"Permit me to daydream," he said, leaning close to her. "The Navy's going to establish a new base here, and the _Altair_ will be assigned to it." "Daydream indeed!" she laughed, relieved to get back to a mere flirtation. "Ever hear about the Convention of Vesta?" "Treaties can be renegotiated," Blades plagiarized. "What do we need an extra base for? Especially since the government plans to spend such large sums on social welfare. They certainly don't want to start an arms race besides." * * * * * Blades nodded. _Jimmy's notion did seem pretty thin_, he thought with a slight chill, _and now I guess it's completely whiffed._ Mostly to keep the conversation going, he shrugged and said, "My partner--and me, too, aside from the privilege of your company--wouldn't have wanted it anyhow. Not that we're unpatriotic, but there are plenty of other potential bases, and we'd rather keep government agencies out of here." "Can you, these days?" "Pretty much. We're under a new type of charter, as a private partnership. The first such charter in the Belt, as far as I know, though there'll be more in the future. The Bank of Ceres financed us. We haven't taken a nickel of federal money." "Is that possible?" "Just barely. I'm no economist, but I can see how it works. Money represents goods and labor. Hitherto those have been in mighty short supply out here. Government subsidies made up the difference, enabling us to buy from Earth. But now the asterites have built up enough population and industry that they have some capital surplus of their own, to invest in projects like this." "Even so, frankly, I'm surprised that two men by themselves could get such a loan. It must be huge. Wouldn't the bank rather have lent the money to some corporation?" "To tell the truth, we have friends who pulled wires for us. Also, it was done partly on ideological grounds. A lot of asterites would like to see more strictly home-grown enterprises, not committed to anyone on Earth. That's the only way we can grow. Otherwise our profits--our net production, that is--will continue to be siphoned off for the mother country's benefit." "Well," Ellen said with some indignation, "that was the whole reason for planting asteroid colonies. You can't expect us to set you up in business, at enormous cost to ourselves--things we might have done at home--and get nothing but 'Ta' in return." "Never fear, we'll repay you with interest," Blades said. "But whatever we make from our own work, over and above that, ought to stay here with us." She grew angrier. "Your kind of attitude is what provoked the voters to elect Social Justice candidates." "Nice name, that," mused Blades. "Who can be against social justice? But you know, I think I'll go into politics myself. I'll organize the North American Motherhood Party." "You wouldn't be so flippant if you'd go see how people have to live back there." "As bad as here? _Whew!_"