THE VACATION WAS LONGER THAN TWO WEEKS, that, Mike Donovan had to admit.
It had been six months, with pay. He admitted that, too. But that, as he explained
furiously, was fortuitous. U. S. Robots had to get the bugs out of the multiple robots, and
there were plenty of bugs, and there are always at least half a dozen bugs left for the
field-testing. So they waited and relaxed until the drawing-board men and the slide-rule
boys had said “OK!” And now he and Powell were out on the asteroid and it was not OK.
He repeated that a dozen times, with a face that had gone beety, “For the love of Pete,
Greg, get realistic. What’s the use of adhering to the letter of the specifications and
watching the test go to pot? It’s about time you got the red tape out of your pants and
went to work.”