the ability to work nor the ability to
study is an outcast, even though he is provided for by the companies. He
is forced to do something to earn what should be his by right; he is
given menial and degrading tasks to do. We would like to put a stop to
that sort of thing, but we ... ah ... have no ... ah ... means of doing
so." He paused, as though considering whether he had said too much.

"The problem at hand," he went on hurriedly, "is the death curve. When
this technique for taking the rocks to the smelters was being worked
out, the death rate was--as you might imagine--quite high. The Belt
Companies had already been operating out here for a long time before the
stony meteorites were mined commercially. At first, the big thing was
nickel-iron. That's what they came here to get in the beginning. That's
where most of the money still is. But the stony asteroids provide them
with their oxygen.

"This anchor-setting technique was worked out at a time when the Belt
Companies were trying to find ways to make the Belt self-sufficient.
After they got the technique worked out so that it operated smoothly,
the death rate dropped 'way down. It stayed down for a little while, and
then began to rise again. It has nearly reached an all-time high.
Obviously, something is wrong, and we have to find out what it is."

Danley scratched ruminatively behind his right ear and wished he'd had
the opportunity to study history. He had been vaguely aware, of the
broad outlines, but the details had never been brought to his attention
before. "Suppose Alhamid _is_ trying to hide something," he said after a
moment. "What would it be, do you think?"

Tarnhorst shrugged and spread his hands. "What could it be but some sort
of money-saving scheme? Inferior materials being used at a critical
spot, perhaps. Skimping on quality or quantity. Somewhere, somehow, they
are shaving costs at the risk of the workers' lives. We have to find out
what it is."

Peter Danley nodded. _You don't mean_ "_we_," Danley thought to himself.
I _am the one who's going to have to go out there and find it, while you
sit here safe_. He felt that there was a pretty good chance that these
Belt operators might kill him to keep him from finding out what it was
they were saving money on.

Aloud, he said: "I'll do what I can, Mr. Tarnhorst."

Tarnhorst smiled. "I'm certain you will. That's why I needed someone who
knows more about this business than I."

"And when we do fi