Alpha Say, Beta Do
by ALFRED E. MAXWELL
Precise Doyle Tindar and prim Kay Kanton
had themselves duplicated, standard practice
for trouble-shooting in space. But the
duplicates fell in love—and what happened
then was neither practice nor standard!
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Planet Stories Summer 1950.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
Doyle Tindar was awakened by the urgent buzzing of the visor-phone by his bed. He grumbled, rolled over, glanced at the view-plate and winced as he saw the fat, grim face of the Control Board Director, Sam Penset. He sat up, yawned, and snapped the set on.
"Yeah?"
"Listen, Tindar," Penset boomed and Tindar turned the volume down. "We've got a large pile of trouble. No reports from the mines on Bolus last night. Automatic radio communication absolutely dead. Power plant may have caught a meteor, but it would have to be a large one. Telescope won't tell us anything. Get out there, will you?"
"Say, I'm on vacation, if you don't mind," Tindar said. "What about Bedding? Or Teppen?"
"Bedding's on a honeymoon, damn him," Penset growled, "and Teppen's getting some new teeth planted. It has to be you."