mselves, Quent Miles and Charles Brett picked up their
instruments, walked past them, and disappeared through the door.

[Illustration]

CHAPTER 14

Charles Brett swaggered into the control room of the electronics
building. Commander Walters, Captain Strong, and Kit Barnard looked up
from their study of the reports the chief engineer had handed them.

"What are you doing here, Brett?" demanded Walters. "I thought you had
blasted out of here long ago."

"I'm leaving as soon as we sign the contracts for hauling the crystal,
Commander," said Brett.

"Contracts!" exploded Strong. "Why, man, do you realize that this
satellite is about to die? If we don't find out what's wrong with the
screens, there won't be any crystal mined here for the next ten years."

Brett shook his head and smiled. "That's all right with me too," he
said. "The contracts call for either party to satisfy the other should
either party fail to fulfill the contractual agreements. In other words,
Strong, I get paid for making the trip out to Titan, whether you have
crystal to haul or not."

"Why, you dirty--" snarled Strong.

"Just a moment, Steve," Walters interrupted sharply. "Brett's right. We
had no way of knowing that this situation would arise, or grow worse
than it was in the beginning. Brett went to a great deal of expense to
enter the race and win it. If he insists that the Solar Guard abide by
the contract, there's nothing we can do but pay."

"It won't be too bad, Commander Walters," said Brett. "I have my ship
loaded with crystal now, and if you'll just sign the contracts, I can
deliver one cargo of crystal to Atom City before Titan is abandoned."

"Wait a minute," cried Strong. "Who gave you the right to load crystal
before signing the contract?"

"I assumed the right, Captain Strong," replied Brett smoothly. "My ship
won the race, didn't it? Why shouldn't I start work right away?"

"Well, that's beside the point now, anyway," Walters said. "We may need
your ship to take miners and their families to Ganymede or Mars, Brett.
Never mind the crystal. One load won't mean very much, anyway."

"No, thank you," growled Brett. "I don't haul any miners in my ship. The
contracts call for crystal and that's all."

"I'm ordering you to take those people, Brett," said Walters coldly.
"This is an emergency."

"Order all you want," snapped Brett. "Look at your space code book,
section four, paragraph six. My rights are fully protect