"Give up my jewelry?" scoffed Linna. "What kind of tramp deal have you got into this time, Keg?" "No tramp deal, Linna," he said. "I've just sold the spaceline." "So--you've sold your spaceline. That should have brought you in a pretty penny. What do you need more for?" "I want to buy Fabriville." "Who or what is Fabri ... what-is-it?" "Fabriville. A fairly large manufacturing village south of Canalopsis, here. They have a complete village, assembly plant, stores, and all that's needed to be self-sufficient if you permit a thorough income and outgo of fabricated articles." "Never heard of it." "Well," said Keg dourly, "there are a lot of things you have never heard of nor taken the interest to find out, Linna. Better shell out the baubles. They won't be worth an exhausted cathode inside of a year." "Why?" "The economic structure of the system is about to be shot to pieces in a box. Nothing will be worth anything in money. A diamond as big as your fist will be just so much carbon crystal. I want to butter us up, Linna, before the crash. That's the way to do it." "What is this crash coming from?" "Don Channing and Walt Franks have just developed a gadget that will transmit articles over any distance. That shoots Interplanet. The articles--or the signal-impulses from them--can be recorded, and the recording can be used to duplicate, exactly, the same thing as many times as you want it." "You idiot," scorned Linna, "why not just get one and duplicate your present money?" "Merely because an operator as large as myself cannot palm off two hundred one thousand dollar bills with the serial number AG334557990HHL-6. Counterfeiting will become a simple art soon enough, Linna, but until it is accepted, I'm not going to break any laws. I can't if I'm going to shove ahead." "But my jewels." "So much junk." "But everything I have is tied up in jewelry." "Still so much junk." "Then we're bankrupt?" "We're broke." "But the house ... the cars...." "Not worth a farthing. We'll keep 'em, but their trade-in value will be zero." "If we have no money," said Linna, "how are we going to pay for them?" "Not going to. They'll pay for themselves. We'll send 'em back and keep duplicates which we'll make." "But--" "Look, Linna. Shell out. I've got to hit the market this afternoon if I'm going to grab Fabriville." "Seems to me that getting that place is slightly foolish," objected Linna. "If nothing will have any value, why bother?" "Oh, certain items will have value, Linna. That's what I'm working on." "I still do not like the idea of giving up my jewels." "If the junk is that important," exploded Keg, "I'll promise to replace them all with interest as soon as we get running." "Promise?" whined Linna. "Yes," said Keg wearily. "It's a promise. I've got to make an option-payment immediately. From then on in, the place will be mine." "But if you gamble and lose?" asked Linna worriedly. "I'll lose my jewelry." "I can't lose."