"Yep!" replied Shinny. "You're Roger Manning, Space Cadet! Breach of honor and violation of the Spaceman's Oath. Escaped from the Venus space station on a jet liner. But one of the best men on a radar scanner and astrogation prism in the whole alliance!" Shinny related the information rapidly.
"He had known all the time," thought Roger. "He was testing me." Roger wondered why.
"What are you going to do about it?" questioned Roger, thinking about the one-thousand-credit reward, standard price offered by the Solar Guard for all wanted men.
"If I had wanted to, I could have bought the finest jet liner in space with money made on Solar Guard rewards," snapped Shinny. "We got our own spaceman's code here on the Row. It goes something like this. What a man wants to bring with him down here, he brings. What he don't bring, don't exist!"
Roger smiled and stuck out his hand. "All right, Mr. Shinny! I want a set of papers—space papers! Made out in any name, so that I can get out into space again. I don't care where I go or on what, or how long I'm gone. I just gotta blast off!"
"You want papers for the astrogation deck, or control, or as a power pusher?" asked Shinny.
Roger thought a moment. "Better make them for the control deck," he said.
"Credits," said Shinny. "You have any credits?"
"How much?" asked Roger.
"One hundred now," said Shinny, and then added, "and one hundred when I deliver."