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The deputy commander will assign you to a squadroom. Settle in, then draw equipment from the supply room and get going. When I want to talk to you again, I’ll call for you. Now blast off, Lieutenant, and rake that radiation. Rake it clean." Rip forced a bright and friendly smile. "Yes, sir," he said sweetly. "We’ll rake it so clean you can see your face in it, sir."

"Your orders say you’re to capture this asteroid, blast it out of its orbit, and drive it back to earth!" Rip walked into the squadroom with a copy of the orders in his hand. After one look at his face, the Planeteers clustered around him. Santos woke those who were sleeping, while Rip waited. "We have our orders, men," he announced. Suddenly he laughed. He couldn’t help it.

Rip hurried to the squadroom and climbed into an acceleration chair. The other Planeteers were already in the room, most of them in their bunks. Koa slid into the chair beside him. "Find out anything, sir?" "Nothing useful. A bunch of equipment came aboard, but it was in plain crates. I couldn’t tell what it was." Acceleration pressed them against the chairs.

Cruisers don’t clean their tubes more’n once in ten accelerations. The commander is just thinking up dirty work for us to do, like I said." "Never mind," Rip told him. "Let’s find our squadroom and get settled, then draw some protective clothing and equipment. We’ll clean his tubes for him. Our turn will come later." He remembered the last thing Joe Barris had said, only a few hours before.

He had th' sthreet-car stopped while he coughed up ree-marks about th' Constitution, until th' bar-rn boss sint down an' threatened to discharge Mike Dwyer that was dhrivin' wan hundherd an' eight in thim days, though thransferred to Wintworth Avnoo later on. He made speeches to polismin in th' squadroom an' to good la-ads hoistin' mud out iv th' dhraw at th' red bridge.

Headquarters must have known the method when they assigned us and ordered the equipment." Koa stood up. He was the only one who could have moved upright against the terrific deceleration. He walked to a rack at one side of the squadroom and took down a copy of "The Space Navigator." Then, resuming his seat, he looked questioningly at Rip. "Anything else, sir?

Also, one of the Connies got badly cut, another had some broken bones, and a third one bled into high vack when Koa cracked his bubble." The doctor answered Rip’s question. "Your men are all right. We put the one with the cracked bubble into high compression for a while, just to relieve his pain a little. The other one didn’t bleed much. He’s back in the squadroom right now.

He hauled himself out of the chair and the squadroom and went down the corridor hand over hand. He headed straight for where the supplies were stacked, his Planeteers close behind him. Commander O’Brine arrived at the same time. "We’re starting to scan for the asteroid," he greeted Rip. "May be some time before we find it." "Where are we, sir?" Rip asked.