Gold in the Sky

by Alan Edward Nourse

  8. The Scavengers of Space

  The casual observer might have been fooled. Tawney's guard was down onlyfor an instant; then the expression of cold fury and determination onhis face dropped away as though the shutter of a camera had clicked, andhe was all smiles and affability. They were honored guests here, onewould have thought, and this pudgy agent of the Jupiter Equilateralcombine was their genial host, anxious for their welfare, eager to doanything he could for their comfort....

  They were amazed by the luxuriousness of the ship. For the next fewhours they received the best treatment, sumptuous accommodations,excellent food.

  They were finishing their second cup of coffee when Tawney asked,"Feeling better, gentlemen?"

  "You do things in a big way," Johnny said. "This is real coffee, madefrom grounds. Must have cost a fortune to ship it out here."

  Tawney spread his hands. "We keep it for special occasions. Like when wehave special visitors."

  "Even when the visits aren't voluntary," Greg added sourly.

  "We have to be realistic," Tawney said. "Would you have come if weinvited you? Of course not. You gentlemen chose to come out to the Beltin spite of my warnings. You thus made things very awkward for us, upsetcertain of our plans." He looked at Greg. "We don't ordinarily allowpeople to upset our plans, but now we find that we're forced to includeyou in our plans, whether you happen to like the idea or not."

  "You're doing a lot of talking," Greg said. "Why don't you come to thepoint?"

  Tawney was no longer smiling. "We happen to know that your father strucka rich lode on one of his claims."

  "That's interesting," Greg said. "Did Dad tell you that?"

  "He didn't have to. A man can't keep a secret like that, not for verylong. Ask your friend here, if you don't believe me. And we make it ourbusiness to know what's going on out here. We have to, in order tosurvive."

  "Well, suppose you heard right. The law says that what a man finds onhis own claim is his."

  "Certainly," Tawney said. "Nobody would think of claim-jumping, thesedays. But when a man happens to die before he can bring in his bonanza,then it's a question of who gets there first, wouldn't you think?"

  "Not when the man is murdered," Greg said hotly, "not by a long shot."

  "But you can't prove that your father was murdered."

  "If I could, I wouldn't be here."

  "Then I think we'll stick to the law," Tawney said, "and call it anaccident."

  "And what about my brother? Was that an accident?"

  "Ah, yes, your brother." Tawney's eyes hardened. "Quite a differentmatter, that. Sometimes Doc tends to be over-zealous in carrying out hisassigned duties. I can assure you that he has been ... disciplined."

  "That's not going to help Tom very much."

  "Unfortunately not," Tawney said. "Your brother made a very foolishmove, under the circumstances. But from a practical point of view,perhaps it's not entirely a tragedy."

  "What do you mean by that?"

  "From what I've heard," Tawney said, "you didn't have much use for yourtwin brother. And now you certainly won't have to share your father'slegacy...."

  It was too much. With a roar Greg swung at the little fat man. The blowcaught Tawney full in the jaw, jerked his head back. Greg threw hisshoulder into a hard left, slamming Tawney back against the wall. Theguard charged across the room, dragging them apart as Tawney blubberedand tried to cover his face. Greg dug his elbow into the guard'sstomach, twisted away and started for Tawney again. Then Johnny caughthis arm and spun him around. "Stop it," he snapped. "Use your head,boy...."

  Greg stopped, glaring at Tawney and gasping for breath. The company manpicked himself up, rubbing his hand across his mouth. For a moment hetrembled with rage. Then he gripped the table with one hand, forciblyregaining his control. He even managed a sickly smile. "Just like yourfather," he said, "too hot-headed for your own good. But we'll let itpass. I brought you here to make you an offer, a very generous offer,and I'll still make it. I'm a businessman, when I want something I wantI bargain for it. If I have to share a profit to get it, I share theprofit. All right ... you know where your father's strike is. We wantit. We can't find it, so you've got us over a barrel. We're ready tobargain."

  Greg started forward. "I wouldn't bargain with you for...."

  "Shut up, Greg," Johnny said.

  Greg stared at him. The big miner's voice had cracked like a whip; nowhe was drawing Merrill Tawney aside, speaking rapidly into his ear.Tawney listened, shot a venomous glance across at Greg, and finallynodded. "All right," he said, "but I can't wait forever...."

  "You won't have to."

  Tawney turned to the guard. "You have your orders," he said. "They're tohave these quarters, and the freedom of the ship, except for the outerlevel. They're not to be harmed, and they're not to be out of your sightexcept when they're locked in here. Is that clear?"

  The guard nodded. Tawney looked at Johnny, and started for the door,still rubbing his jaw. "We'll talk again later," he said, and then hewas gone.

