Dark nodded to Fancher. Fancher, feeling rather green about the gills, returned the greeting.
Dark turned his attention back to the Chief, and he, also, waited. There was a long silence. The Chief broke it first.
"What do you know about Dr. G. O. T. Hennessey—Goat Hennessey?" asked the Chief calmly.
Fancher blinked at this unexpected line of questioning. A cloud passed over Dark's face, as though the name had triggered something in him that he could not quite remember.
"He was a very good friend of mine," answered Dark, "although it seems that something happened between us that I can't quite recollect. He was one of the most brilliant geneticists of Earth, and came to Mars with an experimental group that was to try to develop a human type that could live more comfortably under Martian conditions. The project was backed by the government."
He stopped. It was the Chief who added:
"Then Marscorp stepped in."
The expression on Dark's face was blank.
"You don't know what Marscorp is, do you?" asked the Chief curiously.
"The name's familiar," replied Dark. "It's a spaceline, isn't it?"