Part 26 (1/2)
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, pus.h.i.+ng 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 s.h.i.+p was maneuvering. Rip realized suddenly that the cruiser was going to pick up the crippled a.s.sault 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 a.s.sault 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 s.p.a.ce 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 s.p.a.ce, 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 s.p.a.ce 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.