re asteroid. And when the asteroid matter and the trigger body
matter try to occupy the same space at the same time.... Watch it go
out."

It did. Just disappeared.

The debris-encrusted mass vaporized. It seemed to do it slowly,
lazily. Much of the debris was flung out from the mass, but raw energy
of boiling vapors chased it, overtook it, and then it too was vapor.
The light emitted from the vaporizing collection of bodies would have
been optic nerve searing if Goil and I had not been looking at it
through the screens. The vapor continued to expand and spread until it
looked like a miniature nebula.

I said, "The triggering body is about half the size of the core body.
The heat that results from the explosion vaporizes nearly a hundred
per cent of the material. What little solid matter that escapes is of
little consequence."

Goil watched in fascination. The spectrum of colors displayed were
unbelievably, indescribably beautiful. The brilliant cloud masses that
boiled and leaped around were like things alive trying to escape the
terrible inner torment.

* * * * *

A long time passed, but the sight was so hypnotizing that Goil seemed
to be unaware of just how long he had been watching. Finally I broke
the silence.

"Watch the specks on the far left screen. They are the gravitor tugs.
They are ready to move in."

I stepped up the magnification on the screen. Goil watched a number of
great, ugly ships line abreast, head for the glowing clouds, enter,
and disappear from sight.

"Those tugs are modifications of the scientific ships that sweep close
to the sun to observe solar phenomena first hand. They are impervious
to the relatively low heat of the vapor. They will do the fringes
first. The center is still too turbulent. By the time they complete
the fringes, the center will be calm enough to sweep. They work their
way inward all the time."

"How long will it take to complete the operation?" Goil asked.

"With a cloud this size, about a week. It's best to get on it right
away. The tougher metals come out sooner than the softer and lighter
metals with lower vaporizing points. Recovery has to be made while the
metals are in the vapor state or the gravitors won't work
efficiently."

"Exactly how does it work?" asked Goil.

"Well, I guess you might remotely compare it to fractional
distillation," I said. "Only we gather metals instead of fluids. The
reason for vaporizing the