"Worse than broke--much worse." "I could loan you a couple of credits, Frank," Belle said, brightly. "But go ahead, Clee." "People like to be sidewalk superintendents. Suppose they could watch the construction of an outpost so far away that nobody ever dreamed of ever getting there. Could you do anything with that, Jerry?" "_Could I! Just!_" and Banks, went into a rhapsody. "That's the first good idea any one of you crackpots has had for five years," Macey said, suddenly. "But wouldn't transportation of material and so on present problems?" "No; just buying it," Garlock said, soberly. "Oh, rather, paying for it." "No trouble there...." "What?" Belle exclaimed. "'No trouble,' it says here in fine print? How the old skinflint has changed--instead of screaming his head off about spending money he's actually _offering_ to. Frank, I'll loan you _three_ credits!" "Hush, honey-chile, the men-folks are talking man-business. Look, Clee. We'll use the _Pleiades_ at first, while we're building a regular transport. A hundred passengers per trip, one thousand credits one way...." "Wow!" Belle put in. "Our ex-skinflint is now a bare-faced, legally-protected robber." "By no means, Belle," Evans said. "How much would that be per mile?" "Say ten round trips per day. That would be twenty million a day gross for a small ship not intended for passenger service. When we get ships built ... and the extras...." The money-man went into a financial revel of his own. "Lots of extras," Banks agreed. "And oh, _brother_, what a public-relations dream of heaven!" "Maybe I'm dumb," Garlock broke in, "but just what are you going to use for money to get started?" "The minute we confirm any part of the story, the credit of the Galaxian Society will jump from X-O to AA-A1." "Oh. So Belle and I will have to lose our _Pleiades_ for a while. I don't like that, but we do need the money ... but we can have her for this coming week?" "Of course." "So maybe we'd better break the story now, instead of letting it leak." "Can you, after what you just told them?" "Sure I can." He set his mind and searched. "Bundy, this is Garlock...." "So what am I supposed to do--burst into tears of joy?" "Save it. I changed my mind. You can break it as fast and as hard as you like. I'll play along." * * * "Yeah? Why the switch? What's the angle?" "Strictly commercial. Get it from Banks." "And you'll--personally--go on my hour with it?" "Yes. Also, we'll demonstrate--take you to any star-system in the galaxy. You and all the rest of the newshawks who were here and any fifty VIP's you want to invite. Tomorrow morning all right with you?" "You, personally, in the _Pleiades_?" Bundy insisted. "Better than that. The other two starships, too. You've got them--particularly those four Primes--clearly in mind?"