The and the safety officer got and to their with no more than black looks at Rip. He got to his feet, his with embarrassment. A entrance for a Planeteer officer, one on his orders!
Around him, the were settling in their seats or belts to safety hooks. From the direction of the came a as liquid into the blast tubes, into pure and under the terrible of the drive.
Rip had to against the acceleration. Fighting for balance, he up his and his way to the nine Planeteers. They had against the ship's drive by with against bulkheads, or by on the deck. Sergeant-major Koa was seated against a brace, his in a 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 was good-humored, but he had a solid and a mouth that when necessary. Rip a little at his size. Big men didn't go to space; they were too to space sickness. Koa must be a special case.
Rip to the next to the sergeant-major and out his hand. He the in Koa's big as it closed over his.
Koa said, "Sir, that was the best I've an make. You been on Venus?"
Rip him suspiciously, if the big Planeteer was laughing at him. Koa was grinning, but it was a grin. "What is a fleedle?" Rip demanded. "I've been on Venus."
"It's the way the water-hole people fight," Koa explained. "They're like a of when they to fighting. They each other with their heads."
Rip his memory for data on Venus. He couldn't any mention of fleedling. Venusians, if his memory was right, had a of as a main weapon. He told Koa so.
The sergeant-major nodded. "That's when they business, Lieutenant. Fleedling is more like us with our fists. Sort of a sport. Great Cosmos! The way they at each other is something to see."
Rip grinned. "I didn't know I was going to those officers. It isn't the way I enter a cruiser." He hadn't entered many. He added, "I I ought to report to someone."
Koa his head. "No use, sir. You can't walk around very well until the ship brennschluss. Besides, you won't 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 of this good and ready, he'll send for you. Until then, we might as well take it easy." He a of Venusian from his pocket. "Have some. It will make easier."
The a little uncomfortable, but it was not too bad. The was to make Rip as though a of were him against the brace. He a bite of the vegetable and thoughtfully. Koa to take it for that the would give them a time.
He asked, "Aren't there any who along with the Special Order Squadrons?"
"Never met one." Koa chru. "And I was on the Icarus when the whole thing started."
Rip looked at him in surprise. Koa didn't that old. The and the Special Order Squadrons had started about 18 years ago when the Icarus had taken the Planeteers to Mercury.
He the history of the expedition. The spacemen's job had been to land the newly Special Order Squadron on the planet. The job of the was to it. Somehow, and the spacemen, the officers, later reported that the had them to land on the sun of Mercury, which would have the and its crew, or so they at the time.
The officer of the such an order. He said his were to land as close to the sun as possible, but not on it. Whatever the truth—and Rip the SOS version, of course—the of the Icarus mutinied, or to. They the landing on Mercury with pointed at their heads. Of course, they that a sun-side landing wouldn't have the ship. The whole was well up, but it produced the Special Order Squadrons and the spacemen. "Trigger happy space bums," the called them, and much besides.
The men of the Special Order Squadrons, for a nickname, had called themselves Planeteers, 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 own space, but we Planeteers own solid that's in it."
The Planeteers were the specialists—in science, exploration, colonization, and fighting. The them and forth, them supplied, and their message traffic. The Planeteers did the hard work and the work. Or so they believed.
To a Planeteer, a had to pass intelligence, physical, aptitude, and tests. Less than 15 out of each 100 who were chosen. Then there were two years of hard on the space and the moon a was as a Planeteer private. Out of each 15 who started training, an of five by the wayside.
For Planeteer officers, the were tougher. Only one out of each 500 a commission. Six years of them in the of exploration, fighting, rocketeering, and and astrogation. In addition, each a full-fledged in one of science. Rip's was astrophysics.
Sergeant-major Koa continued, "That on the Icarus started the war, but have been it since. I have to admit that we Planeteers lord it over the like we were old man Cosmos himself. So they at us with dirty little while we're on their ships. We on the planets, but they in space. And they sure a great big out of us to do the dirty work!"
"We'll take they hand us," Rip him, "and we like it fine." He at the other Planeteers. "Tell me about the men, Koa."
"They're a bunch, sir. I hand-picked them myself. The one with the white is Corporal Nels Pederson. He's a Swede. I with him at Marsport, and he's a space in a fight. The other is little Paulo Santos. He's a Filipino, and the best snapper-boat you 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 as would allow, but you got the that they would into action in a if the word were given. He couldn't what of was waiting, but he was satisfied with his Planeteers. They looked of anything.
He himself as as possible, and Koa to talk about his service in the Special Order Squadrons. Koa had to tell, and he talked interestingly. Rip learned that the big Hawaiian had been to every in the system, had the Venusians on the desert, and had with SOS One on Mercury. He also that Koa was one of the 17 pure-blooded Hawaiians left. During the three hours that 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 years around the Solar System.
"I'm they you to me," Rip told Koa frankly. "This is my job, and I'll be green, no what it is. I'll on you for a of things."
To his surprise, Koa out his hand. "Shake, Lieutenant." His white teeth. "You're the junior officer I met who he didn't know about everything. You can on me, sir. I won't you into any swarms."
Koa had to shake hands. Suddenly he on around, his against the deck. Rip a of that had been against acceleration. At the same time, in on them with an almost physical shock. He murmured, "brennschluss," and the was like a blast.
