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"Listen, Belter" Teece grasped thethe one bony finger straight at God "Belter, you know anything about what's up there?"

"What they tells me"

"What they tells hi thea finger in the black face "Belter, you fly up and up like a July Fourth rocket, and bang! There you are, cinders, spread all over space Them crackpot scientists, they don't know nothin', they kill you all off!"

"I don't care"

"Glad to hear that Because you knohat's up on that planet Mars? There'sraw eyes like azines you buy at the drugstore for a dime, ain't you? Well! Them monsters jump up and suck marrow from your bones!"

"I don't care, don't care at all, don't care" Belter watched the parade slide by, leaving him Sweat lay on his dark brow He seemed about to collapse

"And it's cold up there; no air, you fall down, jerk like a fish, gaspin', dyin', stranglin', stranglin' and dyin' You like that?"

"Lots of things I don't like, sir Please, sir, let o I'm late"

"I'll let you go when I'o We'll just talk here polite until I say you can leave, and you know it damn well You want to travel, do you? Well, Mister Way up in the Middle of the Air, you get the hell home and work out that fifty bucks you owe me! Take you two months to do that!"

"But if I work it out, I'll miss the rocket, sir!"

"Ain't that a shame now?" Teece tried to look sad

"I give you my horse, sir"

"Horse ain't legal tender You don't hed inside He felt very warood

A sathered to hear all this Now as Belter stood, head down, tre, an old man stepped forward

"Mister?"