Miners in the Sky by Murray Leinster Read Free Book Online

comes back.”
    “I can’t help that!” said the skipper. He added sharply, “Put that thing away! If you drop it—.”
    “I won’t let it fall,” Dunne promised. “I even juggle! Look!”
    He brought out a second bazooka-shell from its pocket in his space-suit belt. He began to juggle the two of them, more or less competently. The pickup skipper’s face began to turn slowly white. A bazooka-shell is a tiny rocket, with a fuel-load that detonates as a shaped charge when it hits something. If Dunne should drop one of those small spinning objects, weighing only ounces, the result would be rather like a hundred-pound demolition charge exploding in the skipper’s cabin. It might not break so large a ship into pieces, but it would never be able to make its way back to Horus.
    The skipper sat still, frozen, while Dunne juggled the little shells. Once he almost missed a catch.
    “I was thinking,” said Dunne pleasantly, “how careful traffic controls are about things. For instance, you couldn’t lift off of Horus without lifeboats. You have to carry enough lifeboats not only for the crew you have, but the passengers you usually don’t.”
    He seemed almost to miss a catch, again. The skipper went whiter still. But there was no possible way to stop Dunne.
    “In fact,” said Dunne, “I was thinking that I brought enough crystals aboard, just now, to pay for a lifeboat and stores for it. I was thinking that it would be a very fine solution if you sold me a lifeboat. If you do, and launch me well away from Outlook, I’ll go and pick up my partner Keyes.”
    The skipper, watching the twinkling shells, involuntarily cried out in an agonized tone as Dunne just barely caught one of them only inches from the floor—and destruction.
    Dunne said soothingly, “It’s all right. I’m a little out of practice, but the knack seems to be coming back. I think I’ll try three in the air at once.”
    He tossed a shell higher than usual, while he tried to pluck a third from his space-suit belt. The third seemed stuck. Dunne balanced off that difficulty by keeping two shells in the air with one hand while he tried to extract the stuck shell with the other. The skipper gulped.
    “All right!” he said hoarsely. “All right! Stop the juggling! You can have the lifeboat!”
    “Fine!” said Dunne politely. He ceased his juggling, but kept the two shells ready in his hands. “You make out a bill of sale. I’ll give you an order for the money. Next trip I’ll be here at the spaceport with the boat and Keyes, and we’ll all have a hearty laugh over it. Eh? Now, you arrange things.”
    The pickup ship’s skipper stood up. He was obviously badly shaken. He might have defied threats, or disbelieved that Dunne would actually take any drastic measures. But Dunne had taken the one course to make the skipper believe that he must be supplied with what he demanded. He’d risked his life to do it, but nothing else would have done.
    As the skipper moved to leave his cabin, Dunne said: “You might tell that girl that I’m going for her brother after all, and she can write him a letter. I’ll see that he gets it. And she can talk to him next time a pickup ship comes to Outlook.”
    He relaxed. He even reflectively put one’ of the two bazooka-shells back in its pocket. But he kept the other ready in his hand, tossing it meditatively up and down.
    The ship seemed very silent. Only by straining his ears to the utmost could Dunne detect small noises that were signs of movement on the pickup ship.:
    It was half an hour before the skipper came back. He said grimly, “Here’s the charter agreement. I can’t sell you a lifeboat. I can only charter you one; and I don’t know how legal that is! But you make a deposit of the lifeboat’s full value. Sign this. Then I sign here, and that’s all I can do. The lifeboat’s stored and fueled.”
    “Splendid,” said Dunne politely. He read and signed. “A most businesslike proceeding! You’ve