we got in . As soon as Kellogg told them what we'd found , Mallin turned fish -belly white and wanted to know how we were going to suppress it . I asked him if he was nuts , and then Kellogg came out with it . They don't dare let the Fuzzies be proven sapient . "
"Because the Company wants to sell Fuzzy furs ? " Van Riebeek looked at him in surprise . " I never thought of that . I doubt if they did , either . No. Because if the Fuzzies are sapient beings , the Company's charter is automatically void."
This time Jack cursed , not Kellogg but himself . "I am a senile old dotard ! Good Lord , I know colonial law ; I've been skating on the edge of it on more planets than you're years old . And I never thought of that ; why, of course it would . Where are you now, with the Company , by the way?"
"Out , but I couldn't care less . I have enough in the bank for the trip back to Terra , not counting what I can raise on my boat and some other things . Xeno - naturalists don't need to worry about finding jobs . There's Ben's outfit , for instance . And , brother , when I get back to Terra , what I'll spill about this deal !"
"If you get back . If you don't have an accident before you get on the ship . " He thought for a moment . " Know any- thing about geology ?"
"Why, some ; I have to work with fossils . I'm as much a paleontologist as a zoologist . Why ?" "How'd you like to stay here with me and hunt fossil jellyfish for a while ? We won't make twice as much , together , as I'm making now, but you can look one way while I'm looking the other , and we may both stay alive longer that way .
"You mean that , Jack ?"
"I said it, didn't I ?”
Van Riebeek rose and held out his hand ; Jack came around the table and shook it . Then he reached back and picked up his belt, putting it on.
"Better put yours on, too, partner . Borch is probably the only one we'll need a gun for , but—”
Van Riebeek buckled on his belt , then drew his pistol and worked the slide to load the chamber . " What are we going to do?" he asked.
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