go to greet those who visit us today," said the robot.
"Alright, alright, scram," said Rankin.
The robots in the fields and the one whom Rankin had been talking to
formed a column and marched off into the trackless forests behind his
plantation.
A battered old ground-car drove up a few minutes later. A tall,
broad-shouldered man with a deep tan got out and walked up the path to
Rankin's verandah.
"Hi, Barrows," said Rankin.
"Hello," said Barrows. "See your crop's coming along pretty well. Can't
figure how you do it. You've got acres and acres to tend, far's I can
see, and I'm having a hell of a time with one little piece of ground. I
swear you must know something about this planet that I don't know."
"Just scientific farming," said Rankin carelessly. "Look, you come over
here for something, or just to gab? I got a lot of work to do."
Barrows looked weary and worried. "Them brown beetles is at my crop
again," he said. "Thought you might know some way of getting rid of
them."
"Sure," said Rankin. "Pick them off, one by one. That's how I get rid of
them."
"Why, man," said Barrows, "you can't walk all over these miles and miles
of farm and pick off every one of them beetles. You must know another
way."
Rankin drew himself up and stared at Barrows. "I'm telling you all I
feel like telling you. You going to stand here and jaw all day? Seems to
me like you got work to do."
"Rankin," said Barrows, "I know you were a crook back in the Terran
Empire, and that you came out beyond the border to escape the law. Seems
to me, though, that even a crook, any man, would be willing to help his
only neighbor out on a lone planet like this. You might need help
yourself, sometime."
"You keep your thoughts about my past to yourself," said Rankin.
"Remember, I keep a gun. And you've got a wife and a whole bunch of kids
on that farm of yours. Be smart and let me alone."
"I'm going," said Barrows. He walked off the verandah and turned and
spat carefully into the dusty path. He climbed into his ground-car and
drove off.
Rankin, angry, watched him go. Then he heard a humming noise from
another direction.
He turned. A huge, white globe was descending across the sky. A space
ship, thought Rankin, startled.
Police? This planet was outside the jurisdiction of the Terran Empire.
When he'd cracked that safe and made off with a hundred thousand
credits, he'd headed here, because the planet was part of something
cal
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