rush supplies through from there, under Space
Force guard. You know he's got a head for commerce as well as science.
But our post, here, perhaps isn't considered secure enough to back a
loan, anymore."

Art grinned wryly at Nelsen and Ramos. His hint was plain. He had seen
the museum pieces that they had brought in.

"Should we, Frank?" Ramos chuckled after a moment.

"Possibly... We've got some collateral, Art. Lots more valuable per unit
mass than any raw metal, I should think."

"So you might want to work for us?" Art inquired blandly.

"Not 'for'," Nelsen chuckled. "We might say 'with'."

"Okay, Cuties," Art laughed.

Joe Kuzak had just come back into the dwelling and office bubb.

"Don't let my twin sell you any rotten apples, fellas," he warned
lightly. "He might be expecting you to transport your collateral to
Pallastown. Naturally anybody trying to strangle this Post will be
blocking the route. You might get robbed again. Also murdered."

Ramos' gaunt face still had its daring grin. "Frank and I know that," he
said. "I'm past bragging. But we've had experience. Now, we might be
smart enough to get through. A few more days out there won't hurt. How
about it, Frank?"

"Ten hours sleep and breakfast," Frank said. "Then a little camouflage
material, new weapons, a pair of Archers in condition--got any left?"

"Five in stock," Joe answered.

"Settled, then?" Art asked.

"Here, it is," Ramos answered, and Nelsen nodded.

It would have been rough going for them to try to sleep in beds. They
had lost the habit. They slept inside their new Archer Fives.

Afterwards they painted their armor a dark grey, like chunks of mesoderm
stone. They did likewise to the two bundles in which they wrapped their
relics.

They were as careful as possible to get away from the post without being
observed, visually or by radar. But of course you could never be sure.

Huddled up to resemble stray fragments, they curved out of the
Belt--toward the Pole Star, north of its orbital plane. Moving in a
parallel course, they proceeded toward Pallastown. The only thing that
would seem odd was that they were moving contrary to the general orbital
rotation of most of the permanent bodies of the solar system. Of course
they and their bundles _might_ have been stray meteors from deep in
space.

Four watchful, armored figures seemed to notice the peculiarity of their
direction, and to become suspicious. These figures seemed too war