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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Rip Foster Rides the Gray Planet by Blake
+Savage
+
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no
+restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under
+the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or
+online at http://www.gutenberg.org/license
+
+
+
+Title: Rip Foster Rides the Gray Planet
+
+Author: Blake Savage
+
+Release Date: December 20, 2006 [Ebook #20147]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: US-ASCII
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RIP FOSTER RIDES THE GRAY PLANET***
+
+
+
+
+
+Rip Foster Rides the Gray Planet
+
+
+by Blake Savage
+
+
+
+
+Edition 1, (December 20, 2006)
+
+
+
+
+
+Illustrated by E. Deane Cate
+
+
+
+
+
+Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on
+                      this publication was renewed.
+
+
+
+
+
+                 [Illustration: hard cover illustration]
+                    [Illustration: Front dust jacket]
+                     [Illustration: Back dust jacket]
+                       [Illustration: Inside cover]
+
+
+
+
+
+DUST JACKET BLURB
+
+
+"Foster, Lieutenant, R. I. P.," blared the voice horn, and five minutes
+later Rip Foster was off into space on an assignment more exciting than
+any he had ever imagined. He could hardly believe his ears. Could a green
+young Planeteer, just through his training, possibly carry out orders like
+these? Sunny space, what a trick it would be!
+
+From the moment Rip boards the space ship _Scorpius_ there is a thrill a
+minute. He and his nine daring Planeteers must cope with the merciless
+hazing of the spacemen commanding the ship, and they must outwit the
+desperate Connies, who threaten to plunge all of space into war. There are
+a thousand dangers to be faced in high vacuum--and all of this while
+carrying out an assignment that will take every reader's breath away.
+
+
+
+
+
+      [Illustration: Major Barris Faced Rip and the New Planeteers]
+
+              Major Barris Faced Rip and the New Planeteers
+
+
+
+
+
+
+RIP FOSTER RIDES THE GRAY PLANET
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ONE - SCN SCORPIUS, SPACEBOUND
+
+
+A thousand miles above earth's surface the great space platform sped from
+daylight into darkness. Once each two hours it circled the earth
+completely, spinning along through space like a mighty wheel of steel and
+plastic.
+
+Through a telescope from earth the platform seemed a lifeless, lonely
+disk, but within it, hundreds of spacemen and Planeteers went about their
+work.
+
+In a ready-room at the outer edge of the platform, a Planeteer officer
+faced a dozen slim, blackclad young men who wore the single golden orbits
+of lieutenants. This was a graduating class, already commissioned, having
+a final, informal get-together.
+
+The officer, who wore the three-orbit insignia of a major, was lean and
+trim. His hair was cropped short, like a gray fur skull cap. One cheek was
+marked with the crisp whiteness of an old radiation burn.
+
+"Stand easy," he ordered briskly. "The general instructions of the Special
+Order Squadrons say that it's my duty as senior officer to make a farewell
+speech. I intend to make a speech if it kills me--and you, too."
+
+The dozen new officers facing him broke into grins. Major Joe Barris had
+been their friend, teacher, and senior officer during six long years of
+training on the space platform. He could no more make a formal speech than
+he could breathe high vacuum, and they all knew it.
+
+Lieutenant Richard Ingalls Peter Foster, whose initials had given him the
+nickname of "Rip," asked, "Why don't you sing us a song instead, Joe?"
+
+Major Barris fixed Rip with a cold eye. "Foster, three orbital turns, then
+front and center."
+
+Rip obediently spun around three times, then walked forward and stood at
+attention, trying to conceal his grin.
+
+"Foster, what does SOS mean?"
+
+"Special Order Squadrons, sir."
+
+"Right. And what else does it mean?"
+
+"It means, 'Help!' sir."
+
+"Right. And what else does it mean?"
+
+"Superman or simp, sir."
+
+This was a ceremony in which questions and answers never changed. It was
+supposed to make Planeteer cadets and junior officers feel properly
+humble, but it didn't work. By tradition, the Planeteers were the cockiest
+gang that ever blasted through high vacuum.
+
+Major Barris shook his head sadly. "You admit you're a simp, Foster. The
+rest of you are simps, too. But you don't believe it. You've finished six
+years on the platform. You've made a few little trips out into space.
+You've landed on the moon a couple times. So now you think you're seasoned
+space spooks. Well, you're not. You're simps."
+
+Rip stopped grinning. He had heard this before. It was part of the
+routine. But he sensed that this time Joe Barris wasn't kidding.
+
+The major rubbed the radiation scar on his cheek absently as he looked
+them over. They were like twelve chicks out of the same nest. They were
+all about the same size, a compact five-feet-eleven inches, 175 pounds.
+They wore loose black tunics, belted over full trousers which gathered
+into white cruiser boots. The comfortable uniforms concealed any slight
+differences in build. The twelve were all lean of face, with hair cropped
+to the regulation half inch. Rip was the only redhead among them.
+
+"Sit down," Barris commanded. "I'm going to make a farewell speech."
+
+Rip pulled a plastic stool toward him. The others did the same. Major
+Barris remained standing.
+
+"Well," he began soberly, "you are now officers of the Special Order
+Squadrons. You're Planeteers. You are lieutenants by order of the Space
+Council, Federation of Free Governments. And--space protect you!--to
+yourselves, you're supermen. But never forget this: to ordinary spacemen,
+you're just plain simps. You're trouble in a black tunic. They have about
+as much use for you as they have for leaks in their air locks. Some of the
+spacemen have been high-vacking for twenty years or more, and they're
+tough. They're as nasty as a Callistan _teekal_. They like to eat
+Planeteer junior officers for breakfast."
+
+Lieutenant Felipe "Flip" Villa asked, "With salt, Joe?"
+
+Major Barris sighed. "No use trying to tell you space-chicks anything.
+You're lieutenants now, and a lieutenant has the thickest skull of any
+rank, no matter what service he belongs to."
+
+Rip realized that Barris had not been joking, no matter how flippant his
+speech. "Go ahead," he urged. "Finish what you were going to say."
+
+"Okay. I'll make it short. Then you can catch the Terra rocket and take
+your eight earth-weeks leave. You won't really know what I'm talking about
+until you've batted around space for a while. All I have to say adds up to
+one thing. You won't like it, because it doesn't sound scientific. That
+doesn't mean it isn't good science, because it is. Just remember this:
+when you're in a jam, trust your hunch and not your head."
+
+The twelve stared at him, open-mouthed. For six years they had been taught
+to rely on scientific methods. Now their best instructor and senior
+officer was telling them just the opposite!
+
+Rip started to object, then he caught a glimmer of meaning. He stuck out
+his hand. "Thanks, Joe. I hope we'll meet again."
+
+Barris grinned. "We will, Rip. I'll ask for you as a platoon commander
+when they assign me to cleaning up the goopies on Ganymede." This was the
+major's idea of the worst Planeteer job in the Solar System.
+
+The group shook hands all around; then the young officers broke for the
+door on the run. The Terra rocket was blasting off in five minutes, and
+they were due to be on it.
+
+Rip joined Flip Villa and they jumped on the high speed track that would
+whisk them to Valve Two on the other side of the platform. Their gear was
+already loaded. They had only to take seats on the rocket and their six
+years on the space platform would be at an end.
+
+"I wonder what it will be like to get back to high gravity?" Rip mused.
+The centrifugal force of the spinning platform acted as artificial
+gravity, but it was considerably less than earth's.
+
+"We probably won't be able to walk straight until we get our earth-legs
+back," Flip answered. "I wish I could stay in Colorado with you instead of
+going back to Mexico City, Rip. We could have a lot of fun in eight
+weeks."
+
+Rip nodded. "Tough luck, Flip. But anyway, we have the same assignment."
+
+Both Planeteers had been assigned to Special Order Squadron Four, which
+was attached to the cruiser _Bolide_. The cruiser was in high space,
+beyond the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn doing comet research.
+
+They got off the track at Valve Two and stepped through into the rocket's
+interior. Two seats just ahead of the fins were vacant and they slid into
+them. Rip looked through the thick port beside him and saw the distinctive
+blue glow of a nuclear drive cruiser sliding sternward toward the
+platform.
+
+"Wave your eye stalks at that job," Flip said admiringly. "Wonder what
+it's doing here?"
+
+The space platform was a refueling depot where conventional chemical fuel
+rockets topped off their tanks before flaming for space. The newer nuclear
+drive cruisers had no need to stop. Their atomic piles needed new neutron
+sources only once in a few years.
+
+The voice horn in the rocket cabin sounded. "The SCN _Scorpius_ is passing
+Valve Two, landing at Valve Eight."
+
+"I thought that ship was with Squadron One on Mercury," Rip recalled.
+"Wonder why they pulled it back here?"
+
+Flip had no chance to reply because the chief rocket officer took up his
+station at the valve and began to call the roll. Rip answered to his name.
+
+The rocket officer finished the roll, then announced: "Buttoning up in
+twenty seconds. Blast off in forty-five. Don't bother with acceleration
+harness. We'll fall free, with just enough flame going for control."
+
+The ten-second warning bell sounded, and, before the bell had ceased, the
+voice horn blasted. "Get it! Foster, R.I.P., Lieutenant. Report to the
+platform commander. Show an exhaust!"
+
+Rip leaped to his feet. "Hold on, Flip. I'll see what the old man wants
+and be right back."
+
+"Get flaming," the rocket officer called. "Show an exhaust like the man
+said. This bucket leaves on time, and we're sealing the port."
+
+Rip hesitated. The rocket would leave without him!
+
+Flip said urgently, "You better ram it, Rip."
+
+He knew he had no choice. "Tell my folks I'll make the next rocket," he
+called, and ran. He leaped through the valve, jumped for the high speed
+track and was whisked around the rim of the space platform.
+
+He ran a hand through his short red hair, a gesture of bewilderment. His
+records had cleared. So far as he knew, all his papers were in order, and
+he had his next assignment. He couldn't figure why the platform commander
+would want to see him. But the horn had called "show an exhaust," which
+meant to get there in a hurry.
+
+He jumped off the track at the main crossrun and hurried toward the center
+of the platform. In a moment he stood before the platform commander's
+door, waiting to be identified.
+
+The door swung open and a junior officer in the blue tunic and trousers of
+a spaceman motioned him to the inner room. "Go in, Lieutenant."
+
+"Thank you." He hurried into the commander's room and stood at attention.
+
+Commander Jennsen, the Norwegian spaceman who had commanded the platform
+since before Rip's arrival as a raw cadet, was dictating into his command
+relay circuit. As he spoke, printed copies were being received in the
+platform personnel office, Special Order Squadron headquarters on earth,
+aboard the cruiser _Bolide_ in high space, and aboard the newly landed
+cruiser _Scorpius_.
+
+Rip listened, spellbound.
+
+"Foster, R.I.P., Lieutenant, SOS. Serial seven-nine-four-three. Assigned
+SOS Four. Change orders, effective this date-time. Cancel earth-leave.
+Subject officer will report to commander, SCN _Scorpius_ with detachment
+of nine men. Senior non-commissioned officer and second in command, Koa,
+A.P., Sergeant-major, SOS. Serial two-nine-four-one. Commander _Scorpius_
+will transport detachment to coordinates given in basic cruiser
+astrocourse, delivering orders to detachment enroute. Take full steps for
+maximum security. This is Federation priority A, Space Council security
+procedures."
+
+Rip swallowed hard. The highest possible priority, given by the Federation
+itself, had cancelled his leave. Not only that, but the cruiser to which
+he was assigned was instructed to follow Space Council security
+procedures, which meant the job, whatever it was, was rated even more
+urgent than secret!
+
+Commander Jennsen looked up and saw Rip. He snapped, "Did you get all of
+that?"
+
+"Y-Yessir."
+
+"You'll get written copies on the cruiser. Now flame out of here. Collect
+your men and get aboard. The _Scorpius_ leaves in five minutes."
+
+Rip ran. The realization hit him that the big nuclear cruiser had stopped
+at the platform for the sole purpose of collecting him and nine enlisted
+Planeteers.
+
+The low gravity helped him cover the hundred yards to the personnel office
+in five leaps. He swung to a stop by grabbing the push bar of the office
+door. He yelled at the enlisted spaceman on duty, "Where do I find nine
+men?"
+
+The spaceman looked at him vacantly. "What for? You got a requisition,
+Lieutenant?"
+
+"Never mind requisitions," Rip snapped. "I've got to find nine Planeteers
+and get them on the _Scorpius_ before it flames off."
+
+The spaceman's face cleared. "Oh. You mean Koa's detachment. They left a
+few minutes ago."
+
+"Where? Where did they go?"
+
+The spaceman shrugged. The doings of Planeteers were no concern of his.
+His shrug said so.
+
+Rip realized there was no use talking further. He ran down the long
+corridor toward the outer edge of the platform. The enlisted men's
+squadrooms were near Valve Ten. So was the supply department. His gear had
+departed on the Terra rocket, and he couldn't go to space with only the
+tunic on his back. He swung to the high speed track and braced himself as
+it sped him along the platform's rim.
+
+There was no moving track inward to the enlisted Planeteers' squadrooms.
+He legged it down the corridor in long leaps, muttering apologies as
+blue-clad spacemen and cadets moved to the wall to let him pass.
+
+The squadrooms were on two levels. He looked in the upper ones and found
+them deserted. The squads were on duty somewhere. He ran for the ladder to
+the lower level, took the wrong one, and ended up in a snapper-boat port.
+He had trained in the deadly little fighting rockets, and they never
+failed to interest him. But there wasn't time to admire them now. He went
+back up the ladder with two strong heaves, found the right ladder, and
+dropped down without touching. His knees flexed to take up the shock. He
+came out of the crouch facing a black-clad Planeteer sergeant who snapped
+to rigid attention.
+
+"Koa," Rip barked. "Where can I find him?"
+
+"He's not here, sir. He and eight men left fifteen minutes ago. I don't
+know where they went, sir."
+
+Rip shot a worried glance at his wrist chronometer. He had two minutes
+left, before the cruiser departed. No more time now to search for his men.
+He hoped the sergeant-major had sense enough to be waiting at some
+sensible place. He went up the ladder hand over hand and sped down the
+corridor to the supply room.
+
+The spaceman first class in charge of supplies was turning an audio-mag
+through a hand viewer, chuckling at the cartoons. At the sight of Rip's
+flushed, anxious face he dropped the machine. "Yessir?"
+
+"I need a spack. Full gear including bubble."
+
+"Yessir." The spaceman looked him over with a practiced eye. "One full
+space pack. That would be medium-large, right, sir?"
+
+"Correct." Rip took the counter stylus and inscribed his name, serial
+number, and signature on the blank plastic sheet. Gears whirred as the
+data was recorded.
+
+The spaceman vanished into an inner room and reappeared in a moment
+lugging a plastic case called a space pack, or "spack" for short. It
+contained complete personal equipment for space travel. Rip grabbed it.
+"Fast service. Thanks, Rocky." All spacemen were called "Rocky" if you
+didn't know their names. It was an abbreviation for rocketeer, a title all
+of them had once carried.
+
+Valve Eight was some distance away. Rip decided a cross ramp would be
+faster than the moving track. He swung the spack to his shoulder and made
+his legs go. Seconds were ticking off, and he had an idea the _Scorpius_
+would make space on time, whether or not he arrived. He lengthened his
+stride and rounded a turn by going right up on the wall, using a powerful
+leg thrust against a ventilator tube for momentum.
+
+He passed an observation port as he reached the platform rim and caught a
+glimpse of ruddy rocket exhaust flames outlined against the dark curve of
+earth. That would be the Terra rocket making its controlled fall to home
+with Flip aboard. Without slowing, he leaped across the high speed track,
+narrowly missing a senior space officer. He shouted his apologies, and
+gained the entrance to Valve Eight just as the high buzz of the radiation
+warning sounded, signaling a nuclear drive cruiser preparing to take off.
+
+Nine faces of assorted colors and expressions turned to him. He had a
+quick impression of black tunics and trousers. He had found his
+detachment! Without slowing, he called, "Follow me!"
+
+The cruiser's safety officer had been keeping an eye on the clock, his
+forehead creased in a frown as he saw that only a few seconds remained to
+departure time. He walked to the valve opening and looked out. If his
+passengers were not in sight, he would have to reset the clock.
+
+Rip went through the valve opening at top speed. He crashed head-on into
+the safety officer.
+
+The safety officer was driven across the deck, his arms pumping for
+balance. He grabbed at the nearest thing, which happened to be the deputy
+cruiser commander.
+
+The pre-set control clock reached firing time. The valve slid shut and the
+take-off bell reverberated through the ship.
+
+And so it happened that the spacemen of the SCN _Scorpius_ turned their
+valves, threw their controls and disengaged their boron control rods, and
+the great cruiser flashed into space, while the deputy commander and the
+safety officer were completely tangled with a very flustered and unhappy
+new Planeteer lieutenant.
+
+Sergeant-major Koa and his men had made it before the valve closed. Koa, a
+seven-foot Hawaiian, took in the situation and said crisply in a voice all
+could hear, "I'll bust the bubble of any son of a space sausage who
+laughs!"
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWO - RAKE THAT RADIATION!
+
+
+The deputy commander and the safety officer got untangled and hurried to
+their posts with no more than black looks at Rip. He got to his feet, his
+face crimson with embarrassment. A fine entrance for a Planeteer officer,
+especially one on his first orders!
+
+Around him, the spacemen were settling in their acceleration seats or
+snapping belts to safety hooks. From the direction of the stern came a
+rising roar as liquid methane dropped into the blast tubes, flaming into
+pure carbon and hydrogen under the terrible heat of the atomic drive.
+
+Rip had to lean against the acceleration. Fighting for balance, he picked
+up his spack and made his way to the nine enlisted Planeteers. They had
+braced against the ship's drive by sitting with backs against bulkheads,
+or by lying flat on the magnesium deck. Sergeant-major Koa was seated
+against a vertical brace, his brown face wreathed in a grin as he waited
+for his new officer.
+
+Rip looked him over carefully. There was a saying among the Planeteers
+that an officer was only as good as his senior sergeant. Koa's looks were
+reassuring. His face was good-humored, but he had a solid jaw and a mouth
+that could get tough when necessary. Rip wondered a little at his size.
+Big men usually didn't go to space; they were too subject to space
+sickness. Koa must be a special case.
+
+Rip slid to the floor next to the sergeant-major and stuck out his hand.
+He sensed the strength in Koa's big fist as it closed over his.
+
+Koa said, "Sir, that was the best _fleedle_ I've ever seen an earthling
+make. You been on Venus?"
+
+Rip eyed him suspiciously, wondering if the big Planeteer was laughing at
+him. Koa was grinning, but it was a friendly grin. "What is a _fleedle_?"
+Rip demanded. "I've never been on Venus."
+
+"It's the way the water-hole people fight," Koa explained. "They're like a
+bunch of rubber balls when they get to fighting. They ram each other with
+their heads."
+
+Rip searched his memory for data on Venus. He couldn't recall any mention
+of _fleedling_. Venusians, if his memory was right, had a sort of blowgun
+as a main weapon. He told Koa so.
+
+The sergeant-major nodded. "That's when they mean business, Lieutenant.
+_Fleedling_ is more like us fighting with our fists. Sort of a sport.
+Great Cosmos! The way they dive at each other is something to see."
+
+Rip grinned. "I didn't know I was going to _fleedle_ those officers. It
+isn't the way I usually enter a cruiser." He hadn't entered many. He
+added, "I suppose I ought to report to someone."
+
+Koa shook his head. "No use, sir. You can't walk around very well until
+the ship reaches brennschluss. Besides, you won't find any space officers
+who'll talk to you."
+
+Rip stared. "Why not?"
+
+"Because we're Planeteers. They'll give us the treatment. They always do.
+When the commander of this bucket gets good and ready, he'll send for you.
+Until then, we might as well take it easy." He pulled a bar of Venusian
+_chru_ from his pocket. "Have some. It will make breathing easier."
+
+The terrific acceleration made breathing a little uncomfortable, but it
+was not too bad. The chief effect was to make Rip feel as though a ton of
+invisible feathers were crushing him against the vertical brace. He
+accepted a bite of the bittersweet vegetable candy and munched
+thoughtfully. Koa seemed to take it for granted that the spacemen would
+give them a rough time.
+
+He asked, "Aren't there any spacemen who get along with the Special Order
+Squadrons?"
+
+"Never met one." Koa chewed _chru_. "And I was on the _Icarus_ when the
+whole thing started."
+
+Rip looked at him in surprise. Koa didn't seem that old. The bad feeling
+between spacemen and the Special Order Squadrons had started about 18
+years ago when the cruiser _Icarus_ had taken the first Planeteers to
+Mercury.
+
+He reviewed the history of the expedition. The spacemen's job had been to
+land the newly created Special Order Squadron on the hot planet. The job
+of the squadron was to explore it. Somehow, confusion developed and the
+spacemen, including the officers, later reported that the squadron had
+instructed them to land on the sun side of Mercury, which would have
+destroyed the spaceship and its crew, or so they believed at the time.
+
+The commanding officer of the squadron denied issuing such an order. He
+said his instructions were to land as close to the sun side as possible,
+but not on it. Whatever the truth--and Rip believed the SOS version, of
+course--the crew of the _Icarus_ mutinied, or tried to. They made the
+landing on Mercury with squadron guns pointed at their heads. Of course,
+they found that a sun-side landing wouldn't have hurt the ship. The whole
+affair was pretty well hushed up, but it produced bad feeling between the
+Special Order Squadrons and the spacemen. "Trigger happy space bums," the
+spacemen called them, and much worse besides.
+
+The men of the Special Order Squadrons, searching for a handy nickname,
+had called themselves Planeteers, because most of their work was on the
+planets. As Major Joe Barris had told the officers of Rip's class, "You
+might say that the spacemen own space, but we Planeteers own everything
+solid that's found in it."
+
+The Planeteers were the specialists--in science, exploration, colonization,
+and fighting. The spacemen carried them back and forth, kept them
+supplied, and handled their message traffic. The Planeteers did the hard
+work and the important work. Or so they believed.
+
+To become a Planeteer, a recruit had to pass rigid intelligence, physical,
+aptitude, and psychological tests. Less than 15 out of each 100 who
+applied were chosen. Then there were two years of hard training on the
+space platform and the moon before a recruit was finally accepted as a
+Planeteer private. Out of each 15 who started training, an average of five
+fell by the wayside.
+
+For Planeteer officers, the requirements were even tougher. Only one out
+of each 500 applicants finally received a commission. Six years of
+training made them proficient in the techniques of exploration, fighting,
+rocketeering, and both navigation and astrogation. In addition, each
+became a full-fledged specialist in one field of science. Rip's specialty
+was astrophysics.
+
+Sergeant-major Koa continued, "That business on the _Icarus_ started the
+war, but both sides have been feeding it ever since. I have to admit that
+we Planeteers lord it over the spacemen like we were old man Cosmos
+himself. So they get back at us with dirty little tricks while we're on
+their ships. We command on the planets, but they command in space. And
+they sure get a great big nuclear charge out of commanding us to do the
+dirty work!"
+
+"We'll take whatever they hand us," Rip assured him, "and pretend we like
+it fine." He gestured at the other Planeteers. "Tell me about the men,
+Koa."
+
+"They're a fine bunch, sir. I hand-picked them myself. The one with the
+white hair is Corporal Nels Pederson. He's a Swede. I served with him at
+Marsport, and he's a real rough space spickaroo in a fight. The other
+corporal is little Paulo Santos. He's a Filipino, and the best
+snapper-boat gunner you ever saw."
+
+He pointed out the six privates. Kemp and Dowst were Americans. Bradshaw
+was an Englishman, Trudeau a Frenchman, Dominico an Italian, and Nunez a
+Brazilian.
+
+Rip liked their looks. They were as relaxed as acceleration would allow,
+but you got the impression that they would leap into action in a
+microsecond if the word were given. He couldn't imagine what kind of
+assignment was waiting, but he was satisfied with his Planeteers. They
+looked capable of anything.
+
+He made himself as comfortable as possible, and encouraged Koa to talk
+about his service in the Special Order Squadrons. Koa had plenty to tell,
+and he talked interestingly. Rip learned that the big Hawaiian had been to
+every planet in the system, had fought the Venusians on the central
+desert, and had mined nuclite with SOS One on Mercury. He also found that
+Koa was one of the 17 pure-blooded Hawaiians left. During the three hours
+that acceleration kept them from moving around the ship, Rip got a new
+view of space and of service with the SOS--it was the view of a Planeteer
+who had spent years around the Solar System.
+
+"I'm glad they assigned you to me," Rip told Koa frankly. "This is my
+first job, and I'll be pretty green, no matter what it is. I'll depend on
+you for a lot of things."
+
+To his surprise, Koa thrust out his hand. "Shake, Lieutenant." His grin
+showed strong white teeth. "You're the first junior officer I ever met who
+admitted he didn't know everything about everything. You can depend on me,
+sir. I won't steer you into any meteor swarms."
+
+Koa had half turned to shake hands. Suddenly he spun on around, his head
+banging against the deck. Rip felt a surge of loosened muscles that had
+been braced against acceleration. At the same time, silence flooded in on
+them with an almost physical shock. He murmured, "brennschluss," and the
+murmur was like a trumpet blast.
+
+The _Scorpius_ had reached velocity and the nuclear drive had cut out.
+From terrific acceleration they had dropped to zero. The ship was making
+high speed, but velocity cannot be felt. For the moment, the men were
+weightless.
+
+A near-by spaceman had heard Rip's comment. He spoke in an undertone to
+the man nearest. His voice was pitched low enough so Rip couldn't object
+officially, but loud enough to be heard.
+
+"Get this, gang. The Planeteer officer knows what brennschluss is. He
+doesn't look old enough to know which end his bubble goes on."
+
+Rip started to his feet, but Koa's hand on his arm restrained him. With a
+violent kick the big sergeant-major shot through the air. His line of
+flight took him by the spaceman, and somehow their arms got linked. The
+spaceman was jerked from his post and the two came to a stop against the
+ceiling.
+
+Koa's voice echoed through the ship. "Sorry. I'm not used to no-weight.
+Didn't mean to grab you. Here, I'll help you back to your post."
+
+He whirled the helpless spaceman like a bag of feathers and slung him
+through the air. The force of the action only flattened Koa against the
+ceiling, but the hapless spaceman shot forward head first and landed with
+a clang against the bulkhead. He didn't hit hard enough to break any
+bones, but he would carry a bump around on his head for a day or two.
+
+Koa's voice floated after him. "Great Cosmos! I sure am sorry, spaceman. I
+guess I don't know my own strength." He kicked away from the ceiling,
+landing accurately at Rip's side. He added in a hard voice all could hear,
+"They sure are a nice gang, these spacemen. They never say anything about
+Planeteers."
+
+No spaceman answered, but Koa's meaning was clear. No spaceman had better
+say anything about the Planeteers! Rip saw that the deputy commander and
+the safety officer had appeared not to notice the incident. Technically,
+there was no reason for an officer to take action. It had all been an
+"accident." He smiled. There was a lot he had to learn about dealing with
+spacemen, a lot Koa evidently knew very well indeed.
+
+Suddenly he began to feel weight. The ship was going into rotation. The
+feeling increased until he felt normally heavy again. There was no other
+sensation, even though the space cruiser now was spinning on its axis
+through space at unaltered speed. The centrifugal force produced by the
+spinning gave them an artificial gravity.
+
+Now that he thought about it, brennschluss had come pretty early. The trip
+apparently was going to be a short one. Brennschluss ... funny, he
+thought, how words stay on in a language even after their original meaning
+is changed. Brennschluss was German for "burn out." It was rocket talk,
+and it meant the moment when all the fuel in a rocket burned out. It had
+come into common use because the English "burn out" also could mean that
+the engine itself had burned out. The German word meant only the one
+thing. Now, in nuclear drive ships, the same word was used for the moment
+when power was cut off.
+
+Words interested him. He started to mention it to Koa just as the
+telescreen lit up. An officer's face appeared. "Send that Planeteer
+officer to the commander," the face said. "Tell him to show an exhaust."
+
+Rip called instantly to the safety officer. "Where's his office?"
+
+The safety officer motioned to a spaceman. "Show him, Nelson."
+
+Rip followed the spaceman through a maze of passages, growing more
+weightless with each step. The closer to the center of the ship they went,
+the less he weighed. He was pulling himself along by plastic pull cords
+when they finally reached the door marked "Commander."
+
+The spaceman left without a word or a salute. Rip pushed the lock bar and
+pulled himself in by grabbing the door frame. He couldn't help thinking it
+was a rather undignified way to make an entrance.
+
+Seated in an acceleration chair, a safety belt across his middle, was
+Space Commander Keven O'Brine, an Irishman out of Dublin. He was short, as
+compact as a deto-rocket, and obviously unfriendly. He had a
+mathematically square jaw, a lopsided nose, green eyes, and sandy hair. He
+spoke with a pronounced Irish brogue.
+
+Rip started to announce his name, rank, and the fact that he was reporting
+as ordered. Commander O'Brine brushed his words aside and stated flatly,
+"You're a Planeteer. I don't like Planeteers."
+
+Rip didn't know what to say, so he kept still. But sharp anger was rising
+inside of him.
+
+O'Brine went on, "Instructions say I'm to hand you your orders enroute.
+They don't say when. I'll decide that. Until I do decide, I have a job for
+you and your men. Do you know anything about nuclear physics?"
+
+Rip's eyes narrowed. He said cautiously, "A little, sir."
+
+"I'll assume you know nothing. Foster, the designation SCN means Space
+Cruiser, Nuclear. This ship is powered by a nuclear reactor. In other
+words, an atomic pile. You've heard of one?"
+
+Rip controlled his voice, but his red hair stood on end with anger.
+O'Brine was being deliberately insulting. This was stuff any new Planeteer
+recruit knew. "I've heard, sir."
+
+"Fine. It's more than I had expected. Well, Foster, a nuclear reactor
+produces heat. Great heat. We use that heat to turn a chemical called
+methane into its component parts. Methane is known as marsh gas, Foster. I
+wouldn't expect a Planeteer to know that. It is composed of carbon and
+hydrogen. When we pump it into the heat coils of the reactor, it breaks
+down and creates a gas that burns and drives us through space. But that
+isn't all it does."
+
+      [Illustration: "You're a Planeteer. I Don't Like Planeteers."]
+
+              "You're a Planeteer. I Don't Like Planeteers."
+
+
+Rip had an idea what was coming, and he didn't like it. Nor did he like
+Commander O'Brine. It was not until much later that he learned that
+O'Brine had been on his way to Terra to see his family for the first time
+in four years when the cruiser's orders were changed. To the commander,
+whose assignments had been made necessary by the needs of the Special
+Order Squadrons, it was too much. So he took his disappointment out on the
+nearest Planeteer, who happened to be Rip.
+
+"The gases go through tubes," O'Brine went on. "A little nuclear material
+also leaks into the tubes. The tubes get coated with carbon, Foster. They
+also get coated with nuclear fuel. We use thorium. Thorium is radioactive.
+I won't give you a lecture on radioactivity, Foster. But thorium mostly
+gives off the kind of radiation known as alpha particles. Alpha is not
+dangerous unless breathed or eaten. It won't go through clothes or skin.
+But when mixed with fine carbon, thorium alpha contamination makes a mess.
+It's a dirty mess, Foster. So dirty that I don't want my spacemen to fool
+with it.
+
+"I want you to take care of it instead," O'Brine said. "You and your men.
+The deputy commander will assign you to a squadroom. Settle in, then draw
+equipment from the supply room and get going. When I want to talk to you
+again, I'll call for you. Now blast off, Lieutenant, and rake that
+radiation. Rake it clean."
+
+Rip forced a bright and friendly smile. "Yes, sir," he said sweetly.
+"We'll rake it so clean you can see your face in it, sir." He paused, then
+added politely, "If you don't mind looking at your face, sir--to see how
+clean the tubes are, I mean."
+
+Rip turned and got out of there.
+
+Koa was waiting in the passageway outside. Rip told him what had happened,
+mimicking O'Brine's Irish accent.
+
+The sergeant-major shook his head sadly. "This is what I meant,
+Lieutenant. Cruisers don't clean their tubes more'n once in ten
+accelerations. The commander is just thinking up dirty work for us to do,
+like I said."
+
+"Never mind," Rip told him. "Let's find our squadroom and get settled,
+then draw some protective clothing and equipment. We'll clean his tubes
+for him. Our turn will come later."
+
+He remembered the last thing Joe Barris had said, only a few hours before.
+Joe was right, he thought. To ourselves we're supermen, but to the
+spacemen we're just simps. Evidently O'Brine was the kind of space officer
+who ate Planeteers for breakfast.
+
+Rip thought of the way the commander had turned red with rage at that
+crack about his face, and resolved, "He may eat me for breakfast, but I'll
+try to be a good, tough mouthful!"
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THREE - CAPTURE AND DRIVE!
+
+
+Commander O'Brine had not exaggerated. The residue of carbon and thorium
+on the blast tube walls was stubborn, dirty, and penetrating. It was caked
+on in a solid sheet, but when scraped, it broke up into fine powder.
+
+The Planeteers wore coveralls, gloves, and face masks with respirators,
+but that didn't prevent the stuff from sifting through onto their bodies.
+Rip, who directed the work and kept track of the radiation with a
+gamma-beta ion chamber and an alpha proportional counter, knew they would
+have to undergo personal decontamination.
+
+He took a reading on the ion chamber. Only a few milliroentgens of beta
+and gamma radiation. That was the dangerous kind, because both beta
+particles and gamma rays could penetrate clothing and skin. But the
+Planeteers wouldn't get enough of a dose to do any harm at all. The alpha
+count was high, but so long as they didn't breathe any of the dust it was
+not dangerous.
+
+The _Scorpius_ had six tubes. Rip divided the Planeteers into two squads,
+one under his direction and one under Koa's. Each tube took a couple of
+hours' hard work. Several times during the cleaning the men would leave
+the tube and go into the main mixing chamber while the tube was blasted
+with live steam to throw the stuff they had scraped off out into space.
+
+Each squad was on its last tube when a spaceman arrived. He saluted Rip.
