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And so it happened that the spacemen of the SCN Scorpius turned their valves, threw their controls and disengaged their boron control rods, and the great cruiser flashed into space, while the deputy commander and the safety officer were completely tangled with a very flustered and unhappy new Planeteer lieutenant. Sergeant-major Koa and his men had made it before the valve closed.
But we’re overdue for shipment to somewhere, and if you take eight weeks’ leave, we’ll be gone by the time you come back to the platform." "I liked serving with all of you, too." Rip replied. "I watched the way you all behaved when the space-flap was getting tough and it made me proud to be a Planeteer." Major Joe Barris came in. He was carrying an envelope in his hand. "Hello, Rip.
Kemp’s torch already was slicing into the metal. Rip asked, "Can you weld with that thing, Kemp?" "Just show me what you want, sir." "Good." Rip motioned to Trudeau. "Frenchy, we’ll need a strong rod at least eight feet long." The French Planeteer hurried off. Rip consulted his chronometer. Less than ten minutes had passed since the call from Terra base. He went over his plan again.
It was pale blue, the color used for highly confidential documents. "Sir, this came in Space Council special cipher." "Read it aloud," O’Brine ordered. "Yessir. It’s addressed to you, this ship. From Planeteer Intelligence, Marsport. ’Consops cruiser departed general direction your area. Agents report crew Altair may have leaked data re asteroid.
He yelled, "Frenchy! Watch out!" Then he put both hands before him to protect his helmet. His hands caught the French Planeteer between the shoulders. Visitors! Trudeau held tight to the launcher, but the rocket racks opened and spilled attack rockets into space. They flew in a dozen different directions. Trudeau gave vent to his feelings in colorful French.
Work at the Planeteer base had probably been finished within an hour of the time word was received. When they opened the cases brought aboard by the Martians, he would see that the method of blasting the asteroid into a course for Earth was all figured out for him. Rip was anxious to get at those cases. Not until he saw the method of operation could he begin to figure his course.
Some of the spacemen have been high-vacking for twenty years or more, and they’re tough. They’re as nasty as a Callistan teekal. They like to eat Planeteer junior officers for breakfast." Lieutenant Felipe "Flip" Villa asked, "With salt, Joe?" Major Barris sighed. "No use trying to tell you space-chicks anything.
You can keep us going until then. We'll both turn in for full treatment as soon as we get to the space platform. But we have to finish the job; can't you see that, sir?" The doctor shook his head. "You're a fool, even for a Planeteer. Before you get over this, you'll be sicker than you've ever been. You have a month in bed waiting for you.
He had been in vacuum before, but only as a cadet, with an officer in charge. Now, suddenly, he was the one responsible. The job was his. He stiffened. Planeteer officers didn't worry about things like that. He forced his mind to the job at hand. The next step was to establish a base. The base would have to be on the dark side of the asteroid, once it was in its new orbit.
It was too big for use against a landing party. Besides, it would put the Planeteers themselves in danger. "Ever have trouble with the Connies before?" he asked Koa. "More'n once, sir. Sometimes it seems like I'll never get a job where I don't have to fight Connies." Rip was trained in science and Planeteer techniques, and he didn't pretend to know the ins and outs of interplanetary politics.
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