"Aw come on," said Matt. "All you have to do is breathe to get a lung full of it. Is this some joke?"
"Eight dead men aren't my idea of a joke," said Henry, a frown crossing his pudgy features.
"All right," said Jake. "This was top secret information on Titan. There's been a bad leak in the city dome. They're losing tons of air every day, and so far no one's been able to find the hole."
"I didn't hear anything about it when I was there," said Matt.
"Of course not. The engineers have kept it from the colonists so there wouldn't be a stampede to get out. Because there aren't nearly enough ships to evacuate everybody."
"Then just where do we come in?" asked Henry.
Jake shook his head impatiently. "Can't you see? This is an emergency shipment of oxygen for Titan. Their reserves are just about gone. They figured it would take about ten days to check the entire dome, but they've only got about three days' supply of oxygen left."
Matt nodded approvingly. "I'm beginning to see it now. When that's gone, they'll pay any price to get more."
"You've got it," said Jake. "There's a Federation bank on Titan with assets of thirty million. We'll take every penny."
Henry was worried. "Well, what if they find that hole before the three days are up. Then we won't be in such a good bargaining position."