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I don't quite trust Dr. Ku. The asteroid's controlled on the same principles as a space-ship: I'll manage. Please hurry, Ban." "Cap'n., suh! Already got the Master Scientist!" called Friday from the radio panel. The Hawk strode swiftly to it and clamped the individual receivers over his ears. "M. S.?" he asked into the microphone. "You're there?" "Yes. Carse? What's happened?"
I know my men said no one had arrived at the ranch in a suit like these we've got on but, hell, if his whole asteroid's invisible, why couldn't he make his space-suit invisible, too?" "I don't think he's done that. Otherwise he would have " The adventurer's level tone raised incisively. "Now, both of you, still! Conceal yourselves with great care Jupiter's rising!"
The Connie was doing its arguing with fire, knowing that the exhaust would char every man on the asteroid's surface. The Planeteers watched as the Connie sped away, blasted with side jets, and turned to come back. Dowst tensed over the controls, trying to anticipate the next move. He delicately touched the firing levers, letting out just enough flame to maneuver.
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. Of course, Rip's planned orbit was not aiming the asteroid at Earth, but at where Earth would be at the end of the trip.
We're already working on it." "Anything yet?" "No, sir. We'll have the albedo measurement in a few minutes. It'll 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.
A shower of sparks crackled out from the ship's defensive web, but the purple ray continued. "I don't know that ray, Eliot." Carse said. "What's on our speed indicator?" The scientist's gasp was plainly audible as he read the dial. "Why, it it's dropping! Much faster than our deceleration accounts for! That ray why, it must have magnetic properties! Carse, the asteroid's stopping us!"
Using his infra-red device, Carse brought the car in neatly through the ship-size port-lock of the dome, and sped it across to the central building, to land lightly beside one of the wings. Debarking, he ran down the wing's passage and in a few seconds was back in the asteroid's control room.
The Eurasian's prepared emergency exit would also be his! He lost not a fraction of a second. Turning his glove controls to maximum acceleration, he rose with a rush into the bore. Despite his good aim the asteroid's centrifugal force threw him heavily into one red-hot side. His heart went cold; would the fabric of the suit burn through?
The electronic streams flowed out like a rocket tail behind us. The Planetara caught their impetus. In the rarefied air, our bow lifted slightly, like a ship riding a gentle ground swell. At a hundred thousand feet we sailed gently forward, hull down to the asteroid's surface, cruising to seek a landing space. A little sea was now beneath us. A shadowed sea, deep purple in the night down there.
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