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O’Brine was operating as expected. Rip was having trouble keeping his vision from blurring. He leaned against the rocket launcher and his glove caressed one of the sharp noses in the rack. He heard his own voice before the idea had even taken full form. "Santos! Do you hear me? Santos! Get the Scorpius! Fire before it comes to a stop. And don’t miss!"
He hauled himself out of the chair and the squadroom and went down the corridor hand over hand. He headed straight for where the supplies were stacked, his Planeteers close behind him. Commander O’Brine arrived at the same time. "We’re starting to scan for the asteroid," he greeted Rip. "May be some time before we find it." "Where are we, sir?" Rip asked.
Rip had an idea what was coming, and he didn’t like it. Nor did he like Commander O’Brine. It was not until much later that he learned that O’Brine had been on his way to Terra to see his family for the first time in four years when the cruiser’s orders were changed. To the commander, whose assignments had been made necessary by the needs of the Special Order Squadrons, it was too much.
The order was in special cipher, though, so we’re all wondering about it." The deputy commander returned, reported to O’Brine, then walked up to Rip and Southwick. "Nothing else needed," he said curtly. "We’ll get off at once." Southwick nodded, shook hands with Rip, and said in a voice the deputy could hear, "Don’t let these spacemen bother you.
He had sent the snapper-boats to try and draw fire in an attempt to find out more surely whether Planeteers or Connies had the thorium rock. "The Scorpius doesn’t know what’s going on," Rip told his Planeteers. "O’Brine didn’t know the cruiser was waiting to ambush him, so the rocket we fired made him think the Connies had taken us over." He put himself in O’Brine’s place.
Rip gave him a civil hello and started to sit alone at another table. To his surprise, O’Brine beckoned to him. "Sit down," the spaceman invited gruffly. Rip did, and wondered what was coming next. "We’ll start to decelerate in about ten minutes," O’Brine said. "Eat while you can." He signaled and a spaceman brought Rip the day’s ration in an individual plastic carton with thermo-lining.
I go over them by firing the steam tubes along the bottom of the ship. That way, you feel the acceleration on your feet. If I fired the top tubes the ship would drop out from under those who were standing. They’d all end up on the ceiling." Rip watched for a while longer, then wandered back to Commander O’Brine. He was getting anxious.
The commander leaned forward. "We’ll find that asteroid for you, Mr. Planeteer. We’ll put you on it and see you on your way. Then we’ll ride space along with you, and if any Consops thieves try to take over and collect that thorium for themselves, they’ll find Kevin O’Brine waiting. That’s a promise, boy." Rip felt a lot better.
He went back to the supply room and told Koa which boats were to be used, instructed him to get the supplies aboard, then made his way to Commander O’Brine’s office. O’Brine was not in. Rip searched and found him in the astro-plot room, watching a ’scope. Green streaks called "blips" marked the panel, each one indicating an asteroid. "All too small," O’Brine said.
A blossom of orange fire marked a perfect hit. The Scorpius could have taken direct hits with little or no major damage from a hundred rockets of the kind Rip had used, but Commander O’Brine took no chances. When the alarm bell signaled that the outer hull had been hit, the commander acted instantly with a bellowed order.
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