Kalmus was not concerned whether Rock had found his father or not. “Let’s hurry up and get this stuff loaded on the Dog Star,” was the first thing he said.
“Sure,” Rock said absently.
As they went aft again, Rock’s mind was full of what they had seen. He was rather disappointed in the way he felt. He had thought he would be jumping in elation when they found the alconite ore. Instead, he was almost sorry. It seemed like a violation of his father’s honor to share his property with these men of greed.
The shock of not finding his father’s body continued to disturb him. He had hoped to take it back and give it a decent burial. Yet, as he thought further, perhaps this was the way his dad would have wanted it, because he was first and last a spaceman. Also, his widow would not have to relive the pain of his loss again. Yes, it probably was best this way.
The five of them crossed over on the cable again and made preparations for transferring the ore to the Dog Star. They would carry it over in regular space transfer crates secured to the cable. An empty crate would be shoved across the gulf, filled up in the Northern Cross, and then sent back over to be emptied of its contents.
The crew was split into two parties, five remaining aboard the Dog Star to unload and the other six going over to the Northern Cross to load the treasure aboard the crates.
The work began and moved along smoothly, but it was going to be a drawn-out operation, if not a rigorous one. Carrying the containers of ore down the corridors of the Northern Cross was a simple matter since they were perfectly weightless and so had only to be guided along by the touch of a hand.
The hours dragged along slowly as load after load was drifted down the corridors of the ghost ship and pushed across the vacuum to the Dog Star. The storage bins of the smaller ship bulged higher and higher with the valuable mineral.
As the transference neared completion, Rock took Shep aside, near one of the ports of the Northern Cross. Then he began speaking very softly so that none of Kalmus’ men working in the ship could pick up the conversation by helmet radio.
“We’re nearly through, Shep,” he whispered, “and you know what that means for Kalmus.”