"Hi boss. I'm on my way out to the buildings. Want to come along?"
Lee punched a button at the end of the table, and the dishes slid into a wall receptacle. "No thanks," he said. "I've got some paperwork to do...."
"Sid, you're going to have to come out and face it sooner or later. Why don't you come now? There's practically nobody there."
He looked up at her. "You're not a part-time psychotech, are you?"
"No," she said, grinning. "But I wouldn't want anybody to start thinking that you're afraid to go into the buildings. And I especially don't want you to think that."
"Okay," he said, getting up from his chair. "You're right ... as usual."
They took a lift chute to the surface bubble, a dome of clear plastisteel that housed ground vehicles and miscellaneous outdoor equipment. There they squirmed into pressure suits, complete with fishbowl helmets. After checking out their oxygen tanks, heaters and radios, they were ready to go outside.
"Want to walk?" Elaine asked.
Lee nodded.
It took him a few minutes to get accustomed to the low-gravity shuffle that you must employ to walk on Titan, with its one-third Earth gravity.