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. Consequently, rental dealers demanded a hefty amount of plastic up front. Insurance, they called it.
It cost a bit more to buy a vehic on Laskar, but the purchaser was generally glad to pay extra for the convenience and the peace of mind. Upon leaving the city, the car could always be resold--for scrap metal, if nothing else. And paying in cash left no trail.
By now, Burl was really curious. He had a lot of friends and some of them in the city would be very interested in knowing if competition was about to move in.
"You fellers ever been to Laskar before?" Burl asked, eyeing the briefcases.
"No," replied the same suit who had paid for the car. He was staring in the direction of the city, squinting against Laskar's garish green sun.
"Then you sure don't wanna lose your way drivin' around town," Bud offered casually. "If you'll tell me where you're going, I can give you directions."
He waited hopefully. No response.
He tried again. "I got a compu-map I can install in halfa-jiffy. No trouble. Just tell me where you're headed and I'll program it--"
"No," said the suit.
The four men climbed into the car--an ordinary, midsize hover, nothing special, nothing fancy--and drove it off the lot. Two rode in the front, two in the back. Friendly Burl saw them off the lot, gave them a friendly wave, then hurried inside to contact a few "friends."
Friendly Burl's was conveniently located near the public spaceport, on the outskirts of the city
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