+"Sir, the safety officer says to secure the tubes."
+
+That could mean only one thing: deceleration. Rip rounded up his men.
+"We're finished. The safety officer passed the word to secure the tubes,
+which means we're going to decelerate." He smiled grimly. "You all know
+they gave us this job just out of pure love for the Planeteers. So
+remember it when you go through the control room to the decontamination
+chamber."
+
+The Planeteers nodded enthusiastically.
+
+Rip led the way from the mixing chamber through the heavy safety door into
+the engine control room. His entrance was met with poorly concealed grins
+by the spacemen.
+
+Halfway across the room Rip turned suddenly and bumped into Sergeant-major
+Koa. Koa fell to the deck, arms flailing for balance--but flailing against
+his protective clothing. The other Planeteers rushed to pick him up, and
+somehow all their arms and hands beat against each other.
+
+The protective clothing was saturated with fine dust. It rose from them in
+a choking cloud, was picked up, and dispersed by the ventilating system.
+It was contaminated dust. The automatic radiation safety equipment filled
+the ship with an ear-splitting buzz of warning. Spacemen clapped emergency
+respirators to their faces and spoke unkindly of Rip's Planeteers in the
+saltiest space language they could think of.
+
+Rip and his men picked up Koa and continued their march to the
+decontamination room, grinning under their respirators at the
+consternation around them. There was no danger to the spacemen since they
+had clapped on respirators the moment the warning sounded. But even a
+little contamination meant the whole ship had to be gone over with
+instruments, and the ventilating system would have to be cleaned.
+
+The deputy commander met Rip at the door of the radiation room. Above the
+respirator, his face looked furious.
+
+"Lieutenant," he bellowed. "Haven't you any more sense than to bring
+contaminated clothing into the engine control room?"
+
+Rip was sorry the deputy commander couldn't see him grinning under his
+respirator. He said innocently, "No, sir. I haven't any more sense than
+that."
+
+The deputy grated, "I'll have you up before the Discipline Board for
+this."
+
+Rip was enjoying himself thoroughly. "I don't think so, sir. The
+regulations are very clear. They say, 'It is the responsibility of the
+safety officer to insure compliance with all safety regulations both by
+complete instructions to personnel and personal supervision.' Your safety
+officer didn't instruct us and he didn't supervise us. You better run him
+up before the Board."
+
+The deputy commander made harsh sounds into his respirator. Rip had him,
+and he knew it. "He thought even a stupid Planeteer had sense enough to
+obey radiation safety rules," he yelled.
+
+"He was wrong," Rip said gently. Then, just to make himself perfectly
+clear, he added, "Commander O'Brine was within his rights when he made us
+rake radiation. But he forgot one thing. Planeteers know the regulations,
+too. Excuse me, sir. I have to get my men decontaminated."
+
+Inside the decontamination chamber, the Planeteers took off their masks
+and faced Rip with admiring grins. For a moment he grinned back, feeling
+pretty good. He had held his own with the spacemen, and he sensed that his
+men liked him.
+
+"All right," he said briskly. "Strip down and get into the showers."
+
+In a few moments they were all standing under the chemically treated
+water, washing off the contaminated dust. Rip paid special attention to
+his hair, because that was where the dust was most likely to stick. He had
+it well lathered when the water suddenly cut off. At the same moment, the
+cruiser shuddered slightly as control blasts stopped its spinning and left
+them all weightless. Rip saw instantly what had happened. He called, "All
+right, men. Down on the floor."
+
+The Planeteers instantly slid to the shower deck. In a few seconds the
+pressure of deceleration pushed at them.
+
+"I like spacemen," Rip said wryly. "They wait until just the right moment
+before they cut the water and decelerate. Now we're stuck in our birthday
+suits until we land--wherever that may be."
+
+Corporal Nels Pederson spoke up in a soft Stockholm accent. "Never mind,
+sor. Ve'll get back at them. Ve alvays do!"
+
+
+
+While the _Scorpius_ decelerated and started maneuvering for a landing,
+Rip did some rapid calculations. He knew the acceleration and deceleration
+rates of cruisers of this class measured in terms of time, and part of his
+daily routine on the space platform had been to examine the daily
+astro-plot which gave the positions of all planets and other large bodies
+within the solar system.
+
+There was only one possible destination: Mars.
+
+Rip's pulse quickened. He had always wanted to visit the red planet. Of
+course he had seen all the films, audio-mags, and books on the planet, and
+he had tried to see the weekly spacecast. He had a good idea of what the
+planet was like, but reading or viewing was not like actually landing and
+taking a look for himself.
+
+Of course they would land at Marsport. It was the only landing area
+equipped to handle nuclear drive cruisers.
+
+The cruiser landed and deceleration cut to zero. At the same moment, the
+water came on.
+
+Rip hurriedly finished cleaning up, dressed, then took his radiation
+instruments and carefully monitored his men as they came from the shower.
+Private Dowst had to go back for another try at getting his hair clean,
+but the rest were all right. Rip handed his instruments to Koa. "You
+monitor Dowst when he finishes. I want to see what's happening."
+
+He hurried from the chamber and made his way down the corridors toward the
+engine control room. There was a good possibility he might get a call from
+O'Brine, with instructions to take his men off the ship. He might finally
+learn what he was assigned to do!
+
+As he reached the engine control room, Commander O'Brine was giving
+instructions to his spacemen on the stowage of equipment that evidently
+was expected aboard. Rip felt a twinge of disappointment. If the
+_Scorpius_ had landed to take on supplies of some kind, his assignment was
+probably not on Mars.
+
+He started to approach the commander with a question about his orders,
+then thought better of it. He stood quietly near the control panel and
+watched.
+
+The air lock hissed, then slid open. A Martian stood in the entryway, a
+case on his shoulder. Rip watched him with interest. He had seen Martians
+before, on the space platform, but he had never gotten used to them. They
+were human, still....
+
+He tried to figure out, as he had before, what it was that made them
+strange. It wasn't the blue-whiteness of their skins nor the very large,
+expressionless eyes. It was something about their bodies. He studied the
+Martian's figure carefully. He was slightly taller and more slender than
+the average earthman, but his chest measurements would be about the same.
+Nor were his legs very much longer.
+
+Suddenly Rip thought he had it. The Martian's legs and arms joined his
+torso at a slightly different angle, giving him an angular look. That was
+what made him look like a caricature of a human. Although he was human, of
+course. As human as any of them.
+
+Rip saw that other Martians were in the air lock, all carrying cases of
+various sizes and shapes. They came through into the control room and put
+them down, then turned without a word and hurried back into the lock. They
+were all breathing heavily, Rip noticed. Of course! The artificial
+atmosphere inside the space ship must seem very heavy and moist to them
+after the thin, dry air of Mars.
+
+The lock worked and the Martians were replaced by others. They, too,
+deposited their cases. But these cases were bigger and heavier. It took
+four Martians to carry one, which meant they weighed close to half a ton
+each. The Martians could carry more than double an earthman's capacity.
+
+When the lock worked next time, a Planeteer captain came in. He breathed
+the heavy air appreciatively, fingering the oxygen mask he had to wear
+outside. He saluted Commander O'Brine and reported, "This is all, sir. We
+filled the order exactly as Terra sent it. Is there anything else you
+need?"
+
+O'Brine turned to his deputy. "Find out," he ordered. "This is our last
+chance. We have plenty of basic supplies, but we may be short of
+audio-mags and other things for the men." He turned his back on the
+Planeteer captain and walked away.
+
+The captain grinned at O'Brine's retreating back, then walked over to Rip.
+They shook hands.
+
+"I'm Southwick, SOS Two. Canadian."
+
+Rip introduced himself and said he was an American. He added, "And aside
+from my men, you're the first human being I've seen since we made space."
+
+Southwick chuckled. "Trouble with the spacemen? Well, you're not the
+first."
+
+Talking about assignments wasn't considered good practice, but Rip was
+burning with curiosity. "You don't by chance know what my assignment is,
+do you?"
+
+The captain's eyebrows went up. "Don't you?"
+
+Rip shook his head. "O'Brine hasn't told me."
+
+"I don't know a thing," Southwick said. "We got instructions to pack up a
+pretty strange assortment of supplies for the _Scorpius_ and that's all I
+know. The order was in special cipher, though, so we're all wondering
+about it."
+
+The deputy commander returned, reported to O'Brine, then walked up to Rip
+and Southwick. "Nothing else needed," he said curtly. "We'll get off at
+once."
+
+Southwick nodded, shook hands with Rip, and said in a voice the deputy
+could hear, "Don't let these spacemen bother you. Trouble with them is,
+they all wanted to be Planeteers and couldn't pass the intelligence
+tests." He winked, then hurried to the air lock.
+
+Spacemen worked quickly to clear the deck of the new supplies, stowing
+them in a near-by workroom. Within five minutes the engine control room
+was clear. The safety officer signaled and the radiation warning sounded.
+Taking off!
+
+Rip hurried to the squadroom and climbed into an acceleration chair. The
+other Planeteers were already in the room, most of them in their bunks.
+Koa slid into the chair beside him. "Find out anything, sir?"
+
+"Nothing useful. A bunch of equipment came aboard, but it was in plain
+crates. I couldn't tell what it was."
+
+Acceleration pressed them against the chairs. Rip sighed, picked up an
+audio-circuit set, and put it over his ears. Might as well listen to what
+the circuit had to offer. There was nothing else to do. Music was playing,
+and it was the kind he liked. He settled back to relax and listen.
+
+Brennschluss came some time later. It woke Rip up from a sound sleep. He
+blinked, glancing at his chronometer. Great Cosmos! With that length of
+acceleration they must be high-vacking for Jupiter! He waited until the
+ship went into the gravity spin, then got out of his chair and stretched.
+He was hungry. Koa was still sleeping. He decided not to wake him. The
+sergeant-major would see that the men ate when they wanted to.
+
+In the messroom only one table was occupied--by Commander O'Brine.
+
+Rip gave him a civil hello and started to sit alone at another table. To
+his surprise, O'Brine beckoned to him.
+
+"Sit down," the spaceman invited gruffly.
+
+Rip did, and wondered what was coming next.
+
+"We'll start to decelerate in about ten minutes," O'Brine said. "Eat while
+you can." He signaled and a spaceman brought Rip the day's ration in an
+individual plastic carton with thermo-lining. The Planeteer opened it and
+found a block of mixed vegetables, a slab of space-meat, and two units of
+biscuit. He wrinkled his nose. Space-meat he didn't mind. It was chewy but
+tasty. The mixed vegetable ration was chosen for its food value and not
+for taste. A good mouthful of earth-grass would be a lot more palatable.
+He sliced off pieces of the warm stuff and chewed thoughtfully, watching
+O'Brine's face for a clue as to why the commander had invited him to sit
+down.
+
+It wasn't long in coming. "Your orders are the strangest things I've ever
+read," O'Brine stated. "Do you know where we're going?"
+
+Rip figured quickly. They had accelerated for six and a half hours. Now,
+ten minutes after brennschluss, they were going to start deceleration.
+That meant they had really high-vacked it to get somewhere in a hurry. He
+calculated swiftly.
+
+"I don't know exactly," he admitted. "But from the ship's actions, I'd say
+we were aiming for the far side of the asteroid belt. Anyway, we'll fall
+short of Jupiter."
+
+There was a glimmer of respect in O'Brine's glance. "That's right. Know
+anything about asteroids, Foster?"
+
+Rip considered. He knew what he had been taught in astronomy and
+astrogation. Between Mars and Jupiter lay a broad belt in which the
+asteroids swung. They ranged from Ceres, a tiny world only 480 miles in
+diameter, down to chunks of rock the size of a house. No accurate count of
+asteroids--or minor planets, as they were called--had been made, but the
+observatory on Mars had charted the orbits of over 100,000. Most of them
+were only a mile or two in diameter. Others, much smaller, had never been
+charted by anyone. One leading astronomer had estimated that as many as
+50,000 asteroids filled the belt.
+
+"I know the usual stuff about them," he told O'Brine. "I haven't any
+special knowledge."
+
+O'Brine blinked. "Then why did they assign you? What's your specialty?"
+
+"Astrophysics."
+
+"That might explain it. Second specialty?"
+
+"Astrogation." He couldn't resist adding, "That's what scientists call
+space navigation, Commander."
+
+O'Brine started to retort, then apparently thought better of it. "I hope
+you'll be able to carry out your orders, Lieutenant," he said stiffly. "I
+hope, but not much. I don't think you can."
+
+Rip asked, "What are my orders, sir?"
+
+O'Brine waved in the general direction of the wall. "Out there, somewhere
+in the asteroid belt, Foster, there is a little chunk of matter about one
+thousand yards in diameter. A very minor planet. We know its approximate
+coordinates as of two days ago, but we don't know much else. It happens to
+be a very important minor planet."
+
+Rip waited, intent on the commander's words.
+
+"It's important," O'Brine continued, "because it happens to be pure
+thorium."
+
+Rip gasped. Thorium! The rare, radioactive element just below uranium in
+the periodic table of the elements, the element used to power this very
+ship! "What a find!" he said in a hushed voice. No wonder the job was
+Federation priority A, with Space Council security! "What do I do about
+it?" he asked.
+
+O'Brine grinned. "Ride it," he said. "Your orders say you're to capture
+this asteroid, blast it out of its orbit, and drive it back to earth!"
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOUR - FIRST, FIND THE NEEDLE!
+
+
+Rip walked into the squadroom with a copy of the orders in his hand. After
+one look at his face, the Planeteers clustered around him. Santos woke
+those who were sleeping, while Rip waited.
+
+"We have our orders, men," he announced. Suddenly he laughed. He couldn't
+help it. At first he had been completely overcome by the responsibility,
+and the magnitude of the job, but now he was getting used to the idea and
+he could see the adventure in it. Ten wild Planeteers riding an asteroid!
+Sunny space, what a great big thermo-nuclear stunt!
+
+Koa remarked, "It must be good. The lieutenant is getting a real atomic
+charge out of it."
+
+"Sit down," Rip ordered. "You'd better, because you might fall over when
+you hear this. Listen, men. Two days ago the freighter _Altair_ passed
+through the asteroid belt on a run from Jupiter to Mars." He sat down,
+too, because deceleration was starting. As his men looked at each other in
+surprise at the quickness of it, he continued, "The old bucket found
+something we need. An asteroid of pure thorium."
+
+The enlisted Planeteers knew as well as he what that meant. There were
+whistles of astonishment. Koa slapped his big thigh. "By Gemini! What do
+we do about it, sir?"
+
+"We capture it," Rip said. "We blast it loose from its orbit and ride it
+back to earth."
+
+He sat back and watched their reactions. At first they were stunned.
+Trudeau, the Frenchman, muttered to himself in French. Dominico, the
+Italian, held up his hands and exclaimed, "Santa Maria!"
+
+Kemp, one of the American privates, asked, "How do we do it, sir?"
+
+Rip grinned. "That's a good question. I don't know."
+
+That stopped them. They stared at him. He added quickly, "Supplies came
+aboard at Marsport. We'll get the clue when we open them. Headquarters
+must have known the method when they assigned us and ordered the
+equipment."
+
+Koa stood up. He was the only one who could have moved upright against the
+terrific deceleration. He walked to a rack at one side of the squadroom
+and took down a copy of "The Space Navigator." Then, resuming his seat, he
+looked questioningly at Rip. "Anything else, sir? I thought I'd read what
+there is about asteroids."
+
+"Go ahead," Rip agreed. He sat back as Koa began to recite what data there
+was, but he didn't listen. His mind was going ten astro units a second. He
+thought he knew why he had been chosen for the job. Word of the priceless
+asteroid must have reached headquarters only a short time before he was
+scheduled to leave the space platform. He could imagine the speed with
+which the specialists at Terra base had acted. They had sent orders
+instantly to the fastest cruiser in the area, the _Scorpius_, to stand by
+for further instructions. Then their personnel machines must have whirred
+rapidly, electronic brains searching for the nearest available Planeteer
+officer with an astrophysics specialty and astrogation training.
+
+He could imagine the reaction when the machine turned up the name of a
+brand-new lieutenant. But the choice was logical enough. He knew that
+most, if not all, of the Planeteer astrophysicists were either in high or
+low space on special work. Chances are there was no astrophysicist nearer
+than Ganymede. So the choice had fallen to him.
+
+He had a mental image of the Terra base scientists feeding data into the
+electronic brain, taking the results, and writing fast orders for the men
+and supplies needed. If his estimate was correct, work at the Planeteer
+base had been finished within an hour of the time word was received.
+
+When they opened the cases brought aboard by the Martians, he would see
+that the method of blasting the asteroid into a course for earth was all
+figured out for him.
+
+Rip was anxious to get at those cases. Not until he saw the method of
+operation could he begin to figure his course. But there was no
+possibility of getting at the stuff until brennschluss. He put the problem
+out of his mind and concentrated on what his men were saying.
+
+"... and he slugged into that asteroid going close to seven AU's," Santos
+was saying. The little Filipino corporal shrugged expressively.
+
+Rip recognized the story. It was about a supply ship, a chemical drive
+rocket job that had blasted into an asteroid a few years before.
+
+Private Dowst shrugged, too. "Too bad. High vack was waiting for him.
+Nothing you can do when Old Man Nothing wants you."
+
+Rip listened, interested. This was the talk of old space hands. They had
+given the high vacuum of empty space a personality, calling it "high
+vack," or "Old Man Nothing." With understandable fatalism, they
+believed--or said they believed--that when high vacuum really wanted you,
+there was nothing you could do.
+
+Rip had come across an interesting bit of word knowledge. Spacemen and
+Planeteers alike had a way of using the phrase, "By Gemini!" Gemini, of
+course, was the constellation of the Twins, Castor and Pollux. Both were
+useful stars for astrogation. The Roman horse soldiers of ancient history
+had sworn, "By Gemini," or "By the Twins." The Romans believed the stars
+were the famous Greek warriors Castor and Pollux, placed in the heavens
+after their deaths. In later years, the phrase degenerated to simply "by
+jiminy" and its meaning had been lost. Now, although few spacemen knew the
+history of the phrase, they were using it again, correctly.
+
+Other space talk grew out of space itself, and not history. For instance,
+the worst thing that could happen to a man was to have his helmet broken.
+Let the transparent globe be shattered and the results were both quick and
+final. Hence the oft-heard threat, "I'll bust your bubble."
+
+Speaking of bubbles ... Rip realized suddenly that he and his men would
+have to live in bubbles and space suits while on the asteroid. None of the
+minor planets were big enough to have an atmosphere or much gravity.
+
+If only he could get a look into those cases! But the ship was still
+decelerating and he would have to wait. He put his head against the chair
+rest and settled down to wait as patiently as he could.
+
+Brennschluss was a long time coming. When the deceleration finally
+stopped, Rip didn't wait for gravity. He hauled himself out of the chair
+and the squadroom and went down the corridor hand over hand. He headed
+straight for where the supplies were stacked, his Planeteers close behind
+him.
+
+Commander O'Brine arrived at the same time. "We're starting to scan for
+the asteroid," he greeted Rip. "May be some time before we find it."
+
+"Where are we, sir?" Rip asked.
+
+"Just above the asteroid belt near the outer edge. We're beyond the
+position where the asteroid was sighted, moving along what the _Altair_
+figured as its orbit. I'm not stretching space, Foster, when I tell you
+we're hunting for a needle in a junk pile. This part of space is filled
+with more objects than you would imagine, and they all register on the
+rad-screens."
+
+"We'll find it," Rip said confidently.
+
+O'Brine nodded. "Yes. But it probably will take some hunting. Meanwhile,
+let's get at those cases. The supply clerk is on his way."
+
+The supply clerk arrived, issued tools to the Planeteers, then opened a
+plastic case attached to one of the boxes and produced lists. As the
+Planeteers opened and unpacked the crates, Rip and O'Brine inspected and
+the clerk checked the items off.
+
+The first case produced a complete chemical cutting unit with an
+assortment of cutting tips and adapters. Rip looked around for the gas
+cylinders and saw none. "Something's wrong," he objected. "Where's the
+fuel supply for the torch?"
+
+The supply clerk inspected the lists, shuffled papers, and found the
+answer.
+
+"The following," he read, "are to be supplied from the _Scorpius_
+complement. One landing boat, large, model twenty-eight. Eight each,
+oxygen cutting unit gas bottles. Four each, chemical cutting unit fuel
+tanks."
+
+"That's that," Rip said, relieved. Apparently he was supposed to do a lot
+of cutting on the asteroid, probably of the thorium itself. The hot flame
+of the torch could melt any known substance. The torch itself could melt
+in unskilled hands.
+
+The next case yielded a set of astrogation instruments carefully cradled
+in a soft, rubbery plastic. Rip left them in the case and put them to one
+side. As he did so, Sergeant-major Koa let out a whistle of surprise.
+
+"Lieutenant, look at this!"
+
+Corporal Santos exclaimed, "Well stonker me for a stupid space squid! Do
+they expect us to find any people on this asteroid?"
+
+The object was a portable rocket launcher designed to fire light attack
+rockets. It was a standard item of fighting equipment for Planeteers.
+
+"I recognize the shape of those cases over there, now," Koa said. "Ten
+racks of rockets for the launcher, one rack to a case."
+
+Rip scratched his head. He was as puzzled as Santos. Why supply fighting
+equipment for a crew on an asteroid that couldn't possibly have any living
+thing on it?
+
+He left the puzzle for the future and called for more cases. The next two
+yielded projectile type handguns for ten men, with ammunition, and
+standard Planeteer space knives. The space knives had hidden blades which
+were driven forth violently when the operator pushed a thumb lever,
+releasing the gas in a cartridge contained in the handle. The blades
+snapped forth with enough force to break a bubble, or to cut through a
+space suit. They were designed for the sole purpose of space hand-to-hand
+combat.
+
+The Planeteers looked at each other. What were they up against, that such
+equipment was needed on a barren asteroid?
+
+Private Dowst opened a box that contained a complete tool kit, the tools
+designed to be handled by men in space suits. Yards of wire, for several
+purposes, were wound on reels. Two hand-driven dynamos capable of
+developing great power were included.
+
+Corporal Pederson found a small case which contained books, the latest
+astronomical data sheets, and a space computer and scratch board. These
+were obviously for Rip's personal use. He examined them. There were all
+the references he would need for computing orbit, speed, and just about
+anything else that might be required. He had to admire the thoroughness of
+whoever had written the order. The unknown Planeteer had assumed that the
+space cruiser would not have all the astrophysics references necessary and
+had included a copy of each.
+
+Several large cases remained. Koa ripped the side from one and let out an
+exclamation. Rip hurried over and looked in. His stomach did a quick
+orbital reverse. Great Cosmos! The thing was an atomic bomb!
+
+           [Illustration: Great Cosmos! It Was An Atomic Bomb!]
+
+                   Great Cosmos! It Was An Atomic Bomb!
+
+
+Commander O'Brine leaned over his shoulder and peered at the lettering on
+the cylinder. "Equivalent ten KT."
+
+In other words, the explosion the harmless-looking cylinder could produce
+was equivalent to 10,000 tons of TNT, a chemical explosive no longer in
+actual use but still used for comparison.
+
+Rip asked huskily, "Any more of those things?" The importance of the job
+was becoming increasingly clear to him. Nuclear explosives were not used
+without good reason. The fissionable material was too valuable for other
+purposes.
+
+The sides came off the remaining cases. Some of them held fat tubes of
+conventional rocket fuel in solid form, the detonators carefully packed
+separately.
+
+There were three other atomic bombs, making four in all. There were two
+bombs each of five KT and ten KT.
+
+Commander O'Brine looked at the amazing assortment of stuff. "Does that
+check, clerk?"
+
+The spaceman nodded. "Yes, sir. I found another notation that says food
+supplies and personal equipment to be supplied by the _Scorpius_."
+
+"Well, vack me for a Venusian rabbit!" O'Brine muttered. He tugged at his
+ear. "You could dump me on that asteroid with this assortment of junk and
+I'd spend the rest of my life there. I don't see how you can use this
+stuff to move an asteroid!"
+
+"Maybe that's why the Federation sent Planeteers," Rip said, and was sorry
+the moment the words were out.
+
+O'Brine's jaw muscles bulged, but he held his temper. "I'm going to
+pretend I didn't hear that, Foster. We have to get along until the
+asteroid is safely in an orbit around earth. After that, I'm going to take
+a great deal of pleasure in feeding you to the spacefish, piece by piece."
+
+It was Rip's turn to get red. "I'm sorry, Commander. Accept my apologies."
+He certainly had a lot to learn about space etiquette. Apparently there
+was a time for spacemen and Planeteers to fight each other, and a time for
+them to cooperate like friends. He hoped he'd catch on after a while.
+
+"I'm sure you'll be able to figure out what to do with this stuff,"
+O'Brine said. "If you need help, let me know."
+
+And Rip knew his apology was accepted.
+
+The deputy commander arrived, drew O'Brine aside, and whispered in his
+ear. The commander let out an exclamation and started out of the room. At
+the door he turned. "Better come along, Foster."
+
+Rip followed as the commander led the way to his own quarters. At the
+door, two space officers were waiting, their faces grave.
+
+O'Brine motioned them to chairs. "All right. Let's have it."
+
+The senior space officer held out a sheet of flimsy. It was pale blue, the
+color used for highly confidential documents. "Sir, this came in Space
+Council special cipher."
+
+"Read it aloud," O'Brine ordered.
+
+"Yessir. It's addressed to you, this ship. From Planeteer Intelligence,
+Marsport. 'Consops cruiser departed general direction your area. Agents
+report crew _Altair_ may have leaked data re asteroid. Take appropriate
+action.' It's signed 'Williams, SOS, Commanding.'"
+
+Rip saw the meaning of the message instantly. The Consolidation of
+People's Governments of earth, traditional enemies and rivals of the
+Federation of Free Governments, needed radioactive minerals as badly, or
+worse, than the Federation. In space it was first come, first take. They
+had to find the asteroid quickly. It was to prevent Consops from knowing
+of the asteroid that security measures had been taken. They hadn't worked,
+because of loose space chatter at Marsport.
+
+O'Brine issued quick orders. "Now, get this. We have to work fast.
+Accelerate fifty percent, same course. I want two men on each screen. If
+anything of the right size shows up, decelerate until we can get mass and
+albedo measurements. Snap to it."
+
+The space officers started out, but O'Brine stopped them. "Use one
+long-range screen for scanning high space toward Mars. Let me know the
+minute you get a blip, because it probably will be that Consops cruiser.
+Have the missile ports cleared for action."
+
+Rip's eyes opened. Clear the missile ports? That meant getting the cruiser
+in fighting shape, ready for instant action. "You wouldn't fire on that
+Consops cruiser, would you, sir?"
+
+O'Brine gave him a grim smile. "Certainly not, Foster. It's against orders
+to start anything with Consops cruisers. You know why. The situation is so
+tense that a fight between two space ships might plunge earth into war."
+His smile got even grimmer. "But you never know. The Consops ship might
+fire first. Or an accident might happen."
+
+The commander leaned forward. "We'll find that asteroid for you, Mr.
+Planeteer. We'll put you on it and see you on your way. Then we'll ride
+space along with you, and if any Consops thieves try to take over and
+collect that thorium for themselves, they'll find Kevin O'Brine waiting.
+That's a promise, boy."
+
+Rip felt a lot better. He sat back in his chair and regarded the commander
+with mixed respect and something else. Against his will, he was beginning
+to like the man. No doubt of it, the _Scorpius_ was well named. And the
+sting in the scorpion's tail was O'Brine himself.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER DIVE - THE SMALL GRAY WORLD
+
+
+Rip rejoined his Planeteers in the supply room and motioned for them to
+gather around him. "I know why Terra base sent us the fighting equipment,"
+he announced. "They were afraid word of this thorium asteroid would leak
+out to Consops--and it has. A Connie cruiser blasted off from Marsport and
+headed this way."
+
+He watched the faces of his men carefully, to see how they would take the
+news. They merely looked at each other and shrugged. Conflict with Consops
+was nothing new to them.
+
+"The freighter that found the asteroid landed at Marsport, didn't it?" Koa
+asked. Getting a nod from Rip, he went on, "Then I know what probably
+happened. The two things spacemen can't do are breathe high vack and keep
+their mouths shut. Some of the crew blabbed about the asteroid, probably
+at the Space Club. That's where they hang out. The Connies hang out there,
+too. Result, we get a Connie cruiser after the asteroid."
+
+"You hit it," Rip acknowledged.
+
+Corporal Santos shrugged. "If the Connies try to take the asteroid away,
+they'll have a real warm time. We have ten racks of rockets, twenty-four
+to a rack. That's a lot of snapper-boats we can pick off if they try to
+make a landing."
+
+The Planeteers stopped talking as the voice horn sounded. "Get it! We are
+going into no-weight. Prepare to stay in no-weight indefinitely. Rotation
+stops in two minutes."
+
+Rip realized why the order was given. The _Scorpius_ could not maneuver
+while in a gravity spin and O'Brine wanted to be free to take action if
+necessary.
+
+The voice horn came on again. "Now get it again. The ship may maneuver
+suddenly. Prepare for acceleration or deceleration without warning. One
+minute to no-weight."
+
+Rip gave quick orders. "Get lines around the equipment and prepare to haul
+it. I'll get landing boats assigned and we can load. Then prepare space
+packs. Lay out suits and bubbles. We want to be ready the moment we get
+the word."
+
+Lines were taken from a locker and secured to the equipment. As the
+Planeteers worked, the ship's spinning slowed and stopped. They were in
+no-weight. Rip grabbed for a hand cord that hung from the wall and hauled
+himself out into the engine control room. The deputy commander was at his
+post, waiting tensely for orders. Rip thrust against a bulkhead with one
+foot and floated to his side. "I need two landing boats, sir," he
+requested. "One stays on the asteroid with us."
+
+"Take numbers five and six. I'll assign a pilot to bring number five back
+to the ship after you've landed."
+
+"Thank you." Rip would have been surprised at the deputy's quick assent if
+Commander O'Brine hadn't shown him that the spacemen were ready to do
+anything possible to aid the Planeteers. He went back to the supply room
+and told Koa which boats were to be used, instructed him to get the
+supplies aboard, then made his way to Commander O'Brine's office.
+
+O'Brine was not in. Rip searched and found him in the astro-plot room,
+watching a 'scope. Green streaks called "blips" marked the panel, each one
+indicating an asteroid.
+
+"All too small," O'Brine said. "We've only seen two large ones, and they
+were too large."
+
+"Space is certainly full of junk," Rip commented. "At least this corner of
+it is full."
+
+A junior space officer overheard him. "This is nothing. We're on the edge
+of the asteroid belt. Closer to the middle, there's so much stuff a ship
+has to crawl through it."
+
+Rip wandered over to the main control desk. A senior space officer was
+seated before a simple panel on which there were only a dozen small
+levers, a visiphone, and a radar screen. The screen was circular, with
+numbers around the rim like those on an earth-clock. In the center of the
+screen was a tiny circle. The central circle represented the Scorpius. The
+rest of the screen was the area dead ahead. Rip watched and saw several
+blips on it that indicated asteroids. They were all small. He watched,
+interested, as the cruiser overtook them. Once, according to the screen,
+the cruiser passed under an asteroid with a clearance of only a few
+hundred feet.
+
+"You didn't miss that one by much," Rip told the space officer.
+
+"Don't have to miss by much," he retorted. "A few feet are as good as a
+mile in space. Our blast might kick them around a little, and maybe
+there's a little mutual mass attraction, but we don't worry about it."
+
+He pointed to a blip that was just swimming into view, a sharp green point
+against the screen. "We do have to worry about that one." He selected a
+lever and pulled it toward him.
+
+Rip felt sudden weight against his feet. The green point on the screen
+moved downward below center. The feeling of weight ceased. He knew what
+had happened, of course. Around the hull of the ship, set in evenly spaced
+lines, were a series of blast holes through which steam was fired. The
+steam was produced instantly by running water through the heat coils of
+the nuclear engine. By using groups or combinations of steam tubes, the
+control officer could move the ship in any direction or set it rolling,
+spin it end over end or whirl it in an eccentric pattern.
+
+"How do you decide which tubes to use?" Rip asked.
+
+"Depends on what's happening. If we were ducking missiles from an enemy,
+I'd get orders from the commander. But to duck asteroids, there's no
+problem. I go over them by firing the steam tubes along the bottom of the
+ship. That way, you feel the acceleration on your feet. If I fired the top
+tubes the ship would drop out from under those who were standing. They'd
+all end up on the ceiling."
+
+Rip watched for a while longer, then wandered back to Commander O'Brine.
+He was getting anxious. At first, the task of capturing an asteroid and
+moving it back to earth had been rather unreal, like some of the problems
+he had worked out while training on the space platform. Now he was no
+longer calm about it. He had faith in the Terra base Planeteer
+specialists, but they couldn't figure everything out for him. Most of the
+problems of getting the asteroid back to earth would have to be solved by
+Lieutenant Richard Ingalls Peter Foster.
+
+A junior space officer suddenly called, "Sir, I have a reading at two
+seventy degrees, twenty-three degrees eight minutes high."
+
+Commander O'Brine jumped up so fast that the action shot him to the
+ceiling. He kicked down again and leaned over the officer's 'scope. Rip
+got there by pulling himself right across the top of the chart table.
+
+The green point of light on the 'scope was bigger than any other he had
+seen.
+
+"It's about the right size," O'Brine said. There was excitement in his
+voice. "Correct course. Let's take a look at it."
+
+All hands gripped something with which to steady themselves as the cruiser
+spun swiftly onto the new course. The control officer called, "I have it
+centered, sir. We'll reach it in about an hour at this speed."
+
+"Jack it up," O'Brine ordered. "Heave some neutrons into it. Double speed,
+then decelerate to reach it in thirty minutes."
+
+The control officer issued orders to the engine control room. In a moment
+acceleration plucked at them. O'Brine motioned to Rip. "Come on, Foster.
+Let's see what Analysis makes of this rock."
+
+Rip followed the commander to the deck below where the technical analysts
+were located. His heart was pounding a little faster than usual, and not
+from acceleration, either. He found himself wetting his lips frequently
+and thought, "Get hold of it, boy. You got nothing to worry about but high
+vacuum."
