Space Lawyer by Mike Jurist Page B

had extra-powerful ones."
    "That asteroid you were hunting," said Kerry, "wouldn't by the merest chance be the one I just picked up in my detectors?"
    Ball glowered. "I suppose so. There isn't another one around this side of Jupiter."
    "And there you found what you were after?"
    The captain hesitated.
    "You might as well tell me. I'm going to take a look-see anyway."
    Ball shrugged. "The whole Universe might as well know now. That poor, crazed prospector was right. It isn't a big one —not over five miles across. But she's just loaded with thermatite."
    "Thermatite!" Kerry and Jem looked swiftly at each other. "What percentage alloy?"
    "No percentage. It's the pure thing. And a vein as thick as a spaceship. There's been nothing like it found in the System. I think this asteroid must have come from outside. The head of a comet, possibly, caught by Jupiter."
    Kerry whistled softly. Thermatite was almost pure energy. It would undergo atomic disintegration without giving off gamma rays—hence it could be used in very cheap, very light portable atomic engines that required no shielding. But what thermatite had so far been discovered was so alloyed with inert materials that the expense of extraction practically made up the difference. A vein of pure thermatite therefore meant a sizable fortune to the discoverer.
    "What happened then?"
    Dark anger lowered on the captain's face. "We had just staked out our claim when that damned pirate came up. We didn't have a chance. Practically my whole crew was out on the asteroid, unarmed; and they had a torpedo gun trained on us. There wasn't a thing we could do but curse and watch. They erased our monuments and raised their own; they took over whatever thermatite we had already mined, emptied our fuel tanks, smashed our radio and set us adrift."
    "The dirty highjackers!" growled Jem. "They might as well have murdered you all and been done with it."
    "Oh, no!" Ball said sarcastically. "They said as soon as they'd filed the claim properly in their own names they'd report us adrift and have Kenton send a rescue ship out for us."
    "By which time you'd be dead, if they reported you at all," Kerry said grimly. "This Foote is a rat!"
    "That's the layout. That's why I want to use your radio. I
want to raise Planets and have them arrested before they file."
Kerry shook his head. "It would be your word against theirs.
They would claim you tried to highjack them. Besides, my radio has only a fifty-million-mile radius. By the time we'd get that close they'd already have filed."
    The captain swore. He managed to concentrate a good deal into a few words. Jem just glowered.
    Kerry thought a moment.
    "You took enough observations to calculate the asteroid's orbital elements?"
    "Naturally. Otherwise how would we be able to find her again; or file on her? It's quite an eccentric orbit, as you'd suspect from finding her all the way out here. I've never run into any quite like it before."
    Kerry's eyes gleamed suddenly. "H-m-m! Mind if I look at your figures?"
    "Damned if I know why you want to waste your time. We ought to get started for Planets right away." Ball's fists clenched. "I want to lay hands on a few people."
    "There'll be no delay. Jem, get the tractors hitched up properly for towing. I'll be with you in a few minutes."
    It was with reluctance that Ball brought out his charts. But there was nothing he could do about it. Kerry had the whip hand.
    Kerry studied the charts in silence, made some rapid calculations. When he finally looked up his face was wiped clean of all emotion.
    "I'm going to make you a proposition, Ball."
    "What is it?"
    "About the salvage. The Flying Meteor is a heavy boat as well as an expensive one. Towing her won't do my tractors or my hull any good. It's worth every bit of the salvage money. And that's going to run high. One third of your ship's value, and you know what that amounts to."
    The captain grimaced. "What can I do? I'm in a tight spot."
Kerry stared up at the ceiling.