He held out his hand to display the ring he was wearing. The stone in the ring was larger than those Phule was holding, measuring nearly a full inch long. It was the same brown as the raw stones, but shone with a rich luster, and streaks of dazzling blue and red danced in its depths as Daniels moved his hand, making it look like the product of a successful breeding between tigereye and fire opal.
“Very nice,” Phule murmured, and meant it this time. He had never seen anything quite like it before, and for a moment was unable to take his eyes from the play of colors in the ring.
“Thought you might like to see what we’ve been panning for while your crew stood guard. Course, what keeps the price up is their scarcity. That little stone you’re holding will probably sell for enough to pay the bill for your Legionnaires for three months. “
“Really?” The commander was genuinely impressed. He carefully eased the stones back into their bag and returned it to Daniels. “I’ll admit I had no idea they were so valuable. Umm … it might be wise not to mention their worth in front of my troops. I mean; I trust them, but …”
“No sense in puttin’ needless temptation in their way. Right?” Charlie grinned. “Son, I appreciate the advice, but we already figured that out for ourselves. ‘Sides, even if someone was to make off with a few of these beauties, it wouldn’t do ‘em much good. Everyone around here knows who we are, and any stranger who tried to sell one of these stones would stand out like a gorilla in a beauty contest. They couldn’t sell ‘em local, and we wouldn’t let a ship or a shuttle get cleared for lift-off while there was one missing.”