kids, and maybe a girl
or two I'll meet someplace. You guys might as well do the same."

He took some squares of fabric, silken-soft, though spun from fibre of
colored glass. And some wheeled devices, which might have been toys.
Lester and Hines picked up only token pieces of the fabric. Frank took a
three inch golden ring that glinted with mineral. Except that it looked
decorative, he had no idea of its original purpose.

The broken, fine-boned mummy and the other items were appraised and
bought in a large room across the city. It was already cluttered with
queer fossils and objects. The numbers printed on the two equal checks,
and on the cash in their hands, still looked slightly mythical to Nelsen
and Ramos, to whom a thousand dollars had seemed a fortune.

Later, at the U.S.S.F. headquarters, he was prepared to argue grimly.
Words were in his mind: A vital matter of supply... Without an escort,
we'll still have to try to get through, alone. You have been informed,
therefore, if anything happens, you will be responsible...

He didn't have to say anything like this. They knew. Maybe an old
bitterness had made him misjudge the U.S.S.F. A young colonel smiled
tiredly.

"This has been happening," he said. "We have limited facilities for this
purpose. The U.N.S.F. even less. However, an escort is due in, now. We
can move out again, with you, in seven hours."

"Thank you, sir," Nelsen responded.

Gimp Hines had the better part of the supplies to be purchased already
lined up at the warehouses.

Nelsen counted the money he had left. "Figuring losses and gains, I have
no idea how much I owe J. John--if anything," he laughed. "So I'll make
it a grand--build up my ego... But we owe old Paul more than dough."

"All right, I'm another idiot--I'll mail J. John a similar draft," Ramos
gruffed. "Paul's a problem. He can use money, but he never lived for it.
And you can't buy a friend. We'll have to rig something."

"Yeah--we will," Gimp said. "Couple of times I forgot J. John. But I
lost my shirt on those loads that were lifted off you boneheads. The
Kuzaks reimbursed me for half. Do you two want to cover the other half?
Aw--forget it! Who's got time to figure all this? That old coot doped
himself out a nice catch-dollar scheme, making us promise. Or was it a
leg pull on a highly elusive proposition, where big sums and the
vastness of space seem to match? Hell--I'm getting mixed up again..."

Dave Lester had wandered o