"Two days?" the chemist gasped. She pushed back a strand of dark blonde hair from her forehead. "Only two days?"

Doug wondered where she'd been all this time. "We're expecting the Peacekeepers' attack before this week is out," he said.

She looked past Doug to Falcone. "How much do you need?"

"Four tons."

She blinked, swallowed. Then, straightening her back, she said, "We'll have to get the processing plant devoted completely to the job."

Falcone's frowning, swarthy face relaxed slightly. "Maybe three tons'll do."

The chemist shook her head. "Still, that's impossible to produce in two days. We don't have any time to lose."

"Can you come close?" Doug asked.

She was a petite wisp of a woman, her orange coveralls stained and faded from hard use. "We generate the foamgel as part of the process for making the insulation tiles we use for flooring and wall covering and all."

The insulating tiles were a small but consistent export to the space stations in Earth orbit, Doug knew. Moonbase also exported an even smaller but growing trickle of them to building contracting firms on Earth.

"We'll have to shut down the back end of the production line," the chemist was musing, "and rev up the foamgel production end."

She looked up at Falcone again. To Doug they seemed like a dark lumpy storm cloud and a light graceful swirl of cirrus.

"I can put all the raw stock we have on hand into producing foamgel, but I'll need more raw materials. Every tractor you can get scooping regolith."

"You got it!" Falcone promised.

Doug left them huddled together over her phone console and hurried down the corridor to Zimmerman's nanolab. One of the base's best tractor teleoperators, Nick O'Malley, had been assigned to work with the professor. But if we need every tractor scooping outside, I'll have to shift Nick back to his regular job.

He could hear their arguing voices from fifty meters down the corridor. Zimmerman's heavy rumbling and O'Malley's higher-pitched yells. Nick's not taking any guff from the professor, Doug thought as he pushed through the door marked NANOTECHNOLOGY LABORATORY—PROF. ZIMMERMAN—AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.

"So you are the expert here and not me?" Zimmerman was bellowing angrily.

"I know more about it than you do, damned right I do!" shouted O'Malley, red-faced.

"Stop it!" Doug commanded. "Shut up, both of you!"

Zimmerman whirled on Doug, his loose jacket and vest flapping like sails with the wind taken out of them.

"An assistant you gave me? A führer you gave me! A dictator!"

"What's the problem?" Doug asked as calmly as he could.

"He thinks he is the professor and I am his student!" Zimmerman complained loudly.

"I only said-"

"You are not to say}' Zimmerman roared. "You are to do. You are my assistant, not my colleague!"

"Professor, please!" Doug insisted. "What is the problem?"

Gesturing with both hands, Zimmerman grumbled, "He thinks to tell me what I should do. He thinks he is the expert here."