"You have an unmanned orbit-ship which is now a derelict in the Asteroid
Belt. You have a scout-ship out there also. You can't just leave them
there as a navigation hazard to every ship traveling in the sector.
There are also a few mining claims which aren't going to be of much
value to you now."

"I see," Greg said. "Are you offering to buy Dad's mining rig?"

"Well, I doubt very much that we'd have any use for it, as such. But we
could save you the trouble of going out there to haul it in."

"That's very thoughtful," Greg said. "How much are you offering?"

Tom looked up in alarm. "Wait a minute," he said. "That rig's not for
sale...."

"How much?" Greg repeated.

"Forty thousand dollars," Merrill Tawney said. "Ship, rig and claims.
We'll even pay the transfer tax."

Tom stared at the man, wondering if he had heard right. He knew what
Roger Hunter had paid for the rig; he had been with Dad when the papers
were signed. Tawney's offer was three times as much as the rig was
worth.

But Greg was shaking his head. "I don't think we could sell at that
price."

The fat man's hands fluttered. "You understand that those ships are
hardly suited to a major mining operation like ours," he said, "and the
claims...." He dismissed them with a wave of his hand. "Still, we'd want
you to be happy with the price. Say, forty-five thousand?"

Greg hesitated, shook his head again. "I guess we'd better think it
over, Mr. Tawney."

"Fifty thousand is absolutely the top," Tawney said sharply. "I have the
papers right here, drawn up for your signatures, but I'm afraid we can't
hold the offer open."

"I don't know, we might want to do some mining ourselves," Greg said.
"For all we know, Dad might have struck some rich ore on one of those
claims."

Tawney laughed. "I hardly think so. Those claims were all Jupiter
Equilateral rejects. Our own engineers found nothing but low grade ore
on any of them."

"Still, it might be fun to look."

"It could be very expensive fun. Asteroid mining is a dangerous
business, even for experts. For amateurs...." Tawney spread his hands.
"Accidents occur...."

"Yes, we've heard about those accidents," Greg said coldly. "I don't
think we're quite ready to sell, Mr. Tawney. We may never be ready to
sell to you, so don't stop breathing until we call you. Now if there's
nothing else, why don't you take your friends and go somewhere else?"

The fat man scowled; he started to say something more,