more than he has. But you can go with some firm that will pay you several times what you're getting just for your name on their letterhead. You've had offers?»
«That's beside the point,» Captain van Tromp answered stiffly. «I'm a professional man.»
«Meaning that money can't tempt you into giving up commanding space ships.»
«I wouldn't mind having money, too!»
«A little is no good. Daughters can spend ten percent more than a man can make in any usual occupation. That's a law of nature, to be known henceforth as “Harshaw's Law.” But, Captain,
«Nonsense! I'd put it into bonds and just clip coupons.»
«Not if you were the type who acquires great wealth in the first place. Big money isn't hard to come by. All it costs is a lifetime of devotion. But no ballerina ever works harder. Captain, that's not your style; you don't want to make money, you simply want to
«Correct, sir! So I can't see why you would want to take Mike's wealth away from him.»
«Because great wealth is a curse — unless you enjoy money-making for its own sake. Even then it has serious drawbacks.»
«Oh, piffle! Jubal, you talk like a harem guard trying to sell a whole man on the advantages of being a eunuch.»
«Possibly,» agreed Jubal. «The mind's ability to rationalize its own shortcomings is unlimited; I am no exception. Since I, like yourself, sir, have no interest in money other than to spend it, it is impossible for me to get rich. Conversely, there has never been any danger that I would fail to scrounge the modest amount needed to feed my vices, since anyone with the savvy not to draw to a small pair can do that. But great wealth? You saw that farce. Could I have rewritten it so that I acquired the plunder — become its manager and defacto owner while milking off any income I coveted — and still have rigged it so that Douglas would have supported the outcome? Mike trusts me; I am his water brother. Could I have stolen his fortune?»
«Uh … damn you, Jubal, I suppose so.»
«A certainty. Because our Secretary General is no more a money-seeker than you are. His drive is power — a drum whose beat I do not hear. Had I guaranteed (oh, gracefully!) that the Smith estate would continue to bulwark his administration, then I would have been left with the boodle.»
Jubal shuddered. «I thought I was going to have to do that, to protect Mike from vultures — and I was panic-stricken. Captain, you don't
«Worse yet, his family is always in danger. Captain, have your daughters ever been threatened with kidnapping?»
«What? Good Lord, no!»
«If you possessed the wealth Mike had thrust on him, you would have those girls guarded night and day — still you would not rest, because you would never be sure of the guards. Look at the last hundred or so kidnappings and note how many involved a trusted employee … and how few victims escaped alive. Is there anything money can buy which is worth having your daughters' necks in a noose?»
Van Tromp looked thoughtful. «I'll keep my mortgaged house, Jubal.»
«Amen. I want to live my own life, sleep in my own bed — and not be
«Then I had an inspiration. Douglas lives behind such barricades, has such a staff. Since we were surrendering the power to insure Mike's freedom, why not make Douglas pay by assuming the headaches? I was not afraid that he would steal; only second-rate politicians are money hungry — and Douglas is no pipsqueak. Quit scowling, Ben, and hope that he never dumps the load on
«So I dumped it on Douglas — and now I can go back to my garden. But that was simple, once I figured it out. It was the Larkin Decision that fretted me.»
Caxton said, «I think you lost your wits on that, Jubal. That silly business of letting them give Mike sovereign “honors”. You should simply have had Mike sign over all interest, if any, under that ridiculous Larkin theory.»
«Ben m'boy,» Jubal said gently, «as a reporter you are sometimes readable.»
«Gee, thanks! My fan.»
«But your concepts of strategy are Neanderthal.»
Caxton sighed. «That's better. For a moment I thought you had gone soft.»
«When I do, please shoot me. Captain, how many men did you leave on Mars?»
«Twenty-three.»
«And what is their status under the Larkin Decision?»
Van Tromp frowned. «I'm not supposed to talk.»
«Then don't,» Jubal advised. «We can deduce it.»
Dr. Nelson said, «Skipper, Stinky and I are civilians again. I shall talk as I please — »
«And I,» agreed Mahmoud.
« — and they know what they can do with my reserve commission. What business has the government, telling us
«Stow it, Sven. I intend to talk — these are our water brothers. But, Ben, I would rather not see this in print.»
«Captain, if you'll feel easier, I'll join Mike and the girls.»
«Please don't leave. The government is in a stew about that colony. Every man signed away his Larkin rights — to the government. Mike's presence on Mars confused things. I'm no lawyer, but I understood that, if Mike did waive his rights, that would put the administration in the driver's seat when it came to parceling out things of value.»
«
Van Tromp shook his head. «No, the technical reports are all de-classified. But, Ben, the Moon was a worthless hunk of rock when we got it.»
«Touchй,» Caxton admitted. «I wish my grandpappy had bought Lunar Enterprises.» He added, «But Mars is inhabited.»
Van Tromp looked unhappy. «Yes. But — Stinky, you tell him.»
Mahmoud said, «Ben, there is plenty of room on Mars for human colonization and, so far as I was able to find out, the Martians would not interfere. We're flying our flag and claiming extraterritoriality right now. But our status may be like that of one of those ant cities under glass one sees in school rooms. I don't know where we stand.»
Jubal nodded. «Nor I. I had no idea of the situation … except that the government was anxious to get those so-called rights. So I assumed that the government was equally ignorant and went ahead. “Audacity, always audacity”. »
Jubal grinned. «When I was in high school, I won a debate by quoting an argument from the British Colonial Shipping Board. The opposition was unable to refute me — because there never was a “British Colonial Shipping Board”.
«I was equally shameless this morning. The administration wanted Mike's “Larkin rights” and was scared silly that we might make a deal with somebody else. So I used their greed and worry to force that ultimate logical absurdity of their fantastic legal theory, acknowledgment in unmistakable protocol that Mike was a sovereign — and must be treated accordingly!» Jubal looked smug.
«Thereby,» Ben said dryly, «putting yourself up the well-known creek.»
«Ben, Ben,» Jubal said chidingly, «by their own logic they had crowned Mike. Need I point out that, despite the old saw about heads and crowns, it is safer to be publicly a king than a pretender in hiding? Mike's position was much improved by a few bars of music and an old sheet. But it was still not an easy one. Mike was, for the
