"Haw, haw, haw! A family man, a regular family man, that's what we got with us. But don't worry, we'll find it. The Ruskies left that thing here someplace, and don't worry, we'll get it. The boss ain't no dodo...." "Well, I'd feel a lot better if we got rid of those guys in the other dome. It'd be a lot safer." "Just shut up. When the boss tells us to do something, we'll do it. Otherwise, stop yammering." So our pessimistic friend wanted us dead too? I hoped that his wife would commit the unpardonable crime with every man-jack in Chawka City. It would serve the rat right. Then there was a lot of garbled static and no more talking. Evidently the two men had entered their dome again and had removed their helmets. No more talking, exactly as if they had ceased to exist. And after the one way contact had been established, it was almost eerie. * * * * * Gramps was jubilant. "There y'are, kids. Simple as that." "As what?" I said. "Kid, don't you read your history?" "He goes in for lurid novels," Clair said. "Waal, it's like this. Right at the end of the war it was rumored the Ruskies developed a super-duper weapon. Something really hot, that would make the atom-bomb look like a kid's squirt gun. They didn't have a chance to use it, and when the war was over they hid it out here in the Belt somewheres, thinking maybe they'd get another chance. So them guys think this is the place. Hmm-m, maybe they're right, and if we could find that weapon before them.... Oh boy!" I shook my head. It was a pretty little story, with one major flaw. "There's no such weapon," I said. "I remember the history part of it, all right. But I also remember what followed. Government sent out hundreds of ships, in ten years they combed the Belt. No secret asteroid. No Ruskie cache. No weapon. No nothing." "Well, these guys are looking--" I told him, "On Earth, people still look for Captain Kid's treasure, and for sea serpents, too. They just won't find either. There aren't any. Nope, Gramps--there's just a lot of copper on this asteroid, that's all. If we could convince our visitors of that, they'd get out quick." "Well, we can't," Clair said. "You heard those two guys. Their boss is as sure of finding that weapon here as he's sure of anything." I began to smile, and I think I even laughed a little, because they both looked at me queerly. "That's it," I said. "That's what?" Evidently, my enthusiasm had not carried to Clair. "The way we'll do it. We'll use Gramps' idea, the war of nerves...." "Hot dog!" Gramps purred like an impossibly ancient kitten. "We'll agree with them. Okay, there's a weapon here, a pretty awful thing. We'll talk over our intercom and let them know we know it too." "Uh-uh," said Clair, definitely interested. "They'll probably be listening, just like us. Go on, Jerry, let's hear more." "Sure. And we'll go a step further." * * * * *