Then he sobered as Walt's eyes refused to focus. He stepped to a place behind Walt and unbound him quickly. Walt tried to stand, but reeled, and Kingman pointed his heavy rifle at Walt from a very safe distance and urged him to go and enter the small metal house. Walt did. Then Kingman transferred Christine to the house in the same way. He sealed the only door with the duplicator, and from a small opening in the wall, he spoke to them. "I'm leaving," he said. "You'll find everything in there to set up light housekeeping but food and heat. There'll be no heat, for I've removed the heating plant. You can see it through this hole, but the hole will soon be closed by the feeding machine, which I'm fixing so that you can eat when hungry. I'd prefer that you stay alive while you slowly freeze. Eventually your batteries will give out, and then--curtains. "But I've got to leave because things are running my way and I've got to be in a place to cash in on it. "I'll be seeing you." * * * * * Keg Johnson greeted Don warmly. Then he said, "I knew you'd do it sooner or later," with a grin. Don blinked. "The last time you said that was in the courtroom in Buffalo after we wrecked the economic system with the matter-duplicator. What is it this time?" "According to the guys I've had investigating your coupled-crystal effect, it is quite simple. The effect will obtain with any crystalline substance--so long as they are absolutely identical! It took the duplicator to do it right to the atomic lattice structure. You'll get any royalties, Channing, but I'm getting all my ships talking from ship to ship direct, and from Canalopsis direct to any ship. You've just invented Venus Equilateral out of business!" "Good!" exclaimed Don. "Good?" Don nodded. "Venus Equilateral is fun--and always has been. But, darn it, here we are out here in space lacking the free sky and the fresh natural air. We'd never abandon it so long as Venus Equilateral had a shred of necessity. But--now we can all go home to Man's Natural Environment. A natural planet." "So what are you going to do?" "Furnish the Communications Stations at Northern Landing, at Canalopsis, and on Terra with coupled-crystal equipments. Then we abandon Venus Equilateral in one grand celebration." Arden smiled. "Walt and Christine will be wild. Serves 'em right." Farrell shrugged. "Going to tell 'em?" "Nope. For one thing, they're honeymooning where no one knows. And so we'll just leave quietly and when they come back, they'll find that Venus Equilateral is a large empty house. Run off on us, will they!" "Making any public announcements?" asked Keg.