Through the oxygenator, I could smell ammonia and burning elgeron. I went to the viewer room and switched to the landing ramp. The robots were moving down the ramp at a pace which might have been slower than usual, but didn't seem so to me.
Behind me, I could hear Van Elling and Horse Collins whispering. Mutiny?
I watched the first of the robots go into the big hole that led to the elgeron deposits, and came back to see Van at the duplicate robot control board we had to use at the end of a trip. Van was looking worried, but it could have been feigned.
"A few minutes?" I asked. "How many is a few?"
"I said 'a couple' only, Chief, but I think that was a bad guess. It might be an hour."
Horse was smiling. Van kept his face averted.
"Delayed an hour?" I asked, and then it came to me. Horse wanted another look at his asteroid. That's why they'd whispered.
"I'm afraid," I said, "an hour's delay would be too long, and I hope neither of you think I'm being fooled by your cute little tricks. This isn't the time for trickery."
"Sorry, Chief," Van said. "I'm doing the best I can."
He kept his attention on the control board and Horse bent over his charts. They ignored me. Well, I had a lot of strings to pull. They'd regret this day, both of them.