The Scorpius had and the drive had cut out. From they had to zero. The ship was making high speed, but cannot be felt. For the moment, the men were weightless.
A near-by had Rip's comment. He spoke in an to the man nearest. His voice was low so Rip couldn't object officially, but loud to be heard.
"Get this, gang. The Planeteer officer what is. He doesn't look old to know which end his goes on."
Rip started to his feet, but Koa's hand on his arm him. With a the big sergeant-major through the air. His line of took him by the spaceman, and somehow their arms got linked. The was from his post and the two came to a stop against the ceiling.
Koa's voice through the ship. "Sorry. I'm not used to no-weight. Didn't to you. Here, I'll help you to your post."
He the like a of and him through the air. The of the action only Koa against the ceiling, but the and with a against the bulkhead. He didn't hard to any bones, but he would a around on his for a day or two.
Koa's voice after him. "Great Cosmos! I sure am sorry, spaceman. I I don't know my own strength." He away from the ceiling, landing at Rip's side. He added in a hard voice all hear, "They sure are a gang, these spacemen. They say anything about Planeteers."
No answered, but Koa's meaning was clear. No had say anything about the Planeteers! Rip saw that the and the safety officer had appeared not to notice the incident. Technically, there was no for an officer to take action. It had all been an "accident." He smiled. There was a he had to learn about with spacemen, a Koa very well indeed.
Suddenly he to weight. The ship was going into rotation. The until he again. There was no other sensation, though the space now was on its through space at speed. The produced by the gave them an gravity.
Now that he about it, had come early. The was going to be a one. Brennschluss ... funny, he thought, how on in a language after their original meaning is changed. Brennschluss was German for "burn out." It was talk, and it meant the moment when all the fuel in a out. It had come into common use the English "burn out" also that the engine itself had out. The German word meant only the one thing. Now, in drive ships, the same word was used for the moment when power was cut off.
Words him. He started to mention it to Koa just as the up. An officer's appeared. "Send that Planeteer officer to the commander," the said. "Tell him to an exhaust."
Rip called to the safety officer. "Where's his office?"
The safety officer to a spaceman. "Show him, Nelson."
Rip the through a of passages, more with each step. The closer to the center of the ship they went, the less he weighed. He was himself along by plastic when they the door marked "Commander."
The left without a word or a salute. Rip pushed the lock and himself in by the door frame. He couldn't help it was a way to make an entrance.
Seated in an chair, a safety across his middle, was Space Commander Keven O'Brine, an Irishman out of Dublin. He was short, as as a deto-rocket, and unfriendly. He had a square jaw, a nose, green eyes, and hair. He spoke with a Irish brogue.
Rip started to his name, rank, and the that he was as ordered. Commander O'Brine his and flatly, "You're a Planeteer. I don't like Planeteers."
Rip didn't know what to say, so he still. But anger was of him.
O'Brine 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 physics?"
Rip's narrowed. He said cautiously, "A little, sir."
"I'll assume you know nothing. Foster, the SCN means Space Cruiser, Nuclear. This ship is by a reactor. In other words, an pile. You've of one?"
Rip his voice, but his red on end with anger. O'Brine was being insulting. This was any new Planeteer knew. "I've heard, sir."
"Fine. It's more than I had expected. Well, Foster, a produces heat. Great heat. We use that to turn a chemical called into its parts. Methane is as gas, Foster. I wouldn't a Planeteer to know that. It is of and hydrogen. When we pump it into the of the reactor, it and a that and 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 time in four years when the cruiser's orders were changed. To the commander, had been necessary by the needs of the Special Order Squadrons, it was too much. So he took his out on the nearest Planeteer, who to be Rip.
"The go through tubes," O'Brine on. "A little material also into the tubes. The with carbon, Foster. They also with fuel. We use thorium. Thorium is radioactive. I won't give you a lecture on radioactivity, Foster. But mostly off the of as particles. Alpha is not unless or eaten. It won't go through or skin. But when mixed with carbon, makes a mess. It's a dirty mess, Foster. So dirty that I don't want my to with it.
"I want you to take of it instead," O'Brine said. "You and your men. The will you to a squadroom. Settle in, then from the supply room and going. When I want to talk to you again, I'll call for you. Now blast off, Lieutenant, and that radiation. Rake it clean."
Rip a and smile. "Yes, sir," he said sweetly. "We'll it so clean you can see your in it, sir." He paused, then added politely, "If you don't mind looking at your face, sir—to see how clean the are, I mean."
Rip and got out of there.
Koa was waiting in the outside. Rip told him what had happened, O'Brine's Irish accent.
The sergeant-major his sadly. "This is what I meant, Lieutenant. Cruisers don't clean their more'n once in ten accelerations. The is just up dirty work for us to do, like I said."
"Never mind," Rip told him. "Let's our and settled, then some and equipment. We'll clean his for him. Our turn will come later."
He the last thing Joe Barris had said, only a hours before. Joe was right, he thought. To ourselves we're supermen, but to the we're just simps. Evidently O'Brine was the of space officer who ate Planeteers for breakfast.
Rip of the way the had red with at that about his face, and resolved, "He may eat me for breakfast, but I'll try to be a good, mouthful!"
