"Here's my proposition," I said. "I'll trade you the slug for the girl. You give her a suit with full tanks and rations and turn her loose now. That will give her enough head start so you won't be able to find her. Then in the morning I'll show you where this slug is, and as soon as you get it you take off and we'll all be happy. That saves you a six months' wait and a fight with the Patrol."

"Tom!" Betty broke out. "You're not going to let these apes get away!"

"Sorry, Betty. It's the only way."

"Oh, you—!" She stamped her foot. She was crying. I couldn't blame her for being mad. She was not the kind to stop fighting anywhere this side of the last ditch. Well, for me it was the last ditch when he put his hand on her.

"Can the chatter, you two," Stony gritted. "Look, how do I even know you got a slug?"

"You don't," I agreed. "That's the chance you take."

"Yeah. And you know the chance you're taking if you don't produce?"

"I can imagine," I assured him.

"Okay," he decided. "I'll play. But I'm warning you, chum, if you're trying to run a bluff—you'll be sorry!" He turned to Betty. "Come on, babe, climb into your rubber pants and scram!"

Betty didn't even glance in my direction while she was putting on her space-suit. She gave me one look as she went out through the air lock, and one was enough. It was pure poison.

V

I was glad before morning that the nights on Vesta were only six hours long. Soon after Betty left, a couple of Stony's gorillas went over to the ship and sent back the two that had been left on watch. The new ones weren't any prettier to look at, and they scoffed up just as big a share of rations as the others had, and with even less manners, if possible. After that one of them got out a deck of mouldy-looking cards, and the whole crew sat down to a game of poker.

They had me tied down on the chair again by this time, and after the second bottle of juice had been around once or twice they hit on the quaint idea of using me for stakes. Each winner of a pot was to have the right to choose which portion of my anatomy he would separate from the rest of me by force and violence in case I didn't come through with the power slug in 

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