Rip his space on his helmet. The air seal was and his and worked. He his to make sure the space knife was to his left hand and the pistol to his right.
Koa was already dressed. He Rip the case that the board. Santos had taken of Rip's instruments.
A was waiting with Rip's bubble. At a nod, the it on his head. Rip up and gave it a turn. The locking into place. He his on full and the space out. When it was he the pressure gauge. It was steady. No in or helmet. He let the pressure go to normal.
Koa's voice in his ears. "Hear me, sir?"
Rip the of his a little and spoke in a normal voice. "I you. Am I clear?"
"Yessir. All men and ready."
Rip a final check. He his men, then personally their suits. The were next. They were landing craft, like boxes. There was no need for in the of space. They were not pressurized. Only men in space in the boxes.
He all blast to make sure they were clear. There were small single on each of the craft. A one and the up.
Koa, he knew, had everything, but the final was his. In space, no officer or took anyone's word for anything that might lives. Each every detail personally.
Rip looked around and saw the Planeteers him. There was on the the clear helmets, and he they were satisfied with his thoroughness.
At last, that was in good order, he said quietly, "Pilots, man your boats."
Dowst got into one and a into the other. Dowst's would with them on the asteroid. The would the other to the ship.
Commander O'Brine through the into the lock. A him a hand communicator. He spoke into it. Rip couldn't have him through the otherwise. "All set, Foster?"
"Ready, sir."
"Good. The long-range screen up a a minutes ago. It's that Connie cruiser."
Rip swallowed. The Planeteers froze, waiting for the commander's next words.
"Our screens are a little than theirs, so there's a they haven't us up yet. We'll you and out of here. But don't worry. We have your and we'll you when the screens are clear."
"Suppose they 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 away. We'll Vesta or another of the big and so their screens won't up our motion. Every now and then we'll out for a look, if the screen clear. If those high-vack do you, on the landing radio and for help. We'll come blasting."
He a hand, thumb and together in the symbol for "everything right," then ordered, "Get flaming." He through the valve.
"Clear the lock," Rip ordered. "Open when ready."
Illustration: "Get Flaming, Foster!"
"Get Flaming, Foster!"
He took a quick final look around. The were in the boats. His Planeteers were by, safety lines already to the and their belts. He moved into position and his own line to a ring on Dowst's boat. The through the and the door closed. The overhead lights out. Rip on his light and the others suit.
In of the landing a great door open and air from the lock out. Rip it was only imagination, but he for a moment as though the cold of space, near zero, had his suit. Beyond the lights from their belts he saw stars, and the for which the space was named. A would have taken that as a good sign. Rip that it was to see.
"Float 'em," he ordered.
The Planeteers at the entrance with one hand and rails on the with the other and heaved. The into space. As the safety lines tightened, the Planeteers were after the boat.
Rip left his with a little and through the door. Directly him the in the light of the sun. His was, "Great Cosmos! What a little of rock!" But that was he was used to looking from the space at the great of Terra or at the big of the moon. Actually the was fair-sized when with most of its kind.
The Planeteers themselves into the by their safety lines. Rip waited until all were in, then himself along his own line to the black square o£ the door. Koa was waiting to give him a hand into the craft.
The Planeteers were standing, for Dowst. Rip had an old-type or he might have the landing to a box car. It was about the same size and shape, but it had "windows" on and in of the pilot—windows that were not enclosed. The space-suited men needed no protection.
"Blast," Rip ordered.
A of fire from the top of each boat, them bottom-first toward the asteroid.
"Land at will," Rip said.
The large as he looked through an opening. It was rocky, but there were of places.
Dowst one. He was an expert pilot and Rip him with pleasure. The from the top and fire from the bottom. Dowst the opposite of the top and with the of a man a needle. In a moments the was a above the asteroid. Dowst cut the and Rip out onto the planet.
The Planeteers what to do. Corporal Pederson produced with ring tops. Private Trudeau had a sledge. Driving the would be the hardest, the action of the would the Planeteer like a exhaust. In space, the law that every action has an equal and opposite had to be every moment.
Rip watched, in how his men would the problem. He didn't know the answer himself, he had a on an airless, almost world and no one had mentioned it to him.
Pederson the metal with his and a of two high a from the boat. "Here's a hold," he said. "Come on, Frenchy. You, too, Bradshaw."
Trudeau, the sledge, walked up to the of and with his against it. Pederson sat on the ground with the his legs. He stretched, his around Trudeau's ankles, him. With his he the seat of the Frenchman's space suit.
Bradshaw took a and it against the metal ground. The Frenchman swung, his noiseless as it the in. A into the metal was enough. Bradshaw took a from his belt, put it on the of the and it. Below the surface, teeth on the into the metal. It would hold.
The was easy. The was used to Trudeau while he another, at his reach. Then the second his anchor, and so on, until had been set to the against any shock.
The by the was to the one that would and the Planeteers its through a window. It took only a moments, with Planeteers a from the to a spot a little away. Even the almost nothing. They passed them from one to the other like balloons.
