He whirled on the threshold and pushed her back into the room ahead of him. "Go ahead," he said coldly. "Tell me about my brother." Her face told him she knew she'd blundered. "Just get out of here, you fool!" she cried. "Tell me about my brother." "He's dead. What does it matter except he's dead?" "How did he die, Miss Hilliard?" She gave him a startled look. "You know me?" "A guess. You're Wendy Hilliard, aren't you?" "Y-yes." "He used to write me about you," Jansen said bitterly. "Girl Friday or something. But when he started to go down you took off like the well-known rats. Didn't you, Wendy?" Her hand struck his cheek stingingly. "Now clear out," she said, her voice catching on a sob. He laughed harshly. "Well, what did you expect? It's why you had my things searched on the ship, isn't it? It's why you had that big guy follow me." Wendy Hilliard's face was white. "I didn't have your things searched on the ship," she said. He looked at her searchingly: she meant that, he knew. "Oh, don't you see?" she said, clutching his arm. "Don't you see? It was Bareen, Mr. Jansen. I know you're here and Bareen knows it. It was Bareen who had your brother killed and--" "Why?" Jansen asked. "Because he knew too much. Because Bareen is going to become the richest man in the solar system and--and Ted got an inkling of what was happening." "You seem to know," Jansen said dryly. "But you're still here. So what happened to Ted?" "Look, Mr. Jansen. Let me give you about a five minute course in Mercurian economics. Here at Sun-side station, we produce food for Earth's teeming billions. Since directly or indirectly, all food is stored solar energy and since we're much closer to the sun here, food-energy is produced abundantly and not expensively." "I know all that," Jansen said irritably. "Let me finish. You'll see why. What we grow in the sun-side bogs is chlorella, millions of tons of chlorella, which is converted into synth-steak and other pseudo-meats on Earth. Now, there are two keys to the production. The first, of course, is water. Chlorella must grow in bogs, which means artificial irrigation. The second is the sub-space tunnel. You know about that, Jansen. Call it a hole in space which shortcuts the distance between Mercury and Earth. The chlorella is shipped Earthward through this sub-space tunnel, not only instantly, but cheaply. "Bareen works the tunnel, Mr. Jansen. Bareen's men control the irrigation station. Bareen is now in a position to demand any price he wishes from Earth for the chlorella. If Earth doesn't agree, Earth starves. That's why your brother was killed. He learned about this before Bareen was ready to strike. He's almost ready now, Mr. Jansen." "Where do you fit in? If Ted was killed--" Wendy's face colored. "I wanted to go on living, Mr. Jansen. I didn't want to die. I can't be an idealist if my own life--" "What did you do?" His hand gripped her wrist. "Did you turn Ted over to Bareen?"