within ten minutes, all the beaters had been called in. barling's big ship, the frank buck, snorted back and forth angrily on its landing jets.
"are they gonna land or ain't they gonna land?" someone said as kevin broke out the neutron guns and saw that every third man had one.
"depends on their boss," said kevin. "if he figures we can be scared off, he'll land. otherwise, maybe he'll go away."
"not that little stinker," teejay told him. "not schuyler barling. he won't go away. will the fact that we're here first matter? it will not, for schuyler knows we can't prove it. you ought to know better than to hope for that, kevin. no, we can figure that schuyler will move in on us."
"what happens then?" steve demanded.
teejay shrugged her bare, beautiful shoulders. "that i don't know. schuyler may be a stinker and may be predictable, but he's not that predictable. hey, it looks like the frank buck is coming down!"
the big ship, steve saw, was doing precisely that. its jets had been cut, and the ship fell like a stone. twice its length separated it from the rubble-strewn pumice when the pilot kicked his jets over again, and something seemed to slap the frank buck back up toward the starry sky. the result was a first-rate landing.
"that would be schuyler showing off," said teejay wearily. "he must have been born in a tube and weaned on jet-slag, and he sure lets you know it."
fifteen minutes later, schuyler barling and three of his officers entered the gordak.
barling got out of his vac-suit first, a tall, handsome man of about thirty, with short-cropped blond hair, pale blue eyes and petulant lips. "captain moore," he said, bowing slightly from the waist. making fun of teejay.
"mr. barling." as ever, the woman seemed cool and unruffled.
"with us," said schuyler barling, "it's in the family. i work for my father. obviously, it means something to me whether he succeeds or not. but you, captain moore, you're a hired hand. you work for brody carmical, on a paycheck. therefore, your loyalty could not possibly be as strong as mine, and—"
"get to the point!"
"we arrived here on ganymede almost simultaneously. one of us will have to leave."
"it didn't look simultaneous to me."
barling ignored her. "yes, one will have to leave, because the anthrovac is frightened off easily and unless a hunt is carried on with the utmost precision and timing, no one will catch any anthrovacs."
"go on," said teejay. she spoke quietly, but steve knew the woman well enough to realize her temper was coming to a boil, inside.
"my frank buck got here first," barling told her blandly. "therefore, you will leave."
"that's a stinking lie!" teejay cried. "we were here first and you know it."
"who can prove it? the frank buck landed first." barling's hand flashed down to his waist, came up gripping a neutron gun. "if we have to, we'll force you to leave."
teejay stood with hands on hips, facing him. "i know i'm not conducting myself like a lady, but then, this is the twenty-second century," she said, smiling—and struck out with her balled right fist. it bounced off barling's jaw with savage force and the man stumbled back against the wall and crashed to the floor, his neutron gun clattering away. barling shook himself, tried to rise. he got to hands and knees, then fell forward on his face.
teejay whirled on his officers. "all right, get him out of here! come on, move."
