 Why does Shannon reach for his gun when Beamish introduces himself?
It made a one-night pitch on a Venusian swamp-town—to find that death stalked it from the jungle in a tiny ball of flame. With Shannon's Imperial Circus, the Greatest Show in Space, plastered so thick with attachments...." I've wet-nursed Shannon's Imperial Circus around the Triangle for eleven years, and I know. It has always been my desire to lighten the burden of life for those less fortunate...." It was Gow, our zoo-man—a big, ugly son-of-a-gun from a Terran colony on Mercury. "She's the star attraction of our show, Mr. Beamish.
 Shannon is prone to suspicion after being hunted down by people they owe money to, and thinks Beamish is one of them.
 The sound of the chair being pulled back sets him on high alert.  He sees that Beamish has something in his hands.  Shannon is prone to suspicion after being hunted down by people they owe money to, and thinks Beamish is one of them.  Beamish tells them he's there to collect money from them.