Read the following passage and questions, then choose the right answer from options, the answer should be one of A, B, C, D.

<passage>:
"Ivy?" Cob looked away. "I thought that you and she ... well, I thought that when we got back ... well...." Strike shook his head. "She's gone to the Bureau of Ships with a T.R.S. Aphrodite Cob waved an expressive arm in the air. "But dammit, man, I thought...." "The answer is no Planet Stories Winter 1948. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that . Ivy's a nice girl ... but...." He paused and Stand by for sighed. "Since she was promoted to her father's old rank ... well...." loomed unhappily into the thick air above the two men as they reached the Senior Lieutenant Coburn Whitley—"Cob" to his friends—nodded in with the poison personality." Cob was the and he had been with her a full year ... which was a record for Execs on the Aphrodite . She generally sent them Earthside with nervous "Tell me, Captain," continued Cob curiously, "how does it happen "The same." "Well," Cob ran a hand over his chin speculatively, "I know Gorman's . And, Strike sighed. "Well, now, Cob, I'll tell you. You'll be spacing with me. "From such humble beginnings do great traditions grow. But something happened when I came into the picture. I don't fit with the rest of them. Call it luck or temperament or what have you. "In the first place I seem to have an uncanny talent for saying the because I left my station where I was supposed to be running section-lines to take on a bunch of colonists I thought were in danger...." "So you've heard about it." Strike shook his head sadly. "My tactical Cob Whitley looked admiringly at his new Commander. "That was the night after the Ganymede "Strike's the name, Cob." Whitley's smile was expansive. "Strike, I think you're going to like meet any Ambassadors or Admirals with her, either." Strykalski sighed, still thinking of his sleek Ganymede . "She'll carry the mail, I suppose. And that's about all that's expected of her." Cob shrugged philosophically. "Better than tanking that stinking rocket Strike shook his head. "Venus-Mars." Cob scratched his chin speculatively. "Perihelion run. Hot work." Cob nodded agreement. "The last of her class." And she was not an inspiring sight. The fantastically misnamed Aphrodite formative stage, and at the time of the Aphrodite's launching the Artemis , the Andromeda had set off hostilities between the Ionians and the Solarian Combine. And the Aphrodite's starboard tubes blew, causing her to spend her store of vicious energy spinning like a Fourth of July pinwheel under smartly as Strike and Cob stepped through the valve. Strike felt vaguely uncomfortable. He knew, of course, that at least a Cob sensed his discomfort. "That was Celia Graham, Strike. Ensign. Strike shook his head. "Don't like women in space. They make me Cob shrugged. "Celia's the only officer. But about a quarter of our of chrome piping to the main control panels. Strike sank into an Strike stretched his long legs out on the steel deck. "A Lieutenant Cob thought hard for a moment and then shrugged his shoulders. "I. V. T.R.S. Aphrodite were in conference with Strike's back was toward the bulkhead, and he was addressing the others. "That's about all there is to tell you. As soon as our rather leisurely E/O gets here, we can jet with Aunt Nelly's postcard." He nodded. "That's the story. Lift ship in...." He glanced at his wrist "Come in, Cob." Strike's dark brows knit at the sight of the uniformed Cob's face was sober, but hidden amusement was kindling behind his Strike looked blankly at the girl. A week in space had convinced Strike that he commanded a jinx ship. Aphrodite had burned a steering tube through, and it had been necessary to go into free-fall ten hours behind schedule, and Strike and Evans, the Astrogation orbital calculations by the time spent in free-fall. The Aphrodite rumbled on toward the orbit of Mercury.... For all the tension between the occupants of the flying-bridge, Strike and Ivy Hendricks worked well together. And after a second week in space, a reluctant admiration was replacing the resentment between spent a lot of time at the controls, and Strike was forced to admit did. She felt that Gorman had ruined her father's career, and she was dedicating her life to proving her father right and Brass-bottom wrong. There's nothing in the cosmos to nurture friendship like a common enemy. At 30,000,000 miles from the sun, the Aphrodite's and the Atropos . The two was Celia Graham's notation that the Atropos carried none other than Strike thought it a pity that old Brass-bottom couldn't fall into thermometer stood at 135° and tempers were snapping. Cob and Celia Cob was in the radio room when Sparks pulled the flimsy from the . The Atropos had burst a fission chamber and was falling into the sun. Radiation made a transfer of personnel impossible, and the Cob snatched the flimsy from Sparks' hands and galloped for the "Well, dammit, hold it still so I can!" snapped Strike. He read the the chance I've been praying for, Strike!" the last time that circuit was uncorked everyone aboard became part of "Frankly, Ivy, I haven't enough sense to be afraid. But are you so certain that we can pull this off? If I make a mistake this time ... it'll be the last. For all of us." "We can do it," said Ivy Hendricks simply. Strike turned to Cob. "What do you say, Cob? Shall we make it hotter in here?" Whitley shrugged. "If you say so, Strike. It's good enough for me." Celia Graham left the bridge shaking her head. "We'll all be dead soon. And me so young and pretty." Strike turned to Cob. "Have the gun-crews stand by to relieve the Strike returned to the squawk-box. "Radar!" Lashed together with a length of unbreakable beryllium steel cable, and the fission chambers fusing under the terrific heat of splitting atoms. a robocrane drew it within the ship and the cable was made secure. Like cosmic replicas of the ancient South American "bolas," the three together. They were diving into the sun. The heat in the Aphrodite's comparison. panel. " " Strike was beside her, cradling her head in his arm. "I ... I ... can't make it ... Strike. You'll ... have to run ... the show ... after ... all." Strike laid her gently in an acceleration chair and turned toward the Cob's voice came through the squawk-box, soberly. "Strike, Celia's "We're trying, Cob!" shouted Strike over the whine of the circuit. The Lachesis , and old Aphrodisiac ... lashed together and drifting in space. Every man and woman aboard out cold from the acceleration, and Aphrodite's tanks bone dry. But they were a safe 80,000,000 miles from Sol.... Spatial Cross on Strike's chest. Then he inspected his own and nodded Cob? Something's eating you." "All I said to him...." "I know. I know what you said ... and it won't bear repeating. But about Ivy?"

<question>:
What is the relationship like between Strike and Cob?

<options>:
A They have known each other through their last assignment
B They meet during the course of the story and become easy friends
C They meet during the course of the story, but begin apprehensive of each other
D They never actually meet in the story

<answer>:

B