Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
He cut the metal out in great triangular bars, angling the torch from first one side, then the other. Koa came and stood beside Rip. "I haven’t seen the Connie’s exhaust for a while, sir. Looks like they’ve stopped decelerating. We can’t see them at all." "Meaning what?" Rip asked. He thought he knew, but he wanted Koa’s opinion. "They’re in free fall now, sir.
His nose jammed into the plastic but he didn’t even wince, because he saw the Connie’s steering tubes buckle under the Aquila’s sudden shove. And suddenly the picture was clear. The two Federation cruisers hadn’t cared about getting into the Connie ship. They had only wanted an excuse to tie up to it so they could do what had just been done.
Rip Used a Flying Tackle on the Connie The Connie wrenched violently and threw them both upward. Rip felt the star shape and twisted. If he could only deflate the Connie’s suit! But the man was writhing from his grip, clawing for a weapon. Rip stopped reaching for the deflation valve. He grabbed for his knife, jerked it free, and thrust it against the middle of the Connie’s back.
There were similar tubes on the Connie’s stern, Rip knew. He wondered what they had to do with the plan. MacFife walked to a wall communicator. "Follow instructions." He turned to Rip. "Remember, lad. The Sagittarius is on the other side of the Connie, about to do the same thing." Rip waited in silence, wondering. Then the voice horn called, "Valve closed!" A second voice yelled, "Blast!"
Rip kept his helmet against the Connie’s, but the man spoke in another language, which Rip identified as the main Consops tongue. When he had finished, Rip told his Planeteers to have weapons ready and to keep lights off. Time enough for light when the Connies were all disarmed. It didn’t take five minutes.
He and Koa joined them. They stood at a window, watching the Connie’s trail. The trail dwindled. Koa said, "Something’s up!" Suddenly new fire shot from one side of the cruiser and it spun. Balancing fire came from the other side, and for an instant the three exhausts formed a cross with the darkness of the Connie’s hull in the center. Then they could see only the exhausts from the sides.
Bradshaw needed attention, and now so did Dominico. Dowst reached up, took Rip’s ankle, and pulled him down. Rip held onto his captive. Then the private bound the Connie’s hands, jerked his communicator control completely off, and turned his air back on. Since Rip had been unable to collapse the suit, the Connie was comfortable enough.
He sensed his Planeteers beside him as the figures loomed ahead. He gave a final spring that sent him through space with knees bent and outthrust, his hands reaching. His knees connected solidly with the Connie’s thighs and his hands groped around the bulky space suit. He felt a rheostat control and twisted savagely, then groped for the distinctive star-shaped button of the air supply.
The snapper-boats seemed miles away to Rip, but he plugged ahead until his belt light picked them up. He took a long look, then turned away, heartsick. The Connie’s exhaust had charred them into wreckage. "Now what?" he asked. "I don’t know, sir," Koa answered somberly. They went back to the cave, not hurrying because Rip no longer had the strength to hurry.
Now the nose tube was blasting, slowing the cruiser down. He sighted, holding out one glove and gauging the Connie’s distance above the horizon, and his heart speeded. The Connie was right on the horizon! "Ram it!" Rip called. "Around the asteroid. Quick!" Acceleration jammed him back against his men as Dowst blasted.
Word Of The Day