endly insults, I sensed their resolution
weakening, felt the pendulum swinging back.

The waitress interrupted with news of an urgent phone call. It was the
worst possible time for me to leave. And the news I got threw me.
Feeling the weight of the world, I returned.

"Can't be in two places at once," I said bitterly. "Go ahead without me;
I'm leaving."

"Wait a few minutes," Mel said, between bites of steak, "we want to
resign. Sit down."

"Damn it, I can't! I spoke to The Boss. I've pulled a boo-boo, but big."

"What happened?"

"Bonestell will do the backgrounds, but he has to know what rocks we're
putting in the rooms. What rocks are we? Anybody have an idea what the
surface of Mars looks like? God, how could I have missed that?"

"Sit down," Dex said casually, "we want to resign."

Hazel added, "You can have your rocks in 24 hours. We worked it out
weeks ago. I _did_ read Van Es, and Harry has prospected, and Dex knows
minerals, and Mel pushed his way through Tyrrell's 'Principles of
Petrology'--"

"The science of rocks," Mel interrupted, between bites of steak.

"We got interested one day." Frank's pretty, dark eyes danced.

"We want to resign," Dex repeated casually, "so sit down."

I sat.

They began throwing the ball faster than I could catch: "No atmosphere
on Mercury, then no oxidation; I insist there'd be no straight
metals.... The asteroids? Ferromagnesian blocks of some kind--any
basalts around here?... For Venus, grab a truckload of granodiorite--the
spotted stuff--from the Sierra-Nevadas and tint it pink.... Lateritic
soils for Mars? You crazy? Must have water and a subtropical
climate...."

It hit me: a valid use for the GG, one that already saved money. Make
them a brain team, trouble-shooters, or problem-solvers on questions
that could not be solved.

I said, "Fine, go ahead. About your resignations--"

Mel said something indistinguishable--I'd caught him _on_ a bite of
steak.

Hazel, belligerent, demanded: "Are you asking _us_ to resign?"

Apparently I wasn't. So they stuck, and another crisis was met.
Unfortunately, by then, I'd forgotten the shock and warning I got from
the cat.

* * * * *

Things moved swiftly, more easily. The GG took over, becoming, in
effect, my staff. They'd become more: five different extensions of me,
each capable of acting correctly. As a team, they meshed beautifully.

Too beautifully, at one point. Dex and Hazel w