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be able to contact Earth again until Ceres was in range of the Stone's modest equipment. They were not
going to Ceres but would be not far away; the Hallelujah was riding almost the same orbit somewhat
ahead of that tiny planet.
The boost to a cometary orbit left little margin for cargo but what there was the twins wanted to use,
undeterred by their father's blunt disapproval of the passengers-in-cold-sleep idea. Their next notion was
to carry full outfits for themselves for meteor mining  rocket scooter, special suits, emergency shelter,
keyed radioactive claiming stakes, centrifuge speegee tester, black lights, Geiger counters, prospecting
radar, portable spark spectroscope, and everything else needed to go quietly rock-happy.
Their father said simply, 'Your money?'
'Of course. And we pay for the boost.'
'Go ahead. Go right ahead. Don't let me discourage you. Any objections from me would simply confirm
your preconceptions.'
Castor was baffled by the lack of opposition. 'What's the matter with it, Dad? You worried about the
danger involved?'
'Danger? Heavens, no! It's your privilege to get yourselves killed in your own way. Anyhow, I don't
think you will. You're young and you're both smart, even if you don't show it sometimes, and you're both
in tiptop physical condition, and I'm sure you'll know your equipment.'
'Then what is it?'
'Nothing. For myself, I long since came to the firm conclusion that a man can do more productive work,
and make more money if this is his object, by sitting down with his hands in his pockets than by any form
of physical activity. Do you happen to know the average yearly income of a meteor miner?'
'Well, no, but  '
'Less than six hundred a year.'
'But some of them get rich!'
'Sure they do. And some make much less than six hundred a year; that's an average, including the rich
strikes. Just as a matter of curiosity, bearing in mind that most of those miners are experienced and able,
what is it that you two expect to bring to this trade that will enable you to raise the yearly average? Speak
up; don't be shy.'
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'Doggone it, Dad, what would you ship?'
'Me? Nothing. I have no talent for trade. I'm going out for the ride  and to take a look at the bones of
Lucifer. I'm beginning to get interested in planetology. I may do a book about it '
'What happened to your other book?'
'I hope that isn't sarcasm, Cas. I expect to have it finished before we get there.' He adjourned the
discussion by leaving.
The twins turned to leave, found Hazel grinning at them. Castor scowled at her. 'What are you smirking
at, Hazel?'
'You two.'
'Well... why shouldn't we have a whirl at meteor mining?'
'No reason. Go ahead; you can afford the luxury. But see here, boys, do you really want to know what
to ship to make some money?'
'Sure!'
'What's your offer?'
'Percentage cut? Or flat fee? But we don't pay if we don't take your advice.'
'Oh, rats! I'll give it to you free. If you get advice free, you won't take it and I'll be able to say, "I told
you so!"'
'You would, too.'
'Of course I would. There's no warmer pleasure than being able to tell a smart aleck, "I told you so, but
you wouldn't listen." Okay, here it is, in the form of a question, just like an oracle: Who made money in all
the other big mining rushes of history?'
'Why, the chaps who struck it rich, I suppose.'
'That's a laugh. There are so few cases of prospectors who actually hung on to what they had found and
died rich that they stand out like supernovae. Let's take a famous rush, the California Gold Rush back in
1861- no, 1861 was something else; I forget. 1849, that was it  the 'Forty-niners. Read about 'em in
history?'
'Some.'
'There was a citizen named Sutter; they found gold on his place. Did it make him rich? It ruined him. But
who did get rich?'
'Tell us, Hazel. Don't bother to dramatise it'
'Why not? I may put it in the show  serial numbers rubbed off, of course. I'll tell you: everybody who
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had something the miners had to buy. Grocers, mostly. Boy, did they get rich! Hardware dealers. Men
with stamping mills, Everybody but the poor miner. Even laundries in Honolulu.'
'Honolulu? But that's way out in the Pacific, off China somewhere.'
'It was in Hawaii the last time I looked. But they used to ship dirty laundry from California clear to
Honolulu to have it washed  both ways by sailing ship. That's about like having your dirty shirts
shipped from Marsport to Luna. Boys, if you want to make money, set up a laundry in the Hallelujah. But
it doesn't have to be a laundry  just anything, so long as the miners want it and you've got it. If your
father wasn't a Puritan at heart, I'd set up a well-run perfectly honest gambling hall! That's like having a
rich uncle.'
The twins considered their grandmother's advice and went into the grocery business, with a few general
store sidelines. They decided to stock only luxury foods, things that the miners would not be likely to
have and which would bring highest prices per pound. They stocked antibiotics and surgical drugs and
vitamins as well, and some lightweight song-and-story projectors and a considerable quantity of spools to
go with them. Pollux found a supply of pretty-girl pictures, printed on thin stock in Japan and intended for
calendars on Mars, and decided to take a flyer on them, since they didn't weigh much. He pointed out to
Castor that they could not lose entirely, since they could look at them themselves.
Dr Stone found them, ran through them, and required him to send some of them back. The rest passed
her censorship; they took them along.
The last episode was speeding toward Earth; the last weld had been approved; the last pound of food
and supplies was at last aboard. The Stone lifted gently from Phobos and dropped toward Mars. A short
gravity-well maneuver around Mars at the Stone's best throat temperature  which produced a
spine-grinding five gravities  and she was headed out and fast to the lonely reaches of space inhabited
only by the wreckage of the Ruined Planet.
They fell easily and happily back into free fall routine. More advanced mathematical texts had been
obtained for the boys on Mars; they did not have to be urged to study, having grown really interested 
and this time they had no bicycles to divert their minds. Fuzzy Britches took to free fall if the creature had
been born in space; if it was not being held and stroked by someone (which it usually was) it slithered
over wall and bulkhead, or floated gently around the compartments, undulating happily.
Castor maintained that it could swim through the air; Pollux insisted that it could not and that its [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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