"You're wondering why, of course." Terral's lips drew thin. "Believe me, it wasn't altruism, Boone; not one bit of it."
Boone frowned. "Maybe I just don't understand."
"You will," the other clipped. And then: "Boone, how much do you know about Titan fever?"
"Titan fever—?" Boone shook his head. "Not too much."
"Are you aware that it's reached the epidemic stage on half-a-dozen satellites and planets?"
"What—!"
"The Federation's keeping the statistics under cover; otherwise there'd be a panic." Terral paced the floor like a caged lion. "The catch is, Boone, we're all like you: No one knows too much about the whys and wherefores of it, except that the original cases came among IC men who worked in the Helgae cities on Titan back when mekronal was first developed."
Boone ran his thumb along his chin. "I'd heard that part. But I thought we had it licked with chandak extract."
"Chandak extract!" The independents' agent spun around, grey eyes blazing. "That's just the trouble! Chandak's a byproduct of mekronal—and all mekronal comes from Titan! So with IC assigned monopoly rights there, the rest of us are stuck."