"Then why take the risk of coming back here again?"
"Maybe they didn't know," Tom said thoughtfully.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean maybe they killed him too soon. Maybe they thought they knew what he'd found and where it was ... and then found out that they didn't, after all. Maybe Dad hid it...."
Johnny Coombs shook his head. "No way a man can hide an ore strike."
"But suppose Dad did, somehow, and whoever killed him couldn't find it? It would be too late to make him tell them. They'd have to come back and look again, wouldn't they? And from the way they went about it, it looks as though they weren't having much luck."
"Then whatever Dad found would still be here, somewhere," Greg said.
"That's right."
"But where? There's nothing on this ship."
"Maybe not," Tom said, "but I'd like to take a look at that asteroid before we give up."