Her voice died as she caught sight of Retief. He raised his glass. "My compliments, ladies. I see you're keeping yourselves amused."
"Who ... who are you?" Lyn faltered.
"My name's Retief. Your father sent me along to carry your bags. It's lucky I arrived when I did, before any of those defenseless chaps outside were seriously injured."
"You're not ... one of them?"
"Of course he's not, Lyn," the second girl said. "He's much too good-looking."
"That's good," Lyn said crisply. "I didn't want to have to use this thing." She tossed a bright-plated 2 mm needler onto a chair and sat down. "Dad's all right, isn't he?"
"He's fine, and we've got to be going. Tight schedule, you know. And you'd better get some clothes on. It's cold outside."
Lyn nodded. "Environmental Control went off the air six hours ago. You can already feel snow coming."
"Don't you suppose we have time to just rig up one little old circuit?" the other twin wheedled. "Nothing serious; just enough to tickle."