"Ran out of oxygen," he replied. "They're in the sage just outside the dome. I got here just in time. The straps broke on them and I'd been carrying them in my arms for six hours."
Apparently the answer satisfied her.
"I'm Lori MkDowl," she said. "My father hasn't come in from the mine yet. Come on up to the house."
Now? No. They probably were still being watched from the house. He walked across the lawn of Earth grass with her.
It was a small plastic-brick house like any Martian house. As they entered the parlor, a long-legged girl of about fifteen left an open front window, a heat-gun dangling in her hand.
"Is he harmless, Lori?" she asked.
"I think so," said Lori. "Mr. Shaan, this is my sister, Vali."
Vali MkDowl laid her heat-gun on a table and held out a hand to Shaan in frank welcome. Her hair was black and her deep blue eyes held more curiosity and less reserve than those of her sister.
Lori had laid her gun aside, too. His task would be made easier, Shaan thought, by the fact that these teen-aged sisters probably didn't see a young man oftener than once a year and were lonesome.