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Updated: May 14, 2025
Then he went to the next house, and up to his rented room. He showered, and for once climbed very early into bed, feeling that he must have nightmares. About strange sounds in the thin winds, over the mysterious thickets of Mars. Or about some blackened, dried-out body of a sentient being, sixty million years dead, floating free in the Asteroid Belt. A few had been found. Some were in museums.
For instance, the worst thing that could happen to a man was to have his helmet broken. Let the transparent globe be shattered and the results were both quick and final. Hence the oft-heard threat, "I’ll bust your bubble." Speaking of bubbles ... Rip realized suddenly that he and his men would have to live in bubbles and space suits while on the asteroid.
At three hundred miles an hour the Sandra had nicked the upper plates of the dome and streaked on, unharmed! It was not necessary now to use infra-red glasses to see the asteroid. It was there in the visi-screen for naked eyes, but for seconds not one of the men in the ship's control-cabin thought to look. The awful acceleration and shock had dazed them.
Servadac and the count were at once apprised of the fact, and had little difficulty in recognizing the substance that had revealed itself as the very same which composed the shores as well as the subsoil of the Gallian sea. It evidently formed the universal substructure of the new asteroid. Means for hollowing it failed them utterly.
These little machines being rapidly manufactured, for Mr. Edison had a miniature laboratory aboard, were distributed about the squadron, and henceforth we had the pleasure of paying and receiving visits among the various members of the fleet. But to return from this digression to our experience of the asteroid.
Santos scored a direct hit on the nose of the nearest one, but its momentum drove it to within a few yards of the asteroid. Five space-suited figures erupted from it, holding hand propulsion units, tubes of rocket fuel used for hand combat in empty space. The Connies lit their propulsion tubes and drove feet first for the asteroid.
He was tired and he knew his men were getting weary, too. He could see it in their strides—they were less sure o£ foot. He decided it would be best to use a little less fuel rather than a little more. If the asteroid failed to stop its spin completely, they could always set off a small charge or two. "Hold it," he ordered. "We’ll use the small end of Dominico’s tube and save the big one."
And we need a new landing boat. The sun baked the equipment out of ours." MacFife nodded. "So be it. I'll send men to the asteroid to bring back the prisoners and your Planeteers." He smiled. "We'll let yon rock go by itself while hot showers and a good meal are had by all. Ye've earned it, lad."
"Show an exhaust!" he called. The Connie must have blasted the opposite side of the asteroid while they were hung up. The cave was a quarter of the asteroid away. Rip stayed in the rear, watching for stragglers, but even Bradshaw was moving rapidly. Koa reached the cave well ahead of the rest, reached for a rack of rockets, and slapped it into the launcher. Rip urged the men on.
His tone was excited and his manner distraught. "Yes?" the Hawk muttered thickly. "What is it?" "It's the asteroid, sir! I was instructed to watch it at intervals, but I I guess I fell asleep, and just now " Carse sat up. "Yes? What?" " when I looked, through the glasses it was gone!" "Gone? You're sure? Let me see."
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