 Why are Quezy and Bob investigating the asteroid?
Bob Parker, looking through the photo-amplifiers at the wedge-shaped asteroid, was plainly flabbergasted. "Better take it easy," he advised, "until I land the ship and we use the atomic whirl spectroscope to determine the composition of the asteroid." 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. 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. That they had actually discovered the asteroid, using their mass-detectors in a weight-elimination process, seemed like an incredible stroke of luck. For there are literally millions of asteroids in the asteroid belt, and they had been out in space only three weeks. Now that he and Queazy had found the asteroid, they were desperate to get it to its destination, for fear that the Saylor brothers might get wind of what was going on, and try to beat them out of their profits. Now they scuffed along the smooth-plane topside of the asteroid, the magnets in their shoes keeping them from stepping off into space. They came to the broad base of the asteroid-wedge, walked over the edge and "down" the twelve-foot thickness. He satisfied himself as to the exterior of the asteroid, and then sent the twin beams deep into its heart. A cold, completely disagreeable feminine voice said, "May I ask what you interlopers are doing on my asteroid?" He and Queazy caught up with her on the side of the asteroid they hadn't yet examined. If we don't take this asteroid to Earth before June 2, we go back to Satterfield City and work the rest of our lives in the glass factories. A few hundred feet away, floating gently toward the asteroid, came another ship—a ship a trifle bigger than their own. The big ship had landed, and little blue sparks crackled between the hull and the asteroid as the magnetic clamps took hold. A few seconds later, the airlocks swung down, and five men let themselves down to the asteroid's surface and stood surveying the three who faced them.
 To see if it matches the specifications of the person who ordered it.
 To see if it matches the specifications of the person who ordered it.  To investigate the ship that's been parked on it.  To check what minerals and ores are present in it.  To check its overall dimensions.