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); Daubréelite (FECr2S4); Schreibersite and Rhabdite (Fe3Ni3P); Lawrencite (FeCl2); 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
