Dasinger nodded. "Let's hear it."

"Have Miss Mines bring the ship down immediately," Egavine instructed
him. "There is a definite probability that among my medical supplies
will be an effective substitute for kwil, for this particular purpose. A
few hours of experimentation, and ..."

"Doctor," Dasinger interrupted, "hold it right there! So far there's
been no real harm in sparring around. But we're in a different situation
now ... we may be running out of time very quickly. Let's quit playing
games."

Dr. Egavine glanced sharply across at him. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that we both have kwil, of course. There's no reason to
experiment. But the fact that we have it is no guarantee that we'll be
able to get near that generator. Leed Farous's tissues were soaked with
the drug. Graylock's outfit had weeks to determine how much each of them
needed to be able to operate within range of the machines and stay sane.
We're likely to have trouble enough without trying to jockey each
other."

Dr. Egavine cleared his throat. "But I ..."

Dasinger interrupted again. "Your reluctance to tell me everything you
knew or had guessed is understandable. You had no more reason to trust
me completely than I had to trust you. So before you say anything else
I'd like you to look at these credentials. You're familiar with the
Federation seal, I think."

Dr. Egavine took the proffered identification case, glanced at Dasinger
again, then opened the case.

"So," he said presently. "You're a detective working for the Dosey
Asteroids Company...." His voice was even. "That alters the situation,
of course. Why didn't you tell me this?"

"That should be obvious," Dasinger said. "If you're an honest man, the
fact can make no difference. The company remains legally bound to pay
out the salvage fee for the star hyacinths. They have no objection to
that. What they didn't like was the possibility of having the gems
stolen for the second time. If that's what you had in mind, you
wouldn't, of course, have led an agent of the company here. In other
words, doctor, in cooperating with me you're running no risk of being
cheated out of your half of the salvage rights."

Dasinger patted the gun in his coat pocket. "And of course," he added,
"if I happened to be a bandit in spite of the credentials, I'd be
eliminating you from the partnership right now instead of talking to
you! The fact that I'm not doing it should be a sufficient guarantee
that I