The reaction had shorn some elements of their
electrons and left a thin coating of material composed almost entirely
of neutrons. The nuclite was incredibly dense. It could be handled only
in low gravity because of its weight. But nothing else provided the
shielding against radiation and meteors half so well, and it was in great
demand.
"Things aren't so bad," Go told Rip. "The base is comfortable, and we
only work a two-hour shift out of each ten. We've had a plague of silly
dillies recently. They got into one man's suit while we were working, but
mostly they're just a nuisance."
Rip had heard of the creatures. They were like Earth armadillos, except
that they were silicon animals and not carbon like those of Earth. They
were drawn to oxygen like iron to a magnet, and their diamond-hard
tongues, used for drilling rock in order to get the minerals on which
they lived, could drive right through a space suit. Or, if these animals
worked undetected for a while, they could drill through the shell of a
space station.
_Scralabus primus_ was the scientific name of the creature, but the fact
that it looked like a silicon armadillo had given it the popular name of
"silly dilly." Apart from its desire for oxygen, it was harmless.
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