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He sliced off the inner side where it tapered to a cone, then, working only by eye estimate, cut out a hole in which the wedge of fission material would fit. He wasn't off by a thirty-second of an inch. Skillful application of the torch melted the thorium around the wedge and sealed it tightly. Koa was ready with a sheet of nuclite.
At some time during its first years, Mercury had been so close to the sun that its temperature was driven high enough to permit a subatomic thermo-nuclear reaction. The reaction had shorn some elements of their electrons and left a thin coating of material composed almost entirely of neutrons. The nuclite was incredibly dense. It could be handled only in low gravity because of its weight.
Their single five KT bomb contained at least enough plutonium for two critical masses, if brought together inside a good neutron reflector. Each mass should give about a two kiloton explosion. And they did have a good neutron reflector—nuclite. There wasn’t anything better for the purpose. "What have we got for a neutron source?" he asked aloud.
He made himself as comfortable as possible and encouraged Koa to talk about his service in the Special Order Squadrons. Koa had plenty to tell, and he talked interestingly. Rip learned that the tall Hawaiian had been to every planet in the system, had fought the Venusians on the central desert, and had mined nuclite with SOS One on Mercury.
"It means the ship has got to return in time to give us some nuclite shielding, or we'll be the laughingstock of the Special Order Squadrons the detachment that started a job the spacemen had to finish!" Earthbound! There was something else that Rip didn't add, although he knew the Planeteers would realize it in a few minutes. Probably some of them already had thought of it.
While Koa supervised the cutting of the block, Rip and the captain chatted. The Mercurian Planeteer base was in the twilight zone, but the Planeteers did all their work on the sun side, using special alloy suits to mine the precious nuclite that only the hot planet provided.
He led the way through passages and up ladders to the very top of the ship, to the hatch where the astrogators took their star sights. The protective shield of nuclite had been rolled back and they could see into space through the clear vision port. Rip and MacFife hurried to the side where they were connected to the Connie. Rip looked down along the length of the ship.
The reaction had shorn some elements of their electrons and left a thin coating of material composed almost entirely of neutrons. The nuclite was incredibly dense. It could be handled only in low gravity because of its weight. But nothing else provided the shielding against radiation and meteors half so well, and it was in great demand. "Things aren't so bad," Go told Rip.
A few feet away from the spot was a thick pyramid of thorium. That would do, and they could cut into it horizontally instead of drilling straight down. He pointed to it. "Let’s have a hole straight in for six feet. And keep it straight, Kemp. Allow enough room for a lining of nuclite. Koa, pull a sheet of nuclite out of the cave and cut it to size."
"I ought to be busted to recruit," he told them. "I knew this asteroid was thorium and that thorium is radioactive. If I had used my head, I would have added nuclite shielding to the list of supplies the Scorpius provided. We could have had enough of it to protect us while around our base, even if we couldn't be protected while working on the charges.
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