THE COSMIC COMPUTER

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"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 some
men and a couple of boats; we have some moral obligation to you. But
you'll have to realize that this ship, in her present state, is
practically valueless."[Pg 94]

"The collapsium on her is worth twice that, and the engines are worth
even more," Jacquemont said. "I worked on them."

The discussion ended there. By midafternoon, Luther Chen-Wong, the
junior partner of the law firm, arrived from Storisende with a couple of
engineers of his own. Reporters began arriving; both sides were anxious
to keep them away from the ship. Conn took care of them, assisted by
Sylvie, who had rummaged an even more attractive costume out of what she
called the loot-cellar. The reporters all used up a lot of film footage
on her. And the Fawzis' Office Gang arrived from Force Command, bitterly
critical of the value of the spaceport against its cost in lives and