"Yeah, but I was thinking of that holiday you mentioned. We'll be running straight into it. That won't help us any."
"I know, they don't like their holidays interrupted. It can't be helped. We can't wait until it's over."
"I'm aware of that," said Bal. "Fill me in on that holiday, anything I ought to know. Probably religious in origin. That so?"
"It was religious a long time ago," said Ethaniel. "I didn't learn anything exact from radio and TV. Now it seems to be chiefly a time for eating, office parties, and selling merchandise."
"I see. It has become a business holiday."
"That's a good description. I didn't get as much of it as I ought to have. I was busy studying the people, and they're hard to pin down."
"I see. I was thinking there might be some way we could tie ourselves in with this holiday. Make it work for us."
"If there is I haven't thought of it."
"You ought to know. You're running this one." Bal looked down at the planet. Clouds were beginning to form at the twilight edge. "I hate to go down and leave the ship up here with no one in it."
"They can't touch it. No matter how they develop in the next hundred years they still won't be able to get in or damage it in any way."