Rachel, the slim Negro, chuckled in her throat. "We're just people, Tom."
He tried to phrase his question without mentioning money. "What do you all do?"
"Jock's a uranium miner," Larry (the beard) answered, briskly taking over. "Rachel's an algae farmer. I'm a rocket pilot. Lois—"
Although pleased at this final confirmation of his guess, Tom couldn't help feeling a surge of uneasiness. "Sure you should be telling me these things?"
Larry laughed. "Why not? Lois and Jokichi have been exchange-workers in China the last six months."
"Mostly digging ditches," Jokichi put in with a smile.
"—and Sasha's in an assembly plant. Helen's a psychiatrist. Oh, we just do ordinary things. Now we're on grand vacation."
"Grand vacation?"
"When all of us have a vacation together," Larry explained. "What do you do?"