mixed together. Maybe some bones survived the impacts, but I'd guess that they were either shattered into tiny pieces or went into the interior and became molten when the pressures heated the core. I fail to see how the bones we found were preserved in the first place. You saw the holo-tapes of the blowup. The crust shattered. The core burst out. If they got caught up in the molten material, they were simply vaporized. There would be no bones left.» «You're saying that they might just be floating around in space?» He shuddered. «God, I hope not.» He smiled at his own reaction. «I think they're gone, Erin. Gone for good. At best, enclosed in megatons of cooled core material.» «If I had the power,» she said, «I'd vaporize every asteroid into space dust the way Julie suggested.» But she didn't have the power. The Terror blinked past the Dead Worlds to Haven where her cargo brought three- and-a-half million U.P. credits. Added to the money already in the banks, that made Mr. and Mrs. Gale not filthy rich, but rich enough so that they didn't have to go out looking for gold unless it pleased them to do so. They were quite rich enough to buy a demure little Yorkshire damsel who, when she was introduced to Mr. Mop, licked him sensuously on the nose and began to lead him a merry chase that resulted, when she was ready, in a squirming litter of four little Mops and Mopettes. «I think he's got the right idea,» Dent said, lifting a pup in both hands, much to Mrs. Mop's concern. «What do you think? Think we should follow his example?» «You want me to have a litter of pups?» she asked. «Whatever,» he said, reaching for her.