+
+He didn't really believe it. There would be plenty to worry about. Like
+detonating nuclear bombs and trying to figure their blast reaction. Like
+figuring out the course that would take them closest to the sun without
+pulling them into it. Like a thousand things--all of them up to him.
+
+The chief analyst greeted them. "We got the orders to change course,
+Commander. That gave us the location of the asteroid. We're already
+working on it."
+
+"Anything yet?"
+
+"No, sir. We'll have the albedo measurement in a few minutes. It will take
+longer to figure the mass."
+
+The asteroid's efficiency in reflecting sunlight was its albedo. The
+efficiency depended on the material of which it was made. The albedo of
+pure metallic thorium was known. If the asteroid's albedo matched it, that
+would be one piece of evidence.
+
+In the same way, the mass of thorium was known. The measurements of the
+asteroid were being taken. They would be compared with a chunk of thorium
+of the same size. If it worked out, that would be evidence enough.
+
+Commander O'Brine motioned to chairs. "Might as well sit down while we're
+waiting, Foster." He took one of the chairs and looked closely at Rip.
+Suddenly he grinned. "I thought Planeteers never got nervous."
+
+"Who's nervous?" Rip retorted, then answered his own question truthfully.
+"I am. You're right, sir. The closer we get, the more scared I get."
+
+"That's a good sign," O'Brine replied. "It means you'll be careful. Got
+any real doubts about the job?"
+
+Rip thought it over and didn't think so. "Not any real ones. I think we
+can do it. But I'm nervous just the same. Great Cosmos, Commander! This is
+my first assignment, and they give me a whole world to myself and tell me
+to bring it home. Maybe it isn't a very big world, but that doesn't change
+things much."
+
+O'Brine chuckled. "I never expected to get an admission like that from a
+Planeteer."
+
+"And I," Rip retorted, "never expected to make one like that to a
+spaceman."
+
+The chief analyst returned, a sheet of computations in his hand. "Report,
+sir. The albedo measurement is correct. Looks like this may be the one."
+
+"How long before we get the measurements and comparisons?"
+
+"Ten minutes, perhaps."
+
+Rip spoke up. "Sir, there's some data I'll need."
+
+"What, Lieutenant?" The chief analyst pulled a notebook from his pocket.
+
+"I'll need all possible data on the asteroid's speed, orbit, and physical
+measurements. I have to figure a new orbit and what it will take to blast
+the mass into it."
+
+"We'll get those. The orbit will not be exact, of course. We have only two
+reference points. But I think we'll come pretty close."
+
+O'Brine nodded. "Do what you can, Chief. And when Foster gets down to
+doing his calculations, have your men run them through the electronic
+computer for him."
+
+Rip thanked them both, then stood up. "Sir, I'm going back to my men. I
+want to be sure everything is ready. If there's a Connie cruiser headed
+this way, we don't want to lose any time."
+
+"Good idea. I think we'll dump you on the asteroid, Foster, and then blast
+off. Not too far, of course. Just enough to lead the Connie away from you
+if its screen picks us up."
+
+That sounded good to Rip. "We'll be ready when you are, sir."
+
+The chief analyst took less than the estimated ten minutes for his next
+set of figures. Commander O'Brine called personally while Rip was still
+searching for the right landing boat ports. The voice horn bellowed, "Get
+it! Lieutenant Foster. The mass measurements are correct. This is your
+asteroid. Estimated twelve minutes before we reach it. Your data will be
+ready by the time you get back here. Show an exhaust!"
+
+Rip found Koa and the men and asked the sergeant-major for a report.
+
+"We're ready, sir," Koa told him. "We can get out in three minutes. It
+will take us that long to get into space gear. Your stuff is laid out,
+sir."
+
+"Get me the books and charts from the supplies," Rip directed. "Have
+Santos bring them to the chief analyst. I'm going back and figure our
+course. No use doing it the hard way on the asteroid when I can do it in a
+few minutes here with the ship's computer."
+
+He turned and hurried back, hauling himself along by handholds. The ship
+had stopped acceleration and was at no-weight again. As he neared the
+analysis section it went into deceleration, but the pressure was not too
+bad. He made his way against it easily.
+
+The chief analyst was waiting for him. "We have everything you need,
+Lieutenant, except the orbital stuff. We'll do the best we can on that and
+have a good estimate in a few minutes. Meanwhile, you can mark up your
+figures. Incidentally, what power are you going to use to move the
+asteroid?"
+
+"Nuclear explosions," Rip said, and saw the chief's eyes pop. He added,
+"With conventional chemical fuel for corrections."
+
+He felt rising excitement. The whole ship seemed to have come to life.
+There was excited tension in the computer room when he went in with the
+chief. Spacemen, all mathematicians, were waiting for him. As the chief
+led him to a table, they gathered around him.
+
+Rip took command. "Here's what we're after. I need to plot an orbit that
+will get us out of the asteroid belt without any collisions, take us as
+close to the sun as possible without having it capture us, and land us in
+space about ten thousand miles from earth. From then on I'll throw the
+asteroid into a braking ellipse around the earth and I'll be able to make
+any small corrections necessary."
+
+He spread out a solar system chart and marked in the positions of the
+planets as of that moment, using the daily almanac. Then he put down the
+position of the asteroid, taking it from the paper the chief analyst
+handed him.
+
+"Will you make assignments, Chief?"
+
+The chief shook his head. "Make them yourself, Lieutenant. We're at your
+service."
+
+Rip felt a little ashamed of some of the unkind things he had said about
+spacemen. "Thank you." He pointed to a spaceman. "Will you calculate the
+inertia of the asteroid, please?" The spaceman hurried off.
+
+"First thing to do is plot the orbit as though there were no other bodies
+in the system," Rip said. "Where's Santos?"
+
+"Here, sir." The corporal had come in unnoticed with Rip's reference
+books.
+
+Rip had plotted orbits before, but never one for actual use. His palms
+were wet as he laid it out, using prepared tables. When he had finished he
+pointed to a spaceman. "That's it. Will you translate it into analogue
+figures for the computer, please?" He assigned to others the task of
+figuring out the effect Mercury, the sun, and earth would have on the
+orbit, using an assumed speed for the asteroid.
+
+To the chief analyst he gave the job of putting all the data together in
+proper form for feeding to the electronic brain.
+
+It would have taken all spacemen present about ten days to complete the
+job by regular methods, but the electronic computer produced the answer in
+three minutes.
+
+"Thanks a million, Chief," Rip said. "I'll be calling on you again before
+this is over." He tucked the sheets into his pocket.
+
+"Any time, Lieutenant. We'll keep rechecking the figures as we go along.
+If there are any corrections, we'll send them to you. That will give you a
+check on your own figures."
+
+"Don't worry," Rip assured him. "We'll have plenty of corrections."
+
+Deceleration had been dropping steadily. It ceased altogether, leaving
+them weightless. O'Brine's voice came over the speaker. "Get it! Valve
+crews take stations at landing boats five and six. The Planeteers will
+depart in five minutes. Lieutenant Foster will report to central control
+if he cannot be ready in that time."
+
+Santos grinned at Rip. "Here we go, Lieutenant."
+
+Rip's heart would have dropped into his shoes if there had been any
+gravity. Only a little excitement showed on his face, though. He waved his
+thanks at the analysts and grinned back at Santos.
+
+"Show an exhaust, Corporal. High vack is waiting!"
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIX - RIP'S PERSONAL PLANET
+
+
+Rip rechecked his space suit before putting on his helmet. The air seal
+was intact and his heating and ventilating units worked. He slapped his
+knee pouches to make sure the space knife was handy to his left hand and
+the pistol to his right.
+
+Koa was already fully dressed. He handed Rip the shoulder case that
+contained the plotting board. Santos had taken charge of Rip's astrogation
+instruments.
+
+A spaceman was waiting with Rip's bubble. At a nod, the spaceman slipped
+it on his head. Rip reached up and gave it a quarter turn. The locking
+mechanism clamped into place. He turned his belt ventilator control on
+full and the space suit puffed out. When it was fully inflated he watched
+the pressure gauge. It was steady. No leaks in suit or helmet. He let the
+pressure go down to normal.
+
+Koa's voice buzzed in his ears. "Hear me, sir?"
+
+Rip turned the volume of his communicator down a little and spoke in a
+normal voice. "I hear you. Am I clear?"
+
+"Yessir. All men dressed and ready."
+
+Rip made a final check. He counted his men, then personally inspected
+their suits. The boats were next. They were typical landing craft, shaped
+like rectangular boxes. There was no need for streamlining in the vacuum
+of space. They were not pressurized. Only men in space suits rode in the
+ungainly boxes.
+
+He checked all blast tubes to make sure they were clear. There were small
+single tubes on each side of the craft. A clogged one could explode and
+blow the boat up.
+
+Koa, he knew, had checked everything, but the final responsibility was
+his. In space, no officer or sergeant took anyone's word for anything that
+might mean lives. Each checked every detail personally.
+
+Rip looked around and saw the Planeteers watching him. There was approval
+on the faces behind the clear helmets, and he knew they were satisfied
+with his thoroughness.
+
+At last, certain that everything was in good order, he said quietly,
+"Pilots, man your boats."
+
+Dowst got into one and a spaceman into the other. Dowst's boat would stay
+with them on the asteroid. The spaceman would bring the other to the ship.
+
+Commander O'Brine stepped through the valve into the boat lock. A spaceman
+handed him a hand communicator. He spoke into it. Rip couldn't have heard
+him through the helmet otherwise. "All set, Foster?"
+
+"Ready, sir."
+
+"Good. The long-range screen picked up a blip a few minutes ago. It's
+probably that Connie cruiser."
+
+Rip swallowed. The Planeteers froze, waiting for the commander's next
+words.
+
+"Our screens are a little better than theirs, so there's a slim chance
+they haven't picked us up yet. We'll drop you and get out of here. But
+don't worry. We have your orbit fixed and we'll find you when the screens
+are clear."
+
+"Suppose they find us while you're gone?" Rip asked.
+
+"It's a chance," O'Brine admitted. "You'll have to take spaceman's luck on
+that one. But we won't be far away. We'll duck behind Vesta or another of
+the big asteroids and hide so their screens won't pick up our motion.
+Every now and then we'll sneak out for a look, if the screen seems clear.
+If those high-vack vermin do find you, get on the landing boat radio and
+yell for help. We'll come blasting."
+
+He waved a hand, thumb and forefinger held together in the ancient symbol
+for "everything right," then ordered, "Get flaming." He stepped through
+the valve.
+
+"Clear the lock," Rip ordered. "Open outer valve when ready."
+
+                  [Illustration: "Get Flaming, Foster!"]
+
+                          "Get Flaming, Foster!"
+
+
+He took a quick final look around. The pilots were in the boats. His
+Planeteers were standing by, safety lines already attached to the boats
+and their belts. He moved into position and snapped his own line to a ring
+on Dowst's boat. The spacemen vanished through the valve and the massive
+door slid closed. The overhead lights flicked out. Rip snapped on his belt
+light and the others followed suit.
+
+In front of the boxlike landing boats a great door slid open and air from
+the lock rushed out. Rip knew it was only imagination, but he felt for a
+moment as though the bitter cold of space, near absolute zero, had
+penetrated his suit. Beyond the lights from their belts he saw stars, and
+recognized the constellation for which the space cruiser was named. A
+superstitious spaceman would have taken that as a good sign. Rip admitted
+that it was nice to see.
+
+"Float 'em," he ordered.
+
+The Planeteers gripped handholds at the entrance with one hand and
+launching rails on the boats with the other and heaved. The boats slid
+into space. As the safety lines tightened, the Planeteers were pulled
+after the boat.
+
+Rip left his feet with a little spring and shot through the door. Directly
+below him the asteroid gleamed darkly in the light of the tiny sun. His
+first reaction was, "Great Cosmos! What a little chunk of rock!" But that
+was because he was used to looking from the space platform at the great
+curve of Terra or at the big ball of the moon. Actually the asteroid was
+fair-sized when compared with most of its kind.
+
+The Planeteers hauled themselves into the boats by their safety lines. Rip
+waited until all were in, then pulled himself along his own line to the
+black square oL the door. Koa was waiting to give him a hand into the
+craft.
+
+The Planeteers were standing, except for Dowst. Rip had never seen an
+old-type railroad or he might have likened the landing boat to a railroad
+box car. It was about the same size and shape, but it had huge "windows"
+on both sides and in front of the pilot--windows that were not enclosed.
+The space-suited men needed no protection.
+
+"Blast," Rip ordered.
+
+A pulse of fire spurted from the top of each boat, driving them
+bottom-first toward the asteroid.
+
+"Land at will," Rip said.
+
+The asteroid loomed large as he looked through an opening. It was rocky,
+but there were plenty of smooth places.
+
+Dowst picked one. He was an expert pilot and Rip watched him with
+pleasure. The exhaust from the top lessened and fire spurted soundlessly
+from the bottom. Dowst balanced the opposite thrusts of the top and bottom
+blasts with the delicacy of a man threading a needle. In a few moments the
+boat was hovering a foot above the asteroid. Dowst cut the exhausts and
+Rip stepped out onto the tiny planet.
+
+The Planeteers knew what to do. Corporal Pederson produced hardened steel
+spikes with ring tops. Private Trudeau had a sledge. Driving the first
+spike would be the hardest, because the action of swinging the hammer
+would propel the Planeteer like a rocket exhaust. In space, the law that
+every action has an equal and opposite reaction had to be remembered every
+moment.
+
+Rip watched, interested in how his men would tackle the problem. He didn't
+know the answer himself, because he had never driven a spike on an
+airless, almost gravityless world and no one had ever mentioned it to him.
+
+Pederson searched the gray metal with his torch and found a slender spur
+of thorium perhaps two feet high a short distance from the boat. "Here's a
+hold," he said. "Come on, Frenchy. You, too, Bradshaw."
+
+Trudeau, carrying the sledge, walked up to the spur of rock and stood with
+his heels against it. Pederson sat down on the ground with the spur
+between his legs. He stretched, hooking his heels around Trudeau's ankles,
+anchoring him. With his gloves he grabbed the seat of the Frenchman's
+space suit.
+
+Bradshaw took a spike and held it against the gray metal ground. The
+Frenchman swung, his hammer noiseless as it drove the tough spike in. A
+few inches into the metal was enough. Bradshaw took a wrench from his
+belt, put it on the head of the spike and turned it. Below the surface,
+teeth on the spike bit into the metal. It would hold.
+
+The rest was easy. The spike was used to anchor Trudeau while he drove
+another, at his longest reach. Then the second spike became his anchor,
+and so on, until enough spikes had been set to lace the boat down against
+any sudden shock.
+
+The boat piloted by the spaceman was tied to the one that would remain and
+the Planeteers floated its supplies through a window. It took only a few
+moments, with Planeteers forming a chain from inside the boat to a spot a
+little distance away. Even the heaviest crates weighed almost nothing.
+They passed them from one to the other like balloons.
+
+"All clear, sir," Koa called.
+
+Rip stepped inside and made a quick inspection. The box was empty except
+for the spaceman pilot. He put a hand on the pilot's shoulder. "On your
+way, Rocky. Thanks."
+
+"You're welcome, sir." The pilot added, "Watch out for high vack."
+
+Rip and Koa stepped out and walked a little distance away. Santos and
+Pederson cast the landing boat adrift and shoved it away from the anchored
+boat. In a moment fire spurted from the bottom tube, spreading over the
+dull metal and licking at the feet of the Planeteers.
+
+Rip watched the boat rise upward to the great, sleek, dark bulk of the
+_Scorpius_. The landing boat maneuvered into the air lock with brief
+flares from its exhausts. In a few moments the sparkling blast of
+auxiliary rocket tubes moved the spaceship away. O'Brine was putting a
+little distance between his ship and the asteroid before turning on the
+nuclear drive. The ship decreased in size until Rip saw it only as a dark,
+oval silhouette against the Milky Way, then the exhaust of the nuclear
+drive grew into a mighty column of glowing blue and the ship flamed into
+space.
+
+For a moment Rip had a wild impulse to yell for the ship to come back. He
+had been in vacuum before, but only as a cadet, with an officer in charge.
+Now, suddenly, he was the one responsible. The job was his. He stiffened.
+Planeteer officers didn't worry about things like that. He forced his mind
+to the job in hand.
+
+The next step was to establish a base. The base would have to be on the
+dark side of the asteroid, once it was in its new orbit. That meant a
+temporary base now and a better one later, when they had blasted the
+little planet onto its new course. He estimated roughly the approximate
+positions where he would place his charges, using the sun and the star
+Canopus as visual guides.
+
+"This will do for a temporary base," he announced. "Rig the boat
+compartment. While two of you are doing that, the rest break out the
+rocket launcher and rocket racks and assemble the cutting torch. Koa will
+make assignments."
+
+While the sergeant-major translated Rip's general instructions into
+specific orders for each man, the young lieutenant walked to the edge of
+the sun belt. There was no atmosphere, so the edge was a sharp line
+between dark and light. There wasn't much light, either. They were too far
+from the sun for that. But as they neared the sun, the darkness would be
+their protection. They would get so close to Sol that the metal on the sun
+side would get soft as butter.
+
+He bent close to the uneven surface. It was clean metal, not oxidized at
+all. The thorium had never been exposed to oxygen. Here and there,
+pyramids of metal thrust up from the asteroid, sometimes singly, sometimes
+in clusters. They were metal crystal formations. He guessed that once,
+long ages ago, the asteroid had been a part of something much bigger,
+perhaps a planet. One theory said the asteroids were formed when a planet
+exploded. This asteroid might have been a pocket of pure thorium in the
+planet.
+
+There would be plenty to do in a short while, but meanwhile he enjoyed the
+sensation of being on a tiny world in space with only a handful of
+Planeteers for company. He smiled. "King Foster," he said to himself.
+"Monarch of a thorium space speck." It was a rather nice feeling, even
+though he laughed at himself for thinking it. Since he was in command of
+the detachment, he could in all truth say this was his own personal
+planet. It would be a good bit of space humor to spring on the folks back
+on Terra.
+
+"Yep, I was boss of a whole world, once. Made myself king. Emperor of all
+the metal molecules and king of the thorium spurs. And my subjects obeyed
+my every command." He added, "Thanks to Planeteer discipline. The
+detachment commander is boss."
+
+He reminded himself that he'd better stop gathering spacedust and start
+acting like a detachment commander. He walked back to the landing boat,
+stepping with care. With such low gravity a false step could send him high
+above the asteroid. Of course that would not be dangerous, since the space
+suits were equipped with six small compressed air bottles for emergency
+propulsion. But it would be embarrassing.
+
+Inside the boat, Dowst and Nunez were setting up the compartment. Sections
+of the rear wall swung out and locked into place against airtight seals,
+forming a box at the rear end of the boat. Equipment sealed in the stern
+next to the rocket tube supplied light, heat, and air. It was a simple but
+necessary arrangement. Without it, the Planeteers could not have eaten.
+
+There was no air lock for the compartment. The half of the detachment not
+on duty would walk in, seal it up, turn on the equipment, and wait until
+the gauges registered sufficient air and heat, then remove their space
+suits. When it was time to leave again, they would don suits, open the
+door and walk out, and the next shift would enter and repeat the process.
+Earlier models had permanent compartments, but they took up too much room
+in craft designed for carrying as many men and as much equipment as
+possible. They were strictly work boats, and hard experience had showed
+the best design.
+
+The rocket launcher was already set up near the boat. It was a simple
+affair, with four adjustable legs bolted to ground spikes. The legs held a
+movable cradle in which the rocket racks were placed. High-geared hand
+controls enabled the gunner to swing the cradle at high speed in any
+direction except straight down. A simple, illuminated optical sight was
+all the gunner needed. Since there was no gravity and no atmosphere in
+space, the missiles flashed out in a straight line, continuing on into
+infinity if they missed their targets. Proximity fuses made this a remote
+possibility. If the rocket got anywhere near the target, the shell would
+explode.
+
+Rip found his astrogation instruments set carefully to one side. He took
+the data sheets from his case and examined them. Now came the work of
+finding the exact spots in which to place his atomic charges. Since the
+computer aboard ship had done all the mathematics necessary, he needed
+only to take sights to determine the precise positions.
+
+He took a transit-like instrument from the case, pulled out the legs of
+its self-contained tripod, then carried it to a spot near where he had
+estimated the first charge would be placed. The instrument was equipped
+with three movable rings to be set for the celestial equator, for the zero
+meridian, and for the right ascension of any convenient star. Using a
+regular level would have been much simpler. The instrument had one, but
+with so little gravity to activate it, the thing was useless.
+
+The sights were specially designed for use in space and his bubble was no
+obstacle in taking observations. He merely put the clear plastic against
+the curved sight and looked into it much as he would have looked through a
+telescope on earth.
+
+As he did so, a hint of pale pink light caught the corner of his eye. He
+backed away from the instrument and turned his head quickly, looking at
+the colorimeter-type radiation detector at the side of his helmet. It was
+glowing.
+
+An icy chill sent a shiver through him. Great, gorgeous galaxies! He had
+forgotten ... had Koa and the others? He turned so fast he lost balance
+and floated above the surface like a captive balloon. Santos, who had been
+standing near by to help if requested, hooked a toe on a ground spike,
+caught him, and set him upright on the ground again.
+
+"Get me the radiation detection instruments," he ordered.
+
+Koa sensed the urgency in his voice and got the instruments himself. Rip
+switched them on and read the illuminated dial on the alpha counter.
+Plenty high, as was natural. But no danger there--alpha particles couldn't
+penetrate the space suits. Then, his hand clammy inside the space glove,
+he switched on the other meter. The gamma count was far below the alpha,
+but there were too many of the rays around for comfort. Inside the helmet,
+his face turned pale.
+
+There was no immediate danger. It would take many days to build up a dose
+of gamma that could hurt them. But gamma was not the only radiation. They
+were in space, fully exposed to equally dangerous cosmic radiation.
+
+The Planeteers had gathered while he read the instruments. Now they stood
+watching him. They knew the significance of what he had found.
+
+"I ought to be busted to recruit," he told them. "I knew this asteroid was
+thorium, and that thorium is radioactive. If I had used my head, I would
+have added nuclite shielding to the list of supplies the _Scorpius_
+provided. We could have had enough of it to protect us while around our
+base, even if we couldn't be protected while working on the charges. That
+would at least have kept our dosage down enough for safety."
+
+"No one else thought of it, either, sir," Koa reminded.
+
+"It was my job to think of it, and I didn't. So I've put us in a time
+squeeze. If the _Scorpius_ gets back soon, we can get the shielding before
+our radiation dosage has built up very high. If the ship doesn't come
+back, the dosage will mount."
+
+He looked at them grimly. "It won't kill us, and it won't even make us
+very sick. I'll have the ship take us off before we build up that much
+dosage."
+
+Santos started. "But, sir! That means ..."
+
+"I know what it means," Rip stated bitterly. "It means the ship has got to
+return in time to give us some nuclite shielding, or we'll be the
+laughingstock of the Special Order Squadrons--the detachment that started a
+job the spacemen had to finish!"
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVEN - EARTHBOUND!
+
+
+There was something else that Rip didn't add, although he knew the
+Planeteers would realize it in a few minutes. Probably some of them
+already had thought of it.
+
+To move the asteroid into a new orbit, they were going to fire nuclear
+bombs. Most of the highly radioactive fission products would be blown into
+space, but some would be drawn back by the asteroid's slight gravity. The
+craters would be highly radioactive and some radioactive debris would be
+scattered around, too. Every particle would add to the problem.
+
+"Is there anything we can do, sir?" Koa asked.
+
+Rip shook his head inside the transparent bubble. "If you have a good luck
+charm in your pocket, you might talk to it. That's about all."
+
+Nuclear physics had been part of his training. He read the gamma meter
+again and did some quick mental calculations. They would be exposed to
+radiation for the entire trip, at a daily dosage of--
+
+Koa interrupted his train of thought. Evidently the sergeant-major had
+been doing some calculations of his own. "How long will we be on this
+rock, sir? You've never told us how long the trip will take."
+
+Rip said quietly, "With luck, it will take us a little more than three
+weeks."
+
+He could see their faces faintly in the dim sunlight. They were shocked.
+Space ships blasted through space between the inner planets in a matter of
+hours. The nuclear drive cruisers, which could approach almost half the
+speed of light, had brought even distant Pluto within easy reach. The
+inner planets could be covered in a matter of minutes on a straight speed
+run, although to take off from one and land on the other meant
+considerable time used in acceleration and deceleration.
+
+The Planeteers were used to such speed. Hearing that it would take over
+three weeks to reach earth had jarred them.
+
+"This piece of metal isn't a space ship," Rip reminded them. "At the
+moment, our speed around the sun is just slightly more than ten miles a
+second. If we just shifted orbits and kept the same speed, it would take
+us months to reach Terra. But we'll use two bombs to kick the asteroid
+into the orbit, then fire one to increase speed. The estimate is that
+we'll push up to about forty miles a second."
+
+Koa spoke up. "That's not bad when you think that Mercury is the fastest
+planet and it only makes about thirty miles a second."
+
+"Right," Rip agreed. "And when we really have the sun's gravity pulling
+us, we'll increase speed. We'll lose a little after we pass the sun, but
+by then we'll be almost home."
+
+It was just space luck that Terra was on the other side of the sun from
+the asteroid's present position. By the time they approached, it would be
+in a good place, just far enough from the line to the sun to avoid
+changing course. Of course Rip's planned orbit was not aiming the asteroid
+at earth, but at where earth would be at the end of the trip.
+
+"That means more than three weeks of radiation, then," Corporal Santos
+observed. "Can we take it, sir?"
+
+Rip shrugged, but the gesture couldn't be seen inside his space suit. "At
+the rate we're getting radiation now, plus what I estimate we'll get from
+the nuclear explosions, we'll get the maximum safety limit in just three
+weeks. That leaves us no margin, even if we risk getting radiation
+sickness. So we have to get shielding pretty soon. If we do, we can last
+the trip."
+
+Private Dominico saluted, clumsy in his space suit. "Sir, I ask permission
+to speak."
+
+Rip hid a smile at the little Italian's formal manner. In space, formality
+was forgotten. "What is it, Dominico?"
+
+"Sir, I think we not worry so much about this radiation, eh? You will
+think of some ways to take care of it, sir. What I want to ask, sir, is
+when do we let go the bombs? Radiation I do not know much about, but I can
+set those bombs like you want them."
+
+Rip was touched by the Italian Planeteer's faith in his ability to solve
+the radiation problem. That was why being an officer in the Special Order
+Squadrons was so challenging. The men knew the kind of training their
+officers had and they expected them to come up with technical solutions as
+the situation required.
+
+"You'll have a chance to set the bombs in just a short while," he said
+crisply. "Let's get busy. Koa, load all bombs but one ten KT on the
+landing boat. Stake the rest of the equipment down. While you're doing
+that, I'll find the spots where we plant the charges. I'll need two men
+now and more later."
+
+He went back to his instrument, putting the radiation problem out of his
+mind--a rather hard thing to do with the colorimeter glowing pink next to
+his shoulder. Koa detailed men to load the nuclear bombs into the landing
+craft, left Pederson to supervise, and then brought Santos with him to
+help Rip.
+
+"The bombs are being put on the boat, sir," Koa reported.
+
+"Fine. There isn't too much chance of the blasts setting them off, but
+we'll take no chances at all. Koa, I'm going to shoot a line straight out
+toward Alpha Centauri. You walk that way and turn on your belt light. I'll
+tell you which way to move."
+
+He adjusted his sighting rings while the sergeant-major glided away.
+Moving around on a no-weight world was more like skating than walking. A
+regular walk would have lifted Koa into space with every step. Of course
+the asteroid had some gravity, but it was so slight that it didn't count.
+
+Rip centered the top of the instrument's vertical hair line on Alpha
+Centauri, then waited until Koa was almost out of sight over the
+asteroid's horizon, which was only a few hundred yards away.
+
+He turned up the volume on his helmet communicator. "Koa, move about ten
+feet to your left."
+
+Koa did so. Rip sighted past the vertical hairline at the belt light.
+"That's a little too far. Take a small step to the right. Good ... just a
+few inches more ... hold it. You're right in position. Stand where you
+are."
+
+"Yessir."
+
+Rip turned to Santos. "Stand here, Corporal. Take a sight at Koa through
+the instrument to get your bearings, then hold position."
+
+Santos did so. Now the two lights gave Rip one of the lines he needed. He
+called for two more men, and Trudeau and Nunez joined him. "Follow me," he
+directed.
+
+Rip picked up the instrument and carried it to a point 90 degrees from the
+line represented by Koa and Santos. He put the instrument down and zeroed
+it on Messier 44, the Beehive star cluster in the constellation Cancer.
+For the second sighting star he chose Beta Pyxis as being closest to the
+line he wanted, made the slight adjustments necessary to set the line of
+sight since Pyxis wasn't exactly on it, then directed Trudeau into
+position as he had Koa. Nunez took position behind the instrument and Rip
+had the cross-fix he wanted.
+
+He called for Dowst, then carried the instrument to the center of the
+cross formed by the four men. Using the instrument, he rechecked the lines
+from the center out. They were within a hair or two of being exactly on,
+and a slight error wouldn't hurt anyway. He knew he would have to correct
+with rocket blasts once the asteroid was in the new orbit.
+
+"X marks the spot," he told Dowst. He put his toe on the place where the
+cross lines met.
+
+Dowst took a spike from his belt and made an X in the metal ground.
+
+"All set," Rip announced. "You four men can move now. Let's have the
+cutting equipment over here, Koa."
+
+The Planeteers were all waiting for instructions now. In a few moments the
+equipment was ready, fuel and oxygen bottles attached.
+
+"Who's the champion torchman?" Rip asked.
+
+Koa replied, "Kemp is, sir."
+
+Kemp, one of the two American privates, took the torch and waited for
+orders. "We need a hole six feet across and twenty feet deep," Rip told
+him. "Go to it."
+
+"How about direction, sir?" Kemp asked.
+
+"Straight down. We'll take a bearing on an overhead star when you're in a
+few feet."
+
+Dowst inscribed a circle around the X he had made and stood back. Kemp
+pushed the striker button and the torch flared. "Watch your eyes," he
+warned. The Planeteers reached for belt controls and turned the rheostats
+that darkened the clear bubbles electronically. Kemp adjusted his flame
+until it was blue-white, a knife of fire brighter by far than the sun.
+
+Koa stepped behind Kemp and leaned against his back, because the flame of
+the torch was like an exhaust, driving Kemp backward. Kemp bent down and
+the torch sliced into the metal of the asteroid like a hot knife into ice.
+The metal splintered a little as the heat raised it instantly from almost
+absolute zero to many thousands of degrees.
+
+When the circle was completed, Kemp adjusted his torch again and the flame
+lengthened. He moved inside the circle and cut at an angle toward the
+perimeter. His control was quick and certain. In a moment he stood aside
+and Koa lifted out a perfect ring of thorium. It varied from a knife edge
+on the inner side to 18 inches thick on the outer edge.
+
+In the middle of the circle there was now a cone of metal. Kemp cut around
+it, the torch angling toward the center. A piece shaped like two cones set
+base to base came free. Since the metal cooled in the bitter chill of
+space almost as fast as Kemp could cut it, there was no heat to worry
+about.
+
+Alternately cutting from the outside and the center of the hole, Kemp
+worked his way downward until his head was below ground level. Rip called
+a halt. Kemp gave a little jump and floated straight upward. Koa caught
+him and swung him to one side. Rip stepped into the hole and Santos gave
+him a slight push to send him to the bottom. Rip knelt and sighted upward.
+Kemp had done a good job. The star Rip had chosen as an overhead guide was
+straight up.
+
+He bounced out of the hole and as Koa caught him he told Kemp to go ahead.
+"Dominico, here's your chance. Get tools and wire. Find a timer and
+connect up the ten kiloton bomb. Nunez, bring it here while Dominico gets
+what he needs."
+
+Kemp was burning his way into the asteroid at a good rate. Every few
+moments he pushed another circle or spindle of thorium out of the hole.
+Rip directed some of the men to carry them away, to the other side of the
+asteroid. He didn't want chunks of thorium flying around from the blast.
+
+The sergeant-major had a sudden thought. He cut off his communicator,
+motioned to Rip to do the same, then put his helmet against Rip's for
+direct communication. He didn't want the others to hear what he had to
+say. His voice came like a roar from, the bottom of a well. "Lieutenant,
+do you suppose there's any chance the blast might break up the asteroid?
+Maybe split it in two?"
+
+The same thought had occurred to Rip on the _Scorpius_. His calculations
+had showed that the metal would do little more than compress, except where
+it melted from the terrific heat of the bomb. That would be only in and
+around the shaft. He was sure the men at Terra base had figured it out
+before they decided that A-bombs would be necessary to throw the asteroid
+into a new orbit. He wasn't worried. Cracks in the asteroid would be
+dangerous, but he hadn't seen any.
+
+"This rock will take more nuclear blasts than we have," he assured Koa. He
+turned his communicator back on and went to the edge of the hole for a
+look at Kemp's progress. He was far down, now. Pederson was holding one
+end of a measuring tape. The other end was fastened to Kemp's shoulder
+strap.
+
+The Swedish corporal showed Rip that he had only about eight feet of tape
+left. Kemp was almost down. Rip called, "Kemp. When you reach bottom, cut
+toward the center. Leave an inverted cone."
+
+"Got it, sir. Be up in two more cuts."
+
+Dominico had connected cable to the bomb terminals and was attaching a
+timer to the other end. Without the wooden case, the bomb was like a fat,
+oversized can. It had been shipped without a combat casing.
+
+"Koa, make a final check. You can untie the landing boat, except for one
+line. We'll be taking off in a few minutes."
+
+"Right, sir." Koa glided toward the landing boat, which was out of sight
+over the horizon.
+
+It was nearly time. Rip had a moment's misgiving. Had his figures or his
+sightings been off? His red hair prickled at the thought. But the ship's
+computer had done the work, and it was not capable of making a mistake.
