SHOCK MOMENTARILY IMMOBILIZED Chip. Not so the bartender. He was, it seemed, an ardent pacifist. With a bleat of panic fear he scampered from his post, his metallic stilts clattering off in the distance. Chip’s accuser moved forward from the shadows; dim light illumined his features. And—
“Johnny!” Chip’s voice lifted in a note of jubilant surprise. “Johnny Haldane—you old scoundrel! Where in the void did you drop from?”
The S.S.P. man chuckled and returned Chip’s greeting with a bone-grinding handclasp.
“I might ask the same of you, chum! Lord, it’s been ages since we’ve crossed ‘jectory! When I saw you meandering across the Casino, you could have knocked me down with a jetblast! What’s new? Is old Syd still with you?”
“We’re still shipmates. But he’s back at the spaceport. The jerry-
