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I was just a little kid when he left me here, and now I'm grown-up. Tommy grinned at him in the mirror. "What are you going to do, now we've finished our so-called education?" "What do you think? Go back to Vega with Dad, by Lhari ship, and help him run Vega Interplanet. Why else would I bother with all that astrogation and math?" "You're the lucky one, with your father owning a dozen ships!
"That’s right. Know anything about asteroids, Foster?" Rip considered. He knew what he had been taught in astronomy and astrogation. Between Mars and Jupiter lay a broad belt in which the asteroids swung. They ranged from Ceres, a tiny world only 480 miles in diameter, down to chunks of rock the size of a house.
But when I'd ask him a question, he'd just rattle the answer off so fast well, I just couldn't follow him." Suddenly slamming the book shut, he got up. "Me and these tables" he indicated the book "just don't mix!" "What's the trouble?" "Ah I can get the easy ones about astrogation. They're simple. But it's the ones where I have to combine it with the power deck."
Directly in front of him was the huge radar scanner, and to one side and overhead was a tube mounted on a swivel joint that looked like a small telescope, but which was actually an astrogation prism for taking sights on the celestial bodies in space. Roger concentrated on the first problem. " ... you are now in the northwest quadrant of Mars, chart M, area twenty-eight.
He handed Rip the shoulder case that contained the plotting board. Santos had taken charge of Rip's astrogation instruments. A spaceman was waiting with Rip's bubble. At a nod, the spaceman slipped it on his head. Rip reached up and gave it a quarter turn. The locking mechanism clamped into place. He turned his belt ventilator control on full, and the space suit puffed out.
The small craft sped through emptiness at a high multiple of the speed of light. Hoddan's knowledge of astrogation was strictly practical. He went over his ship. From a look at it outside he'd guessed that it once had been a yacht. Various touches inside verified that idea. There were two staterooms. All the hull-space was for living and supplies. None was for cargo. He nodded.
While Roger examined the communications and astrogation deck, Tom busied himself inspecting the control deck, where the great panels of the master control board were stripped of everything but absolute essentials. Later, they called Astro back to make a careful inspection of the power deck on the ship. While they waited for the Venusian cadet, Tom and Roger talked to the pilot.
O'Brine blinked. "Then why did they assign you? What's your specialty?" "Astrophysics." "That might explain it. Second specialty?" "Astrogation." He couldn't resist adding, "That's more advanced than the simple space navigation you use, Commander." O'Brine started to retort, then apparently thought better of it. "I hope you'll be able to carry out your orders, Lieutenant," he said stiffly.
The pretty scientist smiled. "I could have told you that after one look at his classification tests." "How?" "On questions concerning the power-deck operations, he was letter perfect " "And on the others? Astrogation and control deck?" "He just skimmed by. But even where the problem involved fuel, power, supply of energy, he offered some very practical answer to the problem." She smiled.
He could imagine the speed with which the specialists at Terra base had acted. They had sent orders instantly to the fastest cruiser in the area, the Scorpius, to stand by for further instructions. Then their personnel machines must have whirred rapidly, electronic brains searching for the nearest available Planeteer officer with an astrophysics specialty and astrogation training.
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