He
added, musingly, "We lost more than half a million Genoese pounds in
that robbery."

"Only three men lost, eh?"

Mayer stirred uncomfortably, then flushed in irritation at the other's
tone. "Something has happened to Buchwald and MacDonald. They must be
insane. They've broken off contact with me, are amassing personal
fortunes in the eastern hemisphere."

Hawkins laughed abruptly. "Free competition," he said.

Chessman growled, "Let's halt this bickering and get to business. First
let me introduce Reif, Texcocan State Army Chief of Staff and his son
Taller. And these other Texcocans are Wiss and Fokin, both of whom have
gone far in the sciences."

The Tulans shook hands, Earth style, but then stepped to the rear again
where they followed the conversation without comment.

Mayer said, "You think it wise to introduce natives to the _Pedagogue_?"

"Of course," Chessman said. "Following this conference, I'm going to
take Fokin and Wiss into the library. What're we here for if not to
bring these people up to our level as rapidly as possible?"

"Very well," Mayer conceded grudgingly. "And now I have a complaint.
When the _Pedagogue_ first arrived we had only so many weapons aboard.
You have appropriated more than half in the past two decades."

Chessman shrugged it off. "We'll return the greater part to the ship's
arsenal. At this stage we are producing our own."

"I'll bet," Kennedy said. "Look, any of you fellows want a real
Earthside whisky? When we were crewing this expedition, why didn't we
bring someone with a knowledge of distilling, brewing and such?"

Mayer snapped at him, "Jerry, you drink too much."

"The hell I do," the other said cheerfully. "Not near enough."

Barry Watson said easily, "A drink wouldn't hurt. Why're we so stiff?
This is the first get-together for ten years. Jerry, you're putting on
weight."

Kennedy looked down at his admittedly rounded stomach. "Don't get enough
exercise," he said, then reversed the attack. "You look older. Are your
taking your rejuvenation treatments?"

Barry Watson grimaced. "Sure, but I'm working under pressure. It's been
one long campaign."

Kennedy passed around the drinks.

Dick Hawkins laughed. "It's been one long campaign, all right. Barry has
a house as big as a castle and six or eight women in his harem."

Watson flushed, but obviously without displeasure.

Martin Gunther, of the Genoese team, cocked his head. "Harem?"

Joe Chessman said im