While the _Scorpius_ decelerated and started maneuvering for a landing,Rip did some rapid calculations. He knew the acceleration and decelerationrates of cruisers of this class measured in terms of time, and part of hisdaily routine on the space platform had been to examine the dailyastro-plot which gave the positions of all planets and other large bodieswithin the solar system.
There was only one possible destination: Mars.
Rip's pulse quickened. He had always wanted to visit the red planet. Ofcourse he had seen all the films, audio-mags, and books on the planet, andhe had tried to see the weekly spacecast. He had a good idea of what theplanet was like, but reading or viewing was not like actually landing andtaking a look for himself.
Of course they would land at Marsport. It was the only landing areaequipped to handle nuclear drive cruisers.
The cruiser landed and deceleration cut to zero. At the same moment, thewater came on.
Rip hurriedly finished cleaning up, dressed, then took his radiationinstruments and carefully monitored his men as they came from the shower.Private Dowst had to go back for another try at getting his hair clean,but the rest were all right. Rip handed his instruments to Koa. "Youmonitor Dowst when he finishes. I want to see what's happening."
He hurried from the chamber and made his way down the corridors toward theengine control room. There was a good possibility he might get a call fromO'Brine, with instructions to take his men off the ship. He might finallylearn what he was assigned to do!
As he reached the engine control room, Commander O'Brine was givinginstructions to his spacemen on the stowage of equipment that evidentlywas expected aboard. Rip felt a twinge of disappointment. If the_Scorpius_ had landed to take on supplies of some kind, his assignment wasprobably not on Mars.
He started to approach the commander with a question about his orders,then thought better of it. He stood quietly near the control panel andwatched.
The air lock hissed, then slid open. A Martian stood in the entryway, acase on his shoulder. Rip watched him with interest. He had seen Martiansbefore, on the space platform, but he had never gotten used to them. Theywere human, still....
He tried to figure out, as he had before, what it was that made themstrange. It wasn't the blue-whiteness of their skins nor the very large,expressionless eyes. It was something about their bodies. He studied theMartian's figure carefully. He was slightly taller and more slender thanthe average earthman, but his chest measurements would be about the same.Nor were his legs very much longer.
Suddenly Rip thought he had it. The Martian's legs and arms joined historso at a slightly different angle, giving him an angular look. That waswhat made him look like a caricature of a human. Although he was human, ofcourse. As human as any of them.
Rip saw that other Martians were in the air lock, all carrying cases ofvarious sizes and shapes. They came through into the control room and putthem down, then turned without a word and hurried back into the lock. Theywere all breathing heavily, Rip noticed. Of course! The artificialatmosphere inside the space ship must seem very heavy and moist to themafter the thin, dry air of Mars.
The lock worked and the Martians were replaced by others. They, too,deposited their cases. But these cases were bigger and heavier. It tookfour Martians to carry one, which meant they weighed close to half a toneach. The Martians could carry more than double an earthman's capacity.
When the lock worked next time, a Planeteer captain came in. He breathedthe heavy air appreciatively, fingering the oxygen mask he had to wearoutside. He saluted Commander O'Brine and reported, "This is all, sir. Wefilled the order exactly as Terra sent it. Is there anything else youneed?"
O'Brine turned to his deputy. "Find out," he ordered. "This is our lastchance. We have plenty of basic supplies, but we may be short ofaudio-mags and other things for the men." He turned his back on thePlaneteer captain and walked away.
The captain grinned at O'Brine's retreating back, then walked over to Rip.They shook hands.
"I'm Southwick, SOS Two. Canadian."
Rip introduced himself and said he was an American. He added, "And asidefrom my men, you're the first human being I've seen since we made space."
Southwick chuckled. "Trouble with the spacemen? Well, you're not thefirst."
Talking about assignments wasn't considered good practice, but Rip wasburning with curiosity. "You don't by chance know what my assignment is,do you?"
The captain's eyebrows went up. "Don't you?"
Rip shook his head. "O'Brine hasn't told me."
"I don't know a thing," Southwick said. "We got instructions to pack up apretty strange assortment of supplies for the _Scorpius_ and that's all Iknow. The order was in special cipher, though, so we're all wonderingabout it."
The deputy commander returned, reported to O'Brine, then walked up to Ripand Southwick. "Nothing else needed," he said curtly. "We'll get off atonce."
