hung's idea might be worth probing a
little. "Sure," he said. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry." He took
another sip as he hunted for suitable words. A beautiful girl, a
golden wine ... and vice versa ... why couldn't he simply relax and
enjoy himself? Did he have to go fretting about what was probably a
perfectly harmless conundrum?... Yes. However, recreation might still
combine with business.

"Permit me to daydream," he said, leaning close to her. "The Navy's
going to establish a new base here, and the _Altair_ will be assigned
to it."

"Daydream indeed!" she laughed, relieved to get back to a mere
flirtation. "Ever hear about the Convention of Vesta?"

"Treaties can be renegotiated," Blades plagiarized.

"What do we need an extra base for? Especially since the government
plans to spend such large sums on social welfare. They certainly don't
want to start an arms race besides."

* * * * *

Blades nodded. _Jimmy's notion did seem pretty thin_, he thought with
a slight chill, _and now I guess it's completely whiffed._ Mostly to
keep the conversation going, he shrugged and said, "My partner--and
me, too, aside from the privilege of your company--wouldn't have
wanted it anyhow. Not that we're unpatriotic, but there are plenty of
other potential bases, and we'd rather keep government agencies out of
here."

"Can you, these days?"

"Pretty much. We're under a new type of charter, as a private
partnership. The first such charter in the Belt, as far as I know,
though there'll be more in the future. The Bank of Ceres financed us.
We haven't taken a nickel of federal money."

"Is that possible?"

"Just barely. I'm no economist, but I can see how it works. Money
represents goods and labor. Hitherto those have been in mighty short
supply out here. Government subsidies made up the difference, enabling
us to buy from Earth. But now the asterites have built up enough
population and industry that they have some capital surplus of their
own, to invest in projects like this."

"Even so, frankly, I'm surprised that two men by themselves could get
such a loan. It must be huge. Wouldn't the bank rather have lent the
money to some corporation?"

"To tell the truth, we have friends who pulled wires for us. Also, it
was done partly on ideological grounds. A lot of asterites would like
to see more strictly home-grown enterprises, not committed to anyone
on Earth. That's the only way we can gro