"You should. You slammed this boat a good two feet into the surface of that rock before you backed out again." His voice changed tone. "Dammit, Mr. Danley, when I say 'surface at nine nine five', I mean _surface_!" * * * * * Edway Tarnhorst had been dictating notes for his reports into his recorder, and was rather tired, so when he asked Peter Danley what he had learned, he was rather irritated when the blond man closed his blue eyes and repeated, parrotlike: "Due to the lack of a water-oxygen atmosphere, many minerals are found in the asteroids which are unknown on Earth. Among the more important of these are: Oldhamite (CaS); Daubreelite (FECr_{2}S_{4}); Schreibersite and Rhabdite (Fe_{3}Ni_{3}P); Lawrencite (FeCl_{2}); and Taenite, an alloy of iron containing--" "That's not precisely the sort of thing I meant," Tarnhorst interrupted testily. Danley smiled. "I know. I'm sorry. That's my lesson for tomorrow." "So I gathered. May I sit down?" There were only two chairs in the room. Danley was occupying one, and a pile of books was occupying the other. Danley quickly got to his feet and began putting the books on his desk. "Certainly, Mr. Tarnhorst. Sit down." Tarnhorst lowered himself into the newly emptied chair. "I apologize for interrupting your studies," he said. "I realize how important they are. But there are a few points I'd like to discuss with you." "Certainly." Danley seated himself and looked at the older man expectantly. "The nullifiers are on," he said. "Of course," Tarnhorst said absently. Then, changing his manner, he said abruptly: "Have you found anything yet?" Danley shook his head. "No. It looks to me as though they've done everything possible to make sure that these men get the best equipment and the best training. The training instructors have been through the whole affair themselves--they know the ropes. The equipment, as far as I can tell, is top grade stuff. From what I have seen so far, the Company isn't stinting on the equipment or the training." Tarnhorst nodded. "After nearly three months of investigation, I have come to the same conclusion myself. The records show that expenditures on equipment has been steadily increasing. The equipment they have now, I understand, is almost failure-proof?" He looked questioningly at Danley. Danley nodded. "Apparently. Certainly no one is killed because of equipment failure. It's the finest stuff I've ever seen." "And yet," Tarnhorst said, "their books show that they are constantly seeking to improve it." "I don't suppose there is any chance of juggling the books on you, is there?" Tarnhorst smiled a superior smile. "Hardly. In the first place, I know bookkeeping. In the second, it would be impossible to whip up a complete set of balancing books--covering a period of nearly eighty years--overnight.