+
+Kemp tossed up the last section of thorium and then came out of the hole
+himself, carrying his torch.
+
+Rip inspected the hole, saw with satisfaction it was in almost perfect
+alignment, and ordered the bomb placed. He bent over the edge of the hole
+and watched Trudeau pay out wire while Dominico pushed the bomb to the
+bottom. The Italian made a last minute check, then called to Rip. "Ready,
+sir."
+
+He dropped into the hole and inspected the connections himself, then
+personally pulled the safety lever. The bomb was armed. When the timer
+acted, it would go off.
+
+Back at ground level, he turned up his communicator. "Koa, is everything
+ready at the boat?"
+
+"Ready, sir."
+
+The Planeteers had already carried away the torch and its fuel and oxygen
+supplies. The area was clear of pieces of thorium.
+
+Rip announced, "We're setting the explosion for ten minutes." He leaned
+over the timer, which rested near the lip of the hole, took the dial
+control in his glove and turned it to position ten. He held it long enough
+to glance at his chronometer and say, "Starting now!" Then he let it go.
+
+Wasting no time, but not hurrying, he and Dominico returned to the landing
+boat. The Planeteers were already aboard, except for Koa, who stood by to
+cast off the remaining tie line. Rip stepped inside and counted the men.
+All present. He ordered, "Cast off." As Koa did so and stepped aboard, he
+added, "Pilot, take off. Straight up."
+
+The landing boat rose from the asteroid. Rip counted the men again, just
+to be sure. The boat seemed a little crowded, but that was because the
+rear compartment took up quite a bit of room.
+
+Rip watched his chronometer. They had plenty of time. When the boat
+reached a point about ten miles above the asteroid, he ordered, "Stern
+tube." The boat moved at an angle. He let it go until a sight at the stars
+showed they were about in the right position, 90 degrees from the line of
+blast and where they would be behind the asteroid as it moved toward the
+new course.
+
+He looked at his chronometer again. "Two minutes. Line up at the side if
+you want to watch, but darken your helmets to full protection. This thing
+will light up like nothing you've ever seen before."
+
+It was a good thing space cruisers depended on their radar and not on
+sight, he thought. Usually spacemen opened up visual ports only when
+landing or taking a star sight for an astro-plot. The clear plastic of the
+domes had to be shielded from chance meteors. Besides, radar screens were
+more dependable than eyes, even though they could pick up only solid
+objects. If the Consops cruiser happened to be searching visually, it
+would see the blast. But the chance had to be taken. It wasn't really much
+of a chance.
+
+"One minute," he said. He faced the asteroid, then darkened his helmet,
+counting to himself.
+
+The minute ticked off slowly, though his count was a little fast. When he
+reached five, brilliant, incandescent light lit up the interior of the
+boat. Rip saw it even though his helmet was dark. The light faded slowly,
+and he put his helmet back on full transparent.
+
+A mighty column of fire now reached out from the asteroid into space. Rip
+held his breath until he saw that the little planet was sheering off its
+course under the great blast. Then he sighed with relief. All was well so
+far.
+
+Someone muttered, "By Gemini! I'm glad we're out here instead of down
+there!"
+
+The column of fire lengthened, thinned out, grew fainter until there was
+only a glow behind the asteroid. Rip took his astrogation instruments and
+made a number of sights. They looked good. The first blast had worked
+about as predicted, although he wouldn't be able to tell how much
+correction was needed until he had taken star sights over a period of five
+or six days.
+
+"Let's go home," he ordered.
+
+Back on the asteroid, a pit that glowed with radioactivity marked the site
+of the first blast. Rip ordered it covered as much as possible with the
+thorium that had been taken from the hole. While the men worked, he
+plotted the lines for the second blast, found the spot, and put Kemp back
+to work on a new hole.
+
+Two hours later the second blast threw fire into space. In another three
+hours, with the asteroid now speeding on its new course, Rip set off the
+explosion that blasted straight back and gave extra speed.
+
+Three radioactive craters marked the asteroid. Rip checked the radiation
+level and didn't like it a bit. He decided to set up the landing boat and
+their supplies as far away from the craters as possible, which was on the
+sun side. They could move to the dark side as they approached the orbit of
+earth. By then the radioactivity from the blasts would have died down
+considerably.
+
+He was selecting the location for a base when Dowst suddenly called.
+"Lieutenant! Lieutenant Foster!"
+
+There was urgency in the Planeteer's voice. "What is it, Dowst?"
+
+"Sir, take a look, about two degrees south of Rigel!"
+
+Rip found the constellation Orion and looked at bright Rigel. For a moment
+he saw nothing; then, south of the star, he saw a thin, orange line.
+
+Nuclear drive cruisers didn't have exhausts of that color, and there was
+only one rocket-drive ship around, so far as they knew.
+
+Rip said softly, "Let's get our house in order, gang. Looks like we're
+going to get a visit from our friends the Connies!"
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHT - DUCK - OR DIE!
+
+
+Sergeant-major Koa's great frame loomed in front of Rip. "Think they've
+spotted us, sir?"
+
+Rip hated to say it. "Probably. Koa, can you estimate from the exhaust how
+far away they are?"
+
+"Not very well, Lieutenant. From the position of the streak, I'd say
+they're decelerating."
+
+The Planeteers looked at Rip. He was in command, and they expected him to
+do something about the situation. Rip didn't know what to do. The rocket
+launcher, their only weapon, wasn't designed for fighting spaceships. It
+was useful against snapper-boats and people, but firing at a cruiser would
+be like sending mosquitoes to fight elephants.
+
+He sized up their position. For one thing, they were right out in the
+open, exposed to anything the Connie cruiser might throw at them. If they
+could get under cover, there might be a chance. It would at least take the
+Connies a while to find them.
+
+For a moment he thought of hurrying into the landing boat and sending out
+a call for help to the _Scorpius_, but he thought better of it. They
+weren't certain that Connie had spotted them. He would wait until there
+was no doubt. Meanwhile, they had to find cover.
+
+His searching eyes fell on the cutting torch. If they could use that to
+cut themselves right into the asteroid ... suddenly he knew how it could
+be done. On the sun side he remembered a series of high-piled, giant
+crystals of thorium. They could cut into the side of one of those. And
+with Kemp's skill, they might be able to do it in time.
+
+He called, "Kemp! Koa, bring the torch and fuel and follow me."
+
+In his haste he took a misstep and flew headlong a few feet above the
+metal surface. Koa, gliding along behind him, turned him upright again. He
+saw that the giant Hawaiian was grinning. Rip grinned back. It was the
+second time he had lost his footing.
+
+They reached the peaks of thorium and Rip looked them over. The tallest
+was perhaps 40 feet high. It was roughly pyramidal, with a base about 60
+feet thick. It would do.
+
+"Kemp." The private hurried to his side. "Take the torch and make us a
+cave. Make it big enough for all hands and the equipment."
+
+Kemp was a good Planeteer. He didn't stop to ask questions. He said, "I'll
+make a small entrance and open the cave out inside." He picked up the
+torch and got busy.
+
+Rip smiled. The Planeteer was right. He should have thought of it himself,
+but it was good to see increasing proof that his men were smart as well as
+tough and disciplined.
+
+"Bring up all supplies," he told Koa. "Move the boat over here, too. We
+won't be able to bury that, but we want it close by." He had an idea for
+the landing boat. It could maneuver infinitely faster than the big
+cruiser. They could put the supplies in the cave, then take to the boat,
+depending on its ability to turn quickly and on Dowst's skill at piloting
+to play hide and seek. Dowst certainly could keep the asteroid between
+them and the cruiser.
+
+The plan would fail when the cruiser sent a landing party. They would
+certainly come in snapper-boats, and the deadly little fighting craft
+could blast rings around the landing boat. The snapper-boats had gotten
+their name because fast acceleration and quick changes of position could
+snap a man right out of his seat, if he forgot to buckle his harness
+tightly.
+
+The solution would be to keep the landing boat close to the asteroid. At
+the first sign of a landing party, they would blast in and take to the
+cave, using the rocket launcher as a defense.
+
+The supplies began to arrive. The Planeteers towed them two crates at a
+time in a steady line of hurrying men.
+
+Kemp's torch sent an incandescent knife three feet into the metal at each
+cut. He was rapidly slicing out a cave. He cut the metal out in great
+triangular bars, angling the torch from first one side, then the other.
+
+Koa came and stood beside Rip. "I haven't seen the Connie's exhaust for a
+while, sir. Looks like they've stopped decelerating. We can't see them at
+all."
+
+"Meaning what?" Rip asked. He thought he knew, but he wanted Koa's
+opinion.
+
+"They're in free fall now, sir. That could mean they're just hunting in
+the area. Or it could mean, that they've stopped somewhere close by. They
+could be looking us over, for all we know."
+
+Rip surveyed the stars. "If that's so, they're not too close, Koa.
+Otherwise they'd block out a patch of stars."
+
+"Well, sir--" Koa hesitated. "I mean, if you were looking over this
+asteroid and you weren't sure whether the enemy had it or not, how close
+would you get?"
+
+"Probably about one AU," Rip said jokingly. That was one astronomical
+unit, equal to about 93 million miles, the distance from earth to the sun.
+
+"That would be a good, safe distance, sir," Koa agreed with a grin.
+
+"But let's suppose the Connie isn't as timid as I am," Rip went on. "He
+might be only a few miles out. The question is, would he wait to get
+closer before launching his snapper-boats?"
+
+The big Hawaiian answered frankly, "I've never been in a spacegrab like
+this before. I don't know what the answer is."
+
+       [Illustration: "That Connie Cruiser's Not Too Close, Koa."]
+
+               "That Connie Cruiser's Not Too Close, Koa."
+
+
+"We'll soon know," Rip replied grimly. A thought had just struck him. The
+_Scorpius_ had trouble finding the asteroid because it was just one of
+many sailing along through the belt. But now the asteroid was the only one
+traveling _across_ the belt. It would make an outstanding blip on any
+radar 'scope. It wasn't possible that the Connie cruiser had missed the
+blip and its significance.
+
+"The Connie may be looking us over," Rip added, "but I can tell you one
+thing for sure. He knows we've taken the asteroid." Only human hands could
+swerve a heavenly body from its orbit.
+
+Koa looked wistfully at the atomic bomb which remained. "If we had a way
+to throw that thing at them...."
+
+"But we haven't. And the thing wouldn't explode anyway. We don't have the
+outside casing with an exploder mechanism, so it has to be turned on
+electrically." Rip could see no way to use the atomic bomb against the
+Connies. It was too big for use against a landing party. Besides, it would
+put the Planeteers in danger.
+
+"Ever have trouble with the Connies before?" he asked Koa.
+
+"More'n once, sir. Sometimes it seems like I'll never get a job where I
+don't have to fight Connies."
+
+Rip was trained in science and Planeteer techniques and he didn't pretend
+to know the ins and outs of interplanetary politics. Just the same, he
+couldn't help wondering about the strange relationship between the
+Consolidation of People's Governments and the Federation of Free Nations.
+
+Connies and Feds, mostly Planeteers but sometimes spacemen, were
+constantly skirmishing. They fought over property, over control of ports
+on distant planets and moons, and over space salvage. Often there was
+bloodshed. Sometimes there were pitched battles between groups of platoon
+size.
+
+But at that point, the struggle ended. The law of the Federation said that
+no spaceship could fire on a Connie spaceship, or on Connie land bases,
+except with special permission of the Space Council. The theory was that
+small struggles between men, or even between small fighting craft like the
+snapper-boats, was not war. But firing on a spaceship was war, and the
+first such act could mean starting war throughout the Solar System.
+
+It made a sort of sense to Rip when he thought about it. Little fights
+here and there were better than a full war among the planets.
+
+Koa suddenly gripped his arm. "Sir! Look up!"
+
+The short hairs on the back of Rip's neck prickled. Far above, blackness
+blotted out stars in the shape of a spaceship. The Connie had arrived!
+
+Rip ordered urgently, "Kemp! Stop cutting. The rest of you get the stuff
+under cover. Ram it!" He hurried to lend a hand himself, hustling crates
+into the cave.
+
+Kemp had made astonishing progress. There was room for the crates, if
+stacked properly, and for the men besides. Rip supervised the stacking,
+then the placement of the rocket launcher at the entrance.
+
+"All hands inside the boat," he ordered. "Dowst, be ready to take off at a
+moment's notice. You'll have to buck this box around like never before."
+He explained to the pilot his plan to dodge, keeping the asteroid between
+the boat and the cruiser.
+
+"We'll make it, sir," Dowst said.
+
+"I'm not worried," Rip replied, and wished it were true. He looked up at
+the Connie again. It was getting larger. The cruiser was within a few
+miles of the asteroid.
+
+As Rip watched, fire spurted from the cruiser and it moved with gathering
+speed toward the asteroid's horizon. He watched the exhaust trail,
+wondering why the Connie had blasted off.
+
+"He has something up his sleeve," Koa muttered. "Wish we knew what."
+
+"Let's take no chances," Rip stated. "Come on."
+
+The men were already in the boat. He and Koa joined them. They stood at a
+window, watching the Connie's trail.
+
+The trail dwindled. Koa said, "Something's up!" Suddenly new fire shot
+from one side of the cruiser and it spun. Balancing fire came from the
+other side, and for an instant the three exhausts formed a cross with the
+darkness of the Connie's hull in the center. Then they could see only the
+exhausts from the sides. The stern flame was out of sight.
+
+"He's made a full turn to come back this way," Rip stated tensely. "Dowst,
+get ready."
+
+The Connie was perhaps 20 miles away. It grew larger, and the side jets
+winked out. A few seconds later fire spurted from the nose.
+
+Rip figured rapidly. The cruiser had gone away far enough to make a turn.
+It had straightened out, heading right for them. Now the nose tube was
+blasting, slowing the cruiser down.
+
+He sighted, holding out one glove and gauging the Connie's distance above
+the horizon, and his heart speeded. The Connie was right on the horizon!
+
+"Ram it!" Rip called. "Around the asteroid. Quick!"
+
+Acceleration jammed him back against his men as Dowst blasted. No sooner
+had he recovered than acceleration in a different direction shoved him up
+to the ceiling so hard that his bubble rang. He clawed his way to the
+window as the Connie cruiser flashed by, bathing the asteroid in glowing
+flame.
+
+There was a chorus of gasps from the men, as they saw the thing Rip had
+realized a moment before. The Consops cruiser was playing it safe, using
+its rocket exhaust as a great blowtorch to burn the surface of the
+asteroid clean!
+
+The sheer inhumanity of the thing made Rip's stomach tighten into a knot.
+No asking for surrender, no taking of prisoners. Not even a clean fight.
+The Connie was doing its arguing with fire, knowing that the exhaust would
+char every man on the asteroid's surface.
+
+The Planeteers watched as the Connie sped away, blasted with its side jets
+and turned to come back. Dowst tensed over the controls, trying to
+anticipate the next move. He touched the firing levers delicately, letting
+out just enough flame to maneuver. He slid the craft over the asteroid's
+surface to the side away from the Connie, going slowly enough so they
+could watch the enemy's every move.
+
+"Here he comes," Rip snapped, and braced for acceleration. The landing
+craft shot to safety as the cruiser's nose jet flamed. Dowst was just in
+time. Tiny sparks from the edge of the fiery column brushed past the boat.
+
+Rip realized that the Connie couldn't know the Federation men were in a
+boat, dodging. The cruiser would make about two more runs, just enough to
+allow for hitting every bit of the asteroid. Then it would assume that
+anything on it was finished and send a landing party.
+
+"He'll be back," he stated. "About twice more. Three at most." He suddenly
+remembered the landing boat radio. "Dowst, where is the radio connection?"
+
+The pilot handed him a wire with a jack plug on the end of it. Rip plugged
+it into his belt. Now his voice would be heard on the _Scorpius_.
+
+"Calling _Scorpius_! Calling _Scorpius_! Foster reporting. We are under
+attack. Repeat, we are under attack. Over to you."
+
+The answer rang in his helmet. "_Scorpius_ to Foster. Hold 'em,
+Planeteers. We're on our way!"
+
+"Here comes the Connie," Koa yelled.
+
+Rip braced. The landing boat shot forward, then piled the Planeteers in a
+heap on the bottom as Dowst accelerated upward.
+
+There was a sudden wrenching crash that sent the Planeteers in a jumbled
+mass into the front of the boat. It whirled crazily, then stopped.
+
+Rip was not hurt. He shoved at someone whose bubble was in his stomach and
+cleared the way. "Turn on belt lights," he called. "Quick!"
+
+Lights flared on. He searched quickly, swinging his light. The Planeteers
+were getting to their feet. His light focused on Private Bradshaw and he
+gasped.
+
+Bradshaw's face was scarlet, and his skin was flecked with drops of blood.
+His eyes were closed, and bulging terribly.
+
+Rip jumped forward, but big Koa was even faster. The Hawaiian jerked a
+repair strip from a belt pouch, slapped it on the crack in Bradshaw's
+bubble.
+
+Rip wasted no time, either. By the time Koa had the strip in place he had
+pulled the connections from his belt light. He ran the tips of the wires
+over the edges of the strip. The current sealed the patch in place
+instantly.
+
+Koa grabbed the atmosphere control on Bradshaw's belt and turned it. The
+suit puffed up. Rip watched the repair anxiously in the light from Koa's
+belt. It held.
+
+Rip reconnected his light as he asked swiftly, "Anyone else hurt? Answer
+by name."
+
+There were quick replies; No one else had been injured.
+
+"Run for the cave," Rip commanded. "Follow Koa. Santos and Pederson drag
+Bradshaw."
+
+The Englishman's voice sounded bubbly. "I can make it."
+
+"Good for you!" Rip exclaimed. "Call for help if you need it."
+
+Koa was already out of the craft and leading the way. Rip went out through
+a window and saw the cause of the trouble. Dowst had been a hair too close
+to the asteroid. A particularly high crystal of thorium had snagged the
+craft.
+
+Rip looked for the Connie and saw it starting another turn. They had only
+a moment or two before the next run. "Show an exhaust," he called. The
+Connie must have blasted the opposite side of the asteroid while they were
+hung up.
+
+The cave was a quarter of the asteroid away. Rip stayed in the rear,
+watching for stragglers. But even Bradshaw was moving rapidly. Koa reached
+the cave well ahead of the rest, reached for a rack of rockets, and
+slapped it into the launcher.
+
+Rip urged the men on. The Connie was squared off for another run.
+
+They catapulted to safety as the cruiser flamed past, the exhaust
+splashing over the metal and sending sparks into the cave.
+
+Rip looked out. That, if he had guessed right, was the last run. He
+watched the Connie's stern jet cut off, saw the nose exhaust as the
+cruiser decelerated to a fast stop.
+
+"Check your weapons," he ordered.
+
+He pulled his pistol from the knee pocket and checked it carefully. There
+was a clip in the magazine. Other clips were in his pocket. The clips were
+loaded with high velocity shells that exploded on contact. One slug could
+stop a Venusian _krel_, a mammoth beast that had been described as a cross
+between a sea lion and a cactus plant.
+
+His knife was in place in the other knee pocket.
+
+The Connie cruiser decelerated, went into reverse, and came to a full stop
+about a mile from the asteroid. The Planeteers saw fire in two places
+along the hull, marking the exhausts of two small craft.
+
+"Snapper-boats," Koa said tonelessly. "Five men in each, if those are the
+regular Connie kind."
+
+Rip made a quick decision. With only one launcher they couldn't guard the
+whole asteroid. "We'll stay under cover, except for Santos and Pederson.
+You two sneak out. Take advantage of every bit of cover you can find. I
+don't want you spotted. When a boat lands, report its position. The
+Connies operate on different communicator frequencies, so they won't
+overhear. Well let them think they've burned the asteroid clean."
+
+He paused. "They'll search for a while. Then, when they're pretty well
+satisfied that all is quiet, we'll show up." Rip grinned at his
+Planeteers. "We can have a real, old-fashioned surprise party."
+
+Koa slid the safety catch from his pistol. "With fireworks," he added.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINE - REPEL INVADERS!
+
+
+The snapper-boats came out of the darkness of space, leaving a glowing
+trail of fire. They were not graceful. Rip could see no beauty in their
+lines, but to his professional eye there was plenty of deadly efficiency.
+
+The Connie fighting craft looked like three globes strung evenly on a
+steel tube. The middle globe was larger than the end ones, and it was
+transparent. From it projected the barrels of two kinds of
+weapons--explosive and ultrasonic. Five men usually rode in the middle
+ball. One piloted. The other four were gunners.
+
+The end globes were pierced by five large holes. They were blast holes for
+the rocket exhaust. Unlike the landing boats, each tube did not have its
+own fuel supply. One fuel tank served each globe. The pilot could direct
+the exhaust through any tube or combination of tubes he wished, by
+operating valves that either sealed or opened the vents.
+
+The system gave high maneuverability to the boats. By playing on the
+controls with the skill of an organist, the pilot could shift direction
+with dazzling speed.
+
+Snapper-boats used by the Federation operated on the same principle, but
+they were of American design, and they showed the American's love of clean
+lines. Federation fighter craft were slim and streamlined, even though the
+streamlining was of no use whatever in space. With blast holes at each
+end, they looked like double-ended needles. The pilot's canopy in the
+center controlled guns that fired through the front only. Rear guns were
+handled by a gunner, who sat with back to the pilot.
+
+Where Connie snapper-boats carried five men, the Federation boats carried
+two. The Connies could fire in any direction. The Federation pilots aimed
+by pointing the snapper-boat itself, as fighter pilots of conventional
+aircraft had once aimed their guns.
+
+Rip watched the boats approach. He was ready to duck inside if they
+decided to look the asteroid over before landing. He hoped they wouldn't
+catch sight of his two scouts. He also hoped his nervousness would vanish
+when the fight started. He knew what to do, at least in theory. He had
+gone through combat problems on the moon during training. But this was
+different. This was real. The lives of his men depended on his being
+right, and he was afraid of making a wrong decision.
+
+Sergeant-major Koa, an experienced Planeteer with a lot of understanding,
+came and stood beside him. He said, "Guess I'll never get over being
+jittery while waiting for the fight to start. I'm sweating so hard my
+dehumidifier is humming like a Callistan honey lizard. But it doesn't last
+long once the shooting begins. I get so busy I forget to be jittery."
+
+Before Rip could reply, the snapper-boats flashed over the cave, circled
+the asteroid once, and landed on the dark side close by the bomb craters.
+
+The first scout reported. "Santos, sir. I'm fifty yards beyond the stakes
+where we had the first base. The snapper-boats landed between the first
+two craters. Men coming out of one boat. I count six. Now they're coming
+out of the other boat, but I can't see very well."
+
+The other scout picked up the report, his Swedish accent thick with
+excitement. "I can see them, sor! By Cosmos! There be seven in this boat
+on my side. I am behind a rock forty yards to sunward of the second
+crater."
+
+Rip turned up the volume of his communicator. "How are they armed? Santos,
+report."
+
+"One is carrying a pneumatic chattergun. The rest have nothing in their
+hands."
+
+"Pederson, report."
+
+"No weapons I can see, sor."
+
+Koa looked at Rip. "They must think the asteroid is clean. Otherwise
+they'd have more than a chattergun in sight. You can bet they have knives
+and pistols, too."
+
+Rip had been playing with an idea. He tried it on his men. "These Connies
+would be useful to us alive, if we could capture them."
+
+It was Dowst who caught his meaning first. "You mean as hostages, sir?"
+
+"That's it. If we could capture them, the Connie cruiser would be
+helpless. We could use the snapper-boat radios to warn the ship that any
+false move would mean harm to their men."
+
+Koa shook his head doubtfully. "I'm not sure the Connies worry about their
+men, but it's worth the try. We can capture some of them if they split up
+to search the asteroid. But we won't be able to sneak up on them all."
+
+"We have an advantage," Rip reminded them. "We've been on the asteroid
+longer. We know our way around, and we're used to space-walking. They've
+just come out of deceleration and they won't have their space-legs yet."
+
+Santos reported. "They're breaking up into groups of two. Three are
+guarding the snapper-boats. One is the man with the chattergun."
+
+"Are their belt lights on?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Then keep out of the beams. Don't let them walk into you. Keep low, and
+keep moving. Stay over on the dark side."
+
+"We'd better get to the dark side ourselves," Koa warned.
+
+He was right, Rip knew. The Connies didn't have far to search before
+reaching the sun side. "Koa, you take Trudeau and Kemp. I'll take Dowst
+and Dominico. Nunez and Bradshaw stay here to guard the cave. If they
+arrive in twos, let them get into the cave before you jump them. Bradshaw,
+how do you feel?"
+
+"I'm all right, Lieutenant."
+
+Rip admired the Planeteer's nerve. He knew Bradshaw was in pain, because
+bleeding into high vacuum was always painful. The crack in the
+English-man's helmet had let most of the air out, and his own blood
+pressure had done the rest. He would carry the marks for days. A few more
+moments and all air and all heat would have been gone, with fatal results.
+Fortunately, bubbles didn't shatter easily when cracked. To destroy them
+took a good blow that knocked out a piece.
+
+"All right. Let's travel. Koa, go right. I'll go the other way and we'll
+work around the asteroid until we meet."
+
+Rip led the way, gliding as rapidly as he could toward the edge of
+darkness. He called, "Santos. Any coming in the direction of the cave?"
+
+"Two pair. About fifty yards apart. They will be out of my sight in a few
+seconds."
+
+Which meant they would be within sight of Rip and the others. He knew Koa
+had heard the message, too. Both groups put on more speed, and reached the
+safety of darkness. "Get down," Rip ordered. They could still be seen, if
+silhouetted against the edges of sunlight.
+
+Starlight gave a little light, but it was too faint to see much. Rip's
+plan was that the Connies would supply the light needed for an attack.
+
+In a few seconds, as Santos had predicted, belt light beams cut sharp
+paths through the darkness. Rip sized up the possibilities. There were two
+teams of two men each, and they were getting farther apart with each step.
+One team was coming almost directly toward them. The other team was
+slanting away from them and would soon be out of sight behind the thorium
+crystals in which the cave was located. Fortunately, the Connies were
+going away from the cave.
+
+A Connie from the near-by team swung his beam back and forth, and it cut
+space over their heads. Rip saw a few low pyramids of thorium a few rods
+away. He directed swiftly, "Dowst, take my boots. Dominico, take Dowst's
+boots."
+
+He lay face down on the metal ground until he felt hands grip his boots,
+then he asked, "All set?" Two voices answered. "Ready."
+
+Rip put his gloves on the ground and pulled himself forward and slightly
+upward. Since there was very little gravity, the action both lifted and
+pulled him. He slid parallel to the surface and a foot above it, heading
+for the crystals. Once or twice he reached down and gave another push. It
+was like swimming, except that only the tips of his gloves touched the
+ground, and there was no resistance of any kind. He felt Dowst's grip on
+his boots, but he couldn't feel the weight of his men.
+
+He reached the first crystal and directed, "Get behind these rocks and
+stay down. Feel your way. Use me for a guide. I'll hold on until you're
+under cover." He gripped a crystal. "Come on."
+
+Dominico pulled himself along Dowst's prone form, and then along Rip's.
+When Dominico had reached the shelter of the crystals, Dowst crawled along
+with Rip's body for his guide, passed over him, and reached cover. Rip
+followed.
+
+The belt lights of the two Connies were almost abreast of them. Far to
+their left, Rip saw another pair of lights. That was a pair he hadn't seen
+before.
+
+"We'll wait until they pass," he told his men. "Then we'll get up and rush
+them from behind. They can't hear us coming. Dowst, you take the near one.
+I'll take the far one. Dominico, you help as needed, but concentrate on
+cutting off their equipment. The first thing we must do is cut their
+communicators. Otherwise they'll warn the rest. Then turn off their air
+supplies and collapse their suits."
+
+One thing was in their favor. The space suits worn by the Connies were
+almost the same as theirs. The controls were of the same kind. The only
+way to know a Connie was by his bubble, which was a little more tubular
+than the round bubbles of the Federation.
+
+Rip suddenly realized that he wasn't nervous anymore. He grinned, licking
+his lips. After all, this was what he had been trained for.
+
+The Connies came abreast and passed. "Let's go," Rip said, and as he rose
+he heard Koa's voice.
+
+The sergeant-major said, "Kemp, kneel on their right side. Trudeau and I
+will hit them from the left and tumble them over you. Get their
+communicators first."
+
+Koa had methods of his own, apparently, and they sounded good.
+
+Rip started slowly. He wanted to get directly behind the Connies. He
+stayed down low until he was sure they couldn't see him, unless they
+turned.
+
+Dowst and Dominico were right with him. "Come on," he said, and started
+gliding after the helmeted figures. He kept his eyes on the one he had
+selected, and he called on all the myriad stars of space to give him luck.
+If the men turned, his plan for quick victory would fail.
+
+He sensed his Planeteers beside him as the figures loomed ahead. He gave a
+final spring that sent him through space with knees bent and outthrust,
+his hands reaching.
+
+His knees connected solidly with the Connie's thighs and his hands groped
+around the bulky space suit. He felt a rheostat control and twisted
+savagely, then groped for the distinctive star-shaped button of the air
+supply.
+
+          [Illustration: Rip Used a Flying Tackle on the Connie]
+
+                  Rip Used a Flying Tackle on the Connie
+
+
+The Connie wrenched violently and threw them both upward. Rip felt the
+star shape and twisted. If he could only deflate the Connie's suit! But
+the man was writhing from his grip, clawing for a weapon.
+
+Rip stopped reaching for the deflation valve. He grabbed for his knife,
+jerked it free, and thrust it against the middle of the Connie's back.
+Then he clanged his bubble against the man's helmet for direct
+communication and shouted, "Grab some space, or I'll let vack into you!"
+
+The Connie understood English. Most earthlings did. But even better was
+his understanding of the pressure on his back. He stopped struggling and
+his arms shot starward.
+
+Rip breathed freely for the first time since he had leaped, and exultation
+grew in him. He had his first man! His first hand-to-hand fight had ended
+in victory so easy that he could hardly believe it.
+
+He took time to look around him and saw that he was a good five feet above
+the asteroid. Below him, a Connie belt light sent its shaft parallel with
+the ground, and he knew the second man was down.
+
+The question was, had either of them shouted before their communicators
+were cut off?
+
+"Dowst," he called urgently. "All okay?"
+
+"No," Dowst said grimly. "We got the Connie, but he got Dominico. Cut his
+leg with a space knife. I'm putting a patch on it. You okay?"
+
+"Yes. When you can, pull me down."
+
+"Right."
+
+Dominico spoke up. "Don't worry about me, sir. Nothing bad. I don't lose
+much air."
+
+"Fine, Dominico. Glad it wasn't worse."
+
+But Rip knew it wasn't good, either. A cut with a space knife let air out
+of the suit and created at least a partial vacuum. If it also cut flesh,
+the vacuum let the blood pressure force out blood and tissue to turn a
+minor wound into an ugly one.
+
+They would have to bring this spaceflap with the Connies to a quick end,
+Rip thought. He had to get his men into air, somehow, to take a look at
+their wounds. Bradshaw needed attention, and now so did Dominico.
+
+Dowst reached up, took Rip's ankle, and pulled him down. Rip held onto his
+captive. Then the private bound the Connie's hands, jerked his
+communicator control completely off, and turned his air back on. Since Rip
+had been unable to collapse the suit, the Connie was comfortable enough.
+The reason for collapsing the suit was to deprive the enemy of air
+instantly, so that he could be tied up while helpless from lack of oxygen.
+There was enough air in the suit to last for a few minutes.
+
+The Connie on the ground was neatly trussed. Rip's prisoner joined him.
+Dowst switched off his belt light. "Now what, sir?"
+
+Dominico was standing patiently near by. He said nothing. Rip knew that no
+more could be done for the Italian at present. "Go back to the cave,
+Dominico," he ordered.
+
+"I can stay with you, sir."
+
+"No, Dominico. Thanks for the offer, but we'll get along. Go back to the
+cave."
+
+"Yessir."
+
+Rip was a little worried. He had heard nothing from Koa since that first
+exchange. He told Dowst as much. Koa himself heard and answered.
+
+"Lieutenant, we're all right. Got two Connies, and I don't think they had
+a chance to yell. But I'm sorry about one, sir. Kemp had to swing at him
+and busted his bubble."
+
+"Fatal?"
+
+"No, we got a patch on in time. But worse than Bradshaw."
+
+"Tough." Rip couldn't feel too sympathetic. After all, it was the Connie
+cruiser's fault Bradshaw had felt high vack. "All right. We have four.
+That leaves nine."
+
+Santos came on the circuit. "Sir, this is Santos. Only three men are at
+the snapper-boats. If you can get here without being seen, maybe we could
+knock them off. The rest wouldn't be much good if we had their boats."
+
+"You're right, Santos," Rip replied instantly. Why hadn't he seen that for
+himself? He knew how he and Dowst could approach the craters without being
+spotted, now that they had removed two teams of Connies. "We're on our
+way. Koa, make it if you can."
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+Dominico was already making his way back to the cave. Rip and Dowst
+started for the horizon at a good walk, not afraid now to use their
+lights, at least for a few yards. If any of the remaining Connie search
+teams saw the lights they would think it was two of their own men.
+
+Rip remembered the lay of the ground, and Santos's description of the
+snapper-boats' position. He circled almost to the horizon, then told Dowst
+to cut his light. He cut his own. In a moment they topped the horizon, and
+standing with only helmets visible from the snapper-boats, looked the
+situation over.
+
+The three Connies were standing between him and the boats. To the left of
+the boats was the second crater. Rip studied the ground as best he could
+in the Connie belt lights and decided on a plan of action. Calling to
+Dowst, he circled again. Presently they were approaching the crater. The
+Connies were about 25 yards from the crater's opposite rim.
+
+Rip said, "I hate to do this, Dowst, but I can't see any way out. We have
+to go into the crater."
+
+Dowst merely said, "Yes, sir."
+
+The extra radiation might put both of them well over the safety limits
+long before earth was reached, and they both knew it. Rip didn't hesitate.
+He reached the crater's edge and walked right down into it.
