"I'll take a Boison, myself," Miss Kanton said. "Armstrongs have a
shimmy when they're a couple of years old."
"The strong-willed woman scientist!" her dupe sneered. "Armstrongs are
the better ships."
"Katherine!" Miss Kanton ejaculated. "I'll have you dissipated if you
continue this! I shall not tolerate much more!"
"You haven't time, granny," her dupe replied blithely.
The field pilots jetted the small two-seater ships out onto the field
and into the launching cradles. When they were readied and equipped,
the pilots signaled the Tindars and the Kantons.
"Beta, you and Miss Kanton's dupe take one," Alpha Tindar said.
"Miss Kanton will drive me in the other. If there is a preliminary
dissipation of one of us, no one will be hurt that way."
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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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