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We don’t have the outside casing with an exploder mechanism, so it has to be turned on electrically." Rip could see no way to use the atomic bomb against the Connies. It was too big for use against a landing party. Besides, it would put the Planeteers in danger. "Ever have trouble with the Connies before?" he asked Koa. "More’n once, sir.
The latter patent, curiously enough, comprised a very primitive form of rotary engine. Barber proposed to turn coal, oil, or other combustible stuff into gas by means of external firing, and then to mix the gases so produced with air in a vessel called the exploder. This mixture was then ignited as it issued from the vessel, and the ensuing flash caused a paddle-wheel to rotate.
Mention is also made that it was an object to inject a little water into the exploder, in order to strengthen the force of the flash. Robert Street's patent of 1794 mentions a piston engine, in the cylinder of which, coal tar, spirit, or turpentine was vaporised, the gases being ignited by a light burning outside the cylinder.
He knows we've taken the asteroid." Koa looked wistfully at the atomic bomb which remained. "If we had a way to throw that thing at them...." "But we haven't. And the thing wouldn't explode, anyway. We don't have the outside casing with an exploder mechanism, so it has to be turned on electrically." Rip could see no way to use the atomic bomb against the Connies.
Kemp had made sure no one was running near the line of blast. Rip watched for the crystal. It would be coming around any second now. He held the tube with the exploder projecting behind him, ready for the hole to appear. Koa’s voice echoed in his helmet. "All set, Lieutenant." "So am I," Rip answered. "Stand by." The crystal appeared across the sun line and moved toward him.
"Get a reel. Cut off a few hundred feet and connect the dynamo to one end and an exploder to the other." The crystal came around again and Kemp got to work. Rip stood by, again reviewing all steps. They couldn’t afford to make a mistake. He had no margin of error. Kemp finished the hole a few seconds before the crystal turned into the sunlight again. Rip told him to keep the torch going.
When I’m clear I’ll yell and you pump the dynamo. Dominico and Kemp stay with Koa. Make sure no one is in the way of the blast." Koa unreeled the wire, moving away from Rip. The lieutenant pushed the exploder into one end of the fuel tube and crimped it tightly with his gloved hand. Koa and the others were as far away as they could get now, the wire stretching between them and Rip.
Dominico pulled his knife, pressed the release, and the gas capsule shot the blade out. He got to work. Koa called that he was ready. Rip took the wired exploder from him and thrust it into the tube Dominico had given him. As the crystal came around again, the process was repeated. The hole was undamaged. There was more time to get clear because of the asteroid’s slower speed.
"We'll have to chance that," was Harry's brisk response, "the birds are too much for us." As he spoke he leaned out from the chassis and hurled the bomb high in the air. As he cast it out there was a slight click as the automatic exploder set itself. "Hold tight," shouted Frank, setting the sinking planes. The aeroplane rushed downward like a stone.
The fuel was a solid mass, so cutting the tube in two sections caused no difficulty. Rip pushed the exploder into the small section, seated it in the hole, and hurried to cover. As he watched the fuel burn, he wondered why the last nuclear charge had started the spin. He had made a mistake somewhere. The earlier blasts had been set so they wouldn’t cause a spin.
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