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Rip made a quick estimate. Two were enough to form a critical mass. He would use two to blast into the sun and three to blast out again. He would need the extra kick. There was only one trouble. The pieces were wedge shaped. They would have to be mounted in thorium in order to keep them rigid. Only Kemp could do that. They had no cutting tool but the torch.
Sixty minutes later, clean, fed, and contented, the Planeteers were again on the thorium planet, while the Scorpius, riding the same orbit, stood by a few miles out in space. The asteroid and the great cruiser arched high above the belt of tiny worlds in the orbit Rip had set, traveling together toward distant Mars. Mercury Transit
Sixty minutes later, clean, fed, and contented, the Planeteers were again on the thorium planet while the Scorpius, riding the same orbit, stood by a few miles out in space. The asteroid and the great cruiser arched high above the belt of tiny worlds in the orbit Rip had set, traveling together toward distant Mars.
The only elements so far known that undergo spontaneous change are uranium and thorium. One pound of uranium contains and slowly gives out the same amount of energy that a hundred tons of coal evolves in its combustion, but only one ten-billionth part of this amount is given out every year. Man, of course, reaps where he has not sown. How could it be otherwise?
Radium and thorium possess in somewhat large proportions the three kinds of rays, and it is the same with actinium. Polonium contains especially alpha rays and a few gamma rays. In the case of uranium, the alpha rays have extremely slight penetrating power, and cannot even impress photographic plates. But the widest difference between the substances proceeds from the emanation.
The commander leaned forward. "We’ll find that asteroid for you, Mr. Planeteer. We’ll put you on it and see you on your way. Then we’ll ride space along with you, and if any Consops thieves try to take over and collect that thorium for themselves, they’ll find Kevin O’Brine waiting. That’s a promise, boy." Rip felt a lot better.
Well, Captain, that does it." The Mercurian Planeteers got into their craft and blasted off, trailing the block of thorium in their exhaust. Rip watched the cruiser take the craft and thorium aboard, then drive toward Mercury, brilliant sunlight reflecting from its sleek sides. The planet was only a short distance away by spaceship.
Since he was in command of the detachment, he could in all truth say that this was his own personal planet. It would be a good bit of space humor to spring on the folks back on Terra. "Yep, once I was boss of a whole world. Made myself king. Emperor of all the metal molecules and king of the thorium spurs. And my subjects obeyed my every command." He added, "Thanks to Planeteer discipline.
There wasn't much light, either. They were too far from the sun for that. But as they neared the sun, the darkness would be their protection. They would get so close to Sol that the metal on the sun side would get soft as butter. He bent close to the uneven surface. It was clean metal, not oxidized at all. The thorium had never been exposed to oxygen.
We should not only be able to use this uranium and thorium; not only should we have a source of power so potent that a man might carry in his hand the energy to light a city for a year, fight a fleet of battleships, or drive one of our giant liners across the Atlantic; but we should also have a clue that would enable us at last to quicken the process of disintegration in all the other elements, where decay is still so slow as to escape our finest measurements.
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