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Updated: June 6, 2025
"The freighter that found the asteroid landed at Marsport, didn't it?" Koa asked. Getting a nod from Rip, he went on, "Then I know what probably happened. The two things spacemen can't do are breathe high vack and keep their mouths shut. Some of the crew blabbed about the asteroid, probably at the Space Club. That's where they hang out. The Connies hang out there, too.
If you hadn't thought of stalling the cruiser, and if you hadn't stayed behind to give us time, we'd have some casualties, and so would the Connies we captured." "There wasn't anything else I could do," Rip replied. "Come on, Koa. Let's see what the cruiser is doing." They stepped outside. The metal was already cold again. Things didn't stay hot in the vacuum of space.
"As hostages, sir?" "That's it. If we could capture them, the Connie cruiser would be helpless. We could use the snapper-boat radios to warn the ship that any false move would mean harm to their men." Koa shook his head doubtfully. "I'm not sure the Connies worry about their men, but it's worth the try. We can capture some of them if they split up to search the asteroid.
Two men in space suits were waiting, and beyond them the outer valve was joined by a tube to the outer valve of the Connie ship. Rip stared at the Connie spacemen in their red tunics and gray trousers. One, a scowling officer with two pistols in his belt, stepped forward. Rip noted that the other Connies were heavy with weapons, too. None of his group had any.
It was useful against snapper-boats and people, but firing at a cruiser would be like sending mosquitoes to fight elephants. He sized up their position. For one thing, they were right out in the open, exposed to anything the Connie cruiser might throw at them. If they could get under cover, there might be a chance. It would at least take the Connies a while to find them.
He waited until the private had finished, then said, "Turn out the Connie lights, too." If he could get in touch with the Connies, he could tell them they were finished. But using the snapper-boat radios was out, because the enemy cruiser would hear. The cruiser couldn’t hear the helmet communicators, though, because they carried only a short distance.
"We’ll stay under cover, except for Santos and Pederson. You two sneak out. Take advantage of every bit of cover you can find. I don’t want you spotted. When a boat lands, report its position. The Connies operate on different communicator frequencies, so they won’t overhear. Well let them think they’ve burned the asteroid clean." He paused. "They’ll search for a while.
The Planeteers lashed the Connies' hands behind them with their own safety lines and, at Rip's orders, dumped all but one of them into the crater where Kemp was just finishing his cutting. Three snapper-boats remained. Rip watched, holding tightly to the arm of the Connie he had kept at his side. The man wore the insignia of an officer. The remaining snapper-boats were going to make it.
Great Cosmos, do you think I am a fool?" "Of course not," the Frenchman replied. "You are not such a fool as to refuse a simple request to check our instruments." The Sagittarius commander was right. Rip understood the strategy. Equipment sometimes did go out of operation in space, and Connies had no hesitation in asking Federation cruisers for help, or the other way around.
Santos scored a direct hit on the nose of the nearest one, but its momentum drove it to within a few yards of the asteroid. Five space-suited figures erupted from it, holding hand propulsion units, tubes of rocket fuel used for hand combat in empty space. The Connies lit their propulsion tubes and drove feet first for the asteroid.
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