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To move the asteroid into a new orbit, they were going to fire nuclear bombs. Most of the highly radioactive fission products would be blown into space, but some would be drawn back by the asteroid’s slight gravity. The craters would be highly radioactive and some radioactive debris would be scattered around, too. Every particle would add to the problem. "Is there anything we can do, sir?"
We’re already working on it." "Anything yet?" "No, sir. We’ll have the albedo measurement in a few minutes. It will take longer to figure the mass." The asteroid’s efficiency in reflecting sunlight was its albedo. The efficiency depended on the material of which it was made. The albedo of pure metallic thorium was known. If the asteroid’s albedo matched it, that would be one piece of evidence.
"I’ll need all possible data on the asteroid’s speed, orbit, and physical measurements. I have to figure a new orbit and what it will take to blast the mass into it." "We’ll get those. The orbit will not be exact, of course. We have only two reference points. But I think we’ll come pretty close." O’Brine nodded. "Do what you can, Chief.
The Consops cruiser was playing it safe, using its rocket exhaust as a great blowtorch to burn the surface of the asteroid clean! The sheer inhumanity of the thing made Rip’s stomach tighten into a knot. No asking for surrender, no taking of prisoners. Not even a clean fight. The Connie was doing its arguing with fire, knowing that the exhaust would char every man on the asteroid’s surface.
He had figured the asteroid’s orbit to pass as close to the sun as possible while maintaining a margin of safety. He had wanted to use the sun’s gravity to pick up speed. His regular star sightings had told him several days before that the sun was dragging them. But Koa had started a train of ideas running through Rip’s head.
The nuclear charge was on his left side, pretty close to the sun line. At least he and Santos could angle to the right, to get as far away from the blast as possible. The edge of the asteroid’s shadow was barely visible. That it was visible at all was due to the minute particles of matter and gas that surrounded the sun, even millions of miles out into space.
We’ll lose a little after we pass the sun, but by then we’ll be almost home." It was just space luck that Terra was on the other side of the sun from the asteroid’s present position. By the time they approached, it would be in a good place, just far enough from the line to the sun to avoid changing course.
The cruiser was within a few miles of the asteroid. As Rip watched, fire spurted from the cruiser and it moved with gathering speed toward the asteroid’s horizon. He watched the exhaust trail, wondering why the Connie had blasted off. "He has something up his sleeve," Koa muttered. "Wish we knew what." "Let’s take no chances," Rip stated. "Come on." The men were already in the boat.
The asteroid was swerving rapidly, moving into a new orbit that would intersect the course he and Santos were on. He had planned on the asteroid’s change of orbit. In a minute at most they would be back on the rock. His propulsion tube flared out and he released it. It would travel along with him, but his hands would be free.
Rip centered the top of the instrument’s vertical hair line on Alpha Centauri, then waited until Koa was almost out of sight over the asteroid’s horizon, which was only a few hundred yards away. He turned up the volume on his helmet communicator. "Koa, move about ten feet to your left." Koa did so. Rip sighted past the vertical hairline at the belt light. "That’s a little too far.
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