Hartley pulled a strand of tape from the computer. "Repeat it slowly."
Eyes widening, he followed the response on the tape. "You've got it
right!"
"Satisfied? Seriously, though, it's nothing when you know the tricks.
Old-time non-machine calculating was one of my hobbies when I was a
kid."
"It isn't 'nothing.' Space ecstasy ruins a man's ability to think
straight for hours. Plenty of bodies are still drifting around space
because in the early days they neglected the proper safety checks."
He stared through the magnifier at the asteroid, its flat face now
glittering in sunlight. "Starting to feel the hangover headache?"
"No, just fine. Nick, I've never felt this good in my life!"
"We'll wait here an hour."
* * * * *
But after the hour was up Cramer was still grinning. "I'm ready to go
out again," he said.
Hartley stared at him. "Then it _was_ that white stuff. Man, you've
hit on something. There have been a few reports about this kind of
untroubled ecstasy reaction but nobody ever spotted that powder. We're
going back!"
When the asteroid was back in position again they dropped to the
surface. Cramer started up but Hartley held him back in his seat. "This
time I do pull rank. I'm going out myself."
Cramer shrugged. "I'm in too good a mood to offer the slightest
protest."
"Your mood's why I'm going." He put on his suit and went into the rear
chamber. A few minutes later he disappeared outside.
"Everything okay?" Cramer radioed.
"Sure thing. I'll be right back. This stuff flakes off like mica, easy
to handle when you know the angles of the fault lines."
A few minutes later he was on board again. "You sure were fast!" Cramer
exclaimed.
"Get the comp-decomp going and don't chew so much fat."
"Okay." He activated the self-compensating cycle and watched his
superior through the glass. There it was again, a few specks from the
specimen box. He, too, had forgotten the standard operating procedure!
Then later, as Hartley took off his helmet, a swarm of them ascended
like angry midges to the ceiling. In a few seconds the Captain was
laughing more relaxedly than Cramer had ever seen him laugh before.
When Hartley came into the cockpit he exclaimed, "Wonderful! There's
something like mica in these rocks and the powder's all over in
the schists." He went to a corner and pulled some things out of an
equipment cabinet but his back blocked Cramer's view. Still facing
away, he headed back into the exit chamber. "Go out again," he said.
"But, Captain, you won't know what you're doing!"