+
+They were out of sight of the Connies now. Rip walked up the other side of
+the crater until his bubble was just below ground level. The chunks of
+thorium he had ordered thrown in to block some of the radiation made
+walking a little difficult.
+
+"Santos," he said, "we're in the second crater."
+
+"Sir, I'm beyond the first, between two crystals. Pederson is near you
+somewhere."
+
+"Good. When I give the word, turn up your helmet light until they can see
+a pretty good glow. Keep watching them." The bubbles were equipped with
+lights, but they were seldom used. He outlined his plan swiftly. Both
+Santos and Dowst acknowledged.
+
+Koa reported in. "We're after two more Connies near the wreck of the
+landing boat, sir."
+
+"Be careful. Pederson, go help Koa. Nunez, how are things at the cave?"
+
+"Nunez reporting, sir. Two Connies in sight, but they haven't seen us
+yet."
+
+"Let me know when they spot the cave."
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Santos, go ahead."
+
+For long moments there was silence. Rip felt for a solid foothold, found
+one, and flexed his knees. He kept his back straight and his eyes on the
+crater rim. His hands were occupied with two air bottles taken from his
+belt, and his thumbs were on their valve releases. He waited patiently for
+word from Santos that his helmet glow had been seen.
+
+Santos yelled, "Now!"
+
+Rip's legs straightened with a mighty thrust. He flashed into space
+headfirst, at an angle that took him over the crater's rim and 50 feet
+above the ground. He caught a glimpse of Santos's helmet, glowing like a
+pink balloon, and of the three Connies facing it, one with gun upraised.
+
+Rip's arms flashed above his head. His thumbs compressed. Air spurted from
+the two bottles, driving him downward, feet first, directly at the heads
+of the Connies!
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TEN - GET THE SCOPRION!
+
+
+From the corner of his eye Rip saw Dowst's heavy space boots and knew the
+private was right with him. As they drove down, one of the Connies stepped
+a little distance away from the others, probably to get a better look at
+Santos. The Connie sensed something and turned, just as Rip and Dowst
+flashed downward on his two mates.
+
+Rip's boots caught one Connie where his bubble joined his suit, and the
+impact drove the man downward to the unyielding surface of the asteroid
+with a soundless smash. Rip threw up his arms to cushion his helmet as he
+struck the ground beyond his enemy. He threw the air bottles away. He
+fought to keep his feet under him and almost succeeded, but his knees hit
+the ground and pistol and knife bit into them painfully.
+
+Two figures came into his view, locked tightly together, arms flailing. It
+was Dowst and the second Connie. He got to his feet and was moving to the
+Planeteer's aid when Santos's voice shrilled in his helmet. "Sir! Look
+left!"
+
+Rip whirled. The Connie who had stepped aside was advancing, pistol in
+hand. His light caught Rip full in the face.
+
+The young officer thought quickly. The Connie hadn't fired. Why? Suddenly
+he had it. The man hadn't fired for fear of hitting his friend, who was
+battling with Dowst. Rip was in front of them. Quickly he dropped to one
+knee, reaching for his own pistol. The Connie wouldn't dare fire now. The
+high velocity slug would go right through him, to explode in one of the
+struggling figures behind--and the wrong one might get it.
+
+The Connie saw Rip's action and tossed his pistol aside. He, too, knew he
+couldn't fire. He reached into a knee pouch and drew out his space knife.
+He leaped for the Planeteer.
+
+Rip pulled frantically at his pistol. It was stuck fast, probably caught
+in the fabric by his knee landing. The space knife wouldn't be caught. It
+was smooth, with no projections to catch. He shifted knees and jerked it
+out.
+
+The Connie's flying body hit him, and a powerful arm circled his waist.
+Rip thrust upward with his knees, one hand reaching for the Connie's suit
+valve. But the Connie had one arm free, too. He drove his glove up under
+Rip's heart. Rip let go of the valve and used his elbow to lever away just
+as the Connie pressed his knife's release valve. The blade slammed
+outward, drove into the inside of Rip's right arm just above the elbow.
+
+Pain lanced through him, and he felt the blood rush to the wound as air
+poured through the gap in his suit. He gritted his teeth and smashed at
+the Connie with his own knife. It rammed home and he squeezed the release.
+The blade connected solidly. He was suddenly free.
+
+He pressed the wounded arm to his side, stopping the outpouring of air.
+The cut hurt like all the devils of space. With his other hand he
+increased the air in his suit, then looked swiftly around. The Connie was
+on his knees, both gloves pressed tightly to his side.
+
+Dowst was just finishing a knot in the safety line that bound a second
+enemy's hands. The Connie Rip had rocketed down on was still lying where
+he had fallen. And Corporal Santos, the enemy's pneumatic chattergun at
+the ready, was standing guard.
+
+Rip turned up the volume in his communicator. He tried to sound calm, but
+the shakiness of triumph and excitement was in his voice. "All Planeteers.
+We have the Connie snapper-boats. Koa, bring your men here."
+
+He felt someone working on his arm and turned to see Corporal Pederson,
+his face one vast grin in the glare from Dowst's belt light. "Koa didn't
+need me," he said.
+
+Rip grinned back. "Nunez," he called. "How are things at the cave?"
+
+"Sir, this is Nunez. Two Connies were prowling around, but they didn't see
+the entrance. Then, a minute ago, they turned and hurried away."
+
+Rip considered. "Koa. How many Connies have you?"
+
+"Four, sir."
+
+With the five he and Dowst had taken, that meant four still at large, and
+from Nunez's report, some Connie yelling had been going on. The four
+certainly knew by this time there were Federal men on the asteroid. Unless
+something were done quickly the four Connies would be shooting at them
+from the darkness. He ordered, "All Planeteers. Kill your belt lights."
+
+The lights on the Connies they had just taken still glowed. Dowst was
+putting a patch on the Connie Rip had stabbed. He waited until the private
+had finished, then said, "Turn out the Connie lights, too."
+
+If he could get in touch with the Connies, he could tell them they were
+finished. But using the snapper-boat radios was out, because the enemy
+cruiser would hear. The cruiser couldn't hear the helmet communicators,
+though, because they carried only a short distance. The cruiser was close
+enough so that a helmet communicator turned on full volume might barely be
+heard, although it was unlikely.
+
+He couldn't stick his head in a Connie helmet, but he could talk to a
+Connie by direct communication and have him give instructions.
+
+There was complete darkness with all belt lights out, but he groped his
+way to the Connie Dowst had been patching, felt for his helmet, and put
+his own against it. He yelled, "Do you hear me?"
+
+"Yes." Then, "Why did you patch me?"
+
+It was a perfect opening. "Because we don't want to kill you. Listen. We
+have all but four of you. Understand?"
+
+"Yes. What will you do with us?"
+
+"Treat you as prisoners. If you behave. Get on your communicator and tell
+those four men to surrender. Tell them to come to the boats, with lights
+on. Tell them we'll give them five minutes. If they don't come, we'll hunt
+them with rockets."
+
+"They will come," the Connie said. "They don't want to die. I will do it."
+
+Rip kept his helmet against the Connie's, but the man spoke in another
+language, which Rip identified as the main Consops tongue. When he had
+finished, Rip told his Planeteers to have weapons ready and to keep lights
+off. Time enough for light when the Connies were all disarmed.
+
+It didn't take five minutes. The Connie teams came quickly and willingly,
+and they seemed almost glad to give up their pistols and knives. This was
+not unusual. Rip had seen many Planeteer reports that spoke of the same
+thing. Many Connies, it seemed, were glad to get away from the iron
+Consops rule even if it meant becoming Federation prisoners.
+
+Inside one of the snapper-boats, a light glowed. Rip put his helmet
+against that of the man who had given the surrender order and demanded,
+"What's that light?"
+
+"The cruiser wants us."
+
+Rip considered demanding that the Connie answer, then thought better of
+it. He would do it himself. After all, they had hostages. The cruiser
+wouldn't take any further action. He climbed into the snapper-boat and
+hunted for the plug-in terminal. It fitted his own belt jack. He plugged
+in and said, "Go ahead."
+
+There was an instant of silence, then an accented voice demanded, "Why are
+you speaking English?"
+
+Rip replied formally, "This is Lieutenant Foster, Federation Special Order
+Squadrons, in charge on the asteroid. Your landing party is in our hands,
+as prisoners, two wounded, none dead. If you agree to withdraw, we will
+send the wounded men back to you in one boat. The rest will remain here as
+hostages for your good behavior."
+
+"Stand by," the voice said. There was silence for several moments, then a
+new voice said, "This is the cruiser commander. We make a counter-offer.
+If you release our men and surrender to them, we will spare the lives of
+you and your men."
+
+Rip listened incredulously. The commanding officer didn't understand. He,
+Rip, held the whip hand, because the lives of the Connie prisoners were in
+his hands. He repeated what he had said before.
+
+"And I repeat," the commander retorted. "Surrender or die. Choose now."
+
+"I refuse," Rip stated flatly. "Try anything and your men will suffer, not
+us."
+
+"You are mistaken," the harsh voice said. "We will sweep the asteroid
+clean with our exhaust, but this time we will be more thorough. When we
+have finished, we will hammer you with guided missiles. Then we will send
+snapper-boats with rockets to hunt down any who remain. We intend to have
+that thorium. You had better surrender."
+
+Rip couldn't believe it. The cruiser commander had no hesitation in
+sacrificing his own men! But it was not a bluff. He knew instinctively
+that the Connie commander meant it. Instantly he unplugged the radio
+connection from his belt and spoke urgently. "Koa, get everyone under
+cover in the cave. Hurry! Collect all the Connies and take them with you."
+
+Then he plugged in again. "Commander, I must have time to think this
+over."
+
+"You have one minute."
+
+He watched his chronometer, planning the next move. When the minute ended,
+he asked, "Commander, how do we know you will spare our lives if we
+surrender?" Through the transparent shell of the snapper-boat he saw
+lights moving toward the horizon and knew Koa was following orders.
+
+"You don't know," the cruiser answered. "You must take our word for it.
+But if you surrender, we have no reason to wish you harm."
+
+Rip remained silent. The seconds ticked past until the commander snapped,
+"Quickly! You have no more time."
+
+"Sir," Rip said plaintively, "two of my men do not wish to surrender."
+
+"Shoot them, fool! Are you in command or not?"
+
+Rip grinned. He made his voice whine. "But sir, it is against the law of
+the Federation to shoot men without a trial."
+
+The commander lapsed into his own language, caught himself, then barked,
+"You are no longer under Federation law. You are under the Consolidation
+of People's Governments. Do you surrender or not? Answer at once, or we
+take action anyway. Quick!"
+
+Rip knew he could stall no longer. He said coolly, "If you had brains in
+your head instead of high vacuum, you'd know that Planeteers never
+surrender. Blast away, you filthy space pirate!"
+
+He jerked the plug loose, hesitated for a second over whether or not to
+take the snapper-boat, and decided against it. He wasn't familiar with
+Connie controls and there wasn't time to experiment. He headed for the
+cave as fast as he could glide.
+
+The Connie cruiser lost no time. Its stern tubes flamed, then its steering
+tubes. It was going to drive directly at the asteroid without making a
+long run! Rip estimated quickly and realized that the Connie would get to
+the asteroid at the same time that he reached the cave--if he made it.
+
+He speeded up as fast as he dared. With little gravity on the asteroid, he
+couldn't fall, but a false step could lift him into space and make him
+lose time while he got out an air bottle to propel him down again. The
+thought gave him an idea. Without slowing he took two bottles from his
+belt, turned them so the openings were to his rear, and squeezed the
+release valves.
+
+The Connie was gaining speed, blasting straight toward him. Rip sped
+forward, and crossed to the sun side, intent on the cave entrance, but no
+longer sure he would make it. The Connie's nose tube shot a cylinder of
+flame forward, reaching for the asteroid. He saw the fire lick downward
+and sweep toward him with appalling speed as he put everything he had in a
+frantic dive for the cave entrance. The flaming rocket exhaust seemed to
+snatch at him as a dozen hands pulled him to safety, then beat the sparks
+from his suit.
+
+He was safe. He leaned against Koa, his heart thumping wildly. For a
+moment or two he couldn't speak, then he managed, "Thanks."
+
+Koa spoke for the Planeteers. "We're the ones to say thanks, sir. If you
+hadn't thought of stalling the cruiser, and if you hadn't stayed behind to
+give us time, we'd have some casualties, and so would the Connies we
+captured."
+
+"There wasn't anything else I could do," Rip replied. "Come on, Koa. Let's
+see what the cruiser is doing."
+
+They stepped outside. The metal was already cold again. Things didn't stay
+hot in the vacuum of space.
+
+They didn't see the Connie until the fire of its exhaust suddenly blasted
+above the horizon, then they ducked for cover. The cruiser had taken a
+swing at the other side of the asteroid. They peered out again and saw it
+making a turn to come back.
+
+"He won't get us," Rip said confidently. "Our tough time will come when he
+sends a fleet of snapper-boats."
+
+"We'll get a few," Koa replied grimly. "Wait! What's he doing?"
+
+The cruiser had started for the asteroid. Suddenly jets flamed from every
+quarter of the ship. He was using all steering jets at once! Rip watched,
+bewildered, as the great ship spun slowly, advanced, then settled to a
+stop just at the horizon.
+
+"He can't be launching boats already," he said worriedly. "What's he up
+to?"
+
+They ran forward a short distance until they could see below the cave's
+horizon level. The cruiser released exhausts from both sides of the ship,
+the outer ones the slightest bit stronger. Rip exclaimed, "Great Cosmos,
+he's cuddling right up to the asteroid! Why?"
+
+"Hiding," Koa said. "By Gemini! Come on, sir!"
+
+Rip saw his meaning instantly and they raced to the side of the asteroid,
+away from the ship. As they crossed into the dark half, Rip looked back.
+He couldn't see the cruiser from here. But he looked out into space,
+across the horizon, and knew that Koa's guess had been right. The
+distinctive glow of a nuclear drive cruiser was clear among the stars.
+
+The _Scorpius_ had returned!
+
+"The Connie saw it," Rip said worriedly, "but didn't blast away. That
+means he's intending to ambush the _Scorpius_. Koa, if he does, that means
+war."
+
+The big Hawaiian shook his head. "Sir, the Connie has guided missiles with
+atomic warheads just like our ship does. If he can launch one from ambush
+and hit our ship, that's the end of it. The _Scorpius_ will be nothing but
+space junk. Commander O'Brine will never have time to get off a message,
+because he'll be dead before he knows there is danger."
+
+The logic of it sent chill fear down Rip's spine. The Connie could get the
+_Scorpius_ with one nuclear blast and then clean up the asteroid at
+leisure. The Federation would suspect, but it would be unable to prove
+anything, because there would be no witnesses. If the Connie took time to
+tow the remains of the _Scorpius_ deep into the asteroid belt, it likely
+would never be found, no matter how the Federation searched.
+
+They had to warn the ship. But how? Their helmet communicators wouldn't
+reach it until it was right at the asteroid, and that would be too late.
+They had no other radio. If only the radios in the snapper-boats were on a
+Federation frequency ... hey! They could take one of the boats and
+intercept the cruiser!
+
+He was hurrying toward them before Koa understood what he was saying. He
+tried to make his legs go faster, but they were unsteady. He knew he was
+losing blood. He had lost plenty. He gritted his teeth and kept going.
+
+The snapper-boats seemed miles away to Rip, but he plugged ahead until his
+belt light picked them up. He took a long look, then turned away,
+heartsick. The Connie's exhaust had charred them into wreckage.
+
+"Now what?" he asked.
+
+"I don't know, sir," Koa answered somberly.
+
+They went back to the cave, not hurrying because Rip no longer had the
+strength to hurry. Weakness and a deep desire to sleep almost overcame
+him, and he knew that he was finished anyway. His wound must be too deep
+to clot, which meant it would bleed until he bled to death. Whether he
+warned the _Scorpius_ or not, his end was the same.
+
+Back in the cave, he leaned against the wall and asked tiredly, "How is
+Dominico?"
+
+"I am fine, sir. My wound stopped bleeding."
+
+"How is the Connie I got?"
+
+"Unconscious, sir," Santos replied. "He must be bleeding badly, but we
+can't tell. The one you landed on is all right now, but he may have a
+broken rib or two."
+
+Because his voice was weak, Rip had to turn up the volume on his
+communicator to tell the Planeteers about the _Scorpius_. They were silent
+when he finished, then Dowst spoke up.
+
+"Looks like they have us, sir. But we'll take plenty of them with us
+before we're finished."
+
+"That's the spirit," Rip approved. He told them, "I won't last much
+longer. When I get too weak, Koa will take over. Meanwhile, I want to get
+outside. Bring the rocket launcher outside, too. Who's the gunner? Santos?
+Stand by, then. We'll need you in case the Connie decides to send a few
+snappers before it goes after the _Scorpius_."
+
+The cruiser's glow was plain above the horizon, now. It was so close they
+could make out its form against the background of stars. O'Brine was
+decelerating and Rip was certain he was watching his screens for a sign of
+the enemy. He would see nothing, because the enemy was in the shadow of
+the asteroid. He would think the coast was clear, and come to a stop near
+by while he asked why Rip had called for help. Failing to get a reply,
+since the landing boat was wrecked, he would send a landing party, and the
+Connie would attack while he was launching boats, off guard.
+
+Rip watched the prediction come true. The nuclear cruiser slowed
+gradually, its great bulk nearing the asteroid. O'Brine was operating as
+expected.
+
+Rip was having trouble keeping his vision from blurring. He leaned against
+the rocket launcher and his glove caressed one of the sharp noses in the
+rack.
+
+He heard his own voice before the idea had even taken full form. "Santos!
+Do you hear me? Santos! Get the _Scorpius_! Fire before it comes to a
+stop. And don't miss!"
+
+Santos started to protest, but Koa bellowed, "Do it. The lieutenant's
+right. It's the only chance we've got to warn the ship. Get that scorpion,
+Santos. Dead amidships!"
+
+The Filipino corporal swung into action. His space gloves flew as he
+cranked the launcher around, turned on the illuminated sight and bent low
+over it. Rip stood behind the corporal. He saw the cruiser's shape stand
+out in the glow of the sight, saw the sighting rings move as Santos
+corrected for its speed.
+
+The corporal fired. Fire flared back past his shoulder. The rocket flashed
+away, its trail dwindling as it sped toward the great bulk above. It
+reached brennschluss and there was darkness. Rip held his breath for long
+seconds, then he gave a weak cry of victory.
+
+A blossom of orange fire marked a perfect hit.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ELEVEN - HARD WORDS FOR O'BRINE
+
+
+The _Scorpius_ could have taken direct hits with little or no major damage
+from a hundred rockets of the kind Rip had used, but Commander O'Brine
+took no chances. When the alarm bell signaled that the outer hull had been
+hit, the commander acted instantly with a bellowed order.
+
+The Planeteers on the asteroid blinked with the speed of the cruiser's
+getaway. Fire flamed from the stern tubes for an instant and then there
+was nothing but a fading glow where the _Scorpius_ had been.
+
+Rip had a mental image of everything movable in the ship crashing against
+bulkheads with the terrific acceleration.
+
+And in the same moment, the Consops cruiser reacted. The Connie commander
+was ready to fire guided missiles, when his target suddenly, mysteriously
+blasted into space at optimum acceleration. There was only one reason the
+Connie could imagine: his cruiser had been spotted. The ambush had failed.
+It was one thing for the Connie to lie in ambush for a single, deadly
+surprise blast at the Federation cruiser. It was quite another to face the
+nuclear drive ship with its missile ports cleared for action. The Connie
+knew he had lost.
+
+Rip and the Planeteers saw the Consops ship suddenly flame away, then turn
+and dive for low space below the asteroid belt in a direction opposite the
+one the _Scorpius_ had taken. The helmet communicators rang with their
+cheers.
+
+The young officer clapped Santos on the shoulder and exclaimed weakly,
+"Good shooting!"
+
+The corporal turned anxiously to Koa. "The lieutenant's pretty weak. Can't
+we do something?"
+
+"Forget it," Rip said. There was nothing anyone could do. He was trapped
+inside his space suit. There was nothing anyone could do for his wound
+until he got into air.
+
+Koa untied his safety line and moved to Rip's side. "Sir, this is
+dangerous, but there's just as much danger without. I'm going to tie off
+that arm."
+
+Rip knew what Koa meant. He stood quietly as the big sergeant-major put
+the line around his arm above the wound, then put his massive strength
+into the task of pulling the line tight. The heavy fabric of the suit was
+stiff, and the air pressure gave further resistance that had to be
+overcome. Rip let most of the air out of the suit, then fought for breath
+until the pain in his arm told him that Koa had succeeded. He inflated the
+suit again and thanked the sergeant-major weakly.
+
+The tight line stopped the bleeding, but it also cut off the air
+circulation. Without the air, the heating system couldn't operate
+efficiently. It was only a matter of time before the arm froze.
+
+"Stand easy," Rip told his men. "Nothing to do now but wait. The
+_Scorpius_ will be back." He set an example by leaning against the thorium
+crystal in which the cave was located. It was a natural but meaningless
+gesture. With no gravity pulling at them they could remain standing
+indefinitely, sleeping upright.
+
+Rip closed his eyes and relaxed. The pain in his arm was less now, and he
+knew the cold was setting in. He was getting light-headed, and most of all
+he wanted to sleep. Well, why not? He slumped a little inside the suit.
+
+He awoke with Koa shaking him violently. Rip stood upright and shook his
+head to clear his vision. "What is it?"
+
+"Sir, the _Scorpius_ has returned."
+
+Rip blinked as he stared out into space to where Koa was pointing. He had
+trouble focusing his eyes at first, and then he saw the glow of the
+cruiser.
+
+"Good," he said. "They'll send a landing boat first thing."
+
+"I hope so," Koa replied.
+
+Rip wanted to ask why the big Planeteer doubted, but he was too tired to
+phrase the question. He contented himself with watching the cruiser.
+
+In a short time the _Scorpius_ was balanced with nose tubes counteracting
+the thrust of stern tubes, ready to flash into space again at a second's
+notice.
+
+Rip watched, puzzled. The cruiser was miles away. Why didn't it come any
+closer? Then, suddenly, it erupted a dozen fiery streaks.
+
+"Snapper-boats," someone gasped.
+
+Rip jerked fully awake. In the ruddy glow of the fighting rockets' tubes
+he had seen that the cruiser's missile ports were yawning wide, ready to
+spew forth deadly nuclear charges.
+
+The snapper-boats flashed toward the asteroid in a group, sheered off, and
+broke formation. They came back in pairs, streaking space with the sparks
+of their exhausts.
+
+"Into the cave," Koa shouted.
+
+The Planeteers obeyed instantly. Koa took Rip's arm, to lead him inside,
+but the young officer shook him off. "No, Koa. I'll take my chances out
+here. I want to see what they're up to."
+
+"Great Cosmos, sir! They'll go over this rock like Martian beetles. You'll
+get it for sure."
+
+"Get inside," Rip ordered. He gathered strength enough to make his voice
+firm. "I'm staying here until I figure out some way to call them off. We
+can't just stand here and let them blast us. They're our own men."
+
+"Then I'm staying, too," Koa stated.
+
+A pair of snapper-boats flashed overhead, and vanished below the horizon.
+Two more swept past from another direction.
+
+Rip watched, curious. What were they up to? Another pair quartered past
+them at high speed, then two more. The dozen boats seemed to be
+criss-crossing the asteroid in a definite pattern. Why?
+
+A pair streaked past, and something sped downward from one of them,
+trailing yellow flame. It exploded in a ball of molten fire that licked
+across the asteroid in waves. Rip tensed, then saw that the chemical would
+burn out before it reached them.
+
+"Fire bomb," Koa muttered.
+
+Rip nodded. He had recognized it. The Planeteers were trained in the use
+of fire bombs, tanks of chemicals that burned even in an airless world.
+They were equipped with simple jets for use in space.
+
+The snapper-boats drew off, back toward the _Scorpius_. Rip watched,
+searching for some reason for their actions. Then one of the boats pulled
+away from the others. It returned to the asteroid with stern jet burning
+fitfully.
+
+"Is he landing?" Koa asked.
+
+Rip didn't know. The snapper-boat was moving slowly enough to make a
+landing.
+
+Directly over the asteroid it changed direction, circled, and returned
+over their heads. Rip could almost have picked it off with a pistol shot.
+Santos could have blasted it into space dust with one rocket.
+
+The snapper-boat changed direction, and for a fraction of a second stern
+and side tubes "fought" each other, making the boat yaw wildly, then it
+straightened out on a new course.
+
+        [Illustration: "They're Using Fire Bombs," Muttered Koa.]
+
+                "They're Using Fire Bombs," Muttered Koa.
+
+
+Koa exclaimed, "That's a drone!"
+
+Rip got it then. A pilotless snapper-boat! That's why its actions were a
+little uneven. Only one thing could explain its deliberate slowness. It
+was bait. The _Scorpius_ had sent piloted snapper-boats over the asteroid
+at high speed, criss-crossing in order to cover the thorium world
+completely, expecting to have the unknown rocketeer fire at them. Then a
+fire bomb had been dropped as a further means of getting the asteroid to
+fire. But no rockets had been fired from the asteroid, so the pilot in
+control of the drone had sent it at low speed, a perfect target.
+
+That meant O'Brine wasn't sure of what was going on. He must have seen the
+blip on his screen as the Connie cruiser flamed off, Rip reasoned. But the
+commander probably suspected that the Connies had overcome the Planeteers
+and were in control of the asteroid. He had sent the snapper-boats to try
+and draw fire in an attempt to find out more surely whether Planeteers or
+Connies had the thorium rock.
+
+"The _Scorpius_ doesn't know what's going on," Rip told his Planeteers.
+"O'Brine didn't know the cruiser was waiting to ambush him, so the rocket
+we fired made him think the Connies had taken us over."
+
+He put himself in O'Brine's place. What would his next step be? The
+snapper-boats hadn't drawn fire, even when a drone was sent over at low
+speed. The next thing would be to send a piloted boat over slowly enough
+to take a look.
+
+Rip hoped O'Brine would hurry. There was no longer any feeling in his arm
+below Koa's safety line. That meant the arm had frozen. He had to get
+medical attention from the _Scorpius_ pretty soon.
+
+He gritted his teeth. At least he was no longer losing blood. He wasn't
+getting any weaker. But every now and then his vision fogged and he had to
+shake his head to clear it.
+
+The pilotless snapper-boat made another slow run, then put on speed and
+flashed back to the group of boats near the cruiser. Another boat detached
+itself from the squadron and moved toward the asteroid.
+
+Rip wished for a communicator powerful enough to reach the _Scorpius_, but
+knew it was useless to try with his helmet circuit. The carrier waves of
+the snapper-boats were on the same frequency, and they would smother the
+faint signal from his bubble.
+
+But the boats might be able to hear if they got close enough! He had a
+swift memory of the communications circuits. The pilots were plugged into
+their boat communicators. If a boat got near enough, he could turn up his
+bubble to full volume and yell. Not only would the boat pilot hear him,
+but his voice would go through the pilot's circuit and be heard in the
+ship!
+
+Rip grabbed Koa's arm. "Let's move away from the cave a little farther."
+
+The two of them stepped away from the cave and stood in full view as the
+snapper-boat moved cautiously down toward the asteroid. Rip planned what
+he would say. "Commander O'Brine, this is Foster!"
+
+No, that wouldn't do. Connies would know that Kevin O'Brine commanded the
+_Scorpius_, and if they had taken over the Planeteers on the asteroid,
+they would also have learned Rip's name. He had to say something that
+would identify him beyond a doubt.
+
+The snapper-boat was closing in slowly. Rip knew the pilot and gunner must
+be tense, frightened, ready to blast with their guns at the first wrong
+move on the asteroid. He groped with his good arm and turned up his helmet
+communicator to full volume.
+
+The fighting rocket drew closer, cut in its nose tube, and hovered only a
+few hundred feet above the Planeteers.
+
+Rip summoned enough strength to make his voice sharp and clear. His words
+sped through space into the bubble of the pilot, echoed in the helmet and
+were picked up by the pilot's microphone, then hurled through the
+snapper-boat circuit through space to the control room of the cruiser.
+
+O'Brine stiffened as the speaker threw Rip's voice at him, amplified and
+hollow-sounding from reverberations in the boat pilot's helmet.
+
+"_O'Brine is so ugly he won't look at his face in a clean blast tube! That
+no-good Irishman wouldn't know what to do with an asteroid if he had
+one!_"
+
+The commander turned purple with rage. He bellowed, "Foster!"
+
+A junior space officer hid a grin and murmured, "Looks like the Planeteers
+still have the asteroid."
+
+O'Brine bent over the communicator and yelled, "Deputy commander! Launch
+landing boats. Get those Planeteers and bring them here, under armed
+guard. Ram it!"
+
+The snapper-boat pilot through whose circuit Rip had yelled turned to look
+wide-eyed at his gunner. "Did you hear that? Throw a light down on the
+asteroid. It must have come from there."
+
+The gunner threw a switch and a searchlight port opened in the boat's
+belly. Its beam searched downward, swept past, then steadied on two
+space-clad figures.
+
+"It worked," Rip said tiredly. He closed his eyes to guard them against
+the brilliant glare, then waved his good arm.
+
+Santos called from the cave entrance. "Sir, landing boats are being
+launched!"
+
+"Bring out the prisoners," Rip ordered. "Line them up. Planeteers fall in
+behind them."
+
+The landing boats, with snapper-boats in watchful attendance, blasted down
+to the surface of the asteroid. Spacemen jumped out, awkward at first on
+the no-weight surface. An officer glided to meet Rip, and he had a pistol
+in his hand.
+
+"It's all right," Rip told him. "The Connies are our prisoners. You won't
+need guns."
+
+The spaceman snapped, "You're under arrest."
+
+Rip stared incredulously. "What for?"
+
+"The commander's orders. Don't give me any arguments. Just get aboard."
+
+"I can't argue with a loaded gun," Rip said wearily. He called to his men.
+"We're under arrest. I don't know why. Don't try to resist. Do as the
+spacemen order."
+
+Rip got aboard the nearest landing boat, his head spinning. O'Brine had
+made a mistake of some kind. The landing boats, loaded with Planeteers and
+Connies, lifted from the asteroid to the cruiser. They slid smoothly into
+the air locks and settled. The massive lock doors slid closed and lights
+flickered on. Rip waited, trying to keep consciousness from slipping away.
+
+The lock gauges registered normal air, and the inner valves slid open.
+Commander O'Brine stepped through, his square jaw outthrust and his face
+flushed with anger. He bellowed, "Where's Foster?"
+
+His voice was so loud Rip heard him faintly even through the bubble. He
+stepped out of the landing boat and faced the irate commander.
+
+O'Brine ordered, "Get him out of that suit." Two spacemen jumped forward.
+One twisted Rip's bubble free and lifted it off. The heavy air of the ship
+hit him with physical force.
+
+O'Brine grated, "You're under arrest, Foster, for firing on the
+_Scorpius_, for insubordination, and for conduct unbecoming an officer.
+Get out of that suit and get flaming. It's the spacepot for you."
+
+Rip had to grin. He couldn't help it. He started to reply, but the heavy
+air of the cruiser, so much richer and denser than that of the suits, was
+too much. He slumped unconscious.
+
+There was no gravity to pull him to the floor, but the action of his
+relaxing muscles swung him slowly until he lay face down in the air a few
+feet above the floor.
+
+Commander O'Brine stared for a moment, then he took the unconscious
+Planeteer and swung him upright. His quick eyes took in the patch on the
+arm, the safety line tied tightly. He roared, "Quick! Get him to the wound
+ward!"
+
+Rip came back to consciousness on the operating table. The wound in his
+arm had been neatly repaired, and below the wound, where his arm had
+frozen, a plastic temperature bag was slowly bringing the cold flesh back
+to normal. On his other side, a pulsing pressure pump forced new blood
+from the ship's supplies into his veins.
+
+A senior space officer with the golden lancet of the medical service on
+his blue tunic bent over him. "How do you feel?"
+
+Rip's voice surprised him. It was as full and strong as ever. "I feel
+wonderful. Can I get up?"
+
+"When we get enough blood into you and your arm is fully restored."
+
+Commander O'Brine appeared in the door frame. "Can he talk?"
+
+"Yes. He's fine, sir."
+
+O'Brine glared down at Rip. "Can you give me a good reason why I shouldn't
+have you treated for space madness, then toss you in the spacepot until we
+reach earth?"
+
+"Best reason in the galaxy," Rip said cheerfully. "But before we talk
+about it, I want to know how my men are. One got cut and another had his
+bubble cracked. Also, one of the Connies got badly cut, another had some
+broken bones, and a third one bled into high vack when Koa cracked his
+bubble."
+
+The doctor answered Rip's question. "Your men are all right. We put the
+one with the cracked bubble into high compression for a while, just to
+relieve his pain a little. The other one didn't bleed much. He's back in
+the squadroom right now. Two of the prisoners are patched up, but the
+third one is in the other operating room. I don't know whether we can save
+him or not. We're trying."
+
+O'Brine nodded. "Thanks, doctor. Now, Foster, start talking. You fired on
+this ship, scored a hit, and broke the airseal. No casualties,
+fortunately. But by forcing us to accelerate at optimum speed, you caused
+so much breakage of ship's stores that we'll have to put into Marsport for
+new stocks. And on top of all that, you insulted me within the hearing of
+every man on the ship. I don't mind being insulted by Planeteers. I'm used
+to it. But when it's done over the ship's communications system, it's bad
+for discipline."
+
+Rip tried to keep a straight face. He said mildly, "Sir, I'm surprised you
+even give me a chance to explain."
+
+"I wouldn't have," O'Brine said frankly. "I would have shot off a special
+message to earth relieving you of command and asking for Discipline Board
+action. But when I saw those Connie prisoners, I knew there was more to
+this than just a young space-pup going vack-wacky."
+
+"There was, Commander." Rip recited the events of the past few hours while
+the Irishman listened with growing amazement. He finished with, "I had to
+convince you in a hurry that we still held the asteroid, so I used some
+insulting phrases that would let you know who was talking without any
+doubt at all. And you did know, didn't you, sir?"
