* * * * *
He pumped Cathy--which was not difficult, because she was bursting withpride in Lon. She confirmed, in detail, the rumor that Lon was somehowresponsible for the protective screen that was keeping everybody alive.
Carson sent the information by spacegram. He was informed that aspecial Company ship was heading for Cetis Gamma Two at full speed.Carson would take orders from its skipper when it arrived. Meanwhile,he would buy _thanar_ leaf if absolutely necessary, but stall as longas possible. The legal staff of the Trading Company was working onthe problem of adapting the system to get the new surplus supplies of_thanar_ without letting anybody get anything in particular for it. Hewould keep secret the coming of the special ship, which was actuallythe space yacht of a member of the Board of Directors. And he woulddisplay great friendliness toward Lon Simpson.
The last was the difficult part, because Lon Simpson was becomingdifficult. With the sun writhing as if in agony overhead--seen dimlythrough a permanent blessed mistiness--and changing shape from hourto hour, Lon Simpson had discovered something new to get mad about.Lon had felt definitely on top of the world. He had solved the problemof clearing his debts and getting credit sufficient for two passagesback to Earth, with money there to take care of getting rich on hisinventions. There was no reason to delay marriage. He wanted to getmarried. And through a deplorable oversight, there had been no methoddevised by which a legal marriage ceremony could be performed on CetisGamma Two.
It was one of those accidental omissions which would presently berectified. But the legal minds who'd set up the system for the planethad been thinking of money, not marriages. They hadn't envisionedconnubial bliss as a service the Company should provide. And Lon wasraising cain. His barn was literally bursting with _thanar_ leaves,and he was filling up his attic, extra bedroom, living quarters andkitchen with more. He was rich. He wanted to get married. And it wasn'tpossible.
Lon was in a position to raise much more cain than ordinary. He'd madean amicable bargain with his fellow colonists. They brought truckloadsof miscellaneous foliage to be put into his vegetation converter, andhe converted it all into _thanar_ leaves. The product was split twoways. Everybody was happy--except Carson--Because every colonist hadalready acquired enough _thanar_ leaf to pay himself out of debt, andwas working on extra capital.
If this kept up, the galactic market would be broken.
Carson had nightmares about that.
* * * * *
So the sun went through convulsions in emptiness, and nobody on itssecond planet paid any attention at all. After about a week, itoccasionally subsided. When that happened, the ionization of theplanet's upper atmosphere lessened, the radiation screen grew thinner,and a larger proportion of light reached the surface. When the sunflared higher, the shield automatically grew thicker. An astronomicalphenomenon which should have destroyed all life on the inner planetscame to be taken for granted.
But events on the second planet were not without consequenceselsewhere. The Board of Directors of the Cetis Gamma Trading Companysimultaneously jittered and beamed with anticipation. If Lon couldconvert one form of vegetable product into another, then the Company'smonopoly of _thanar_ would vanish as soon as he got loose with hisdevice. On the other hand, if the Company could get that device for itsvery own....
_Thanar_ had a practically unlimited market. Every year a new agegroup of the population needed a milligram a day to keep old age away.But besides that, there was Martian _zuss_ fiber, which couldn't bemarketed because there wasn't enough of it, but would easily fetch athousand credits a kilo if Lon's gadget could produce it from samples.There was that Arcturian _sicces_ dust--the pollen of an inordinatelyrare plant on Arcturus Four--which could be sold at more than itsweight in diamonds, for perfume. And--
The directors of the Company shivered over what might happen; andgloated over what could. So they kept their fingers crossed while thespace yacht of one of their number sped toward Cetis Gamma Two, mannedby very trustworthy men who would carry out their instructions withcare and vigor and no nonsense about it.
