Part 16 (2/2)
”That's right,” Jacque else besides the frame can be made here Look, these pirates burned me out; except for the , home, business and all
As soon as I can find a place for Sylvie to stay, I'll co a spaceshi+p And a lot of thehere are far as they get paid for it And I know a few good lad for a job, too”
”You think it would be all right with Mother and Flora if Sylvie stayed with us?” Conn asked
”Of course it would; they'd be glad to have her” Rodney Maxwell turned to Yves Jacqueo into Storisende, and”
The Transcontinent & Overseas people arrived at Barathru; a rear-rank vice-president, a front-rank legal-eagle, and three engineers They were horrified at what they saw The _Harriet Barne_ had been gutted Bulkheads and decks had been ripped out and relocated incoone; she had been stripped to her fra collapsium
”Great Ghu!” the vice-president almost howled ”That isn't _our_ shi+p!”
”That's the _Harriet Barne_,” her captain said ”She looks a little ragged now, but--”
”You helped these pirates do this to her?”
”If I hadn't, they'd have cut otten somebody else to help them My throat's et anybody to build ineers said, ”they were converting her into an interplanetary shi+p It wouldn't cost much to finish the job”
”We need an interplanetary shi+p like we need a hole in the head!” The vice-president turned to Rodney Maxwell ”Just how much prize-money do you think you're entitled to for this wreck?”
”I wouldn't know; that's up to Sterber, Flynn & Chen-Wong Up to the court, if we can settle it any other way”
”You an to laugh
”If we have to Look, if you people don't want her, sign her over to Litchfield Exploration & Salvage But if you do want her, you'll have to pay for her”
”We'll give you twenty thousand sols,” the lawyer said ”We don't want to be tightfisted After all, you fought a gang of pirates and lost soation to you
But you'll have to realize that this shi+p, in her present state, is practically valueless”
”The collapsiuines are worth even more,” Jacquemont said ”I worked on them”
The discussion ended there By , the junior partner of the law firineers of his own Reporters began arriving; both sides were anxious to keep them away from the shi+p Conn took care of theed an even more attractive costume out of what she called the loot-cellar The reporters all used up a lot of fil arrived from Force Coainst its cost in lives and equipwyn and Zareff returned to Force Command with them A Planetary Air Patrol shi+p arrived and removed the captured pirates The liberated prisoners were airlifted to Litchfield
The third day after the battle, Conn and his father and Sylvie and her father flew to Litchfield To Conn's surprise, Flora greeted hiratulated hiwyn had said; he hadn't been on Poictesme in the last four or five years and didn't kno bad things had gotten His le-handed
He was even ratified that Flora arded the engineer's daughter with badly concealed hostility, and seeirl she wanted her son getting involved with
Outwardly, of course, she was quite gracious
Rodney Maxwell and Yves Jacque, both ht the circumstances warranted Conn stayed at ho in idleness He and Sylvie tore down his mother's household robots and built sound-sensors into the them to respond to their na recorded-voice responses in a thick Sheshan accent All the smart people on Terra, he explained, had Sheshan huhted Robots that would anshen she spoke to them were a lot more companionable She didn't seem to think, however, that Sylvie's irls, Litchfield model, weren't quite so handy with a spot-welder
That hat Conn liked about Sylvie; she was like the girls he'd known at the University