"They've got a nine-thousand-mile planet here to support it. They can't power their machinery with gravitrons, but electronics is an art worth remembering. One of the earlier atomic gadgets would do plenty."
"Might bore a large hole in it and pack in a mile of Atomite," suggested McBride. "I'd hate to support that, though."
"Better get some seetee meteors and pelt it by remote control," said Hammond. "Well, we can cover that later." To Tet'h he said: "You come in?"
Tet'h and Thani held a quick conference. "She come, too?" he asked.
"All of you."
"No. They stay. We go Terra."
"Terra!" exploded Hammond.
"Much to learn—both of us. You and I. You learn Telfan. We learn Terran. Better talk. This ... lousy."
"Easy to see Sandra's delicate hand in this language lesson," grinned Timkins.
"Better call that wild woman. Tell her we're going to take off in one hour and ten minutes because if we don't, we'll be as stuck as she is and we don't like that. As long as we have a bit of Telfu to take back with us in the shape of Tet'h and his woman Thani, we needn't stick around. I'll feel better about getting off on this rotation anyway. G'wan, we'll listen to you make the excuses, Larry."