Don admitted the justice of this point, and spent only a few minutes peering through the openings left by the removal of the plates.
“Most of the inside seems to be blocks of bakelite anyway,” he said at last. “I suppose they have everything sealed in for permanence. I wonder how they expect to service it? I guess you’re right — we may as well go home until the torpedo comes.” He slung the pack that had contained their lunch — or rather, the sandwiches they had eaten in route — over his shoulder, and straightened up. His father nodded in agreement, and they began to retrace their steps down the hillside.
Don was wrapped in thought, and his father forbore to interrupt. He knew how he had reacted to the events he had just described, when he had been very little older than his son was now; also, he had a high opinion of his children’s intelligence, and believed firmly in letting them solve problems for themselves as much as was safe. He reflected somewhat ruefully that nothing he could say would be too much help, in any case.
There was no trace of anyone’s having followed them at any point on the trail home, though they split up to take opposite sides of the scree they had deliberately crossed on the way out. Neither found this very surprising, for it turned out that Edith had made her scheduled patrols and spent the rest of the day with the younger children, while Roger had gone to town as expected. If he had thought of finding a substitute and following his father, nothing had come of it. Mr. Wing was not sure whether he ought to be pleased or disappointed.
5
Laj Drai found his hired schoolteacher beside one of the torpedoes, checking off its contents with loops of one tentacle. The mechanic was listening as he named off the items.
“Magnesium cell; titanium cell; sodium — oh, hello, Drai. Anything going on?”
“Hard to say. You are setting up a research project, I take it?”
“Just checking some hypotheses. I’ve listed all the elements that would be gaseous under the conditions of Planet Three, and as many compounds as I could find in the Tables. Some are a little doubtful, since I have no pressure data; they might be liquid. Still, if they are there in any quantity, their vapors should be present.
“Then I eliminated as many as possible on theoretical grounds, since I can’t test for everything at once.”