"Asteroid C-428. It's about 2,000 miles from you. And bring all the hard-rock mining tools you've got. We can't get into this thing."
"Is that all you want? Use your double coated drills."
"We wore five of them out. No scratches on the thing, even."
"Well, use the Atom Stream, then. It probably won't hurt the artifact."
"I'll say it won't. It won't even warm the thing up. Any other ideas?"
Underwood's mind, which had been half occupied with mulling over his personal problems while he talked with Terry, swung startledly to what the archeologist was saying. "You mean that you've found a material the Atom Stream won't touch? That's impossible! The equations of the Stream prove—"
"I know. Now will you come over?"
"Why didn't you say so in the first place? I'll bring the whole ship."
Underwood cut off and switched to the Captain's line. "Captain Dawson? Underwood. Will you please take the ship to the vicinity of Asteroid C-428 as quickly as possible?"