square miles.” Campbell looked at Geordie under his brows, then bent
over the slide rule. “Now, let’s see. At ten pounds a square foot
that makes it – run to about, say, fifty-six million dollars a square
mile.”
Geordie, who was in the act of swallowing whisky, suddenly coughed and
spluttered.
We all shouted with surprised laughter. I said, “There are a lot of
square feet in a square mile, Geordie.” He recovered his breath.
“Man, that’s money! How many square miles of this stuff will there
be?” “That’s what we find out next,” I said. I saw the two girls
looking at Campbell with astonishment and something occurred to me. I
said to Paula, “You’re in on this too, you know.” I She gaped at me.
“But I’ve – I’m not–2 Campbell said. “Why, yes, Paula. You’re one of
the crew.
Everybody on this ship gets in on the deal.” Her astonishment must
have been too great for her to contain, for she burst suddenly into
tears and ran blindly from the saloon. Clare cast us a quick happy
smile and went after her. I could see that Geordie was trying to work
out the fifteenth part of five percent of 56 million dollars and fading
in the, attempt. I said, “That four hundred dollars a ton is a gross
value. We have to deduct the costs of dredging and processing,
distribution and all sorts of extras. Got any ideas on that?” “I
have,”Campbell said. “When Mark first came to me with this idea I went
into it pretty deeply. The main problem is the dredging – a drag line
dredge like the one we’re using, but bigger, isn’t much use at this
depth. You waste too much time pulling it up.
So I put some of my bright boys on to the problem and they decided it
would be best to use a hydraulic dredge. They did a preliminary study
and reckoned they could suck nodules to the surface from 14,000 feet
for ten dollars a ton or less. Then you have to add all sorts of
factors processing, marketing, transport and other technical overheads
– the cost of hiring ships and crews and maintaining:,”, them. We’d
want to develop and build our own dredges, we’d need survey ships, and
we’d have to build a processing plant.
That would happen on one of the islands and we’d get a lot of help
there, as it’ll mean a huge income in many ways for them, but all in
all I would have to float a company capable of digging into its pocket
to the tune of some forty million dollars.” He said this in a serious
and businesslike tone. Clare was apparently used to these flights of
executive rhetoric but Geordie and I gaped at him. It was Geordie’s
first excursion into high finance, as it was mine, but I was slightly
better prepared for it. ‘ Good God! Have you got that much – I mean
can you lay your hands on it?” “Not before this. But I can get it
with what we have to show here. We’d clear a net profit of forty
million in the first couple of years of operation-‘ the rest should be
pure cream .
There’s going to be a lot of guys’on Wall Street eager to jump into a
thing like this – Or even take it over.” He mused a bit, then added,
“But they’re not going to.
When Suarez-Navarro jumped my mines I swore I’d never hang on to
another solid proposition ever again – not if they were as easy to
steal as that. So I went back to being a wildcatter; in and out to
take a fast profit. But this – somehow this is different. I’m
sticking here. I know a couple of good joes back home, men I can
trust. Between them and me, and perhaps persuading a couple of
governments to take an interest, I want to tie this thing up so tight
that neither Suarez-Navarro nor anyone else of their type can horn in
and spoil it.” He got up and went to a port to look out over the
sea.
“Tonga’s back there. They’ll probably come in on the act.
They’ll benefit by being the ones most likely to get the processing
plant built in their territory – it will be highly automated so it
won’t mean much steady labour once it’s built but they’ll get the taxes
and the spin-off, so I should think they will be happy to cooperate.
There’s another thing on my mind too; nodules are still forming out
there, and from what Mike says they’ll go on doing so-at what he always
calls an explosively fast rate.
Maybe for once we’ll be able to do a mining operation without raping
the goddam planet.”He came back to the table and picked up his glass.
“And that’s an achievement that any bunch of guys can be proud of.
Let’s drink to it.” So we drank, very solemnly. I for one was full of
awe at what we were doing, and I thought the others felt the same.
Campbell had come up with a couple of shattering thoughts.
We stayed in the area for another week, quartering the submarine valley
and dredging at selected spots. The material poured in and I was kept
busy. A much more detailed survey would be done later – all I was
aiming at was to put limits on the area and to find out roughly how
rich, and how consistent it was.
Esmerelda was a happy ship in those days. Not that she hadn’t been
before, but the depression caused by a fruitless search had lifted and
everyone was keen and cheerful. There was a lot of skylarking among
the crew, although it always stopped when there was serious work to be
done. Once, when I was having a breather on deck, Paula joined me.
“I don’t know what came over me the other day, Mike – you know, when Mr
Cambell said I had a share in all this.” “It is. a bit of a shock
when you find yourself suddenly on the verge of riches. I went through
it too.” “I never thought of being rich,” she said. “I never had the
time, I guess. I’ve always been on the move – the States Mexico,
Australia, Tahiti, Hawaii, Panama. Guess I was a bit of a hobo.” She
looked up. “That’s what you British call tramp, isn’t it?
“That’s right.” “I guess I was that too – in the American sense, I
mean,”she’ said sombrely.
“You’re all right, Paula,” I said warmly. Don’t worry, about it.
Enjoy the idea instead. What will you do with your new-gotten
wealth?”
“Gee, I don’t know, Mike. I’m not like Clare -she’s used to money, but
I’m not. And the way her pop talks sometimes makes my head spin, the
way he juggles his millions.” “Maybe you can go on a cruise ship to
sunny Tahiti,” I said jokingly.
But she shook her head violently. “No. I’ll never go there again – I
never want to see Papeete again.” She was silent for a while and we
stood together companionably, and then she said, “I think I’ll go home
first. Yes, I think I’ll go home.
“Where’s home?” “In Oregon. Just a small town – there aren’t many big
ones in Oregon. It’s called Medford. I haven’t been there for years
and I should never have left it.” Why did you leave, Paula?” She
laughed. “Oh, it’s a bromide – a cliche, you’d say. My whole life’s
been a cliche. I got movie-crazy when I was a kid, and when I was
sixteen I won a local beauty competition – That gave me a swelled head
and a big mouth – you should have heard me talk about what I was going
to do in Hollywood. I was going to knock ’em cold. So I went to
Hollywood and it knocked me cold! There are too many girls like me in
Hollywood. I told you the story was a cliche.”
“What happened after Hollywood?” “The cliche continued. I drifted
around, singing in cheap night spots – you know the rest, or you can
guess it.” I was saddened by the bitter resignation in her voice.
“That place where you found me in Panama – that was the best paid job I
ever had in my whole life.”
“And you left it – just like that? Just because I asked you to?” “Why
not? It – it was Mark, you see. Oh, I know how you feel about Mark,
I’ve heard you talk. All right, supposing he was a lousy no-good? I
guess I always knew that, but – I loved him, Mike.
And I suppose I was stupidly hoping to find out if he’d ever loved
me.
I always wanted to do whatever I could for him.” I remained quiet.
There was nothing I could say to that.