"I'm Mr. Shinny! I'm the fixer
of Spaceman's Row. You want something, come to me and I'll get it for
you. I don't care why you're here. That ain't none of my business. But
the fact remains that you're here, and you don't come down here unless
you're in trouble space deep!"
Roger looked at the little man more closely. "Suppose I am in something
deep? What could you do for me?" he asked.
"What would you want done?" asked Shinny slyly.
"Well," said Roger casually, "I could use a set of papers."
"What happened to your own?"
"Solar Guard picked them up," answered Roger simply.
"For what?" asked Shinny.
"Taking ice cream away from the skipper's pet monkey!" snapped Roger.
Shinny threw back his head and laughed. "That's good--very good!" He
wiped his mouth after spitting at a near-by cuspidor. He reached over
and patted Roger on the arm. "You'll do, sonny! You'll do right well on
the Row. Join me in a little acceleration sport?"
"What's that?" asked Roger.
"Rocket juice!" said Shinny. "Ain't you never heard of rocket juice?"
"I've heard about it," said Roger with a smile, "and I'm still here to
talk about it because I never drank any of it.
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