Southwick nodded, shook hands with Rip, and said in a voice the deputycould hear, "Don't let these spacemen bother you. Trouble with them is,they all wanted to be Planeteers and couldn't pass the intelligencetests." He winked, then hurried to the air lock.
Spacemen worked quickly to clear the deck of the new supplies, stowingthem in a near-by workroom. Within five minutes the engine control roomwas clear. The safety officer signaled and the radiation warning sounded.Taking off!
Rip hurried to the squadroom and climbed into an acceleration chair. Theother 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 plaincrates. I couldn't tell what it was."
Acceleration pressed them against the chairs. Rip sighed, picked up anaudio-circuit set, and put it over his ears. Might as well listen to whatthe circuit had to offer. There was nothing else to do. Music was playing,and it was the kind he liked. He settled back to relax and listen.
Brennschluss came some time later. It woke Rip up from a sound sleep. Heblinked, glancing at his chronometer. Great Cosmos! With that length ofacceleration they must be high-vacking for Jupiter! He waited until theship went into the gravity spin, then got out of his chair and stretched.He was hungry. Koa was still sleeping. He decided not to wake him. Thesergeant-major would see that the men ate when they wanted to.
In the messroom only one table was occupied--by Commander O'Brine.
Rip gave him a civil hello and started to sit alone at another table. Tohis surprise, O'Brine beckoned to him.
"Sit down," the spaceman invited gruffly.
Rip did, and wondered what was coming next.
"We'll start to decelerate in about ten minutes," O'Brine said. "Eat whileyou can." He signaled and a spaceman brought Rip the day's ration in anindividual plastic carton with thermo-lining. The Planeteer opened it andfound a block of mixed vegetables, a slab of space-meat, and two units ofbiscuit. He wrinkled his nose. Space-meat he didn't mind. It was chewy buttasty. The mixed vegetable ration was chosen for its food value and notfor taste. A good mouthful of earth-grass would be a lot more palatable.He sliced off pieces of the warm stuff and chewed thoughtfully, watchingO'Brine's face for a clue as to why the commander had invited him to sitdown.
It wasn't long in coming. "Your orders are the strangest things I've everread," O'Brine stated. "Do you know where we're going?"
Rip figured quickly. They had accelerated for six and a half hours. Now,ten minutes after brennschluss, they were going to start deceleration.That meant they had really high-vacked it to get somewhere in a hurry. Hecalculated swiftly.
"I don't know exactly," he admitted. "But from the ship's actions, I'd saywe were aiming for the far side of the asteroid belt. Anyway, we'll fallshort of Jupiter."
There was a glimmer of respect in O'Brine's glance. "That's right. Knowanything about asteroids, Foster?"
Rip considered. He knew what he had been taught in astronomy andastrogation. Between Mars and Jupiter lay a broad belt in w
hich theasteroids swung. They ranged from Ceres, a tiny world only 480 miles indiameter, down to chunks of rock the size of a house. No accurate count ofasteroids--or minor planets, as they were called--had been made, but theobservatory on Mars had charted the orbits of over 100,000. Most of themwere only a mile or two in diameter. Others, much smaller, had never beencharted by anyone. One leading astronomer had estimated that as many as50,000 asteroids filled the belt.
"I know the usual stuff about them," he told O'Brine. "I haven't anyspecial knowledge."
O'Brine blinked. "Then why did they assign you? What's your specialty?"
"Astrophysics."
"That might explain it. Second specialty?"
"Astrogation." He couldn't resist adding, "That's what scientists callspace navigation, Commander."
O'Brine started to retort, then apparently thought better of it. "I hopeyou'll be able to carry out your orders, Lieutenant," he said stiffly. "Ihope, but not much. I don't think you can."
Rip asked, "What are my orders, sir?"
O'Brine waved in the general direction of the wall. "Out there, somewherein the asteroid belt, Foster, there is a little chunk of matter about onethousand yards in diameter. A very minor planet. We know its approximatecoordinates as of two days ago, but we don't know much else. It happens tobe a very important minor planet."
Rip waited, intent on the commander's words.
"It's important," O'Brine continued, "because it happens to be purethorium."
Rip gasped. Thorium! The rare, radioactive element just below uranium inthe periodic table of the elements, the element used to power this veryship! "What a find!" he said in a hushed voice. No wonder the job wasFederation priority A, with Space Council security! "What do I do aboutit?" he asked.
O'Brine grinned. "Ride it," he said. "Your orders say you're to capturethis asteroid, blast it out of its orbit, and drive it back to earth!"