"All clear, sir," Koa called.
Rip and a quick inspection. The box was empty for the 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 out and walked a little away. Santos and Pederson the landing and it away from the boat. In a moment fire from the tube, over the metal and at the of the Planeteers.
Rip the to the great, sleek, dark of the Scorpius. The landing into the air lock with from its exhausts. In a moments the blast of moved the away. O'Brine was a little his ship and the on the drive. The ship in size until Rip saw it only as a dark, against the Milky Way, then the of the drive into a of and the ship into space.
For a moment Rip had a wild to for the ship to come back. He had been in 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 like that. He his mind to the job in hand.
The next step was to a base. The would have to be on the dark of the asteroid, once it was in its new orbit. That meant a temporary now and a one later, when they had the little onto its new course. He the positions where he would place his charges, using the sun and the star Canopus as guides.
"This will do for a temporary base," he announced. "Rig the compartment. While two of you are doing that, the out the and and the torch. Koa will make assignments."
While the sergeant-major Rip's into orders for each man, the walked to the of the sun belt. There was no atmosphere, so the was a line dark and light. There wasn't much light, either. They were too from the sun for that. But as they the sun, the would be their protection. They would so close to Sol that the metal on the sun would soft as butter.
He close to the surface. It was clean metal, not at all. The had been to oxygen. Here and there, of metal up from the asteroid, sometimes singly, sometimes in clusters. They were metal formations. He that once, long ago, the had been a part of something much bigger, a planet. One said the were when a exploded. This might have been a pocket of pure in the planet.
There would be to do in a while, but meanwhile he the of being on a world in space with only a of Planeteers for company. He smiled. "King Foster," he said to himself. "Monarch of a space speck." It was a feeling, though he laughed at himself for it. Since he was in of the detachment, he in all truth say this was his own personal planet. It would be a good of space to on the on Terra.
"Yep, I was of a whole world, once. Made myself king. Emperor of all the metal and king of the spurs. And my my every command." He added, "Thanks to Planeteer discipline. The is boss."
He himself that he'd stop and start acting like a commander. He walked to the landing boat, with care. With such low a false step send him high above the asteroid. Of that would not be dangerous, since the space were with six small air bottles for propulsion. But it would be embarrassing.
Inside the boat, Dowst and Nunez were setting up the compartment. Sections of the out and locked into place against seals, a box at the end of the boat. Equipment sealed in the next to the light, heat, and air. It was a but necessary arrangement. Without it, the Planeteers not have eaten.
There was no air lock for the compartment. The of the not on would walk in, seal it up, turn on the equipment, and wait until the registered air and heat, then remove their space suits. When it was time to again, they would 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 designed for as many men and as much as possible. They were work boats, and hard had the best design.
The was already set up near the boat. It was a affair, with four to ground spikes. The a in which the were placed. High-geared hand the to the at high speed in any direction down. A simple, was all the needed. Since there was no and no in space, the out in a line, on into if they missed their targets. Proximity this a possibility. If the got near the target, the would explode.
Rip his set to one side. He took the data from his case and them. Now came the work of the exact in which to place his charges. Since the computer ship had done all the necessary, he needed only to take to the positions.
He took a transit-like from the case, out the of its self-contained tripod, then it to a spot near where he had the would be placed. The was with three to be set for the equator, for the zero meridian, and for the right of any star. Using a regular level would have been much simpler. The had one, but with so little to it, the thing was useless.
The were designed for use in space and his was no in taking observations. He put the clear plastic against the and looked into it much as he would have looked through a on earth.
As he did so, a hint of pink light the of his eye. He away from the and his quickly, looking at the colorimeter-type at the of his helmet. It was glowing.
An sent a through him. Great, galaxies! He had ... had Koa and the others? He so fast he and above the surface like a balloon. Santos, who had been near by to help if requested, a toe on a ground spike, him, and set him on the ground again.
"Get me the instruments," he ordered.
Koa the in his voice and got the himself. Rip them on and read the on the counter. Plenty high, as was natural. But no there—alpha couldn't the space suits. Then, his hand the space glove, he on the other meter. The count was the alpha, but there were too many of the around for comfort. Inside the helmet, his pale.
There was no danger. It would take many days to up a of that them. But was not the only radiation. They were in space, to radiation.
The Planeteers had while he read the instruments. Now they him. They the of what he had found.
"I ought to be to recruit," he told them. "I this was thorium, and that is radioactive. If I had used my head, I would have added to the list of the Scorpius provided. We have had of it to protect us while around our base, if we couldn't be protected while on the charges. That would at least have our for safety."
"No one else 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 soon, we can the our has up very high. If the ship doesn't come back, the will mount."
He looked at them grimly. "It won't kill us, and it won't make us very sick. I'll have the ship take us off we up that much dosage."
Santos started. "But, sir! That means ..."
"I know what it means," Rip bitterly. "It means the ship has got to return in time to give us some shielding, or we'll be the of the Special Order Squadrons—the that started a job the had to finish!"
