been a
uranium strike that big since the old seventeenth moon of Jupiter back
in 2294!"

Loring motioned to them to sit down at a table. He ordered a bottle of
rocket juice and filled three glasses.

"This ain't uranium, _Mr._ Shinny!" he said.

Shinny's eyes opened wider still. "What then?"

"What's the most precious metal in the system today?" Loring asked.

"Why--gold, I guess."

"Next to gold?"

Shinny thought for a moment. "Couldn't be silver any more, since
they're making the artificial stuff cheaper'n it costs to mine it." The
little man's jaw dropped and he stared at Loring. "You mean--?"

"That's right," said Loring, "copper!"

Shinny's mind raced. In this year of 2353, all major copper deposits had
long since been exhausted and only small new deposits were being found,
not nearly enough for the needs of the expanding system. In an age of
electronics, lack of copper had become a serious bottleneck in the
production of electrical and scientific equipment. Search parties were
out constantly, all over the solar system, trying to find more of the
precious stuff. So a deposit of the kind Loring and Mason were talking
about was a prize indeed.

Shinny's greedy fingers twitched with anticipation.

"So that's why you want to buy a spaceship, eh?"

"Wanted," replied Loring. "I don't want to buy one now. The way things
look, we'll get what we want for nothing!"

Mason, who had been sitting quietly, suddenly jumped up. "So that's your
angle! Well, I don't want any part of it," he shouted.

Loring and Shinny looked up in surprise.

"What're you talking about?" demanded Loring.

"All of a sudden it's come to me. Now I know why you've been hanging
around the spaceport for the last two weeks. And what you meant when you
saw the spaceman get out of that freighter today!"

"Sit down!" barked Loring. "If you weren't so dumb, you'd have caught on
long ago." He eyed the shorter man from between half-closed lids. "It's
the only way we can get out of here!"

"Not me. I ain't pulling anything like that!" whined Mason.

"What's going on here?" demanded Shinny. "What're you two space bums
talking about?"

"I'll tell you what! He's going to try--"

Loring suddenly stood up and slapped the shorter spaceman across the
mouth. Mason sat down, a dazed look on his face.

"You space-crawling rat!" hissed Loring. "You'll do what I tell you to
do, see?"

"Yeah--yeah, sure," bleated Mason. "O.K. Anything you say. An