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Elizabeth said. “We might be able to just set up down there, especially if there aren’t any IBs. Why put up another full-size dome and make air for it when there’s plenty of perfectly good natural air down on the surface there—”
    “Good point—though I still wouldn’t bet against IBs,” he agreed. Ysaye, lying
    quietly with her eyes closed, heard the scratch of a chair across the floor. She didn’t need to look to know that David had appropriated both her chair and the terminal. Her guess was confirmed when his voice continued from there, a little to the right of her.
    “One thing the planet won’t be short on is fresh air—and even if there are IBs, no planet yet has figured out a way to sell the air. You may get that on orbital colonies, or colonies on airless worlds, but natural air is still the one thing that’s free, everywhere.”
    “Don’t let the authorities hear you say that,” Elizabeth teased, “or they’ll figure out a way to meter it, and charge us for breathing.”
    “What do you think a head tax is?” he asked, laughing.
    She joined in the laughter. There was silence for a long while, as Ysaye half-
    dozed, then Elizabeth, noticing a change on the screen, asked, “What’s happening now?”
    “The system’s setting up the satellite’s instrument package,” he replied. “It ought to be just about ready, and then we’ll start getting some initial meteorological data.
    Ysaye was right about one thing; there’s a lot of cloud cover down there. I’m going to have to really work to get some decent maps done.”
    “Well, at least I’ll have plenty to do for a while,” she exclaimed, laughing.
    “Good! I admit it; I’m a weather junkie.”
    “Probably just as well, since it’s your assigned job,” he teased. “And we’ve been in space so damn long—”
    “Nothing but simulations to keep me from going stir-crazy,” she sighed. “I am so tired of computer models—”
    “Well, I suppose they keep us in practice, but they sure aren’t the real thing” he agreed. “Look, the computer’s finished the remote tests. Looks like everything is ready to set up.” He keyed in the “go” entry. The screen started scrolling through the incoming data too fast to read, but neither of them were worried, since it was all being stored for later perusal. The printer slurped in a piece of paper and delivered the first of the weather maps, as a second monitor built up a detailed view of the planet below them, with Dopplered radar showing wind-flows and cloud-density.
    He scanned the map, which showed essentially the same thing, translated into
    numbers. “Looks like you’ve got a storm building in the mountains,” he said. “We can watch it; it ought to hit later tonight. Looks like it will be a big one. The next couple of orbit swings will pick it up.”
    “Give.” Elizabeth tweaked the paper out of his hand. “Goodness, those are
    complex patterns down there! Lots of storms. I pity the natives; probably the people on the surface don’t know half as much about their weather as we already do, and wish they did.”
    “Then we’ll have something to give them,” said David, turning away from the
    screen. “Weren’t you supposed to give a concert to celebrate getting the domes set up or something?”
    “With Captain Gibbons in charge?” Elizabeth laughed. “It’s a certainty. He’s
    ordered one to celebrate just about everything else. Folk songs this time, I think, which means the burden of performance will fall on me, but not until I get the local weather patterns established. Now that I finally have some real work to do, celebrations will just have to wait! Though Ysaye was talking about some new instrument sounds she’s got out of the orchestra synthesizer that she wants to show off; she told me she’s hooked up a flute to it and transposed the wave forms so they come out in the bass register. Maybe she can give her own concert.”
    “Hmm.” He was studying the