+
+O'Brine flushed. For a long moment his glance locked with Rip's, then he
+roared with laughter.
+
+Rip grinned his relief. "My apologies, sir."
+
+"Accepted," O'Brine chuckled. "I'm sorry I won't have an excuse for
+dumping you in the spacepot, Foster. Your explanation is acceptable, but I
+have a suspicion that you enjoyed calling me names."
+
+"I might have," Rip admitted, "but I wasn't in very good shape. The only
+thing I could think of was getting into air so I could have my arm
+treated. Commander, we've moved the asteroid. Now we have to correct
+course. And we have to get some new equipment, including nuclite
+shielding. Also, sir, I'd appreciate it if you'd let my men clean up and
+eat. They haven't been in air since we left the cruiser."
+
+For answer, O'Brine strode to the operating room communicator. "Get it,"
+he called. "The deputy commander will prepare landing boat one and issue
+new space suits and helmets for all Planeteers with damaged equipment. Put
+in two rolls of nuclite. Sergeant-major Koa will see that all Planeteers
+have an opportunity to clean up and eat immediately. The Planeteers will
+return to the asteroid in one hour."
+
+Rip asked, "Will I be able to go into space by then?"
+
+The doctor replied. "Your arm will be normal in about twenty minutes. It
+will ache some, but you'll have full use of it. We'll bring you back to
+the ship in about twenty-four hours for another look at it, just to be
+sure."
+
+Sixty minutes later, clean, fed, and contented, the Planeteers were again
+on the thorium planet while the _Scorpius_, riding the same orbit, stood
+by a few miles out in space.
+
+The asteroid and the great cruiser arched high above the belt of tiny
+worlds in the orbit Rip had set, traveling together toward distant Mars.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWELVE - MERCURY TRANSIT
+
+
+The long hours passed, and only Rip's chronometer told him when the end of
+a day was reached. The Planeteers alternately worked on the surface and
+rested in the air of the landing boat compartment while the asteroid sped
+steadily on its way.
+
+When a series of sightings over several days gave Rip enough exact data to
+work on, he recalculated the orbit, found the amount that the course had
+to be corrected, and supervised the cutting of new and smaller holes in
+the metal.
+
+Tubes of ordinary rocket fuel were placed in these and fired, and the
+thrust moved the asteroid slightly, just enough to make the corrections
+Rip needed. It was not necessary to take to the landing boat for these
+blasts. The Planeteers retired to their cave, which was now lined with
+nuclite as a protection against radiation.
+
+Rip watched his dosimeter climb steadily as the radiation dosage mounted.
+Then he took the landing boat to the _Scorpius_, talked the problem over
+with the ship's medical department and arranged for his men to take
+injections that would keep them from coming down with radiation sickness.
+
+They left the asteroid belt far behind, and passed within ten thousand
+miles of Mars. The _Scorpius_ sent its entire complement of snapper-boats
+to the asteroid for protection, in case Consops made another try, then
+flamed off to Marsport to put in new supplies to replace those damaged
+when Rip had forced sudden and disastrous acceleration.
+
+The asteroid had reached earth's orbit before the cruiser returned. Of
+course, earth was on the other side of the sun. Rip ordered a survey and
+found the best place on the dark side to make a new base. The Planeteers
+cut out a cave with the torch, lined it with nuclite, and moved in their
+supplies. It would be their permanent base to the end of the trip.
+
+The sun was very hot now. On the sunny side of the asteroid the
+temperature had soared far past the boiling point of water. But on the
+dark side, Rip measured temperatures close to absolute zero.
+
+When the _Scorpius_ returned he arranged with Commander O'Brine for the
+Planeteers to take turns going to the cruiser for showers and decent
+meals.
+
+The asteroid approached the orbit of Venus, but the bright planet was some
+distance away, at its greatest elongation to the east of the sun. Mercury,
+however, loomed larger and larger. They would pass close to the hot
+planet.
+
+O'Brine recalled Rip to the _Scorpius_ and handed him a message.
+
+  ASTEROID NOW WITHIN PROTECTION REACH OF MERCURY AND TERRA BASES. YOUR
+ ESCORT NO LONGER REQUIRED. PROCEED IMMEDIATELY TITAN, TAKE ON CARGO AND
+                                PERSONNEL.
+
+The commander sighed. "Looks like I'll never get to earth long enough to
+see my family."
+
+Rip sympathized. "Tough, sir. Perhaps the cargo from Titan will be
+scheduled for Terra."
+
+"That's what I hope," O'Brine agreed. "Well, here's where we part. Is
+there anything you need?"
+
+Rip made a mental check on supplies. He had more than enough. "The only
+thing we need is a long-range communicator, sir. If you're leaving, we'll
+have no way to contact the planet bases."
+
+"I'll see that you get one." The Irishman thrust out his hand. "Stay out
+of high vack, Foster. Too bad you didn't join us instead of the
+Planeteers. I might have made a decent officer out of you."
+
+Rip grinned. "That's a real compliment, sir. I might return it by saying
+I'd be glad to have you as a Planeteer corporal any time."
+
+O'Brine chuckled. "All right. Let's declare a truce, Planeteer. We'll meet
+again. Space isn't very big."
+
+A short time later Rip stood in front of his asteroid base and watched the
+great cruiser drive into space. A short distance away a snapper-boat was
+lashed to the landing boat. O'Brine had insisted on leaving it, with a
+word of warning.
+
+"These Connies are plenty smart. I don't like leaving you unprotected,
+even within reach of Mercury and Terra, but orders are orders. Keep the
+snapper-boat and you'll at least be able to put up a fight if you bump
+into trouble."
+
+The asteroid sped on its lonely way for two days and then a cruiser came
+out of space, its nuclear drive glowing. The Planeteers manned the rocket
+launcher and Rip and Santos stood by the snapper-boat just in case, but
+the cruiser was the _Sagittarius_, out of Mercury.
+
+Captain Go Sian-tek, a Chinese Planeteer officer, arrived in one of the
+cruiser's landing boats accompanied by three enlisted Planeteers. They
+were all from the Special Order Squadron on Mercury.
+
+Captain Go greeted Rip and his men, then handed over a plastic stylus
+plate ordering Rip to deliver six cubic meters of thorium for use on
+Mercury. While Koa supervised the cutting of the block, Rip and the
+captain chatted.
+
+The Mercurian Planeteer base was in the twilight zone, but the Planeteers
+did all their work on the sun side, using special alloy suits to mine the
+precious nuclite that only the hot planet provided.
+
+At some time during its first years, Mercury had been so close to the sun
+that its temperature was driven high enough to permit a subatomic
+thermo-nuclear reaction. 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 for
+spaceship skins.
+
+"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 they could work
+undetected for a short 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.
+
+Koa reported, "Sir, the block of thorium is ready. We've hung it on a line
+behind the landing boat. The blast won't hurt it, and it's too big to get
+inside the boat."
+
+"Fine, Koa. Well, Captain, that does it."
+
+The Mercurian Planeteers got into their craft and blasted off, trailing
+the block of thorium in their exhaust. Rip watched the cruiser take the
+craft and thorium aboard, then drive toward Mercury, brilliant sunlight
+reflecting from its sleek sides. The planet was only a short distance away
+by spaceship. It was the largest thing in space, except for the sun, as
+seen from the asteroid. To Rip it looked about three times the size of the
+moon as seen from earth.
+
+Past the orbit of Mercury, the sun side of the asteroid grew dangerously
+hot for men in space suits. Rip and the Planeteers stayed in the bitter
+cold of the dark side, which ceased to be entirely dark. Even the
+temperature rose somewhat. They were close enough to the sun so that the
+prominences, great flaming tongues of hydrogen that sped many thousands of
+miles into space, gave them light and enough heat to register on Rip's
+instruments.
+
+Mercury was left far behind, and earth could not be seen because of the
+sun. There was nothing to do now but ride out the rest of the trip as
+comfortably as possible until it was time to throw the asteroid into an
+ever-tightening series of elliptical orbits around earth, known as braking
+ellipses. The method would use earth's gravity to slow them down to the
+proper speed. A single atomic bomb and a half dozen tubes of rocket fuel
+remained.
+
+Then, as Rip was enjoying the comfort of air during his off-watch hour in
+the boat compartment, Koa beat an alarm on the door.
+
+Rip and the Planeteers with him hurriedly got into space suits and opened
+up.
+
+"It's Terra base calling on the communicator, sir," Koa reported. "Urgent
+message, they said, and they want to talk to you, personally."
+
+Rip hurried to the base cave. The communicator indicator light was glowing
+red. He plugged in his helmet circuit and said, "This is Lieutenant
+Foster. Go ahead."
+
+A voice crackled across space from earth. "This is Terra base. Foster, a
+Consops cruiser has apparently been hiding behind the sun waiting for you.
+Our screens just picked it up, heading your way. We've sent orders to the
+_Sagittarius_ on Mercury to give you cover, and the _Aquila_ has taken off
+from here. But get this, Foster. The Consops cruiser will reach you first.
+You have about one hour. Do you understand?"
+
+Rip understood all right. He understood too well. "Got you," he said
+shortly. "Now what?"
+
+The communicator buzzed. "Take any appropriate action. You're on your own,
+Foster. Sorry. Sending the cruisers is all we can do. We'll stand by for
+word from you. If you think of any way we can help, let us know."
+
+Rip asked, "How long before the cruisers arrive?"
+
+"You're too close to us for them to move fast. They'll have to use time
+accelerating and decelerating. The _Sagittarius_ should arrive in
+something less than two hours and the _Aquila_ a few minutes later."
+
+The communicator paused, then continued. "One thing more, Foster. The
+Connies know how badly we want that asteroid, but they also know we don't
+want it enough to start a war. Got that?"
+
+"Got it," Rip stated wryly. "I got it good. Thanks for the warning, Terra
+base. Foster off."
+
+"Terra base off. Stay out of high vack."
+
+Fine advice, if it could be taken. Rip stared up at the brilliant stars,
+thinking fast. The Connie would have almost an hour's lead on the space
+patrol cruisers. In that hour, if the Connie were willing to pay the price
+in blasted snapper-boats, Consops would have the asteroid. And Terra base
+had made it clear that the space patrol would not try to blast the Connie
+cruiser and take back the asteroid, because that would mean war.
+
+Added together, the facts said just one thing: they had one hour in which
+to think of some way to hold off the Connies for an additional hour.
+
+The Planeteers were clustered around him. Rip asked grimly, "Any of you
+ever study the ancient art of magic?"
+
+The Planeteers remained silent and tense.
+
+"Magic is what we need," Rip told them. "We have to make the whole
+asteroid disappear, or else we have to conjure up a space cruiser out of
+the thorium. Otherwise, we have a little more than an hour before we're
+either prisoners or dead!"
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTEEN - PERIL AT PERIHELION
+
+
+Sergeant-major Koa had made no comment since notifying Rip of the call
+from Terra base. Now he asked thoughtfully, "Lieutenant, can the Connie
+launch boats this close to the sun? Won't the sun's pull suck them right
+in?"
+
+Corporal Pederson scoffed, "Naw, Koa. If sun's gravity be that strong, it
+pull us in, too."
+
+"Not quite, Pederson," Rip corrected. "Koa is on the right track. The pull
+of the sun is pretty strong. But I don't think it's strong enough to
+capture boats."
+
+He had figured the asteroid's orbit to pass as close to the sun as
+possible while maintaining a margin of safety. He had wanted to use the
+sun's gravity to pick up speed. His regular star sightings had told him
+several days before that the sun was dragging them.
+
+But Koa had started a train of ideas running through Rip's head. If they
+could get close enough to the sun so small boats would be unable to break
+free of its gravity, the Connie wouldn't dare send a landing force. The
+powerful engines of a cruiser could break loose from Sol's pull, but not
+the chemical jets of a cruiser's boats.
+
+Rip got his instruments and pulled out a special slide rule designed for
+use in space. He had Koa stand by with stylus and computation board and
+take down figures as he called them off.
+
+He recalculated the safety factor he had used when deciding how close to
+put the asteroid to the sun, then took quick star sights to determine
+their exact position. They were within a few miles of perihelion, the
+point at which they would be closest to Sol.
+
+Rip tapped gloved fingers on his helmet absently. If they could blast out
+of the orbit and drive into the sun ... he estimated the result. A few
+miles per second of extra speed would put them so far within the sun's
+field of gravity that, within an hour or so, small boats would venture
+into space only at their peril.
+
+He reviewed the equipment. They had tubes of rocket fuel, but the tubes
+wouldn't give the powerful thrust needed for this job. They had one atomic
+bomb. One wasn't enough. Not only must they drive toward the sun, they
+must keep reserve power to blast free again. If only they had a pair of
+nuclear charges!
+
+He called his Planeteers together and outlined the problem. Perhaps one of
+them would have an idea. But no useful suggestions were forthcoming until
+little Dominico spoke up. "Sir, why don't we make two bombs from one?"
+
+       [Illustration: "Sir, Why Don't We Make Two Bombs From One?"]
+
+               "Sir, Why Don't We Make Two Bombs From One?"
+
+
+"I wish we could," Rip said. "Do you know how, Dominico?"
+
+"No, Lieutenant. If we had parts, I could put bombs together. I can take
+them apart, but I don't know how to make two out of one." The Italian
+Planeteer looked accusingly at Rip. "I thought maybe you know, sir."
+
+Rip grunted. If they had parts, he could assemble nuclear bombs, too. Part
+of his physics training had been concerned with fission and its various
+applications. But no one had taught him how to make two bombs out of one.
+
+The theory of nuclear explosions was simple enough. Two or more correctly
+sized pieces of plutonium or uranium isotope, when brought together,
+formed what was known as a critical mass, which would fission. The
+fissioning released energy and produced the explosion.
+
+But there was a wide gap between theory and practice. A nuclear bomb was
+actually pretty complicated. It had to be complicated to keep the pieces
+of the fissionable material apart until a chemical explosion drove them
+together fast and hard enough to create a fission explosion. If the pieces
+weren't brought together rapidly enough, the mass would fission in a slow
+chain reaction and no explosion would result.
+
+Rip was trained in scientific analysis. He tackled the problem logically,
+considering the design of a nuclear bomb and the reasons for it.
+
+Atomic bombs had to be carried. That meant an outer casing was necessary.
+Probably the casing had a lot to do with the design. Suppose no casing
+were required? What would be needed?
+
+He took the stylus and computation board from Koa and jotted down the
+parts required. First, two or more pieces of plutonium large enough to
+form a critical mass. Second, a neutron source--some material with the type
+of radioactivity that produced neutrons--to start the reaction. Third, some
+kind of neutron reflector. And fourth, explosive to drive the pieces
+together.
+
+Did they have all those items? He checked them off. Their single five KT
+bomb contained at least enough plutonium for two critical masses, if
+brought together inside a good neutron reflector. Each mass should give
+about a two kiloton explosion. And they did have a good neutron
+reflector--nuclite. There wasn't anything better for the purpose.
+
+"What have we got for a neutron source?" he asked aloud. He was really
+asking himself, but he got a quick answer from Koa.
+
+"Sir, some of the stuff left in the craters from the other explosions
+gives off neutrons."
+
+"You're right," Rip agreed instantly. A small piece from one of the
+craters, when combined with half of the neutron source in the bomb, should
+be enough. As for the explosive, they had exploding heads on their attack
+rockets.
+
+In other words, he had what he needed--except for a method of putting all
+the pieces together to create a bomb.
+
+If only they had a tube of some sort that would withstand the chemical
+explosion--the one that brought the critical mass together!
+
+He told the Planeteers what he had been thinking, then asked, "Any ideas
+for a tube?"
+
+"How about a tube from the snapper-boat?" Santos suggested.
+
+Rip shook his head. "Not strong enough. They're designed to withstand the
+slow push of rocket fuel, not the fast rap of an explosion. When I say
+slow, I mean slow-burning when compared with explosive. Who has another
+idea?"
+
+Kemp, the expert torchman, said, "Sir, I can burn you a tube into the
+asteroid."
+
+Rip grabbed the Planeteer so hard they both floated upward. "Kemp, that's
+wonderful! That's it!" The details took form in his mind even as he called
+orders. "Dominico, tear down that bomb. Santos, remove two heads from your
+rockets and wire them to explode on electrical impulse. Kemp, we'll want
+the tube just a fraction of an inch wider than a rocket head. Get your
+torch ready."
+
+He took the stylus and began calculating. He talked as he worked, telling
+the Planeteers exactly what they were up against. "I'm figuring out where
+to put the charge so it will do the most good, but my data isn't complete.
+If our homemade bomb goes off, I don't know exactly how much power it will
+give. If it gives too much, we'll be driven so close to the sun well never
+get free of its gravity."
+
+Bradshaw, the English Planeteer, said mildly, "Don't worry, Lieutenant.
+We're caught either way. If it isn't the solar frying pan, it's Connie
+fire."
+
+A chorus of agreement came from the other Planeteers. What a crew! Rip
+thought. What a great gang of space pirates!
+
+He finished his calculations and found the exact spot where Kemp would
+cut. A few feet away from the spot was a thick pyramid of thorium. That
+would do, and they could cut into it horizontally instead of drilling
+straight down. He pointed to it. "Let's have a hole straight in for six
+feet. And keep it straight, Kemp. Allow enough room for a lining of
+nuclite. Koa, pull a sheet of nuclite out of the cave and cut it to size."
+
+Kemp's torch already was slicing into the metal. Rip asked, "Can you weld
+with that thing, Kemp?"
+
+"Just show me what you want, sir."
+
+"Good." Rip motioned to Trudeau. "Frenchy, we'll need a strong rod at
+least eight feet long."
+
+The French Planeteer hurried off. Rip consulted his chronometer. Less than
+ten minutes had passed since the call from Terra base.
+
+He went over his plan again. It had to work! If it didn't, asteroid and
+Planeteers would end up as subatomic particles in the sun's photosphere,
+because he had calculated his blast to drive the asteroid past the limit
+of safety. It was the only way he could be sure of putting them beyond
+danger from Connie landing boats or snapper-boats. The Connie would have
+only one chance--to bring his cruiser down on the asteroid.
+
+If he tried that, Rip thought grimly, he would get a surprise. The second
+nuclear charge would be set, ready to be fired. The Connie cruiser was so
+big that no matter how it pulled up to the asteroid, some part of it would
+be close enough to the charge to be blown into space dust. No cruiser
+could survive an atomic explosion within five hundred yards, and the
+Connie would have to get closer to the nuclear charge than that.
+
+Dominico reported that the bomb had been dismantled. Rip went to it and
+examined the raw plutonium, being careful to keep the pieces widely
+separated.
+
+This particular bomb design used five pieces of plutonium which were
+driven together to form a ball. Rip made a quick estimate. Two were enough
+to form a critical mass. He would use two to blast into the sun and three
+to blast out again. He would need the extra kick.
+
+There was only one trouble. The pieces were wedge shaped. They would have
+to be mounted in thorium in order to keep them rigid. Only Kemp could do
+that. They had no cutting tool but the torch.
+
+Santos appeared, carrying a rocket head under each arm. They had wires
+wound around them, ready to be attached to an electrical source.
+
+Rip hurried back to where Kemp was at work. The private was using a
+cutting nozzle that threw an almost invisible flame five feet long. In
+air, the nozzle wouldn't have worked effectively beyond two feet, but in
+space it cut right down to the end of the flame. Kemp had his arm inside
+the hole and was peering past it as he finished the cut.
+
+"Done, sir," he said, and adjusted the flame to a spout of red fire. He
+thrust the torch into the hole and quickly withdrew it as pieces of
+thorium flew out. A stream of water hosed into the tube would have washed
+them out the same way.
+
+Rip took a block of plutonium from Dominico and handed it to Kemp. "Cut a
+plug and fit this into it. Then cut a second plug for the other piece.
+They have to match perfectly, and you can't put them together to try out
+the fit. If you do, we'll have fission right here in the open."
+
+Kemp searched and found a piece he had cut in making the tube. It was
+perfectly round, ideal for the purpose. He sliced off the inner side where
+it tapered to a cone, then, working only by eye estimate, cut out a hole
+in which the wedge of fission material would fit. He wasn't off by a
+thirty-second of an inch. Skillful application of the torch melted the
+thorium around the wedge and sealed it tightly.
+
+Koa was ready with a sheet of nuclite. Trudeau arrived with a long pole he
+had made by lashing two crate sticks together.
+
+Rip gave directions as they formed a cylinder of nuclite. Kemp spot-welded
+it, and they pushed it into the hole, forming a lining.
+
+Nunez found a small piece of material in one of the earlier craters. It
+would provide some neutrons to start the chain reaction. Rip added it to
+the front of the plutonium wedge along with a piece of beryllium from the
+bomb, and Kemp welded it in place.
+
+They put the thorium block which contained the plutonium into the hole,
+the plutonium facing outward. Trudeau rammed it to the bottom with his
+pole. The neutron source, the neutron reflector, and one piece of
+fissionable material were in place.
+
+Kemp sliced another round block of thorium out of a near-by crystal and
+fitted the second wedge of plutonium into it. At first Rip had worried
+about the two pieces of plutonium making a good enough contact, but Kemp's
+skillful hand and precision eye removed that worry.
+
+The torchman finished fitting the plutonium and carried the block to the
+tube opening. He tried it, removed a slight irregularity with his torch,
+then said quietly, "Finished, sir."
+
+Rip took over. He slid the thorium-plutonium block into the tube, took a
+rocket head from Santos and used it to push the block in farther. When the
+rocket head was about four inches inside the tube, its wires trailing out,
+Rip called Kemp. At his direction, the torchman sliced a thin slot up the
+face of the crystal. Rip fitted the wires into it and held them in place
+with a small wedge of thorium.
+
+Kemp cut a plug, fitted it into the hole, and welded the seams closed. The
+tube was sealed. When electric current fired the rocket head, the thorium
+carrying the plutonium wedge would be driven forward to meet the wedge in
+the back. And, unless Rip had miscalculated the mass of the two pieces,
+they would have their nuclear blast. Rip surveyed the crystal with some
+anxiety. It looked right.
+
+Dominico already had rigged the timer from the atomic bomb. He connected
+the wires, then looked at Rip. "Do I set it, sir?"
+
+"Load the communicator, the extra bomb parts, the rocket launcher and
+rockets, the cutting equipment, my instruments, and the tubes of fuel,"
+Rip ordered. "Leave everything else in the cave."
+
+The Planeteers ran to obey. Rip waited until the landing boat was nearly
+loaded, then told Dominico to set the timer for five minutes. He wondered
+how they would explode the second charge, since they had only the one
+timer left, then forgot about it. Time enough to worry when faced with the
+problem.
+
+"I'll take the snapper-boat," he stated. "Santos in the gunner's seat. Koa
+in charge in the landing boat. Dowst pilot. Let's show an exhaust."
+
+He fitted himself into the tight pilot seat of the snapper-boat while
+Santos climbed in behind. Then, handling the controls with the skill of
+long practice, he lifted the tiny fighting rocket above the asteroid and
+waited for the landing boat. When it joined up, Rip led the way to safety.
+As he cut his exhaust to wait for the explosion, he sighted past the
+snapper-boat's nose to the asteroid.
+
+He was moving, and the direction of his move told him the sun was already
+pulling. Its pull was strong, too. He cut his jets back on, just to hold
+position, and saw Dowst do the same.
+
+Another few miles toward the sun and the landing boat wouldn't have the
+power to get away from Sol's gravity. A few miles beyond that, even the
+powerful little snapper-boat would be caught.
+
+Below, the timer reached zero. A mighty fan of fire shot into space. The
+asteroid shuddered from the blast, then swerved gradually, picking up
+speed as well as new direction.
+
+Rip swallowed hard. Now they were committed. They would reach a new
+perihelion far beyond the limits of safety. P for perihelion and P for
+peril. In this case, they were the same thing!
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOURTEEN - BETWEEN TWO FIRES
+
+
+Back on the asteroid, the Planeteers started laying the second atomic
+charge. Rip selected the spot, found a near-by crystal that would serve to
+house the bomb, and Kemp started cutting.
+
+The Planeteers knew what to do now, and the work went rapidly. Rip kept an
+eye on his chronometer. According to the message from Terra base, he had
+about fifteen minutes before the Consops cruiser arrived.
+
+"We have one advantage we didn't have back in the asteroid belt," he
+remarked to Koa. "Back there they could have landed anywhere on the rock.
+Now they have to stick to the dark side. Snapper-boats could last on the
+sun side, but men in ordinary space suits couldn't."
+
+"That's good," Koa agreed. "We have only one side to defend. Why don't we
+put the rocket launcher right in the middle of the dark side?"
+
+"Go ahead. And have all men check their pistols and knives. We don't know
+what's likely to happen when that Connie flames in."
+
+Rip walked over to the communicator and plugged his suit into the circuit.
+"This is the asteroid calling Terra base. Over."
+
+"This is Terra base. Go ahead, Foster. How are you doing?"
+
+"If you need anything cooked, send it to us," Rip replied. "We have heat
+enough to cook anything, including tungsten alloy." He explained briefly
+what action they had taken.
+
+A new voice came on the communicator. "Foster, this is Colonel Stevens."
+
+Rip responded swiftly, "Yes, sir!" Stevens was the top Planeteer,
+commanding officer of all the Special Order Squadrons.
+
+"We've piped this circuit into every channel in the system," the colonel
+said. "Every Planeteer in the Squadrons is listening, and rooting for you.
+Is there anything we can do?"
+
+"Yes, sir," Rip replied. "Do you know if Terra base has plotted our course
+this far?"
+
+There was a brief silence, then the colonel answered, "Yes, Foster. We
+have a complete track from the time you started showing on the Terra
+screens, about halfway between the orbits of Mars and earth."
+
+"Did you just get our change of direction?"
+
+"Yes. We're following you on the screens."
+
+"Then, sir, I'd appreciate it if you'd put the calculators to work and
+make a time-distance plot for the next few hours. The blast we're saving
+to push back to safety is about three kilotons. Let us know the last
+moment when we can fire and still get free of Sol's gravity."
+
+"You'll have it within fifteen minutes. Anything else, Foster?"
+
+"Nothing else I can think of, sir."
+
+"Then good luck. We'll be standing by."
+
+"Yes, sir. Foster off."
+
+Rip disconnected and turned up his helmet communicator, repeating the
+conversation to his men. Koa came and stood beside him. "Lieutenant, how
+do we set off this next charge?"
+
+There was only one way. When the time came to blast, they would be too
+close to the sun to take to the boats. The blast had to be set off from
+the asteroid.
+
+"We'll get underground as far away from the bomb as we can," Rip said. He
+surveyed the dark side, which was rapidly growing less dark. "I think the
+second crater will do. Kemp can square it off on the side toward the blast
+to give us a vertical wall to hide behind."
+
+Koa looked doubtful. "Plenty of radiation left in those holes, sir."
+
+Rip grinned mirthlessly. "Radiation is the least of our problems. I'd
+rather get an overdose of gamma than get blasted into space."
+
+A yell rang in his helmet. "Here comes the Connie!"
+
+Rip looked up, startled. The Consops cruiser passed directly overhead,
+about ten miles away. It was decelerating rapidly. Rip wondered why they
+hadn't spotted it earlier and realized the Connie had come from the
+direction of the hot side.
+
+The enemy cruiser was probably the same one that had attacked them before.
+He must have lain in wait for days, keeping between the sun and Terra.
+That way, the screens wouldn't pick him up, since only a few observatories
+scanned the sun regularly. To the observatories, the cruiser would have
+been only a tiny speck, too small to be noticed. Or if they had noticed
+it, the astronomers probably decided it was just a very tiny sunspot.
+
+The Planeteers worked with increased speed. Kemp welded the final plug
+into place, then hurried to the crater from which they would set off the
+charge. Dominico and Dowst connected the wires from the rocket head to a
+reel of wire and rolled it toward the crater. Nunez got a hand-driven
+dynamo from the supplies and tested it for use in setting off the charge.
+Santos stood by the rocket launcher, with Pederson ready to put another
+rack of rockets into the device when necessary.
+
+Rip and Koa watched the Connie cruiser. It decelerated to a stop for a
+brief second, then started moving again, with no jets showing.
+
+"That's the sun pulling," Rip said exultantly. "They'll have to keep
+blasting to maintain position."
+
+The Consops commander didn't wait to trim ship against the sun's drag. His
+air locks opened, clearly visible to Rip and Koa because that side of the
+cruiser was brilliant with sunlight. Ten snapper-boats sped forth. Rip was
+certain now that this was the enemy cruiser they had fought off back in
+the asteroid belt. Two Connie snapper-boats had been destroyed in that
+clash, which explained why the commander was sending out only ten boats,
+instead of the full quota of twelve.
+
+The squadron instantly formed a V, like a strange space letter made up of
+globes. The sun's gravity pulled at them, dragging them off course. Rip
+watched as flames poured from their stern tubes. They were firing full
+speed ahead, but the drag of the sun distorted their line of flight into a
+great arc.
+
+Rip saw the strategy instantly. The Connie commander knew the situation
+exactly, and he was staking everything in one great gamble, sending his
+snapper-boats to land on the asteroid--to crash land if necessary.
+
+The asteroid was so close to the sun that even the powerful fighting
+rockets would use most of their fuel in simply combatting its gravity.
+
+"All hands stand by to repel Connies," Rip shouted, and drew his pistol.
+He looked into the magazine, saw that he had a full clip, and then charged
+the weapon.
+
+Santos was crouched over the rocket launcher, his space gloves working
+rapidly as he kept the rockets pointed at the enemy.
+
+Rip called, "Santos, fire at will."
+
+The Planeteers formed a skirmish line which pivoted on the launcher. Only
+Kemp remained at work. His torch flared, slicing through the thorium as he
+prepared their firing position.
+
+The atomic charge was ready. The wires had been laid up to the rim of the
+crater in which Kemp worked, and the dynamo was attached.
+
+Rip was everywhere, checking on the launcher, on Kemp, on the pistols of
+his men. And Santos, hunched over his illuminated sight, watched the
+Connie snapper-boats draw near.
+
+"Here we go," the Filipino corporal muttered. He pressed the trigger.
+
+The first rocket sped outward in a sweeping curve, and for a moment Rip
+opened his mouth to yell at Santos. The sun's gravity affected the attack
+rockets, too! Then he saw that the corporal had allowed for the sun's
+pull.
+
+The rocket curved into the squadron of oncoming boats and they all tried
+to dodge at once. Two of them met in a sideways crash, then a third
+staggered as its stern globe flared and exploded. Santos had scored a hit!
+
+Rip called, "Good shooting!"
+
+The corporal's reply was rueful, "Sir, that wasn't the one I aimed at. The
+sun's pull is worse than I figured."
+
+The damaged snapper-boat instantly blasted from its nose tubes,
+decelerated and went into reverse, flipping through space crabwise as it
+tried to regain the safety of the cruiser. The two boats that had crashed
+while trying to dodge were blasting in great spurts of flame, following
+the example of their damaged companion.
+
+"Seven left," Rip called, and another rocket flashed on its way. He
+followed its trail as it curved away from the asteroid and into the
+squadron. Its proximity fuse detonated in the exhaust of a Connie boat,
+blowing the tube out of position. The boat yawed wildly, cut its stern
+tubes, and blasted to a stop from the bow tube. Then it, too, started
+backward toward the cruiser.
+
+Six left!
+
+Flame blossomed a few yards from Rip. He was picked up bodily and flung
+into space, whirling end over end. Koa's voice rang in his helmet.
+
+"Watch it! They're firing back!"
+
+Rip tugged frantically at an air bottle in his belt. He pulled it out and
+used it to whirl him upright again, then its air blast drove him back to
+the surface of the asteroid. Sweat poured from his forehead and the suit
+ventilator whined as it worked to pick up the extra moisture. Great
+Cosmos! That was close.
+
+Koa called, "All right, sir?"
+
+"Fine."
+
+Santos fired again, twice, in rapid succession. The Connie snapper-boats
+scattered as the proximity fuses produced flowers of fire among them. Two
+near misses, but they threw the enemy off course. Rip watched tensely as
+the boats fought to regain their course. He knew asteroid, cruiser, and
+boats were speeding toward the sun at close to 50 miles a second, and the
+drag was getting terrific. The Connies knew it too.
+
+There was an exultant yell from the Planeteers as two of the boats gave up
+and turned back, using full power to regain the safety of the mother ship.
+
+Four left, and they were getting close!
+
+Santos scored a direct hit on the nose of the nearest one, but its
+momentum drove it within a few yards of the asteroid. Five space-suited
+figures erupted from it, holding hand propulsion units, tubes of rocket
+fuel used for hand combat in empty space.
+
+The Connies lit off their propulsion tubes and drove feet first for the
+asteroid. The Planeteers estimated where the enemy would land, and were
+there waiting with pointed handguns. The Connies had their hands over
+their heads, holding the propulsion tubes. They took one look at the
+gleaming Planeteer guns and their hands stayed upright.
+
+The Planeteers lashed the Connies' hands behind them with their own safety
+lines and, at Rip's orders, dumped all but one of them into the crater
+where Kemp was just finishing.
+
+Three snapper-boats remained. Rip watched, holding tightly to the arm of
+the Connie he had kept at his side. The man wore the insignia of an
+officer.
+
+The remaining snapper-boats were going to make it. Santos threw rockets
+among them and scored hits, but the boats kept coming. The Connies were
+too far away from the cruiser to return, and they knew it. Getting to the
+asteroid was their only chance.
+
+Rip called, "Santos. Cease fire. Set the launcher for ground level. Let
+them land, but don't fire until I give the word." He hoped his plan would
+work. Experience back in the asteroid belt had taught him something about
+Connies.
+
+He put his helmet against his prisoner's for direct communication. "You
+speak English?"
+
+The man shouted back, "Yes."
+
+"Good. We're going to let your friends land. As soon as they do, I want
+you to yell to them. Say we have assault rockets trained on them. Tell
+them to surrender or they'll be killed in their tracks. Got that?"
+
+The Connie replied, "Suppose I refuse?"
