Retief at Large by Keith Laumer Read Free Book Online

rolled back his sleeve to reveal
sinewy forearm, put his elbow on the table.
     
                "You
hook forefingers, and put a glass right up on top. The man that takes a swallow
wins. If the drink spills, it's drinks for the house."
     
                "A
man don't often win outright," the redhead said cheerfully. "But it
makes for plenty of drinkin'."
     
                Retief
put his elbow on the table. "I'll give it a try."
     
                The
two men hooked forefingers. The redhead poured a tumbler half full of rock
juice, place 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.
     
     
II
     
                Retief's
feet sank ankle deep into the powdery surface that glinted like snow in the
glare of the distant sun.
     
                "It's
funny stuff," Sam's voice sounded in his ear. "Under a gee of
gravity, you'd sink out of sight. The stuff cuts diamond like butter—but
temperature changes break it down into a powder. A lot of it's used just like
this, as an industrial abrasive. Easy to load, too. Just drop a suction line,
put on ambient pressure and start pumping."
     
                "And
this whole rock is made of the same material?"
     
                "Sure
is. We ran plenty of test bores and a full