  When the guard had left, and the lock buzzed in the door, Johnny lookedat Greg and shook his head sadly. "You just about fixed things, boy, youreally did. You've got to use your head if you want to stay alive awhile, that's all. Look, there isn't going to be any bargaining withTawney, he just doesn't work that way. It's heads he wins, tails welose. Once he has what he wants we won't last six minutes. All right,then there's just one thing that can keep us alive ... stalling him.We've got to make him think you'll give in if he plays his cards right."

  Greg was silent for a minute. "I hadn't thought of it that way."

  "And we've got to use the time we have to find some way to break forit." Johnny stood up, staring around the luxurious lounge. "If you wantmy opinion, it's going to take some pretty fancy footwork to get out ofhere with our skins."

  * * * * *

  True to his word, Tawney had given them the freedom of the ship. Gregand Johnny discovered that their guard was also an excellent guide. Allday he had been leading them through the ship, chatting and answeringtheir questions about asteroid mining, until they almost forgot thatthey were really prisoners here. And the guard's obvious pride in thescope and skill of his company's mining operations was strangelyinfectious.

  Watching the Jupiter Equilateral ship in operation, Greg felt his heartsink. Here was a huge, powerful organization, with all the equipment andmen and know-how they could ever need. How could one man, or two orthree in a team, hope to compete with them? For the independent miner,the only hope was the Big Strike, the single lode that could make himrich. He might work all his life without finding it, and then stumbleupon it by sheer chance....

  But if he couldn't keep it when he found it, then what? What if thegreat mining company became so strong that they could be their own lawin the Belt? What if they grew strong enough and powerful enough tochallenge the United Nations on Mars itself, and gain control of theentire mining industry? What chance would the independent miner havethen?

  It was a frightening picture. Suddenly something began to make sense toGreg; he realized something about his father that he had never knownbefore.

  Roger Hunter had been a miner, yes. But he had been something else too,something far more important than just a miner.

  Roger Hunter had been a fighter, fighting to the end for something hebelieved in....

  Tawney interrupted Greg's thought.

  "Quite an operation," he said.

  Greg looked at him. "So I see."

  "And very efficient, too. Our men have everything they need to workwith. We can mine at far less cost than anyone else."

  "But you still can't stand the idea of independent miners working theBelt," Greg said.

  Tawney's eyebrows went up. "But why not? There's lots of room out here.Our operation with Jupiter Equilateral is no different from anindependent miner's operation. We aren't different kinds of people."Tawney smiled. "When you get right down to it, we're both exactly thesame
thing ... scavengers in space, vultures picking over the deadremains to see what we can find. We come out to the asteroids, and webring back what we want and leave the rest behind. And it doesn't matterwhether we've got one ship working or four hundred ... we're still justscavengers."

  "With just one difference," Greg said, turning away from the viewscreen.

  "Difference?"

  Greg nodded. "Even vultures don't kill their own," he said.

  * * * * *

  Later, when they were alone in their quarters again, Greg and Johnnystared at each other gloomily.

  "Didn't you see _anything_ that might help us?" Greg said.

  "Not much. For an orbit-ship, this place is a fortress. I got a goodlook at that scout ship coming in ... it was armed to the teeth.Probably they all are. And they're keeping a guard now at everyairlock."

  "So we're sewed up tight," Greg said.

  "Looks that way. They've got us, boy, and I think Tawney's patience iswearing thin, too. We're either going to have to produce or else."

  "But what can we do?"

  "Start bluffing."

  "It seems to me we're just about bluffed out."

  "I mean talk business," Johnny said. "Tell Tawney what he wants toknow."

  "When we don't know any more than he does? How?"

  Johnny Coombs scratched his jaw. "I've been thinking about that," hesaid slowly, "and I wonder if we don't know a whole lot more than wethink we do."

  "Like what?" Greg said.

  "We've all been looking for the same thing ... a Big Strike, a bonanzalode. Tawney's men have raked over every one of your Dad's claims, andthey haven't turned up a thing." Johnny looked at Greg. "Makes youwonder a little, doesn't it? Your Dad was smart, but he was no magician.And how does a man go about hiding something like a vein of ore?"

  "I don't know," Greg said. "It doesn't seem possible."

  "It isn't possible," Johnny said flatly. "There's only one possibleexplanation, and we've been missing it all along. Whatever he found, _itwasn't an ore strike_. It was something else, something far differentfrom anything we've been thinking of."

  Greg stared at him. "But if it wasn't an ore strike, what was it?"

  "I don't know," Johnny said. "But I'm sure of one thing ... it wassomething important enough that he was ready to die before he'd revealit. And that means it was important enough that Tawney won't dare killus until he finds out what it was."