{"product_id":"2940014103718","title":"The Indulgence Of Negu Mah","description":"In his garden, Negu Mah, the Callisto uranium merchant, sat sipping a\u003cbr\u003eplatinum mug of molkai with his guest, Sliss the Venusian.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNanlo, his wife, pushing before her the small serving cart with its\u003cbr\u003eplatinum molkai decanter, paused for an instant as she entered the\u003cbr\u003eshell of pure vitrite which covered the garden, giving it the illusion\u003cbr\u003eof out-of-doorness.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNegu Mah sat at his ease, his broad, merry, half-Oriental face\u003cbr\u003egood-humored, his features given a ruddy tinge by the light of rising\u003cbr\u003eJupiter, the edge of whose sphere was beginning to dominate the\u003cbr\u003ehorizon. Sliss, the intelligent amphibian, squatted across from him in\u003cbr\u003ethe portable tub of water which he carried with him whenever absent\u003cbr\u003efrom the swamps of his native Venus.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe amphibian's popping eyes turned toward her, the wide frog-face\u003cbr\u003esplit in a smile of appreciation as Nanlo approached. She refilled\u003cbr\u003etheir mugs deftly and withdrew. But before she reentered the house she\u003cbr\u003ecould not resist hesitating to glance toward rising Jupiter and the\u003cbr\u003eslim shaft of the rocketship silhouetted now against its surface.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe ship was the cargo rocket Vulcan, newest and swiftest of Negu Mah's\u003cbr\u003efreighter fleet. Fully fueled and provisioned, storage space jammed\u003cbr\u003ewith refrigerated foods that in space the cold of the encompassing void\u003cbr\u003ewould keep perfectly for generations were it necessary, she would take\u003cbr\u003eoff in the morning from the close-by landing port for Jupiter's other\u003cbr\u003esatellites, then go on to the Saturnian system, returning finally with\u003cbr\u003efull holds of uranium for Negu Mah's refineries on Callisto.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe was a beautiful craft, the Vulcan, and one man could manage her,\u003cbr\u003ethough her normal crew was seven. She had cost a great sum. But Negu\u003cbr\u003eMah was wealthy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNanlo's face, sylph-like in its beauty, hardened. Negu Mah was wealthy\u003cbr\u003eindeed. Had he not bought her, and had she not cost him more, much\u003cbr\u003emore, than the Vulcan?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut no, it was not quite accurate to say that Negu Mah had bought her.\u003cbr\u003eHowever, since time immemorial beautiful daughters had been, if not\u003cbr\u003esold, yet urged into marriages to wealthy men for the benefit of their\u003cbr\u003eimpoverished families. And though science had made great strides,\u003cbr\u003econquering the realms of the telescope and invading those below the\u003cbr\u003elevel of the microscope, finding cures for almost every disease the\u003cbr\u003eflesh of man was heir to, there was one ailment it had not yet\u003cbr\u003econquered--poverty.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNanlo's father had been a rocket port attendant. Once he had been a\u003cbr\u003epilot, but a crash had crippled him for life. Thereafter, his wages had\u003cbr\u003ebeen quite insufficient to sustain him, his brood of half a dozen\u003cbr\u003echildren, and their hard-working mother.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47145922363632,"sku":"2940014103718","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940014103718_p0.jpg?v=1763600690","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940014103718","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}