"We're not under Federation law here."
"No. And you're engaged in a life-or-death struggle to make sure you don't come under it. This happened to be one of the death parts."
Morrison looked at him in mild surprise. "You figured that out, Durham?" He was a lean gray, kindly looking man, the conventional father type. Susan was staring at him in blank horror, as though she could not believe what she was hearing. "I wasn't told you were that bright. Well, you're right. Universal Minerals and its various dummy corporations in this sub-sector are making such profits as you wouldn't believe if I told you, and we have no intention of giving it up."
"Even if you have to slaughter a whole ship's crew. What did you do, tow an asteroid into position?"
Morrison shrugged. "Special debris is not uncommon."
"You could have killed us, too, you know," Durham said angrily. "You could have killed her. Hawtree wouldn't have liked that."
"It was a risk we had to take. It was a reasonably small one." He looked Durham up and down. "You made us one whale of a mess of trouble. If my yacht wasn't a good bit faster than Jubb's ship, we'd have been whipped. What happened to you? Why didn't you talk like you were supposed to?"
"You'd die laughing."
"I can control my emotions. Go ahead."
Durham told him. "Virtue," he finished sourly, "is sure enough its own reward. I should have stayed drunk. I was happier that way. What happened to the Wanbecqs?"