"The new company is capitalized at over a billion dollars, and has already taken options on bases in...." The drink had drained out of Steve Nolan when he saw that. And the bartender had been too friendly for his own good. He'd been a soft touch for five hundred credits. That had been rocket fare to Pluto for Nolan. * * * * * He felt the drumming with the soles of his feet, a hard, grinding sensation against his metal boots. He jumped off the trail quickly and whirled to watch for the approaching skid. It was moving slowly, chugging along on a single jet. _Clogged feeders_, Nolan thought as he felt the uneven vibrations. _If he doesn't watch out he'll have a backblast._ The skid faltered past him, no faster than he could run. He looked away from the incandescent flare of the one tail jet, then that stopped too. Tall as a man, a dozen feet long, the skid lay waiting on the trail. Waiting for Steve Nolan? Anything was better than walking. Nolan walked up to the skid, not fast, and kicked solidly at the entrance. It slid open with a creaking noise and he was in the tank, sealing the outer door behind him. The inner door didn't open. A female voice from a speaker said, "Who are you?" Steve waited till he saw the pressure and temperature gauges shoot up to normal, then swung open his faceplate. "Matthews is the name," he lied easily, out of three long years of practice. "I thought you were waiting for me. Say the word and I'll get out again if I was wrong." "Oh, no." The girl's voice hesitated a second. "What are you doing out here?" "I'm on my way to Avalon, out of Aylette. A skid bus took me across the Ice Plains, then I caught a lift on a prospector's skid. He turned off ten miles back and I decided to walk the rest of the way." "Do you know anything about skids? Mine isn't working very well. I'll pay you if you can--" "I'm not a mechanic," Nolan said wearily. "Oh. Then you can't fix it." "I didn't say that. You can't pay me for it. I'll take a lift to Avalon, though." "A lift? But I don't know you from Adam." Nolan sighed. "Lady, I don't know you either. Believe me, all I want is a ride. It'll take me four hours to walk to Avalon. I can't spare the time if I can help it." He waited a second. No answer. He shrugged and finished his speech. "I'll make you a proposition. Let me in and I'll fix your jets. We'll be in Avalon in twenty minutes, I'll get out and we'll never see each other again. Don't let me in and I'll tear these ignition wires right out of the lock. Then we'll both hitchhike." The girl's voice came with controlled anger. "You win," she said. "Come in." There was a soft click, and the inner door yielded under Nolan's hand. He stepped in. "No hard feelings," he said mildly. "I really wanted the ride. One thing you might remember in the future, though--there are no ignition wires in an air lock." * * * * *