He blew out a chestful of breath and kept his eyes on the house-after-house-after-house beneath him.
“Jovian Chemicals bought the Keohula Mine today.”
“So. What is that to you?”
“The Keohula Mine,” he explained painfully, “is the only mine on Ganymede in full operation.”
“I still—I’m afraid I still don’t understand. Stewart, please tell me in words of one syllable, but tell me fast. What is it?”
He looked up, noticing how terrified she was. She had no idea what be was talking about, but she had always had remarkable instincts. Almost telepathic.
“With the Keohula Mine sold, and for a good price, Solar Minerals feels it is uneconomic to maintain an installation on Ganymede. There are therefore shutting it down, effective immediately.”
Marian raised her hands to her mouth in horror. “And that means—that means—”
“That means they no longer need a Ganymede Department. Or a Ganymede Department Chief.”
“But they won’t send you back to your old job!” she cried. “That would he too cruel! They couldn’t demote you, Stewart, not after you’ve gone and had another child on the strength of your raise! There must be another department, there must be—”
“There isn’t,” he told her with a tongue that felt like cardboard. “They’re shutting down operations on all the Jovian satellites. I’m not the only one affected. There’s Cartwright of the Europa desk and McKenzie of Io—they both have seniority over me. From now on, Solar Minerals is going to lean heavily on its holdings on Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, and light everywhere else.”
“Well, what about those planets? They’ll need department heads at Solar Minerals, won’t they?”
Raley sighed helplessly. “They have them. And assistant department heads. Good men who know their work, who’ve handled it for years. And as far as your next question goes, honey, I’ve spoken to Jovian Chemicals about a transfer. No go. They already have a Ganymede Department and the man handling it is very satisfactory. All day I kept trying one angle after another. But tomorrow, I’ll be back in Ore Shipments.”