 Why are Quezy and Bob pressed for time?
Interplanetary Hauling Company. [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Planet Stories Summer 1945. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] Bob Parker, looking through the photo-amplifiers at the wedge-shaped asteroid, was plainly flabbergasted. Not in his wildest imaginings had he thought they would actually find what they were looking for. Queazy, my boy, can you imagine it? Not only that, we're rich! Queazy discharged their tremendous inertia into the motive-tubes in such a manner that the big, powerful ship was moving at the same rate as the asteroid below—47.05 miles per second. "She checks down to the last dimension," Bob chortled, working with slide-rule and logarithm tables. "Now all we have to do is find out if she's made of tungsten, iron, quartz crystals, and cinnabar! Mr. Andrew S. Burnside, you owe us five hundred and fifty thousand dollars!" While Queazy—so called because his full name was Quentin Zuyler—dropped the ship straight down to the smooth surface of the asteroid, and clamped it tight with magnetic grapples, Bob flung open the lazarette, brought out two space-suits. Moments later, they were outside the ship, with star-powdered infinity spread to all sides. The ethergram read: Received your advertising literature a week ago. Must be in my back yard before 11:30 A.M. my time, for important wedding June 2, else order is void. Will pay $5.00 per ton. Bob Parker had received that ethergram three weeks ago. And if The Interplanetary Hauling & Moving Co., hadn't been about to go on the rocks (chiefly due to the activities of Saylor & Saylor, a rival firm) neither Bob nor Queazy would have thought of sending an answering ethergram to Burnside stating that they would fill the order. And yet, if by some chance there was such a rigidly specified asteroid, their financial worries would be over.
 They need to fulfill Burnside's requests quickly in order to make a profit.
 They don't want their competitors getting to the asteroid before them and missing out on the profit.  The Saylor Brothers have been chasing them, and they know they're on their way to the same asteroid.  They need to fulfill Burnside's requests quickly in order to make a profit.  Hauling asteroids is dangerous work, and the quicker they get it done the better.