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"You wouldn’t fire on that Consops cruiser, would you, sir?" O’Brine gave him a grim smile. "Certainly not, Foster. It’s against orders to start anything with Consops cruisers. You know why. The situation is so tense that a fight between two space ships might plunge earth into war." His smile got even grimmer. "But you never know. The Consops ship might fire first. Or an accident might happen."
Rip wondered what it was. He knew the cruisers had to be careful not to cross the thin line that might lead to war. The Sagittarius loomed closer, decelerating with a tremendous exhaust. The Connie couldn’t have failed to see it, Rip knew. He was right. The Consops cruiser suddenly blasted more heavily, rushing in the direction away from the Federation ship. The direction was toward the asteroid.
The commander would lose nothing by picking up the assault boat, and he would save a few men. Rip supposed that manpower meant something, even to Consops. His propulsion tube reached brennschluss, and for a few moments he watched, checking his speed and direction. Then, before he lit off another tube, he checked his chronometer. The illuminated dial registered 2301.
"I know why Terra base sent us the fighting equipment," he announced. "They were afraid word of this thorium asteroid would leak out to Consops—and it has. A Connie cruiser blasted off from Marsport and headed this way." He watched the faces of his men carefully, to see how they would take the news. They merely looked at each other and shrugged. Conflict with Consops was nothing new to them.
"We'll use one hole for all three charges. They don't have to be fired all at once." "How do we fire them?" Koa asked. "Electrically. Who has the igniters and the hand dynamo?" "Dowst has the igniters. One of the Connies is carrying the dynamo." Speaking of the Connies Rip hadn't seen the Consops cruiser recently. He looked up, searching for its exhaust, and finally found it, some distance away.
The Connie would have almost an hour's lead on the space-patrol cruisers. In that hour, if the Connie were willing to pay the price in blasted snapper-boats, Consops would have the asteroid. And Terra base had made it clear that the space patrol would not try to blast the Connie cruiser, because that would mean war.
It was quite another to face the nuclear drive ship with its missile ports cleared for action. The Connie knew he had lost. Rip and the Planeteers saw the Consops ship suddenly flame away, then turn and dive for low space below the asteroid belt in a direction opposite the one the Scorpius had taken. The helmet communicators rang with their cheers.
"They'll have to keep blasting to maintain position." The Consops commander didn't wait to trim ship against the sun's drag. His air locks opened, clearly visible to Rip and Koa because that side of the cruiser was brilliant with sunlight. Ten snapper-boats sped forth. Rip was certain now that this was the enemy cruiser they had fought off back in the asteroid belt.
There was a chorus of gasps from the men as they saw the thing Rip had realized a moment before. The Consops cruiser was playing it safe, using its rocket exhaust as a great blowtorch to burn the surface of the asteroid clean of any possible life! The sheer inhumanity of the thing made Rip's stomach tighten into a knot. No asking for surrender, no taking of prisoners, not even a clean fight.
The Consops cruiser was playing it safe, using its rocket exhaust as a great blowtorch to burn the surface of the asteroid clean! The sheer inhumanity of the thing made Rip’s stomach tighten into a knot. No asking for surrender, no taking of prisoners. Not even a clean fight. The Connie was doing its arguing with fire, knowing that the exhaust would char every man on the asteroid’s surface.
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