Part 14 (2/2)

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 s.h.i.+p 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 s.p.a.ce-walking. They've just come out of deceleration and they won't have their s.p.a.ce-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.

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