Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: June 7, 2025
They’ve just come out of deceleration and they won’t have their space-legs yet." Santos reported. "They’re breaking up into groups of two. Three are guarding the snapper-boats. One is the man with the chattergun." "Are their belt lights on?" "Yes." "Then keep out of the beams. Don’t let them walk into you. Keep low, and keep moving. Stay over on the dark side."
Landing craft and snapper-boats swarmed to meet them, and within an hour after their arrival the Planeteers were surrounded by spacemen, cadets from the platform, and officers and men wearing Planeteer black. A cadet approached Rip and looked at him with awe. "Sir, I don't know how you ever did it!"
The Scorpius sent its entire complement of snapper-boats to the asteroid for protection, in case Consops made another try, then flamed off to Marsport to put in new supplies to replace those damaged when Rip had forced sudden and disastrous acceleration. The asteroid had reached earth’s orbit before the cruiser returned. Of course, earth was on the other side of the sun.
The system gave high maneuverability to the boats. By playing on the controls with the skill of an organist, the pilot could shift direction with dazzling speed. Snapper-boats used by the Federation operated on the same principle, but they were of American design, and they showed the Americans' love of clean lines.
He had sent the snapper-boats to try to draw fire, in an attempt to find out more surely whether Planeteers or Connies had the thorium rock. "The Scorpius doesn't know what's going on," Rip told his Planeteers. "O'Brine didn't know the cruiser was waiting to ambush him, so the rocket we fired made him think the Connies had taken us over." He put himself in O'Brine's place.
The Planeteers were trained in the use of fire bombs, tanks of chemicals that burned even in an airless world. They were equipped with simple jets for use in space. The snapper-boats drew off, back toward the Scorpius. Rip watched, searching for some reason for their actions. Then one of the boats pulled away from the others. It returned to the asteroid, with stern jet burning fitfully.
They didn't see the Connie until the fire of its exhaust suddenly blasted above the horizon, and then they ducked for cover. The cruiser had taken a swing at the other side of the asteroid. They peered out again and saw it turning. "He won't get us," Rip said confidently. "Our tough time will come when he sends a fleet of snapper-boats." "We'll get a few," Koa replied grimly. "Wait!
The Connie cruiser decelerated, went into reverse, and came to a full stop about a mile from the asteroid. The Planeteers saw fire in two places along the hull, marking the exhausts of two small craft. "Snapper-boats," Koa said tonelessly. "Five men in each, if those are the regular Connie kind." Rip made a quick decision. With only one launcher they couldn't guard the whole asteroid.
Result, we get a Connie cruiser after the asteroid." "You hit it," Rip acknowledged. Corporal Santos shrugged. "If the Connies try to take the asteroid away, they’ll have a real warm time. We have ten racks of rockets, twenty-four to a rack. That’s a lot of snapper-boats we can pick off if they try to make a landing." The Planeteers stopped talking as the voice horn sounded. "Get it!
They would certainly come in snapper-boats, and the deadly little fighting craft could blast rings around the landing boat. The snapper-boats had gotten their name because fast acceleration and quick changes of position could snap a man right out of his seat, if he forgot to buckle his harness tightly. The solution would be to keep the landing boat close to the asteroid.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking