Willy looked behind and around me, gulped a couple of times, then started.
"OK. Well, Martha's birthday—Martha is my wife, Mr. Goil—her birthday is in a few days. And I missed her last birthday and she never forgave me for that. And I almost missed this one too, except I got an idea. And that was after reading about those private satellites a lot of the rich people have going around Earth.
"It was too late for me to send any sort of a birthday present to Martha; besides, what could I get her out here? Anyway, I got the idea that what a wonderful birthday present it would be if I could get Martha a private satellite. Not one of those prefabricated ones, but a natural, real one. The more I thought about it the better the idea sounded. Then I realized that I had everything here; a million asteroids to choose from, and I could slip one of the gravity generators in the middle of it. And I could hitch the drive from the smashed tug to it, and install a sub-space energizer. Except for an atmosphere generator it would be equipped enough for a start. I could finish equipping it later. So I got an asteroid and took a sub-space energizer and a gravity generator from supply—they are expendable—and got the drive off the wrecked tug. I installed them on the rock."
Willy ended his story abruptly.
Goil sat looking intently at Willy and drumming his fingers on the desk top. Finally he said:
"We can recover those major items. Maybe it'll go easier with you, Willy. If you can show us where this rock is—"
Willy hung his head again. And the silence became solid. Finally Willy squeaked out:
"I can't. I sent it off yesterday."
"Just how and when did you determine the rock should be sent?" asked Goil.