eller, he's the
best there is on the radar bridge. You know who his father was?"

"Who?" asked Mason.

"Ken--" Shinny suddenly closed his mouth tight. "Just another spaceman,"
he said, "but a good one!" He rose quickly. "Well, I'm supposed to meet
Manning in an hour at the Cosmos."

[Illustration]

The three men left the dingy hotel and walked out into the main street
of Spaceman's Row. In a few moments they arrived at the Cafe Cosmos.
Roger was already there, seated at the same table and watching the
door. When he saw Loring and Mason with Shinny, he eyed them warily.

"Hiya, kid!" greeted Loring. "Glad to see you took my advice and got
away from 'Blast-off' Connel." Mason waved a salute, and the three men
sat down.

Roger ignored Loring and Mason, speaking directly to Shinny. "Did you
complete our deal?" he asked softly.

"Nope," answered Shinny. "I brought you another one instead."

Roger held out his hand. "My one hundred credits--_now!_"

"Never mind the credits, kid," said Loring, "we've got more important
things to talk about."

Roger continued to look at Shinny, his palm outstretched on the top of
the table. "One hundred credits," he repeated coldly.

Reluctantly, Shinny handed over the money. Slowly, carefully, Roger
counted the bills, and then, after putting them away, he turned to face
Loring for the first time.

"You said you have something important to discuss with me?" he drawled.

"I see you learned fast, kid!" said Loring with a crooked smile. "I
wouldn't trust Shinny as far as I could throw a comet!"

Mason laughed loudly. The other three merely glared at him, and he
stopped abruptly.

"Here's the proposition, Manning," said Loring, leaning across the
table. "I've gotta ship and I wanta make a hop into deep space. I want
you to do the astrogation!"

"I'm interested," said Roger. "Keep talking."

Briefly Loring described the copper satellite, its potential value, and
what they expected to get out of it. Roger listened without comment.
When Loring had finished, Shinny told him about the ship and its
condition. When Shinny finished, Loring turned to Roger.

"Well, Manning," he asked, "how do you like the setup?"

"How much do I get out of it?" asked Roger.

"One twentieth of the take," said Loring.

"There are four of us. One full quarter-share, nothing less," drawled
Roger.

"One-fourth to Shinny and one-fourth to him," whined Mason. "That only
leaves us a fourth apiece!"

"