"Of course? You tickle me. Not only do I not have to prove it, I won't. I won't even confirm it."
Bundy glared at Garlock, then whirled on Banks. "If you don't give me this in shape to use, you'll never get another line or mention anywhere!"
"Oh, no?" For the first time in his professional life Banks gloated, openly and avidly. "From now on, my friend, who is in the saddle? Who is going to come to whom? Oh, brother!"
When the fuming newsmen had gone, Garlock said, "It'll leak, of course."
"Of course," Banks agreed. "'It is rumored ...' 'from a usually reliable source ...' and so on. Nothing definite, but each one of them will want to put out the first and biggest."
"That's what I figured. It'll have to break sometime and I thought easing it out would be best ... but wait a minute...." he thought for two solid minutes. "But we're going to need a lot of money, and we're just about broke, aren't we?" This thought was addressed to Frank Macey, the Galaxians' treasurer.
"Worse than broke—much worse."
"I could loan you a couple of credits, Frank," Belle said, brightly. "But go ahead, Clee."
"People like to be sidewalk superintendents. Suppose they could watch the construction of an outpost so far away that nobody ever dreamed of ever getting there. Could you do anything with that, Jerry?"
"Could I! Just!" and Banks, went into a rhapsody.