"But you told me—"
"And you told Mr. Leatherwell. Indiscreet of you, Mr. Consul. That was a privileged communication; classified information, official use only."
"You led me to believe there was collapsed crystal!"
"I said Sam had mentioned it. He told me his asteroid was made of the stuff."
Magnan swallowed hard, twice. "By the way," he said dully. "You were right about the check. Half an hour ago Mr. Leatherwell tried to stop payment. He was too late."
"All in all, it's been a big day for Leatherwell," Retief said. "Anything else?"
"I hope not," Magnan said. "I sincerely hope not." He leaned close to the screen. "You'll consider the entire affair as ... confidential? There's no point in unduly complicating relationships."
"Have no fear, Mr. Consul," Retief said cheerfully. "You won't find me identifying with anything as specific as triple-salting an asteroid."
Back at the table, Sam called for another bottle of rock juice.
"That Drift's a pretty good game," Retief said. "But let me show you one I learned out on Yill...."