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If they could use that to cut themselves right into the asteroid ... suddenly he knew how it could be done. On the sun side he remembered a series of high-piled, giant crystals of thorium. They could cut into the side of one of those. And with Kemp’s skill, they might be able to do it in time. He called, "Kemp! Koa, bring the torch and fuel and follow me."
Kemp sliced another round block of thorium out of a near-by crystal and fitted the second wedge of plutonium into it. At first Rip had worried about the two pieces of plutonium making a good enough contact, but Kemp’s skillful hand and precision eye removed that worry. The torchman finished fitting the plutonium and carried the block to the tube opening.
Kemp’s torch already was slicing into the metal. Rip asked, "Can you weld with that thing, Kemp?" "Just show me what you want, sir." "Good." Rip motioned to Trudeau. "Frenchy, we’ll need a strong rod at least eight feet long." The French Planeteer hurried off. Rip consulted his chronometer. Less than ten minutes had passed since the call from Terra base. He went over his plan again.
Cracks in the asteroid would be dangerous, but he hadn’t seen any. "This rock will take more nuclear blasts than we have," he assured Koa. He turned his communicator back on and went to the edge of the hole for a look at Kemp’s progress. He was far down, now. Pederson was holding one end of a measuring tape. The other end was fastened to Kemp’s shoulder strap.
At the first sign of a landing party, they would blast in and take to the cave, using the rocket launcher as a defense. The supplies began to arrive. The Planeteers towed them two crates at a time in a steady line of hurrying men. Kemp’s torch sent an incandescent knife three feet into the metal at each cut. He was rapidly slicing out a cave.
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