Read Online Spinneret by Timothy Zahn - Free Book Online Page B

names and general locations and, in a couple of instances, a brief physical description. Of those, the most interesting was that of the Poms, sea-going creatures that sounded something like dolphins equipped with manipulative tentacles. Meredith had often heard that a mechanical culture was impossible without fire, but Beaeki wouldn’t say what the Poms had discovered as a substitute.
    â€œThat’s something else that seems odd about this whole setup,” Meredith commented. The tour over, Beaeki had brought his vehicle back to the ship and set it down expertly beneath its davits. “You said the edge of the Poms’ territory is only a couple of light-years away. Since you’re only interested in hot, Mercury-type worlds and the Poms live in liquid water, why haven’t your two empires interpenetrated? Surely each of you has planets the other could use; it seems a perfectly reasonable deal for both sides.”
    â€œYou will learn that there are only two things of value in an interstellar community: information and resources,” Beaeki said as they left the vehicle and walked around to the ship’s entry ramp. “All the solid bodies in a nation’s territory, whether useful for colonization or not, can be exploited for mineral wealth and are thus guarded carefully.”
    â€œI would think asteroid mining would be cheaper than hauling cargo out of a planet’s gravity well, though,” Meredith suggested.
    â€œCertainly. But asteroid belts are rare.”
    â€œOh.” A stray fact clicked in Meredith’s mind: the Ctencri mission to Earth had rather offhandedly brought up the subject of mining rights. He would have to send back a warning with the next ship to watch out for a possible swindle. “As I recall, our lease includes the rights to this system’s asteroids.”
    â€œCorrect. But you may be disappointed. The belt is curiously deficient in the high-density, heavy-metal asteroids which are most profitable for mining.”
    Meredith grimaced. How much of the eighty million dollars, he wondered, had gone for those mining rights? “You people seem to have learned the principles of cutthroat business without much trouble.”
    â€œThe Ctencri are good teachers; but their lessons have been expensive.”
    â€œThanks for the warning. We humans are supposed to be pretty good businessmen ourselves.”
    â€œPerhaps.” Beaeki paused at the edge of the ramp and made a sweeping gesture across the torso of his spacesuit. “If you would be interested in buying metal from us, our refinery here may be able to supply small amounts.”
    â€œWe would certainly be interested in discussing the matter,” Meredith nodded. “And you should consider buying the sulphur and other minerals we will soon be producing.”
    â€œI will pass your offer to the proper reviewers. Farewell.”
    Turning, the Rooshrike walked up the ramp and disappeared back into his ship. Meredith’s escort, which had parked a respectful fifty meters back, drove forward to pick him up, and within half a minute they were speeding toward the control tower and the safety of distance. They needn’t have worried; Beaeki waited until they were well clear before withdrawing the ramp and starting the plasma compression cycle.
    The launch, a few minutes later, was more spectacular than even the landing had been. The ship drifted almost leisurely upward at first, its repulsers muted in obvious consideration for the permcrete; but at a hundred meters the white spears abruptly became a pillar of fire, and the ship shot up like a fly off a table. Five seconds later the drive repulsers added forward motion; a minute after that it was lost to sight past the hazy cone of Mt. Olympus to the east.
    Seated next to Meredith in the car, Lieutenant Andrews let out a low whistle. “Either the Rooshrike have one hell of a technology,” he commented, “or else the