+
+Rip put his space knife against the man's stomach. "Then we'll get them
+with rockets. But you won't care because you won't know it."
+
+The truth was, Santos couldn't hope to get them all with his rockets. They
+might overcome the Connies in hand-to-hand fighting, but there would be a
+cost to pay in Planeteer casualties. Rip hoped the Connie wouldn't call
+his bluff, because that's all it was. He couldn't use a space knife on an
+unarmed prisoner.
+
+The Connie didn't know that. In Rip's place he would have no compunctions
+about using the knife, so instead of calling Rip's bluff he agreed.
+
+The snapper-boats blew their front tubes, decelerating, and squashed down
+to the asteroid in a roar of exhaust flames, sending the Planeteers
+running out of the way. Rip thrust harder with his space knife and yelled,
+"Tell them!"
+
+The Connie officer nodded. "Turn up my communicator."
+
+Rip turned it on full, and the Connie barked quick instructions. The
+exhausts died and five men filed out of each boat with hands held high.
+Rip blew a drop of perspiration from the tip of his nose. Empty space! It
+was a good thing Connie morale was bad. The enemy's willingness to
+surrender had saved them a costly fight.
+
+The Planeteers rounded up the prisoners and secured them while Rip took an
+anxious look at the communicator. It was about time he heard from Terra
+base.
+
+The light was glowing. For all he knew, it might have been glowing for
+many minutes. He plugged into the circuit.
+
+"This is Foster on the asteroid."
+
+"Terra base to Foster. Listen, you will reach optimum position on the
+time-distance curve at twenty-three-oh-six. Repeat back,
+twenty-three-oh-six."
+
+"Got it. We will reach optimum position at twenty-three-oh-six." He looked
+at his chronometer and his pulse stopped. It was 2258! They had just eight
+minutes before the sun caught them forever, atomic blast or no!
+
+And the Connie cruiser was still overhead, with no friendly cruisers in
+sight. He looked up, white-faced. Not only was the Connie still there, but
+its main air lock was sliding open to disclose a new danger.
+
+In the opening, ready to launch, an assault boat waited. The assault boats
+were something only the Connies used. They were about four times the size
+of a snapper-boat, less maneuverable but more powerful. They carried 20
+men and a pair of guided missiles with atomic warheads!
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIFTEEN - THE ROCKETEERS
+
+
+Rip ran for the snapper-boat, feet moving as rapidly as lack of gravity
+would permit. He called instructions. "Santos! Turn the launcher over to
+Pederson and come with me. Koa, take over. Start throwing rockets at that
+boat and don't stop until you run out of ammunition."
+
+He reached the snapper-boat and squeezed in, Santos close behind him. As
+he strapped himself into the seat he called, "Koa! Get this, and get it
+straight. At twenty-three-oh-five, fire the bomb. Fire it whether I'm back
+or not. Got that?"
+
+Koa replied, "Got it, sir."
+
+That would give the Planeteers a minute's leeway. Not much of a safety
+margin, especially when he wasn't sure how much power the improvised
+atomic charge would produce.
+
+He plugged into the snapper-boat's communicator and called, "Ready,
+Santos?"
+
+"Ready, Lieutenant."
+
+He braced himself against acceleration and flipped the speed control to
+full power. The fighting rocket rammed out from the asteroid, snapping him
+back against the seat. He made a quick check. Gunsight on, fuel tanks
+almost full, propulsion tubes racked handy to his hand, space patches
+ready to be grabbed and slapped on in case an enemy shot holed helmet or
+suit.
+
+They drove toward the enemy cruiser at top speed, swerving in a great arc
+as the sun pulled at them. The enemy's big boat was out of the ship, its
+jets firing as it started for the asteroid.
+
+Rip leaned over his illuminated gunsight. The boat showed up clearly, the
+rings of the sight framing it. He estimated distance and the pull of the
+sun, then squeezed the trigger on the speed control handle. The cannon in
+the nose spat flame. He watched tensely and saw the charge explode on the
+hull of the Connie cruiser. He had underestimated the sun's drag. He
+compensated and tried again.
+
+He missed. Now that he was closer and the charge had less distance to
+travel, he had overestimated the sun's effect. He gritted his teeth. The
+next shot would be at close range.
+
+The fighting rocket closed space, and the landing boat loomed large in the
+sight. He fired again and the shot blew metal loose from the top of the
+boat's hull. A hit, but not good enough. He leaned over the sight to fire
+again, but before he had sighted an explosion blew the landing boat
+completely around.
+
+Koa and Pederson had scored a hit from the asteroid!
+
+The big boat fired its side jets and spun around on course again. Flame
+bloomed from its side as Connie gunners tried to get the range on the
+snapper-boat.
+
+Rip was within reach now. He fired at point-blank range and flashed over
+the boat as its front end exploded. Santos, firing from the rear, hit it
+again as the snapper-boat passed.
+
+Rip threw the rocket into a turn that rammed him against the top of his
+harness. He steadied on a line with the crippled Connie craft. It was hard
+hit. The bow jets flickered fitfully, and the stern tubes were dead. He
+sighted, fired. A charge hit the boat aft and blew its stern tubes off
+completely.
+
+And at the same moment, a Connie gunner got a perfect bead on the
+snapper-boat.
+
+Space blew up in Rip's face. The snapper-boat slewed wildly as the Connie
+shot took effect. Rip worked his controls frantically, trying to
+straighten the rocket out more by instinct than anything else.
+
+His eyes recovered from the blinding flash and he gulped as he saw the
+raw, twisted metal where the boat's nose had been. He managed to correct
+the boat's twisting by using the stern tubes, but he was no longer in full
+control.
+
+For a moment panic gripped him. Without full control he couldn't get back
+to the asteroid! Then he forced himself to steady down. He sized up the
+situation. They were still underway, the stern tubes pushing, but their
+trajectory would take them right under the crippled Connie boat. The sun
+was blazing into the fighting rocket with such intensity that he had
+trouble seeing.
+
+There was nothing he could do but pass close to the Connie. The enemy
+gunners would fire, but he had to take his chances. He looked down at the
+asteroid and saw an orange trail as Koa launched another rocket.
+
+The shot from the asteroid ticked the bottom of the Connie boat and
+exploded. The Connie rolled violently. Tubes flared as the pilot fought to
+correct the roll. He slowed the spinning as Rip and Santos passed, just
+long enough for a Connie gunner to get in a final shot.
+
+The shell struck directly under Rip. He felt himself pushed violently
+upward, and at the same moment he reacted, by hunch and not by reason. He
+rammed the controls full ahead and the dying rocket cut space, curving
+slowly as flaming fuel spurted from the ruptured tanks.
+
+Rip yelled, "Santos! You all right?"
+
+"I think so. Lieutenant, we're on fire!"
+
+"I know it. Get ready to abandon ship."
+
+When the main mass of fuel caught, the rocket would become an inferno. Rip
+smashed at the escape hatch above his head, grabbed propulsion tubes from
+the rack and called, "Now!"
+
+He pulled the release on his harness, stood up on the seat, and thrust
+with all his leg power. He catapulted out of the burning snapper-boat into
+space.
+
+Santos followed a second later and the crippled rocket twisted wildly
+under the two Planeteers.
+
+"Don't use the propulsion tubes," Rip called. "Slow down with your air
+bottles." He thrust the tubes into his belt, found his air bottles, and
+pointed two of them in the direction they had been traveling. He wanted to
+come to a stop, to let the wild snapper-boat get away from them.
+
+The compressed air bottles did the trick. He and Santos slowed down as the
+little jets overcame the inertia that was taking them along with the
+burning boat. The boat was spiraling now, and burning freely. It moved
+away from them, its stern jets firing weakly as fuel burned in the tank.
+
+Rip took a look toward the enemy cruiser. The assault boat was no longer
+showing an exhaust. Instead, it was being dragged rapidly away from the
+Connie cruiser by the pull of the sun. At least they had hit it in time to
+prevent launching of the atomic guided missiles. Or, he thought, perhaps
+the enemy had never intended using them. The principal effect, besides
+killing the Planeteers, would have been to drive the asteroid into the sun
+at an even faster rate.
+
+The enemy assault boat was no longer a menace. Its occupants would be
+lucky if they succeeded in saving their own lives.
+
+            [Illustration: Rip and Santos Fell Through Space]
+
+                    Rip and Santos Fell Through Space
+
+
+Rip wondered what the Connie cruiser commander would try now. Only one
+thing remained, and that was to set the cruiser down on the asteroid. If
+the Connie tried, he would arrive at just about the time set for releasing
+the nuclear charge. And that would be the end of the cruiser--and probably
+of the Planeteers as well.
+
+Santos asked coolly, "Lieutenant, wouldn't you say we're in sort of a bad
+spot?"
+
+Rip had been so busy sizing up the situation that he hadn't thought about
+his own predicament. Now he looked down and suddenly realized that he was
+floating free in space, a considerable distance above the asteroid, and
+with only small propulsion tubes for power.
+
+He gasped, "Great space! We're in a mess, Santos."
+
+The Filipino corporal asked, still in a calm voice, "How long before we're
+dragged into the sun, sir?"
+
+Rip stared. Santos had used the same tone he might have used in asking for
+a piece of Venusian _chru_. An officer couldn't be less calm, so Rip
+replied in a voice he hoped was casual, "I wouldn't worry, Santos. We
+won't know it. The heat will get through our suits long before then."
+
+In fact, the heat should be overloading their ventilating systems right
+now. In a few minutes the cooling elements would break down and that would
+be the end. He listened for the accelerated whine as the ventilating
+system struggled under the increased heat load, and heard nothing.
+
+Funny. Had it overloaded and given out already? No, that was impossible.
+He would be feeling the heat on his body if that were the case.
+
+He looked for an explanation and realized for the first time that they
+weren't in the sunlight at all. They were in darkness. His searching
+glance told him they were in the cone of shadow stretching out from behind
+the asteroid. The thorium rock was between them and the sun!
+
+His lips moved soundlessly. Major Joe Barris had been right! _In a jam,
+trust your hunch._ He had acted instinctively, not even thinking what he
+was doing as he used the last full power of the stern tubes to throw them
+into the shadow cone.
+
+And he knew in the same moment that it could save their lives. The sun's
+pull would only accelerate their fall toward the asteroid. He said
+exultantly, "We're staying out of high vack, Santos. Light off a
+propulsion tube. Let's get back to the asteroid."
+
+He pulled a tube from his belt, held it above his head, and thumbed the
+striker mechanism. The tube flared, pushing downward on his hand. He held
+steady and plummeted feet first toward the rock.
+
+Santos was only a few seconds behind him. Rip saw the corporal's tube
+flare and knew that everything was all right, at least for the moment,
+even though the asteroid was still a long way down.
+
+He looked upward at the Connie cruiser and saw that it was moving. Its
+exhaust increased in length and deepened slightly in color as Rip watched,
+his forehead creased in a frown. What was the Connie up to?
+
+Then he saw side jets flare out from the projecting control tubes and knew
+the ship was maneuvering. Rip realized suddenly that the cruiser was going
+to pick up the crippled assault boat.
+
+He hadn't expected such a humane move after his first meeting with the
+Connie cruiser when the commander had been willing to sacrifice his own
+men. This time, however, there was a difference, he saw. The commander
+would lose nothing by picking up the assault boat, and he would save a few
+men. Rip supposed that manpower meant something, even to Consops.
+
+His propulsion tube reached brennschluss, and for a few moments he
+watched, checking his speed and direction. Then, before he lit off another
+tube, he checked his chronometer. The illuminated dial registered 2301.
+They had just four minutes to get to the asteroid!
+
+He spoke swiftly. "Waste no time in lighting off, Santos. That nuclear
+charge goes in four minutes!"
+
+The Filipino corporal said merely, "Yessir."
+
+Rip pulled a tube from his belt, held it overhead, and triggered it. His
+flight through space speeded up but he wasn't at all sure they would make
+it. He turned up his helmet communicator to full power and called, "Koa,
+can you hear me?"
+
+The sergeant-major's reply was faint in his helmet. "I hear you weakly. Do
+you hear me?"
+
+"Same way," Rip replied. "Get this, Koa. Don't fail to explode that charge
+at twenty-three-oh-five. Can you see us?"
+
+The reply was very slightly stronger. "I will explode the charge as
+ordered, Lieutenant. We can see a pair of rocket exhausts, but no boats.
+Is that you?"
+
+"Yes. We're coming in on propulsion tubes."
+
+Koa waited for a long moment, then: "Sir, what if you're not with us by
+twenty-three-oh-five?"
+
+"You know the answer," Rip retorted crisply.
+
+Of course Koa knew. The nuclear blast would send Rip and Santos spinning
+into outer space, perhaps crippled, burned, or completely irradiated. But
+the lives of two men couldn't delay the blast that would save the lives of
+eight others, not counting prisoners.
+
+Rip estimated his speed and course and the distance to the asteroid. He
+was increasingly sure that they wouldn't make it, and the knowledge was
+like the cold of space in his stomach. It would be close, but not close
+enough. A minute would make all the difference.
+
+For a few heartbeats he almost called Koa and told him to wait that extra
+minute, to explode the nuclear charge at 2306, at the very last second.
+But even Planeteer chronometers could be off by a few seconds and he
+couldn't risk it. His men had to be given some leeway.
+
+The decision made, he put his mind to the problem. There must be some way
+out. There must be!
+
+He surveyed the asteroid. The nuclear charge was on his left side, pretty
+close to the sun line. At least he and Santos could angle to the right, to
+get as far away from the blast as possible.
+
+The edge of the asteroid's shadow was barely visible. That it was visible
+at all was due to the minute particles of matter and gas that surrounded
+the sun, even millions of miles out into space. He reduced helmet power
+and told Santos, "Angle to the right. Get as close to the edge of shadow
+as you can without being cooked."
+
+As an afterthought, he asked, "How many tubes do you have?"
+
+"One after this, sir. I had three."
+
+Rip also had one left. That was correct, because snapper-boats carried
+three in each man's position.
+
+"Save the one you have left," he ordered.
+
+He didn't know yet what use they would be, but it was always a good idea
+to have some kind of reserve.
+
+The Connie cruiser was sliding up to the crippled assault boat. Rip took a
+quick look, then shifted his hands, and angled toward the edge of shadow.
+When he was within a few feet he reversed the direction of the tube to
+keep from shooting out into sunlight. A second or two later the tube
+burned out.
+
+Santos was several yards away and slightly above him. Rip saw that the
+Planeteer was all right and turned his attention to the cruiser once more.
+It was close enough to the assault boat to haul it in with grappling
+hooks. The hooks emerged and engaged the torn metal of the boat, then drew
+it into the waiting port. The massive air door slid closed.
+
+The question was, would the Connie try to set his ship down on the
+asteroid? Rip grinned without mirth. Now would be a fine time. His
+chronometer showed a minute and half to blast time.
+
+He took another look at his own situation. He and Santos were getting
+close to the asteroid, but there was still over a half mile earth distance
+to go. They would cover perhaps three-fourths of that distance before Koa
+fired the charge.
+
+He had a daring idea. How long could he and Santos last in direct
+sunlight? The effect of the sun in the open was powerful enough to make
+lead run like water. Their suits could absorb some heat and the
+ventilating system could take care of quite a lot. They might last as much
+as three minutes, with luck.
+
+They had to take a risk with the full knowledge that the odds were against
+them. But if they didn't take the risk, the blast would push them outward
+from the asteroid-into full sunlight. The end result would be the same.
+
+"We're not going to make it, Santos," he began.
+
+"I know it, sir," Santos replied.
+
+Rip thought, anyone with that much coolness and sheer nerve rated some
+kind of special treatment. And the Filipino corporal had shown his ability
+time and time again. He said, "I should have known you knew, _Sergeant_
+Santos. We still have a slight chance. When I give the word, use an air
+bottle to push you into the sunlight. When I give the word again, light
+off your remaining tube."
+
+"Yessir," Santos replied. "Thank you for the promotion. I hope I live to
+collect the extra rating."
+
+"Same here," Rip agreed fervently. His eyes were on his chronometer, and
+with his free hand he took another air bottle. When the chronometer
+registered exactly one minute before blast time, he called, "Now!" He
+triggered the bottle and moved from shadow into glaring sunlight. A slight
+motion of the bottle turned him so his back was to the sun, then he used
+the remaining compressed air to push him downward along the edge of
+shadow. The sun's gravity tugged at him.
+
+He pulled the last tube from his belt and held it ready while he watched
+his chronometer creep around. With five seconds to go, he called to Santos
+and fired it. Acceleration pushed at him.
+
+In the same moment, the nuclear charge exploded.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIXTEEN - RIDE THE GRAY PLANET!
+
+
+A mighty hand reached out and shoved Rip, sweeping him through space like
+a dust mote. He clutched his propulsion tube with both hands and fought to
+hold it steady.
+
+He swiveled his head quickly, searching for Santos, and saw the Filipino a
+dozen rods away, still holding fast to his tube.
+
+From the far horizon of the asteroid the incandescent fire of the nuclear
+blast stretched into space, turning from silver to orange to red as it
+cooled.
+
+Rip knew they had escaped the heat and blast of the explosion, but there
+was a question of how much of the prompt radiation they had absorbed.
+During the first few seconds, a nuclear blast vomited gamma radiation and
+neutrons in all directions. He and Santos certainly had gotten plenty. But
+how much? Putting their dosimeters into a measuring meter aboard a cruiser
+would tell them. His low-level colorimeter had long since reached maximum
+red, and his high-level dosimeter could be read only on a measuring
+device.
+
+Meanwhile, he had other worries. Radiation had no immediate effect. At
+worst, it would be a few hours before he felt any symptoms.
+
+As he sized up his position and that of the asteroid, he let out a yell of
+triumph. His gamble would succeed! He had estimated that going into the
+direct gravity pull of the sun at the proper moment, and lighting off
+their last tubes, would put them into a landing position. The asteroid was
+swerving rapidly, moving into a new orbit that would intersect the course
+he and Santos were on. He had planned on the asteroid's change of orbit.
+In a minute at most they would be back on the rock.
+
+His propulsion tube flared out and he released it. It would travel along
+with him, but his hands would be free. He watched closely as the asteroid
+drew nearer and estimated they would land with plenty of room to spare.
+
+Then he saw something else. The blast had started the asteroid turning!
+
+He reacted instantly. Turning up his communicator he yelled, "Koa! The
+rock is spinning! Cut the prisoners loose, grab the equipment, and run for
+it! You'll have to keep running to stay in the shadow. If sunlight hits
+those fuel tanks or the tubes of rocket fuel, they'll explode!"
+
+Koa replied tersely, "Got it. We're moving."
+
+The Planeteers and their prisoners would have to move fast, running to
+stay out of direct sunlight. A moment or two in the sun wouldn't hurt the
+men, but the chemical fuels in the cutting tanks and rocket tubes would
+explode in a matter of seconds.
+
+At least the Connie cruiser couldn't harm them now, Rip thought grimly. He
+looked for the cruiser and failed to find it for several seconds. It had
+moved. He finally saw its exhausts some distance away.
+
+He forgot his own predicament in a grin. The Connie cruiser had moved, but
+not because its commander had wanted to. It had been right in the path of
+the nuclear blast, although some distance from it. The Connie had been
+literally shoved away.
+
+Then Rip forgot the cruiser. His suit ventilator was whining under the
+terrific heat and his whole body was bathed in perspiration. The sun was
+getting them. It was only a short time until the ventilator overloaded and
+burned out. They had to reach the asteroid before then. The trouble was,
+there was nothing further he could do about it. He had only air bottles
+left, and their blast was so weak that the effect wouldn't speed him up
+much. Nevertheless, he called to Santos and directed him to use his
+bottles. Then he did the same.
+
+Santos spoke up. "Sir, we're going to make it."
+
+In the same instant, Rip saw that they would land on the dark side. The
+asteroid was turning over and over, and for a second he had the impression
+he was looking at a turning globe of the earth, the kind used in
+elementary school back home. But this gray planet was scarcely bigger than
+the giant globe at the entrance of the Space Council building on Terra.
+
+The gray metal world suddenly leaped into sharp focus and seemed to rush
+toward him. It was an optical illusion. The ability of the eyes to
+perceive depth sharply--the faculty known as depth perception--didn't appear
+to operate normally until the eyes were within a certain distance of an
+object.
+
+He knew he was going to hit hard. The way to keep from being hurt was to
+turn the vertical energy of his arrival into motion in another direction.
+As he swept down to the metal surface he started running, his legs pumping
+wildly in space. He hit with a bone-jarring thud, lost his footing and
+fell sideways, both hands cradling his helmet. He got to his feet
+instantly and looked for Santos. A good thing his equipment was
+shock-mounted, he thought. Otherwise the communicator would be knocked for
+a line of galaxies.
+
+"You all right, sir?" Santos called anxiously.
+
+"Yes. Are you?"
+
+"I'm fine. I think the others are over there." He pointed.
+
+"We'll find them," Rip said. His hip hurt like fury from smashing against
+the unyielding metal, and the worst part was that he couldn't rub it. The
+blow had been strong enough to hurt through the heavy fabric and air
+pressure, but his hand wasn't strong enough to compress the suit. Just the
+same, he tried.
+
+And while he was trying, he found himself in direct sunlight!
+
+He had forgotten to run. Standing still on the asteroid meant turning with
+it, from darkness into sunlight and back again. He yelled at Santos and
+legged it out of there, moving in long, gliding steps. He regained the
+shadow and kept going.
+
+The first order of business was to stop the rock from turning. Otherwise
+they couldn't live on it.
+
+Rip knew that they had only one means of stopping the spin. That was to
+use the tubes of rocket fuel left over from correcting the course. They
+had three tubes left, but he didn't know if that was enough to do the job.
+
+Moving rapidly, he and Santos caught up to Koa and the Planeteers.
+
+The Connie prisoners were pretty well bunched up, gliding along like a
+herd of fantastic sheep. Their shepherds were Pederson, Nunez, and Dowst.
+The three Planeteers had a pistol in each hand. The spares were probably
+those taken from prisoners.
+
+The Planeteers were loaded down with equipment. A few Connie prisoners
+carried equipment, too.
+
+Trudeau had the rocket launcher and the remaining rockets. Kemp had his
+torch and two tanks of oxygen. Bradshaw had tied his safety line to the
+squat containers of chemical fuel for the torch and was towing them behind
+like strange balloons. The only trouble with that system, Rip thought, was
+that Bradshaw could stop, but the containers would have a tendency to keep
+going. Unless the English Planeteer were skillful, his burdens would drag
+him right off his feet.
+
+Dominico had a tube of rocket fuel under each arm. The Italian was small
+and the tubes were bulky. Each was about ten feet long and two feet in
+diameter. With any gravity or air resistance at all, the Italian couldn't
+have carried even one.
+
+Rip smiled as Dominico glided along. He looked as though the tubes were
+floating him over the asteroid, instead of the other way around.
+
+Santos took the radiation detection instruments and the case with the
+astrogation equipment from Koa. Rip greeted his men briefly, then took his
+computing board and began figuring. He knew the men were glad he and
+Santos had made it. But they kept their greetings short. A spinning
+asteroid was no place for long and sentimental speeches.
+
+He remembered the dimensions of the asteroid and its mass. He computed its
+inertia, then figured out what it would take to overcome the inertia of
+the spin.
+
+The mathematics would have been simple under normal conditions, but doing
+them on the run, trying to watch his step at the same time, made things a
+little complicated. He had to hold the board under his arm, run alongside
+Santos while the new sergeant held the case open, select the book he
+wanted, open it and try to read the tables by his belt light and then
+transfer the data to the board.
+
+His ventilator had quieted down once he got into the darkness, but now it
+started whining slightly again because he was sweating profusely. Finally
+he figured out the thrust needed to stop the spin. Now all he had to do
+was compute how much fuel it would take.
+
+He had figures on the amount of thrust given by the kind of rocket fuel in
+the tubes. He also knew how much fuel each tube contained. But the figures
+were not in his head. They were on reference sheets.
+
+He collected the data on the fly, slowing down now and then to read
+something, until a yell from Santos or Koa warned that the sun line was
+creeping close. When he had all data noted on the board, he started his
+mathematics. He was right in the middle of a laborious equation when he
+stumbled over a thorium crystal. He went headlong, shooting like a rocket
+three feet above the ground. His board flew away at a tangent. His stylus
+sped out of his glove like a miniature projectile, and the slide rule
+clanged against his bubble.
+
+It happened so fast neither Koa nor Santos had time to grab him. The
+action had given him extra speed and he saw with horror that he was going
+to crash into Trudeau. He yelled, "Frenchy! Watch out!" Then put both
+hands before him to protect his helmet. His hands caught the French
+Planeteer between the shoulders with a bone-jarring thud.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVENTEEN - THE ARCHER AND THE EAGLE
+
+
+Trudeau held tight to the launcher, but the rocket racks opened and
+spilled attack rockets into space. They flew in a dozen different
+directions. Trudeau gave vent to his feelings in colorful French.
+
+Koa and Santos laughed so hard they had trouble collecting the scattered
+equipment. Rip, slowed by his crash with Trudeau, got his feet under him
+again.
+
+The asteroid had turned into the sun before they collected everything but
+Rip's stylus and five attack rockets. The space-pencil was the only thing
+that could write on the computing board. It had to be found.
+
+"Next time around," Rip called to the others, and led the way full speed
+ahead until they regained the safety of shadow.
+
+Rip suspected the stylus was somewhere above the rock and probably
+wouldn't return to the surface for some minutes. While he was wondering
+what to do, there was a chorus of yells. A rocket sped between the
+Planeteers and shot off into space.
+
+"Our own rockets are after us," Trudeau gasped. There hadn't been time to
+collect them all after Rip's unwilling attack on the Frenchman scattered
+them. Now the sun was setting them off. Another flashed past, fortunately
+over their heads. The sun's heat was causing them to fire unevenly. Rip
+hoped they would all go off soon and get it over with.
+
+"Three more to go," Koa called. "Watch out!"
+
+Only two went, and they were far enough away to offer no danger.
+
+Santos had been fishing around in the instrument case. He triumphantly
+produced another stylus. "It was under the sextant," he explained. "I
+thought there was another one around somewhere."
+
+"If we get through this I'll propose you for ten more stripes," Rip vowed.
+"We'll make you the highest ranking sergeant that ever made a private's
+life miserable."
+
+Working slowly but more safely, Rip figured that slightly more than two
+and a half tubes would do the trick.
+
+Now to fire them. That meant finding a thorium crystal properly placed and
+big enough. There were plenty of crystals, so that was no problem. The
+next step was for Kemp to cut holes with his torch, so that the thrust of
+the rocket fuel would be counter to the direction in which the asteroid
+was spinning.
+
+Rip explained to all hands what had to be done. The burden would fall on
+Kemp, who would need a helper. Rip took that job himself. He took one
+oxygen tank from Kemp. Koa took the other, leaving the torchman with only
+his torch.
+
+Then Rip took a container of chemical fuel from Bradshaw. Working while
+running, he lashed the two containers together with his safety line. Then
+he improvised a rope sling so they could hang on his back. He wanted his
+hands free.
+
+Kemp, meanwhile, assembled his torch and put the proper cutting nozzle in
+place. When he was ready, he moved to Rip's side and connected the hoses
+of the torch to the tanks the lieutenant carried. Kemp had the torch
+mechanism strapped to his own back. It was essentially a high pressure
+pump that drew oxygen and fuel from the tanks and forced them through the
+nozzle under terrific pressure.
+
+When he had finished, he pressed the trigger that started the cutting
+torch going. The fuel ignited about a half inch in front of the nozzle.
+The nozzle had two holes in it, one for oxygen and the other for fuel. The
+holes were placed and angled to keep the flame always a half inch away,
+otherwise the nozzle itself would melt.
+
+"How do we work this?" Kemp asked.
+
+"We'll get ahead of the others," Rip explained. "Keep up speed until we're
+running at the forward sun line. Then, when the crystal we want comes
+around into the shadow, we can stop running and work until it spins into
+the sunshine again."
+
+"Got it," Kemp agreed.
+
+Rip estimated the axis on which the asteroid was spinning and selected a
+crystal in the right position. He had to be careful, otherwise their
+counter-blast might do nothing more than start the gray planet wobbling.
+
+He and Kemp ran ahead of the others. The Planeteers and their prisoners
+were running at a speed that kept them right in the middle of the dark
+area.
+
+It was like running on a treadmill. The Planeteers were making good speed,
+but were actually staying in the same place relative to the sun's
+position, keeping the turning asteroid between them and the sun.
+
+Rip and Kemp ran forward until they were right at the sun line. Then they
+slowed down, holding position and waiting for the crystal they had chosen
+to reach them. As it came across the sun line into darkness they stopped
+running and rode the crystal through the shadow until it reached the sun
+again. Then the two Planeteers ran back across the dark zone to meet the
+crystal as it came around again. There was only a few minutes' working
+time each revolution.
+
+Kemp worked fast, and the first hole deepened. Rip helped as best he could
+by pushing away the chunks of thorium that Kemp cut free, but it was
+essentially a one-man job.
+
+As Kemp neared the bottom of the first hole, Rip reviewed his plan and
+realized he had overlooked something. These weren't nuclear bombs; they
+were simple tubes of chemical fuel. The tubes wouldn't destroy the hole
+Kemp was cutting.
+
+He reached a quick decision and called Koa to join them. Koa appeared as
+Kemp pulled his torch from the hole and started running again to avoid the
+sun. Rip and Koa ran right along with him, crossing the dark zone to meet
+the crystal as it came around again.
+
+"There's no reason to drill three holes," Rip explained as they ran.
+"We'll use one hole for all three charges. They don't have to be fired all
+at once."
+
+"How do we fire them?" Koa asked.
+
+"Electrically. Who has the exploders and the hand dynamo?"
+
+"Dowst has the exploders. One of the Connies is carrying the dynamo."
+
+Speaking of the Connies ... Rip hadn't seen the Consops cruiser recently.
+He looked up, searching for its exhaust, and finally found it, a faint
+line some distance away.
+
+The Connie commander was stalemated for the time being. He couldn't land
+his cruiser on a spinning asteroid, and he had no more boats. Rip thought
+he probably was just waiting around for any opportunity that might present
+itself.
+
+The Federation cruisers should be arriving. He studied his chronometer.
+No, the nearest one, the _Sagittarius_ from Mercury, wasn't due for
+another ten minutes or so. He turned up his helmet communicator and
+ordered all hands to watch for the exhaust of a nuclear drive cruiser,
+then turned it down again and gave Koa instructions.
+
+"Have Trudeau turn his load over to a Connie and collect the exploders and
+the dynamo. We'll need wire, too. Who has that?"
+
+"Another Connie."
+
+"Get a reel. Cut off a few hundred feet and connect the dynamo to one end
+and an exploder to the other."
+
+The crystal came around again and Kemp got to work. Rip stood by, again
+reviewing all steps. They couldn't afford to make a mistake. He had no
+margin of error.
+
+Kemp finished the hole a few seconds before the crystal turned into the
+sunlight again. Rip told him to keep the torch going. There might be some
+last minute cutting to do. Then the lieutenant hurried off at an angle to
+where Dominico was plodding along with the fuel tubes.
+
+Koa had turned the tube he carried over to a Connie. Rip got it, and told
+Dominico to follow him. Then he angled back across the asteroid to where
+Kemp was holding position.
+
+The asteroid turned twice before Koa arrived. He had a coil of wire slung
+over his arm and he carried the dynamo in one hand and an exploder in the
+other, the two connected by the wire.
+
+Rip took the exploder. "Uncoil the wire," he directed. "Go to its full
+length at right angles to the hole. We have to time this exactly right.
+When the crystal comes around again, I'll shove the tube into the hole,
+then scurry for cover. When I'm clear I'll yell and you pump the dynamo.
+Dominico and Kemp stay with Koa. Make sure no one is in the way of the
+blast."
+
+Koa unreeled the wire, moving away from Rip. The lieutenant pushed the
+exploder into one end of the fuel tube and crimped it tightly with his
+gloved hand.
+
+Koa and the others were as far away as they could get now, the wire
+stretching between them and Rip. Kemp had made sure no one was running
+near the line of blast.
+
+Rip watched for the crystal. It would be coming around any second now. He
+held the tube with the exploder projecting behind him, ready for the hole
+to appear.
+
+Koa's voice echoed in his helmet. "All set, Lieutenant."
+
+"So am I," Rip answered. "Stand by."
+
+The crystal appeared across the sun line and moved toward him. He met it,
+slowed his speed, put the end of the tube into the hole and shoved. Kemp
+had allowed enough clearance. The tube slid into place. Rip turned and
+angled off as fast as he could glide. When he was far enough away from the
+blast line he called, "Fire!"
+
+                    [Illustration: "Fire!" Called Rip]
+
+                            "Fire!" Called Rip
+
+
+Koa squeezed the dynamo handle. The machine whined and current shot
+through the wire. A column of orange fire spurted from the crystal.
+
+Rip watched the stars instead of the exhaust. He kept running as it burned
+soundlessly. In air, the noise would have deafened him. In airless space,
+there was nothing to carry the sound.
+
+The apparent motion of the stars was definitely slowing. The spinning
+wouldn't cease entirely, but it would slow down enough to give them more
+time to work.
+
+The tube reached brennschluss and Rip called orders. "Same process. Get
+ready to repeat. Dominico, bring one of your tubes."
+
+While Koa was connecting another exploder to the wire, Rip took a tube
+from Dominico. "Take your space knife and saw through the tube you have
+left. We'll need about three-fifths of it. Keep both pieces."
+
+Dominico pulled his knife, pressed the release, and the gas capsule shot
+the blade out. He got to work.
+
+Koa called that he was ready. Rip took the wired exploder from him and
+thrust it into the tube Dominico had given him.
+
+As the crystal came around again, the process was repeated. The hole was
+undamaged.
+
+There was more time to get clear because of the asteroid's slower speed.
+The second tube slowed the rock even more, so that they had to wait long
+minutes while the crystal came around again.
+
+Rip did some estimating. He wanted to be sure the next charge would do
+nothing more than slow the asteroid to a stop. If the charge were too
+heavy, it would reverse the spin. He didn't want to make a career of
+running on the asteroid. He was tired and he knew his men were getting
+weary, too. He could see it in their strides--they were less sure oL foot.
