I counted. Nineteen. "Let's make it an even twenty," I decided. "We can tie the rest of the plates on in back and we won't have to load and unload. You go back and get them while Murphy and I fix up a couple more." Listless hopped back to the ship and beat it for the asteroid belt. I set out with Murphy, two plates and a hand excavator. We picked out spots, bored holes for the pincers, set the points and exploded the charges that drove them home. I stepped back to look it over. It was a nice idea. Space ships to order in any conceivable size. And these little babies were going to nip Dudley right where the hair was short. We made several more trips to the stock pile and stopped once for a rest and sleep before the ship came back. Murphy called my attention to it. "He's coming in," he said over the space phone. I turned to look. The _Beerbuster_ was starting her spin. Suddenly Murphy grabbed me. "Out of the way," he yelled. "That slipstick expert miscalculated his stop." I stood and stared at the load of plates aimed straight at my head. Outhouse threw me one way and jumped the other. But the bundle came to a stop about twenty-five feet over us. * * * * * The air lock opened and Lomack stepped out, a big grin on his face. He jumped toward us with the tie line in his hand. I picked up my excavator by the wrong end and started for him. "You did that on purpose, you undernourished breakfast," I gritted, diving for him. He stepped out of my way and I landed on a sharp-edged rock with a very tender part of my anatomy. "Hold it, Doc, until you see what I brought back." He made the ship fast and ducked back in the air lock. He came out with a case. "Here y'are, Doc. Catch." The box sailed through space into my waiting arms. I caught the Drake label on the side. "And there are five more like it in the stock room." "Well," I hesitated. "In that case, I'll excuse you," I told him. I tossed it back and jumped after it. Murphy followed. He could smell beer through that helmet. We took off our suits and had a good stretch. Then we opened up. Lovely, lovely bottles. But not half so good as our beer was going to be we told each other. "I thought you boys would like a little refreshment," Listless expanded under our praise. "But I didn't want to interfere with work so I held it down to half a dozen." We went through the first two and then Outhouse and I had a good sleep in the ship's bunks while Lomack went out to look around and fiddle a bit. When we woke up we felt like a million, and it wasn't long before the three of us had the rest of the plates installed and ready to run. We turned in for a final nap before the big day.