"Boy!" Nolan gasped. "Somebody sure doesn't want me along on this ride."
The inner door was sliding open. Nolan stepped out into a well lit corridor, almost colliding with the flabby bulk of the Venusian.
The mate glared at him darkly, the hand on his waist poised suggestively above the butt of a pyro.
Before he could speak, Nolan said mildly, "You're a thieving louse. But I'm on the ship, and I won't hold it against you. Only—don't try that again."
The mate flushed. "The captain didn't want to take you," he mumbled. "I was going to send your dough back soon's we touched ground."
"Sure," Nolan agreed. "Having my full name and address the way you do, it'd be easy. Well, skip it. Where's my cabin?"
You wouldn't call it exactly hospitable, the way the mate stalled as long as he could, obviously trying to cudgel his feeble Venusian brain into some plan for getting rid of the unwanted passenger. But Nolan finally got his cabin.
It was the smallest and worst on the ship, of course, but the ship was a beauty. Nolan smiled in real appreciation when he saw the room. The furniture was glow-tinted plastic; the bed was covered with Earth silk.
"Beat it," he told the mate, and watched the door close behind him. Then he sat down to chart a course.