Late that afternoon, when he was charging EV for the third time that day, the Boa 9 put in an appearance. 8M picked it up on his transperipheral beam long before it reached the immediate vicinity, but he did not cease operations, and he was still hard at work when the big yellow machine descended the nearest hill.
It stopped in its tracks. The charge completed, 8M turned. "This is Company property," he said. "I advise you leave immediately."
"This is anybody's property," the thought came, "and it will remain anybody's property until such time as a practical base is established. At the moment, you're a long ways from establishing anything of the kind." And then, unexpectedly, "What were the two of you doing a minute ago?"
"Working," 8M said. "What did you think we were doing?"
For a while the Boa 9 didn't say anything, and 8M got the impression that it—or, more accurately, the orbiting controller—was deep in thought. When it finally did speak, it addressed EV. "How beautiful are thy feet with treads, O prince's daughter!" it said, and turned and rolled away.
8M stared after it till it faded from his transperipheral vision. "What did it mean?" he asked.
"I'm—I'm not sure," EV said. And then. "Had—hadn't we better get back to work?"
They resumed operations, and got out two more heats prior to night fall. As before, he charged her before they went to sleep so that a heat would be ready first thing in the morning. She moved in very close to him, and the awareness of her was almost more than he could bear.