When she gets the chance, Anna meets with Robert H and Jack and explains what's going on. Anna states that she's going to appear to distance herself from them, in order to become a better recruit.

*****

Anna wakes up the next morning in a good mood. After breakfast, at the first opportunity she tells Billeter that during the night she's come to a decision and will join. Billeter waives other base staff out of his office and closes the door behind them.

William asks if she's clearly thought this out, mentioning that it will be some time before she sees her family and friends. Anna tells him that she doesn't have any family left. As to her "friends", they are okay, but she just met them. "It won't be hard to leave them behind."

Billeter nods, so Anna continues, telling him she wants to get right into her new life and start working.

"Great!" resounds the base leader. "Let me check the daily reports to see where your efforts would have the most value."

While the other is leafing through notes, Anna fawns over him telling him how much of a visionary she considers him and how impressed she is with what he's been able to accomplish. Billeter seems suitably flattered. He then assigns Anna to Ms. Opal, as a teacher's assistant. It seems there are also children at Atlantis II.

Anna is grateful for the work, even more so now that it's not tedious drudgery of laundering or housekeeping. She offers to make Billeter a "thank you" dinner. With a broad smile, the other intones "You are a breath of fresh air. I have tomorrow evening free from administrative duties. If you need anything, ask for John, his pantry and hydroponic stocks are quite abundant."

Jack too, spends much of the day with base personnel and away from Hogan. The young lady from yesterday morning introduces him to Tom, the base's stodgy meteorologist. After a thinly veiled grilling of Jack's knowledge, the senior man warms a bit. The three spend much of the morning touring the more "interesting" of Atlantis' units.

The library: this quiet, carpeted area doubles as a meeting room. A long table surrounded by ten chairs is centered in the room. The west wall is lined with technical manuals, leisure magazines, and world maps. Along the east wall are a microfiche reader, a cabinet full of technical and engineering microfiches, a video console for gaming or education, and shelves full of general-interest books.

General stores: a vast collection of everyday objects and household items can be found here. Office supplies, eating utensils, motor oil, hydraulic fluid, bolts of cloth, and color-coded electrical wire are stored in cardboard boxes stacked on metal shelves along the wall. Wade is the stockroom manager.

Heavy supplies: electrical wire, metal cable, hemp rope, rubber hoses, metal primer, enamel paint, light bulbs, ultraviolet lamps, small chains, and other materials are stored here.

Electrical supplies: in the corner of this room is a square wooden table. the cluttered tabletop contains an oscilloscope, unfinished electronic circuit boards, one wire rack with a dozen spools of colored wire, two soldering guns, two 25-foot extension cords, and a small carbon-dixoide fire extinguisher. Mark is the resident electrician.

Tools and storage: this room has a square metal table in its center piled high with disassembled mechanisms. Pumps, filters, valves, tubing, control boxes, intercom parts, and fan motors lie scattered about the table. Also in the room are six cans of motor oil, a five-gallon drum of hydraulic fluid, one 200-pound welding machine, welding rod, and a portable cutting torch. Assorted nuts, bolts, nails, washers, and insulators are in a bin along the south wall. Edna, the maintenance supervisor, scowls at Jack distrustfully.

Metal shop: strewn in front of the door are the parts of a makeshift set of barbells. The set weighs 150 pounds and can easily roll along the floor at ankle height. Inside, two 200-pound welding machines stand near the center of this room. The walls are lined with large machine tools including metal lathes, brake presses, drills, and punches. Small hand tools include ball peen hammers, grinders, pliers, wrenches, drills, and calipers.

An acetylene torch with two 100-pound fuel tanks on a wheeled cart is ready for use. The room also contains 30-gallon barrels, each plainly marked in English according to its contents. The barrels contain lubricating fluid, hydraulic oil, cutting oil, cleaning solvent, motor oil, and sawdust. Dawn, a welder; Earl, the fitter; and Felix, the metal tech shake your hand and welcome you to the base.

Metal storage: bins for the storage of metal take up most of the wall space in this room. The metals range from brittle wrought iron to carbon-hardened plate. Finely tooled steel in a variety of lengths and dimensions, used for repair work, is stored here. There are also large steel plates weighing 250 pounds apiece stacked here, along with coil springs of varying sizes, and long, thin metal bars.

Meteorology laboratory: inside this lab are the gauges and equipment connected to instruments outside on the surface. Radar equipment, a thermometer, a barometer, a hygrometer, a wind gauge, and a wind direction indicator are all here.

Hydrogen laboratory: this laboratory contains a tabled covered by apparatus and three hydrogen-filled weather balloons, each three feet in diameter.

After lunch of discussing the latest meteorological theories, the young lady leaves the two before they head outside. Completing the tour, Tom takes Jack out the eastern vehicle ramp to the base's surface. Past a sewer vent, the pair pass a large Quonset hut filled with cacti on the left, and a second filled with tropical plants on the right.

The large courtyard beyond holds two antenna towers, the meteorology hut, and another exhaust pipe. The large violet geodesic dome is visible at the back end of the courtyard. Behind a third and fourth large hut, a pair of windmills are visible.

The meteorology hut is actually a small white wooden building large enough for one man to squeeze inside. Weather instruments inside the hut are connected to the displays and data analyzers in the meteorology laboratory. A small radar dish mounted on top of the meteorology hut rotates constantly. Just south of the hut is a wind direction indicator and an anemometer.

Later that day, Anna and Edmund again have lunch together. Anna spends her time talking about how much she likes Billeter, and how she's so excited to be working with him to complete his dream of self sufficient colony. After an hour of such talk, the engineer gets the point that she's no longer interested.

Remembering Billeter accepted Anna's dinner invitation, she dips into her stash of coffee in an attempt to beg, buy, bribe or steal everything she needs to make tomorrow's evening "perfect".