Lon Simpson worked with his neighbors, converting all sorts ofvegetable debris--the fact that some of it was scorched did notseem to matter--into _thanar_ leaf which was sound legal tender onthat particular planet. From time to time he went to Cetopolis. Hetalked sentimentally and yearningly to Cathy. And then he went toCarson's office and raised the very devil because there was as yet noarrangement by which he and Cathy could enter into the state of holymatrimony.
* * * * *
Rhadampsicus looked over his notes and was very well pleased. Heexplained to Nodalictha that from now on the return of Cetis Gamma toits normal condition would be a cut-and-dried affair. He would like tostay and watch it, but the important phenomena were all over now. Hesaid solicitously that if she wanted to go on, completing their nuptialjourney.... She might be anxious to see her family and friends.... Shemight be lonely....
Nodalictha smiled at him. The process would have been horrifying to ahuman who watched, but Rhadampsicus smiled back.
”Lonely?” asked Nodalictha coyly. ”With you, Rhadampsicus?”
He impulsively twined his eye stalks about hers. A little later he wassaying tenderly, ”Then I'll just finish my observations, darling, andwe'll go on--since you don't mind waiting.”
”I'd like to see my pets again,” said Nodalictha, nestling comfortablyagainst him.
Together, they scanned the second planet, but their thoughts couldnot penetrate its _Rhinthak_ screen. They saw the space yacht flashup to it. Rhadampsicus inspected the minds of the bipeds inside it.Nodalictha, of course, modestly refrained from entering the minds ofmale creatures other than her husband.
”Peculiar,” commented Rhadampsicus. ”Very peculiar. If I were asociologist, I might find it less baffling. But they must have a veryqueer sort of social system. They actually intend to harm your pets,Nodalictha, because the male now knows how to supply them all with foodand energy! Isn't that strange? I wish the _Rhinthak_ screen did notblock off scanning.... But it will fade, presently.”
”You will keep the others from harming my pets,” said Nodalicthaconfidently. ”Do you know, darling, I think I must be quite theluckiest person in the Galaxy, to be married to you.”
* * * * *
The space yacht landed at the field outside Cetopolis. Inhabitantsof the tiny town flocked to the field to see new faces. They weredisappointed. One man came out and the airlock closed. No visitors.
The skipper went into Carson's office. He closed the door firmlybehind him. He had very beady eyes and a very hard-boiled expression.He looked at Carson with open contempt, and Carson felt that it wasbecause Carson did the Company's dirty work with figures and dueregard for law and order, instead of frankly and violently and withoutshilly-shallying.
”This Lon Simpson's got those gadgets, eh?” asked the skipper.
”Why--yes,” said Carson unhappily. ”He's very popular at the moment. Hemade something on his barn roof that kept the sun from burning us allto death, you know--that still keeps us from burning to death, for thatmatter.”
”So if we take it away or smash it,” observed the skipper, ”we don'thave to worry about anybody saying nasty things about us afterward.Yeah?”
Carson swallowed.
”Everybody'd die if you smashed the gadget,” he admitted, ”but all the_thanar_ plants in existence would be burned up, too. There'd be nomore _thanar_. The Company wouldn't like that.”
The skipper waved his hand. ”How do I get this Simpson on my ship? Takea bunch of my men and go grab him?”
”Wh-what are you going to do with him?”
”Don't you worry,” said the skipper comfortingly. ”We know how tohandle it. He knows how to make some things the bosses want to know howto make. Once I get him on the ship, he'll tell. We got ways. Do I takesome men and grab him, or will you get him on board peaceable?”
”There--ah--” Carson licked his lips. ”He want
s to get married. There'sno provision in the legal code for it, as yet. It was overlooked. But Ican tell him that as a ship captain, you--”
The skipper nodded matter of factly.
”Right. You get him and the girl on board. And I've got some orders foryou. Gather up plenty of _thanar_ seed. Get some starting trays withyoung plants in them. I'll come back in a couple of days and take youand them on board. The stuff this guy has got is too good, understand?”
”N-no. I'm afraid I don't.”