Strong hadn't seen him since.

"So you think he would know where Wallace and Simms might be hiding
out?" Strong asked finally.

"If anyone does," replied Shinny, "he does. And I'll tell you this,
Captain, if you go to talk to him and I figger you will, you'll find him
a lot tougher."

"Will I?"

"Well, take yourself, for instance. No reflection on you, of course, but
take yourself. You're smart, you're hard, and you got a good mind.
You're one of the best spacemen in the deep. Take all that and turn it
bad. Real bad. Sour it with too many years on a prison asteroid and
you've got a fire-eating rocket buster as tough and as rough as God and
society can make him!"

The three cadets gulped and looked at Strong. They saw their skipper
clench his teeth and ball his fists into tight knots.

"I know," said Strong in a hoarse whisper, "but if he knows where
Wallace and Simms are, he'll tell me. You can bet your last credit,
he'll tell me!"

Shinny paused reflectively. "I won't bet," he said simply.

* * * * *

The air inside the space shack was stale because of a faulty filter in
the oxygen circulator that neither Wallace nor Simms bothered to clean.
The two men lazed around in stocking feet and undershirts, listening to
popular music coming over the audio receiver on a late pickup from one
of the small Jovian satellite colonies near by.

"Pour me another cup of coffee, Simms," grunted Wallace.

The smaller man poured a cup of steaming black liquid and silently
handed it over to his companion. They both listened as the music faded
to an end and the voice of the announcer crackled over the loud-speaker.

"This audiocast has been beamed to space quadrants D through K, as a
courtesy to the army of uranium prospectors working the asteroid belt.
Hope you've enjoyed it, spacemen, and happy hunting!"

Wallace reached over and snapped off the receiver. "Thanks, pal." He
laughed. "The hunting's been real good! We've got a full catch!" The
giant spaceman laughed again.

"Yeah," agreed Simms. "I just went over the take. We've got enough money
in that locker"--he indicated a black box on the floor--"to sit back and
take it easy for the rest of our lives."

"Yeah?" snarled Wallace. "You mean sitting in the sun on a crummy
lakeside, watching the birds and bees?"

"Gus," asked Simms thoughtfully, "you got any idea how much fun we can
buy with the credits in that box?"

"Yeah, I have!" sneer