get you involved. Now I'm afraid I have to."
"What do you need?"
"A stealthed ship."
They looked at each other. "It's full of silver," Bill said. "I
mean full.
We were just about to head back to
Earth."
"I don't see how we could handle a passenger," Doris said. "There are only two
acceleration couches,
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BUYING TIME - Joe Haldeman and the life-support system couldn't handle three
people, not back to Earth."
"Besides, we're taking three months. You'll want to go back as fast as
possible."
"You're right," I said. "We calculated no more than five weeks for them."
"But you do need stealth," Doris said, "if you're even halfway right about the
foundation. They'll have a welcoming committee waiting on Earth for anyone who
leaves the Belt in the next few days." She bit her lip, concentrating. "But
that's worth thinking about, too. They'll expect you to be hot on their trail,
right? What if you did take three months? They wouldn't be as ready for you.
Might even assume you weren't coming."
"That's right," Bill said. "We could split up; Doris could take a commercial
flight home while you and I
crawled back to Earth."
"Or vice versa," Doris said. "You might find it easier to get along with me
than him, cooped up."
"You're both too generous. But I don't think I could do it. After three months
I
would be crazy. What if I
was a week late? What if they decided I wasn't coming and & disposed of her?"
Bill sipped his coffee reflectively. "That's playing into their hands, though,
thinking like that. They want you to come charging in. You ought to put them
off-balance."
"They've got me off-balance. How would you feel if somebody snatched Doris?"
He gave me a patient look. "Sorry. I know a couple of months doesn't compare
to seventy years."
There was an awkward silence. "Men," Doris said. "A gallon of honey is no
sweeter than a thimbleful."
"We could offload," Bill said slowly. "Without the silver, the ship would be
light and fast."
Doris nodded. "You could go in alone. Bring the ship back later. We have six
or eight years left before we have to go to the clinic. We could amuse
ourselves here."
I was stunned. "You know you'll probably lose it." Say it. "They'll probably
kill me."
"We know," Doris said. "We can buy another."
"One thing you can always get in Novy is a spaceship," Bill said.
CRIMEWATCH CERES
26 apryel
LIBEL ACCUSATION? (WHO'S CALLING WHO A WHAT?)
0258 Michel Gulyaev, proprietor of Girls Girls Girls, says that Bonita Morris,
who owns The Come & Get, has told her customers that he's nothing but a greasy
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BUYING TIME - Joe Haldeman overcharging pimp and his girls never wash. He says
that's unfair restraint of trade and her girls are so ugly they have to do it
in the dark. She says where do you think you are with this "restraint of
trade," Leningrad? and she's willing to line up all her girls and boys one for
one with his, high noon on Tsiolkovski, starkers, and let the public decide
who needs a bag over whose head or, for that matter, body. This is the kind of
duel we like to report on.
SUSPICIOUS DEATH
0940 Real estate agent Peter Quinn was found dead in his office this morning
of an apparent "cerebrovascular accident," a stroke. Clinic says no way that's
possible; he was in last month for a checkup and was fine. Visual inspection
of the body by the medics revealed apparent electrical burns to the scrotum
and penis, as they say in the medical world. Medic thinks he was tortured to
death. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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