+
+He decided it would be best to use a little less fuel rather than a little
+more. If the asteroid failed to stop its spin completely, they could
+always set off a small charge or two.
+
+"Hold it," he ordered. "We'll use the small end of Dominico's tube and
+save the big one."
+
+The fuel was a solid mass, so cutting the tube in two sections caused no
+difficulty. Rip pushed the exploder into the small section, seated it in
+the hole, and hurried to cover. As he watched the fuel burn, he wondered
+why the last nuclear charge had started the spin. He had made a mistake
+somewhere. The earlier blasts had been set so they wouldn't cause a spin.
+He made a mental note to look at the place where the charge had exploded
+when things were more quiet.
+
+The rocket fuel slowed the asteroid down to a point where it was barely
+turning, and Rip was glad he had been cautious. The heavier charge would
+have reversed it a little. He directed the placing of a very small charge
+and was moving away from it so Koa could set it off when Santos suddenly
+yelled, "Sir! The Connie is coming!"
+
+Rip called, "Fire the charge, Koa," then looked up. The Consops cruiser
+was moving slowly toward them. The canny Connie had been waiting for
+something to happen on the asteroid, Rip guessed. When the spinning slowed
+and then stopped, the Connie probably had decided that now was the time
+for a final try.
+
+"Where is the communicator?" Rip asked Koa.
+
+"One of the Connies has it."
+
+"Get it. I'll notify Terra base of what happened."
+
+Koa found the Connie with the communicator, tested it to be sure the
+prisoner hadn't sabotaged it, and brought it to Rip.
+
+"This is Foster to Terra base. Over."
+
+"Come in, Foster."
+
+Rip explained briefly what had happened and asked, "How is our orbit? I
+haven't had time to take sightings."
+
+"You're free of the sun," Terra base answered. "Your orbit will have to be
+corrected sometime within the next few hours. The last blast pushed you
+off course."
+
+"That's a small matter," Rip stated. "Unless we can think of something
+fast, this will be a Connie asteroid by then. The Consops cruiser is
+moving in on us. He's careful, because he isn't sure of the situation. But
+even at his present speed he'll be here in ten minutes."
+
+"Stand by." Terra base was silent for a few moments, then the voice
+replied. "I think we have an answer for you, Foster. Terra base off. Go
+ahead, MacFife."
+
+A Scottish burr thick enough to saw boards came out of the communicator.
+"Foster, this is MacFife, commander of the _Aquila_. Y'can't see me on
+account of I'm on yer sunny side. But, lad, I'm closer to ye than the
+Connie. We did it this way to keep the asteroid between us and him. Also,
+lad, if ye'll take a look up at Gemini, ye'll see somethin' ye'll like.
+Look at Alhena, in the Twins' feet. Then, lad, if ye'll be patient the
+while, ye'll have a grandstand seat for a real big show."
+
+Rip tilted his bubble back and stared upward at the constellation of the
+twins. He said softly, "By Gemini!" For there, a half degree south of the
+star Alhena, was the clean line of a nuclear cruiser's exhaust. The
+_Sagittarius_, out of Mercury, had arrived.
+
+He cut the communicator off for a moment and spoke exultantly to his men.
+"Stand easy, you hairy Planeteers. Forget the Connie. He doesn't know it,
+but he's caught. He's caught between the Archer and the Eagle!"
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHTEEN - COURTESY - WITH CLAWS
+
+
+_Sagittarius_, constellation of the Archer, and _Aquila_, constellation of
+the Eagle, had given the two Federation patrol cruisers their names. The
+Eagle was commanded by a tough Scotsman, and the Archer by a Frenchman.
+
+Commander MacFife spoke through the communicator. "Switch bands to
+universal, lad. Me'n Galliene are goin' to talk this Connie into a braw
+mess. MacFife off."
+
+Rip guessed that the two cruiser commanders had been in communication
+while enroute to the asteroid and had cooked up some kind of plan. He
+turned the band switch to the universal frequency with which all
+long-range communicators were equipped. Each of the earth groups had its
+own frequency, and so did the Martians and Jovians. But all could meet and
+talk on the universal band.
+
+Special scrambling devices prevented eavesdropping on regular frequencies,
+so there was no danger that the Connie had overheard the plan. Rip
+wondered what it was. He knew the cruisers had to be careful not to cross
+the thin line that might lead to war.
+
+The _Sagittarius_ loomed closer, decelerating with a tremendous exhaust.
+The Connie couldn't have failed to see it, Rip knew. He was right. The
+Consops cruiser suddenly blasted more heavily, rushing in the direction
+away from the Federation ship. The direction was toward the asteroid.
+
+And at the same moment, the _Aquila_ flashed above the horizon, also
+decelerating. The Connie was caught squarely.
+
+A suave voice spoke on the universal band. "This is Federation _SCN
+Sagittarius_, calling the Consolidation cruiser near the asteroid. Please
+reply."
+
+Rip waited anxiously. The Connie would hear, because every control room
+monitored the universal band.
+
+A heavy, reluctant voice replied after a pause of over a minute.
+
+"This is Consolidation cruiser Sixteen. You are breaking the law,
+_Sagittarius_. Your missile ports are open and they are pointing at me.
+Close them at once or I will report this."
+
+The suave voice with its hint of French accent replied, "Ah, my friend! Do
+not be alarmed. We have had a slight accident to our control circuit and
+the ports are jammed open. We are trying to repair the situation. But I
+assure you, we have only the friendliest of intentions."
+
+Rip grinned. This was about the same as a man holding a cocked pistol at
+another man's head and assuring him it was nothing but a nervous arm that
+kept the gun so steady.
+
+The Connie demanded, "What do you want?"
+
+The two friendly cruisers were within a few miles of the Connie now and
+their blasts were just strong enough to keep them edging closer, while
+counteracting the sun's pull.
+
+The French spaceman spoke reassuringly. "My friend, we want only the
+courtesy of space to which the law entitles us. We have had an unfortunate
+accident to our astrogation instruments, and we wish to come aboard to
+compare them with yours."
+
+Rip laughed outright. Every cruiser carried at least four full sets of
+instruments. There was as much chance of all of them being knocked off
+scale at once as there was of his biting a cruiser in half with bare
+teeth.
+
+MacFife's voice came on the air. "Foster. Switch to Federation frequency."
+
+Rip did so. "This is Foster, Commander."
+
+"Lad, it's a pity for ye to miss the show. I'm sending a boat for ye."
+
+"The sun will get it!" Rip exclaimed.
+
+"Never fear, lad. It won't get this one. Now switch back to universal and
+listen in."
+
+Rip did so in time to catch the Connie commander's voice. "... and I
+refuse to believe such a story! Great Cosmos, do you think I am a fool?"
+
+"Of course not," the Frenchman replied. "You are not such a fool as to
+refuse a simple request to check our instruments."
+
+The _Sagittarius_ commander was right. Rip understood the strategy.
+Equipment sometimes did go out of operation in space, and Connies had no
+hesitation in asking Federation cruisers for help, or the other way
+around. Such help was always given, because no commander could be sure
+when he might need help himself.
+
+"I agree," the Connie commander said with obvious reluctance. "You may
+send a boat."
+
+MacFife's Scotch burr broke in. "Federation _SCN Aquila_ to Consolidation
+Sixteen. Mister, my instruments are off scale, too. I'll just send them
+along to ye and ye can check them while ye're doing the _Sagittarius_!"
+
+"I object!" the Connie bellowed.
+
+"Come now," MacFife burred soothingly. "Checking a few instruments won't
+hurt ye."
+
+A small rocket exhaust appeared, leaving the _Aquila_. The exhaust grew
+rapidly, more rapidly than that of any snapper-boat. Rip watched it, while
+keeping his ears tuned to the space conversation.
+
+Koa tugged his arm. "See that, sir?"
+
+Rip nodded.
+
+"Surely sending boats is too much of a nuisance," the French commander
+said winningly. "We will come alongside."
+
+"It's a trick," the Connie growled. "You want me to open my valves, then
+your men will board us and try to take over my ship!"
+
+"My friend, you have a suspicious mind," Galliene replied smoothly. "If
+you wish, arm your men. Ours will have no weapons. Train launchers on the
+valves so our men will be annihilated before they can board, if you see a
+single weapon."
+
+This was going a little far, Rip thought, but it was not his affair and he
+didn't know exactly what MacFife and Galliene had in mind.
+
+The _Aquila's_ boat arrived with astonishing speed. Rip saw it flash in
+the sunlight and knew he had never seen one like it before. It was a
+perfect globe, about 20 feet in diameter. Blast holes covered the globe at
+intervals of six feet.
+
+The boat settled to the asteroid and a new voice called over the helmet
+circuit, "Where's Foster? Show an exhaust! We're in a rush."
+
+Rip ordered, "Take over, Koa. I'll be back."
+
+"Yessir."
+
+He hurried to the boat and stood there, bewildered. He didn't know how to
+get in.
+
+"Up here," the voice called. He looked up and saw a hatch. He jumped and a
+space-clad figure pulled him inside. The door shut and the boat blasted
+off. Acceleration shoved him backward, but the spaceman snapped a line to
+his belt, then motioned him to a seat. Rip pulled himself up the line and
+got into the seat, snapping the harness in place.
+
+"I'm Hawkins, senior space officer," the spaceman said. "Welcome, Foster.
+We've been losing weight wondering if we'd get here in time."
+
+"I was never so glad to see spacemen in my life," Rip said truthfully.
+"What kind of craft is this, sir?"
+
+"Experimental," the space officer answered. "It has a number, but we call
+it the ball-bat because it's shaped like a ball and goes like a bat. We
+were about to take off for some test runs around the space platform when
+we got a hurry call to come here. The _Aquila_ has two of these. If they
+prove out, they'll replace the snapper-boats. More power, greater
+maneuverability, heavier weapons, and they carry more men."
+
+There was only the officer and a pilot, but Rip saw positions for several
+others.
+
+He looked out through the port and saw the two Federation cruisers closing
+in on the Connie. Apparently the Connie commander had agreed to let the
+cruisers come alongside.
+
+The ball-bat blasted to the _Aquila_, paused at an open port, then slid
+inside. The valve was shut before Rip could unbuckle his harness. Air
+flooded into the chamber and the lights flicked on. The space officer gave
+Rip a hand out of the harness, and the young Planeteer went through the
+hatch to the deck.
+
+The inner valve opened and a lean, sandy-haired officer in space blue with
+the insignia of a commander stepped through. Grinning, he hurried to Rip's
+side and twisted his bubble, lifting it off.
+
+"Hurry, lad," he greeted Rip. "I'm MacFife. Get out of that suit quick,
+because ye don't want to miss what's aboot to happen." With his own hands
+he unlocked the complicated belt with its gadgets and equipment,
+disconnected the communicator and ventilator, and then unfastened the lock
+clips that held top and bottom of the suit together.
+
+Rip slipped the upper part over his head and stepped out of the bottom.
+"Thanks, Commander. I'm one grateful Planeteer, believe me!"
+
+"Come on. We'll hurry right across ship to the opposite valve. Lad, I've a
+son in the Planeteers and he's just about your own age. He's on Ganymede.
+He and the others will be proud of what ye've done."
+
+MacFife was pulling himself along rapidly by the convenient handholds. Rip
+followed, his breathing a little rapid in the heavier air of the ship. He
+followed the Scottish commander through the maze of passages that crossed
+the ship and stopped at a valve where spacemen were waiting. With them was
+an officer who carried a big case.
+
+"The instruments," MacFife said, pointing. "We've tinkered with them a bit
+just to make it look real."
+
+"But why do you want to board the Connie?" Rip asked curiously.
+
+MacFife's eye closed in a wink. "Ye'll see."
+
+There was a slight bump as the cruiser touched the Connie. The waiting
+group recovered balance and faced the valve. Rip knew that spacemen in the
+inner lock were making fast to the Connie cruiser, setting up the airtight
+seal.
+
+It wasn't long before a bell sounded and a spaceman opened the inner
+valve. Two men in space suits were waiting, and beyond them the outer
+valve was joined by a tube to the outer valve of the Connie ship. Rip
+stared at the Connie spacemen in their red tunics and gray trousers. One,
+a scowling officer with two pistols in his belt, stepped forward.
+
+Rip noted that the other Connies were heavy with weapons, too. None of his
+group had any.
+
+"I'm the commander," the scowling Connie said. "Bring your instruments in
+quickly. We will check them, then you get out."
+
+"Ye're no verra friendly," MacFife said, his burr even more pronounced. He
+led Rip and the officer with the instruments into the Connie ship.
+
+A handsome Federation spaceman with a mustache, the first Rip had ever
+seen, stepped into the room from a passageway on the opposite side. The
+spaceman bowed with exquisite grace. "I have the honor of making myself
+known," he proclaimed. "Commander Remy Galliene of the _Sagittarius_."
+
+The Connie commander grunted. He was afraid, Rip realized. The Connie
+suspected a trick, and he had no idea of what it might be.
+
+Rip looked him over with interest. This was the man who had been willing
+to burn his own spacemen back at the asteroid belt.
+
+Galliene saw Rip's black uniform and hurried to shake his hand. "So this
+is the young lieutenant who is responsible! Lieutenant, today the spacemen
+honor the Planeteers because of you. Most days we fight each other, but
+today we fight together, eh? I am glad to meet you!"
+
+"And I'm glad to meet you, sir," Rip returned. He liked the twinkle in the
+Frenchman's eye. He would have given a lot to know what scheme Galliene
+and MacFife had cooked up.
+
+The Connie had overheard Galliene's greeting. He glared at Rip. The
+Frenchman saw the look and smiled happily. "Ah, you do not know each
+other? Commander, I have the honor to make known Lieutenant Foster of the
+Federation Special Order Squadrons. He is in command on the asteroid."
+
+The Connie blurted, "So! I send boats to help you and you fire on them!"
+
+So that was to be the Consops story! Rip thought quickly, then held up his
+hand in a shocked gesture that would have done credit to the Frenchman.
+"Oh, no, Commander! You misunderstand. We had no way of communicating by
+radio, so I did the only thing we could do. I fired rockets as a warning.
+We didn't want your boats to get caught in a nuclear explosion." He
+shrugged. "It was very unlucky for us that the sun threw my gunner's aim
+off and he hit your boats, quite by accident."
+
+MacFife coughed to cover up a chuckle. Galliene hid a smile by stroking
+his mustache.
+
+The Connie commander growled, "And I suppose it was accident that you took
+my men prisoner?"
+
+"Prisoner?" Rip looked bewildered. "We took no prisoners. When your boats
+arrived, the men asked if they might not join us. They claimed refuge,
+which we had to give them under interplanetary law."
+
+"I will take them back," the Connie stated.
+
+"You will not," Galliene replied with equal positiveness. "The law is very
+clear, my friend. Your men may return willingly, but you cannot force
+them. When we reach Terra we will give them a choice. Those who wish to
+return to the Consolidation will be given transportation to the nearest
+border."
+
+The Connie commander motioned to a heavily armed officer. "Take their
+instruments. Check them quickly." He put his lips together in a straight
+line and stared at the Federation men. They stared back with equal
+coldness. Around them, Connie spacemen with wooden, expressionless faces
+waited without moving.
+
+The minutes ticked by. Rip wondered again what kind of plan MacFife and
+Galliene had. When would the excitement start?
+
+Additional minutes passed and the officer returned with the cases.
+Wordlessly he handed them to Galliene and MacFife. The Connie commander
+snapped, "There. Now get out of my ship."
+
+Galliene bowed. "You have been a most courteous and gracious host," he
+said. "Your conversation has been stimulating, inspiring, and informative.
+Our profound thanks."
+
+He shook hands with Rip and MacFife, bowed to the Connie commander again,
+and went out the way he had come. There wasn't anything to say after the
+Frenchman's sarcastic farewell speech. MacFife, Rip, and the officer with
+the instruments went back through the valves into their own ship.
+
+Once inside, MacFife called, "Come with me. Hurry." He led the way through
+passages and up ladders to the very top of the ship, to the hatch where
+the astrogators took their star sights. The protective shield of nuclite
+had been rolled back and they could see into space through the clear
+vision port.
+
+Rip and MacFife hurried to the side where they were connected to the
+Connie. Rip looked down along the length of the ship. The valve connection
+was in the middle of each ship, at the point of greatest diameter. From
+that point each ship grew more slender.
+
+MacFife pointed to the Connie's nose. Projecting from it like great horns
+were the ship's steering tubes. Unlike the Federation cruiser which
+blasted steam through internal tubes that did not project, the Connie used
+chemical fuel.
+
+"Watch," MacFife said.
+
+There were similar tubes on the Connie's stern, Rip knew. He wondered what
+they had to do with the plan.
+
+MacFife walked to a wall communicator. "Follow instructions."
+
+He turned to Rip. "Remember, lad. The _Sagittarius_ is on the other side
+of the Connie, about to do the same thing."
+
+Rip waited in silence, wondering.
+
+Then the voice horn called, "Valve closed!"
+
+A second voice yelled, "Blast!"
+
+A tremor jarred its way through the entire ship, making the deck throb
+under Rip's feet. He saw that the ship's nose had swung away from the
+Connie. What in space--
+
+"Blast!"
+
+The nose swung into the Connie again with a jar that sent Rip sliding into
+the clear plastic of the astrodome. His nose jammed into the plastic but
+he didn't even wince, because he saw the Connie's steering tubes buckle
+under the _Aquila_'s sudden shove.
+
+And suddenly the picture was clear. The two Federation cruisers hadn't
+cared about getting into the Connie ship. They had only wanted an excuse
+to tie up to it so they could do what had just been done.
+
+They had sheared off the enemy's steering tubes, first at the stern, then
+at the bow, leaving him helpless, able to go only forward or back in the
+direction in which he happened to be pointing!
+
+MacFife had a broad grin on his face. As Rip started to speak, he held up
+his hand and pointed at a wall speaker.
+
+The Connie commander came on the circuit. He screamed, "You planned that!
+You--you--" He subsided into his own language.
+
+Galliene's voice spoke soothingly. "But my dear commander! How can I
+apologize enough? Believe me, the man responsible will be reward--I mean,
+the man responsible will be disciplined. You may rest assured of it. How
+unfortunate! I am overcome with shame. A terrible accident! Terrible."
+
+MacFife picked up a microphone. "Same here, Connie. A terrible accident.
+Aye, the man who did it will hear from me."
+
+"It was no accident," the Connie screamed.
+
+"Ah," Galliene replied, "but you cannot prove otherwise. Commander, do you
+realize what this means? You are helpless. Interplanetary law says that a
+helpless spaceship must be salvaged and taken in tow by the nearest
+cruiser, no matter what its nationality. We will do this jointly, the
+_Aquila_ and the _Sagittarius_. We will take turns towing you, my friend.
+We will haul you to Terra like any other piece of space junk."
+
+MacFife could remain quiet no longer. "Yes, mister. And that's no' the end
+o' it. We will collect the salvage fee. One half the value of the salvaged
+vessel. Aye! My men will like that, since we share and share alike on
+salvage. Now put out a cable from your nose tube. I'll take ye in tow
+first."
+
+He cut the communicator off, and met Rip's grin.
+
+The two spacemen had figured out the one way to repay the Connie for his
+attempts on the asteroid. They couldn't fire on him, but they could fake
+an "accident" that would cripple him and cost Consops millions of dollars
+in salvage fees.
+
+Nor would Consops refuse to pay. Salvage law was clear. Whoever performed
+the salvage was not required to turn the ship back to its owners until the
+fee had been paid, in whatever currency he cared to specify.
+
+And there was another angle. The cruisers would tow the Connie into the
+Federation spaceport in New Mexico. If past experience was any indication,
+the Connie would lose about half its crew--perhaps more. They would claim
+sanctuary in the Federation.
+
+Rip shook hands solemnly with the grinning Scotchman. It would be a long
+time before Consops tried space piracy again.
+
+"We'll be back at our family fight again tomorrow," MacFife said, "but
+today we celebrate together. Ah, lad, this is pure joy to me. I've had a
+score to settle with yon Connies for years. Now I've done it."
+
+He put an arm around Rip's shoulders. "While I'm in a givin' mood, which
+is not the way of us Scots, is there anything ye'd like?"
+
+Rip could think of only one thing. "A hot shower. For me and my men. And
+will you take the prisoners off our hands?"
+
+"Yes to both. Anything else?"
+
+"We'll need some rocket fuel. Terra says we have to correct course. Also,
+we'll need a nuclear charge to throw us into a braking ellipse. And we
+need a new landing boat. The sun baked the equipment out of ours."
+
+MacFife nodded. "So be it. I'll send men to the asteroid to bring back the
+prisoners and your Planeteers." He smiled. "We'll let yon rock go by
+itself while hot showers and a good meal are had by all. It's the least of
+what ye've earned."
+
+Rip started to thank the Scot, but his stomach suddenly turned over and
+black dizziness flooded in on him. He heard MacFife's sudden exclamation,
+felt hands on him.
+
+White light blinded him. He shook his head and tried to keep his stomach
+from acting up. A voice asked, "Were you shielded from those nuclear
+blasts?"
+
+"No," he said past a constricted throat. "Not from the last. We got some
+prompt radiation. I don't know how much."
+
+"When was that? The exact time?"
+
+Rip tried to remember. He felt horrible. "It was twenty-three-oh-five."
+
+"Bad," the voice said. "He must have taken enough roentgens of gamma and
+neutrons to reach or exceed the median-lethal dose."
+
+Rip found his voice again. "Santos," he said urgently. "On the asteroid.
+He got it, too. The rest were shielded. Get him. Quick!"
+
+MacFife snapped orders. The ball-bat would have Santos in the ship within
+minutes. Being sick in a space suit was about the most unpleasant thing
+that could happen to anyone.
+
+A hypospray tingled against Rip's arm. The drug penetrated, caught a quick
+lift to all parts of his body through his bloodstream. Consciousness slid
+away.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINETEEN - SPACEFALL
+
+
+Rip was never more eloquent. He argued, he begged, and he wheedled.
+
+The _Aquila's_ chief physician listened with polite interest, but he shook
+his head. "Lieutenant, you simply are not aware of the close call you've
+had. Another two hours without treatment and we might not have been able
+to save you."
+
+"I appreciate that," Rip assured him. "But I'm fine now, sir."
+
+"You are not fine. You are anything but fine. We've loaded you with
+antibiotics and blood cell regenerator, and we've given you a total
+transfusion. You feel fine, but you're not."
+
+The doctor looked at Rip's red hair. "That's a fine thatch of hair you
+have. In a week or two it will be gone and you'll have no more hair than
+an egg. A well person doesn't lose hair."
+
+The ship's radiation safety officer had put both Rip's and Santos's
+dosimeters into his measuring equipment. They had taken over a hundred
+roentgens of hard radiation above the tolerance limit. This was the result
+of being caught unshielded when the last nuclear charge went off.
+
+"Sir," Rip pleaded, "you can load us with suppressives. It's only a few
+days more before we reach Terra. You can keep us going until then. We'll
+both turn in for full treatment as soon as we get to the space platform.
+But we have to finish the job, can't you see that, sir?"
+
+The doctor shook his head. "You're a fool, even for a Planeteer. Before
+you get over this you'll be sicker than you've ever been. You have a month
+in bed waiting for you. If I let you go back to the asteroid, I'll only be
+delaying the time when you start full treatment."
+
+"But the delay won't hurt if you inject us with suppressives, will it?"
+Rip asked quickly. "Don't they keep the sickness checked?"
+
+"Yes, for a maximum of about ten days. Then they no longer have sufficient
+effect and you come down with it."
+
+"But it won't take ten days," Rip pointed out. "It will only take a
+couple, and it won't hurt us."
+
+MacFife had arrived to hear the last exchange. He nodded sympathetically.
+"Doctor, I can appreciate how the lad feels. He started something and he
+wants to finish it. If y'can let him, safely, I think ye should."
+
+The doctor shrugged. "I can let him. There's a nine to one chance it will
+do him no harm. But the one chance is what I don't like."
+
+"I'll know it if the suppressives start to wear off, won't I?" Rip asked.
+
+"You certainly will. You'll get weaker rapidly."
+
+"How rapidly?"
+
+"Perhaps six hours. Perhaps more."
+
+Rip nodded. "That's what I thought. Doctor, we're less than six hours from
+Terra by ship. If the stuff wears off, we can be in the hospital within a
+couple of hours. Once we go into a braking ellipse, we can reach a
+hospital in less than an hour by snapper-boat."
+
+"Let him go," MacFife said.
+
+The doctor wasn't happy about it, but he had run out of arguments. "All
+right, Commander. If you'll assume responsibility for getting him off the
+asteroid and into a Terra or space platform hospital in time."
+
+"I'll do that," MacFife assured him. "Now get your hyposprays and fill him
+full of that stuff you use. The corporal, too."
+
+"Sergeant," Rip corrected. His first action on getting back to the
+asteroid would be to recommend Santos's promotion to Terra base. He
+intended to recommend Kemp for corporal, too. He was sure the Planeteers
+at Terra would make the promotions.
+
+The two Federation cruisers were still holding course along with the
+asteroid, the Connie cruiser between them.
+
+Within an hour, Rip and Santos, both in false good health thanks to
+medical magic, were on their way back to the asteroid in a ball-bat boat.
+
+        [Illustration: "Let Him Go Back to the Asteroid, Doctor."]
+
+                "Let Him Go Back to the Asteroid, Doctor."
+
+
+The remaining time passed quickly. The sun receded. The Planeteers
+corrected course. Rip sent in his recommendations for promotions, and
+looked over the last nuclear crater to see why the blast had started the
+asteroid spinning.
+
+The reason could only be guessed. The blast probably had opened a fault in
+the crystal, allowing the explosion to escape partially in the wrong
+direction.
+
+Once the course was corrected, Rip calculated the position for the final
+nuclear charge. When the asteroid reached the correct position relative to
+earth, the charge would not only change its course but slow its speed
+somewhat. The asteroid would go around the earth in a series of
+ever-tightening ellipses, using Terra's gravity, plus rocket fuel, to slow
+it down to the right orbital speed.
+
+When it reached the proper position, tubes of rocket fuel would change the
+course again, putting it into an orbit around the earth close to the space
+platform. It wasn't practical to take the thorium rock in for a landing.
+They would lose control and the asteroid would flame to earth like the
+greatest meteor ever to hit the planet.
+
+Putting the asteroid into an orbit around earth was actually the most
+delicate part of the whole trip, but Rip wasn't worried. He had the
+facilities of Terra base within easy reach by communicator. He dictated
+his data and let them do the mathematics on the giant electronic
+computers.
+
+He and his men rode the gray planet past the moon, so close they could
+almost see the Planeteer Lunar base, circled Terra in a series of
+ellipses, and finally blasted the asteroid into its final orbit within
+sight of the space platform.
+
+Landing craft and snapper-boats swarmed to meet them and within an hour
+after their arrival the Planeteers were surrounded by spacemen, cadets
+from the platform, and officers and men wearing Planeteer black.
+
+A cadet approached Rip and looked at him with awe. "Sir, I don't know how
+you ever did it!"
+
+And Rip, his eyes on the great curve of earth, answered casually, "There's
+one thing every space-chick has to learn if he's going to be a Planeteer.
+There's always a way to do anything. To be a Planeteer you have to be able
+to figure out the way."
+
+A new voice said, "Now that's real wisdom!"
+
+Rip turned quickly and looked through a helmet at the grinning face of
+Major Joe Barris.
+
+Barris spoke as though to himself, but Rip turned red as his hair. "Funny
+how fast a man ages in space," the Planeteer major remarked. "Take Foster.
+A few weeks ago he was just a cadet, a raw recruit who had never met high
+vack. Now he's talking like the grandfather of all space. I don't know how
+the Special Order Squadrons ever got along before he became an officer."
+
+Rip had been feeling a little too proud of himself.
+
+"It's good to get back," Rip said.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY - ON THE PLATFORM
+
+
+There were two things Rip could see from his hospital bed on the space
+platform. One was the great curve of earth. He was anxious to get out of
+the hospital and back to Terra.
+
+The second thing was the asteroid. Spacemen were at work on it, slowly
+cutting it to pieces. The pieces were small enough to be carried back to
+earth in supply rockets. It would be a long time before the asteroid was
+completely cut up and transported to Terra base.
+
+Sergeant-major Koa came into the hospital ward and sat on Rip's bed. The
+plastifoam mattress compressed under his weight. "How are you feeling,
+sir?"
+
+"Pretty good," Rip replied. The worst of the radiation sickness was over
+and he was mending fast. Here and there were little blood stains just
+below the surface of his skin, and he had no more hair than a plastic
+ball. Otherwise he looked normal. The stains would go away and his hair
+would grow back within a matter of weeks.
+
+Santos, now officially a sergeant, was in the same condition. The rest of
+Rip's Planeteers had resumed duties on the space platform. He saw them
+frequently because they made a point of dropping in whenever they were
+near the hospital area.
+
+Koa looked out at the asteroid. "I sort of hate to see that rock cut up.
+There isn't much about a chunk of thorium to get sentimental over, but
+after fighting for it the way we did, it doesn't seem right to cut it into
+blocks."
+
+"I know how you feel," Rip admitted, "but after all, that's what we
+brought it back for."
+
+He studied Koa's brown face. The big Hawaiian had something on his mind.
+"Got vack worms chewing at you?" he asked. Vack worms were a spaceman's
+equivalent of "the blues."
+
+"Not exactly, sir. I happened to overhear the doctor talking today. You're
+due for a leave in a week."
+
+"That's good news!" Rip exclaimed. "You're not unhappy about it, are you?"
+
+Koa shrugged. "We were all hoping we'd be together on our next assignment.
+The gang liked serving under you. But we're overdue for shipment to
+somewhere, and if you take eight weeks' leave, we'll be gone by the time
+you come back to the platform."
+
+"I liked serving with all of you, too." Rip replied. "I watched the way
+you all behaved when the space-flap was getting tough and it made me proud
+to be a Planeteer."
+
+Major Joe Barris came in. He was carrying an envelope in his hand.
+
+"Hello, Rip. How are you, Koa? Am I interrupting a private talk?"
+
+"No, Major," Koa replied. "We're just passing the time. Want me to leave?"
+
+"Stay here," Barris said. "This concerns you, too. I've been reassigned.
+My eight years on the platform are up, and that's all an instructor gets.
+Now I'm off for space on another job."
+
+Rip knew that instructors were assigned for eight-year periods. And he
+knew that the major's specialty was the Planeteer science of exploration.
+Barris's specialty required him to be an expert in biology, zoology,
+anthropology, navigation and astrogation, and in land fighting. Not to
+mention a half dozen other lesser things. Only ten Planeteers rated expert
+in exploration and all were captains or majors.
+
+"Where are you going?" Rip asked. "Off to explore something?"
+
+"That's it." Major Barris smiled. "Remember once I said that when they
+gave me the job of cleaning up the goopies on Ganymede I'd ask for you as
+a platoon leader?"
+
+Rip stared. "Don't tell me that's your assignment!"
+
+"Almost. Tell me, would you recommend any more of your men for promotion?
+I'll need a new sergeant and two more corporals."
+
+Rip thought it over. "Koa can check me on this. I'd suggest making
+Pederson a sergeant and Dowst and Dominico corporals. Kemp and Santos
+already have promotions."
+
+"That would be my choice, too," Koa agreed.
+
+"Fine." Barris tapped the envelope. "I'll correct the orders in here and
+recommend the promotions. We'll get sixteen new recruits from the
+graduating class at Luna and that will complete the platoon I'm supposed
+to organize. Two full platoons are waiting, and the new platoon will give
+me a full-strength squadron. Except for new officers. How about Flip Villa
+for a platoon commander, Rip?"
+
+Rip knew the Mexican officer was among the best of his own graduating
+class. "I have to admit prejudice," he warned. "Flip is a pal of mine. But
+I don't think you could do better." His curiosity got the best of him and
+he asked, "Can you tell me what this is all about?"
+
+Joe Barris reached over and rubbed Rip's bald head. "By the time fur grows
+back on that irradiated dome of yours, I'll be on my way with Koa,
+Pederson, and the new recruits. Santos and the rest of your crew will
+report to Terra base. Flip Villa will join them there. You'll be on
+earth-leave for eight weeks, but it will take about that much time for
+Flip and the men to assemble the supplies and equipment we'll need."
+
+He pulled a sheaf of papers out of the envelope. "Koa, here are orders for
+you and your men. They say you're to report to Special Order Squadron
+Seven, on Ganymede. SOS Seven is a new squadron, the first one organized
+exclusively for exploration duties, and I'm its commanding officer. Koa,
+you'll be my senior noncommissioned officer. I want you and Pederson with
+me because you can organize the new recruits enroute. They have a lot more
+to learn from you than they got in their two years of training. You'll
+make real Planeteers out of 'em."
+
+He picked a paper from the sheaf and waved it at Rip. "This is for you,
+Lieutenant Foster." He read, "Foster, R.I.P., Lieutenant, SOS. Serial
+seven-nine-four-three. Authorized eight weeks' earth-leave upon discharge
+from hospital. Upon completion of leave subject officer will report to
+Terra base for transportation to SOS Seven on Ganymede."
+
+Joe Barris handed Rip his new orders. "You'll be on the same ship with
+Flip Villa and your men. Flip will be another of my platoon leaders. I'll
+be waiting for you on Ganymede. The moons of Jupiter will be our home for
+quite a while, Rip. Our first assignment is to explore Callisto from pole
+to pole."
+
+Rip didn't know what to say. To serve under Barris, to have his own men in
+a regular squadron platoon, to have Flip Villa in the same outfit, and to
+be assigned to exploration duty--dirtiest but most exciting of all
+Planeteer jobs--it was just too much. He couldn't say anything. He could
+only grin.
+
+Major Joe Barris looked at Rip's shiny head and chuckled. "From what I
+hear of Callisto, we're in for a rough time. Your hair will probably grow
+back just in time to turn gray!"
+
+
+
+
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+
+      TRIXIE BELDEN and the Gatehouse Mystery
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