The answer came back, thin in the earphones.
"I'm going to try, Joe," Hervey said. "Have you gone out of your mind?"
Berne laughed into the throat mike. "No," he said. "I'm sane, Sam. I just decided that I wasn't going to split the money with you, Sam. Or wait three years to get it, either."
He heard the other's soft, "Oh." Hervey got up and moved away from the outcropping, looking back. Berne took up a position about midway between the ship and the station, watching him. Hervey was finished, he told himself; it was just a matter of time ... Berne could cover both havens.
He was so sure of victory that when he heard Sam Hervey starting to laugh, he was genuinely shocked, and he was a little afraid. What...?
"Joe?" The voice was in his ears.
"Yeah, Sam."
"You wouldn't want to blast an old friend, would you, Joe?"
"It would be a pleasure, Sam."
The laugh sounded again. "Now, Joe, you're not using your head. Always careless, that's you, Joe. What would the Space Patrol say when they find me full of rocket fragments? Might be a little tough on you, Joe."