It didn't make sense unless the conversation on the beamphone was right. If what Lon had told Cathy was true, he'd have his frozen food locker filled up again by now. He had some sort of device which converted the indigestible local flora and fauna into digestible Earth products. To suspect such a thing was preposterous, but Carson suspected everyone and everything. As representative of the Company, Carson naturally did its dirty work. New colonists bought farms from the central office on Earth and happily took ship to Cetis Gamma Two. Then Carson put them through their instruction course, outfitted them to try farming on their own, and saw to it that they went bankrupt and either starved or took jobs as farmhands for the Company, at wages assuring that they could never take ship away again. It was a nasty job and Carson did it very well, because he loved it. While he still debated Lon's insane boasts to Cathy over the beamphone system, he prepared to take over the farm of another colonist. That man had been deeper in debt than Lon, and he'd been less skilled at repairs, so it was time to gather him in. Carson called him to Cetopolis to tell him that the Company regretfully could not extend further credit, would have to take back his farm, house, and remaining food stores, and finish the cultivation of his _thanar_ leaf crop to repay itself for the trouble. The colonist, however, said briefly: "Go to hell." * * * * * He started to leave Carson's air-cooled office. Carson said mildly: "You're broke. You'll want a job when you haven't got a farm. You can't afford to tell me to go to hell." "You can't take my farm unless my fields are neglected," the colonist said comfortably. "They aren't. And my _thanar_ leaf crop is going to be a bumper one. I'll pay off all I owe--and we colonists are planning to start a trading company of our own, to bring in good machinery and deal fairly." Carson smiled coldly. "You forget something," he said. "As representative of the Trading Company, I can call on you to pay up all your debts at once, if I have reason to think you intend to try to evade payment. I do think so. I call on you for immediate payment in full. Pay up, please!" This was an especially neat paragraph in the fine print of the colonists' contract with the Company. Any time a colonist got obstinate he could be required to pay all he owed, on the dot. And if he had enough to pay, he wouldn't owe. So the Trading Company could ruin anybody. But this colonist merely grinned. "By law," he observed, "you have to accept _thanar_ leaves as legal tender, at five credits a kilo. Send out a truck for your payment. I've got six tons in my barn, all ready to turn in." He made a most indecorous gesture and walked out. A moment later, he put his head back in. "I forgot," he commented politely. "You said I couldn't afford to tell you to go to hell. With six tons of _thanar_ leaves on hand, I'm telling you to--"