Burke seemed dazed by the knowledge. He stared without speaking. Oscar went on, "Snap out of it, Stinky. Give us the data, so we can work out an operation plan."
"Huh? Oh, it's no use. It's utterly hopeless." "What's so hopeless? The natives seem friendly, on the whole. Tell us what the difficulty was, so we can work it out with them."
"Friendly!" Burke gave a bitter laugh. "They killed all J of my men. They're going to kill me. And they'll kill you." |
XV PIE WITH A FORK
"OKAY," agreed Oscar. "Now that that's settled, I still want to know the score. Suppose you pull yourself together, -Burke, and tell us what happened?"
The merchant rocketship Gary, built by "Reactors Ltd." and transferred to the family corporation "System Enterprises," was a winged rocket especially fitted for point-to-point operations on Venus. The elder Mr. Burke had placed his son in command, backing him up with an experienced crew; the purpose of the trip was to investigate a tip concerning ores of the trans-uranic elements.
The tip had been good; the ores were present in abundance. Young Burke had then undertaken to negotiate exploitation rights with the local Venerian authorities in order to hold the valuable claim against other exploiters who were sure to follow.
He had not been able to interest the local "mother of many" in his wishes; the swamp he wanted, she gave Burke to understand, was tabu. However, he was able to intrigue her into visiting the Gary. Once aboard the ship he again! tried to get her to change her mind. When she turned him' down again he had refused to allow her to leave the rocket ship.
"You mean you kidnapped her," said Matt.
"Nothing of the sort. She came aboard of her own free will. I just didn't get up and open the door for her and went on arguing."