The Venusian's eyes widened. Nolan saw, from the corner of his eye, a skid rocketing across the field. It halted by the Dragonfly, and the ship's lock opened. Two bulky, heat-suited figures hurried out of the skid, into the ship.
"What do you say?" Nolan persisted, accelerated by the sight of the figures. One of them would be Woller's thug with the apparently vital papers. That would be the big one—the smaller might be a clerk from his office.
"Okay," the mate capitulated. "Tell you what. It'll cost you ten thousand credits. If it's worth that to you, all right."
Nolan shrugged wryly. "It's worth my neck," he grinned confidentially.
The Venusian grinned moistly back. "Payable in advance," he specified. "Now. Give it to me and I'll go out and arrange the deal with the captain."
Keeping a percentage of course, Nolan thought; but he only nodded and silently counted out the money. The Venusian grabbed it without checking the count. He said, "Okay, I'll be back in a minute," and left.
Nolan watched him struggle into his suit and clamber across the frigid soil of the field. The lock opened for him, then closed again. Nolan sensed a sudden uneasiness. He almost jumped when the port officer came up behind him and said:
"Wouldn't take you, huh?"
Nolan turned. "Sure," he said. "He had to go arrange it with the captain. I'll go out with him when he comes back for his clearance papers."
"Clearance papers!" the official barked. "Good Lord, man, they've had those for hours. That man isn't coming back!"