Part 7 (1/2)

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 s.p.a.ce 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...b..ine 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 s.p.a.cemen can't do are breathe high vack and keep their mouths shut. Some of the crew blabbed about the asteroid, probably at the s.p.a.ce 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 s.h.i.+p 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 a.s.signed and we can load. Then prepare s.p.a.ce 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 s.h.i.+p'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 a.s.sign a pilot to bring number five back to the s.h.i.+p after you've landed.”

”Thank you.” Rip would have been surprised at the deputy's quick a.s.sent if Commander O'Brine hadn't shown him that the s.p.a.cemen 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.”

”s.p.a.ce is certainly full of junk,” Rip commented. ”At least this corner of it is full.”

A junior s.p.a.ce 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 s.h.i.+p has to crawl through it.”

Rip wandered over to the main control desk. A senior s.p.a.ce 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 pa.s.sed under an asteroid with a clearance of only a few hundred feet.

”You didn't miss that one by much,” Rip told the s.p.a.ce officer.

”Don't have to miss by much,” he retorted. ”A few feet are as good as a mile in s.p.a.ce. Our blast might kick them around a little, and maybe there's a little mutual ma.s.s 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.