Beta nodded and Miss Kanton's dupe grabbed his hand and ran for one of the ships.
"I honestly believe she's been drinking," Miss Kanton murmured, watching her duplicate laughing as Beta helped her into the ship.
Alpha walked in a slow and stately manner to the other ship and opened the air-lock for the girl.
The ships flashed jets out of their rear tubes and rose slowly from the ground cradles. A thunderous roar sent them both soaring into the stratosphere, where the ships veered together and rocketed out of sight towards the band of transplanted asteroids that swung in an orbit around the earth two hundred thousand miles beyond the moon.
Alpha Tindar settled himself deeper into the tight, sponge spring chair by Miss Kanton's side and watched with admiration the magnificent piloting job his "atomic brother" was doing. The other ship was keeping exactly abreast of Miss Kanton who was setting the pace.
Tindar was falling asleep when Miss Kanton switched on the intership radio. She called the other ship over the phones and all that came in answer were giggles. Miss Kanton quietly replaced the microphone and stared straight ahead on her course with a slightly red face.
Twenty hours later they were circling Bolus preparatory to landing. As was the policy when dropping down upon open land, they switched on the anti-gravity fields, blasted themselves to a dead stop and sank slowly down onto the furrowed land of the asteroid mine.
The ships thumped down within three hundred feet of one another. Miss Kanton hurriedly snapped on her oxygen helmet, and Alpha followed her through the air-lock. Instead of going towards the control tower, which rose from the blue land like a pale yellow candle, Miss Kanton ran to the other ship and pounded on the door until Beta Tindar and the girl-dupe opened it and stepped out.
"What have you been doing, Katherine?" Miss Kanton asked over the helmet radio.
"Telling secrets to each other, granny," the dupe laughed. Alpha Tindar was a trifle envious of the smile on Beta's face.
Miss Kanton flushed and turned away towards the Central Tower. The other three caught up with her and four abreast they walked lightly over the rough plain. Through the thin atmosphere and over the helmet phones they heard the crashing drone of the mine in operation. To the Tindars it did not sound right. There was too much noise. The robot-diggers and refiners were supposedly working far below the ground.