"Not a chance."
"Well, then?"
"A man in his profession can't run," said Bailey. "He's got to believe he's invincible, that nothing can kill him, even when he knows better. Otherwise he'll never be able to face a wanted killer again. He'll flinch, he'll hesitate, he'll back down, he'll run, he'll do something to fuck it up."
"But if he wants to back down, if it's his last day as a bounty hunter, let him walk," said Dante. "You'll get your verses anyway."
"Whatever you say," agreed Tyrannosaur. "But he won't back down."
"Against a monster like you?" said Dante, then quickly added: "Meaning no offense."
"None taken," said Bailey. "But size isn't everything. They say the guy who killed Conrad Bland wasn't much bigger than you are. And I know the Angel was supposed to be normal in size, maybe even a little undernourished. Men have developed more than two hundred different martial arts, and we've picked up dozens more from aliens. Those are great equalizers." He uttered a sigh of regret. "Size just isn't what it used to be."
"Then why does everyone come here to live under your protection?"
"Because I've mastered seventy-two of those martial arts, and I'm the best shot you ever saw with a burner or a screecher."
"Yeah, those are good reasons," agreed Dante. "And the fact that half the guys you fight can't reach your head probably doesn't hurt either."
"Neither does spreading the word."
"I beg your pardon?"
"When I was a young man, I was an adventurer," answered Bailey. "I wanted to pit my skills against the best opponents I could find. I was a mercenary, and for two years I was the freehand heavyweight champion of the Albion Cluster, and I even put in some time as a lawman out in the Roosevelt system. But eventually a man wants to settle down."
"What does that have to do with spreading the word?" asked Dante, confused.
"I still needed an income, so I passed the word that anyone who was willing to tithe me ten percent of their income and their holdings could live here under my protection. My reputation drew more than a thousand immigrants to Tusculum II and kept an awful lot of bill collectors and bounty hunters away."
"I see."
"You're a man of letters," continued Bailey, "so let me ask you your professional opinion about something."
"Shoot."
"I think Tusculum II is a really dull name for a world. I'm thinking of changing it."
"To what?"
"I don't know. Tyrannosaur's World, maybe." He looked across the table. "You don't like it."
"It's a little too, well, egomaniacal."
"I'm open to suggestions."
"How many planets are there in the system?"
"Six."
"Okay," said Dante. "As long as you're a Tyrannosaur, name them after periods in Earth's prehistory."
"I like that. What are the periods?"
"Damned if I know—but there were dozens of them. Have you got a pocket computer?"
"Sure. Don't you?"
"No."
"How do you write?"
"With a quill pen, just like Orpheus."
Bailey withdrew his computer and slid it across the table to Dante, who instructed it to list the various prehistoric eras.
"All right, this should work," announced Dante. "Call the first planet Cambria. This world is Devonia. The next four, in order, are Permia, Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous. If any of them have moons, name the moons after the animals that existed in their eras."
"You've got a head on you, Rhymer!" enthused Bailey. "It would have been a shame to let Wait-a-bit Bennett remove it from your shoulders." He paused. "What'll we call the star?"
"Well, it's on all the charts as Tusculum, but that shouldn't matter. All the planets are Tusculum I through VI, but if you're giving them names that appeal to you, there's no reason why you can't do the same to the star. How about Dinosaur, since that's the idea that gave birth to all the names?"
"Sounds good to me," said Bailey. "Tomorrow I'll have the spaceport computer start signaling ships that we're Dinosaur."
"Make sure it adds that you were formerly Tusculum or you'll drive 'em all crazy."
"Right. I'm sure glad I ran into you, Rhymer."
"Not half as glad as I am," said Dante as Wait-a-bit Bennett entered the casino.
Bennett saw Dante and walked over to him.
"Got my 50,000 credits yet, Danny?" he asked pleasantly.
"No."
"Well, you've got a little over half a day left. I'm sure a bright young lad like you can come up with the money." Bennett paused. "But until that happy moment occurs, I'm not letting you out of my sight."
"You've made two mistakes, Wait-a-bit Bennett," said Tyrannosaur.
"Oh?"
"First, his name's Rhymer, not Danny, And second, no one's laying a finger on him as long as he stays on Devonia."
"Where the hell's Devonia?" asked Bennett.
"You're standing on it."
"You don't have to stand up for him, Tyrannosaur," said Bennett. "The kid's not worth it."
"This is my world!" bellowed Bailey, getting to his feet. "I'm the only one who decides who lives and who dies!"
"I have nothing against you," persisted Bennett. "My business is with Danny Briggs and no one else."
"You have no business on Devonia."
"Like I say, my business is with Danny here . . . but if you try to hinder me in the pursuit of my legal livelihood, I'll have to kill you too."
Tyrannosaur smiled. "Is that a threat?"
"You may consider it such," acknowledged Bennett.
His hand moved slowly down toward his burner, but before he could reach it Tyrannosaur's hands shot out with blinding swiftness, one grabbing him by the neck, the other holding his hand away from his weapon.
Bailey lifted Bennett straight up two, then three, then four feet above the ground. The bounty hunter struggled to free himself. His free hand chopped at Tyrannosaur's massive arm. He landed a pair of devastating kicks in his attacker's stomach. Bailey merely frowned and began squeezing.
Soon Bennett was gasping for air. He landed two more kicks, and poked a thumb at Bailey's right eye, but Bailey simply lowered his head, and Dante could hear the bounty hunter's thumb break with a loud cracking sound at it collided with Bailey's skull.
Bennett's struggles became more desperate, and finally Bailey released his grip on Bennett's arm, used both hands to lift the bounty hunter above his head, and hurled him into the wall. There was a strange, undefinable sound as all the air left Bennett's lungs, and he dropped to the floor, where he lay motionless.
Suddenly a cheer went up from the assembled gamblers and drinkers.
"What the hell are they applauding?" asked Dante, staring at the dead bounty hunter.
"They're paying for my protection, remember?" said Bailey, who wasn't even panting from his efforts. "They're cheering because I've just shown them they're getting their money's worth. Bennett came after you, but he could have been any bounty hunter coming after any of them."
Virgil stuck his head in the door in response to the cheering, and gazed impassively at Bennett's corpse.