CHAPTER FOUR - FIRST, FIND THE NEEDLE!
Rip walked into the squadroom with a copy of the orders in his hand. Afterone look at his face, the Planeteers clustered around him. Santos wokethose who were sleeping, while Rip waited.
"We have our orders, men," he announced. Suddenly he laughed. He couldn'thelp it. At first he had been completely overcome by the responsibility,and the magnitude of the job, but now he was getting used to the idea andhe could see the adventure in it. Ten wild Planeteers riding an asteroid!Sunny space, what a great big thermo-nuclear stunt!
Koa remarked, "It must be good. The lieutenant is getting a real atomiccharge out of it."
"Sit down," Rip ordered. "You'd better, because you might fall over whenyou hear this. Listen, men. Two days ago the freighter _Altair_ passedthrough the asteroid belt on a run from Jupiter to Mars." He sat down,too, because deceleration was starting. As his men looked at each other insurprise at the quickness of it, he continued, "The old bucket foundsomething we need. An asteroid of pure thorium."
The enlisted Planeteers knew as well as he what that meant. There werewhistles of astonishment. Koa slapped his big thigh. "By Gemini! What dowe do about it, sir?"
"We capture it," Rip said. "We blast it loose from its orbit and ride itback to earth."
He sat back and watched their reactions. At first they were stunned.Trudeau, the Frenchman, muttered to himself in French. Dominico, theItalian, held up his hands and exclaimed, "Santa Maria!"
Kemp, one of the American privates, asked, "How do we do it, sir?"
Rip grinned. "That's a good question. I don't know."
That stopped them. They stared at him. He added quickly, "Supplies cameaboard at Marsport. We'll get the clue when we open them. Headquartersmust have known the method when they assigned us and ordered theequipment."
Koa stood up. He was the only one who could have moved upright against theterrific deceleration. He walked to a rack at one side of the squadroomand took down a copy of "The Space Navigator." Then, resuming his seat, helooked questioningly at Rip. "Anything else, sir? I thought I'd read whatthere is about asteroids."
"Go ahead," Rip agreed. He sat back as Koa began to recite what data therewas, but he didn't listen. His mind was going ten astro units a second. Hethought he knew why he had been chosen for the job. Word of the pricelessasteroid must have reached headquarters only a short time before he wasscheduled to leave the space platform. He could imagine the speed withwhich the specialists at Terra base had acted. They had sent ordersinstantly to the fastest cruiser in the area, the _Scorpius_, to stand byfor further instructions. Then their personnel machines must have whirredrapidly, electronic brains searching for the nearest available Planeteerofficer with an astrophysics specialty and astrogation training.
He could imagine the reaction when the machine turned up the name of abrand-new lieutenant. But the choice was logical enough. He knew thatmost, if not all, of the Planeteer astrophysicists were either in high orlow space on special work. Chances are there was no astrophysicist nearerthan Ganymede. So the choice had fallen to him.
He had a mental image of the Terra base scientists feeding data into theelectronic brain, taking the results, and writing fast orders for the menand supplies needed. If his estimate was correct, work at the Planeteerbase had been finished within an hour of the time word was received.
When they opened the cases brought aboard by the Martians, he would seethat the method of blasting the asteroid into a course for earth was allfigured out for him.
Rip was anxious to get at those cases. Not until he saw the method ofoperation could he begin to figure his course. But there was nopossibility of getting at the stuff until brennschluss. He put the problemout of his mind and concentrated on what his men were saying.
"... and he slugged into that asteroid going close to seven AU's," Santoswas saying. The little Filipino corporal shrugged expressively.
Rip recognized the story. It was about a supply ship, a chemical driverocket job that had blasted into an asteroid a few years before.
Private Dowst shrugged, too. "Too bad. High vack was waiting for him.Nothing you can do when Old Man Nothing wants you."
Rip listened, interested. This was the talk of old space hands. They hadgiven the high vacuum of empty space a personality, calling it "highvack," or "Old Man Nothing." With understandable fatalism, theybelieved--or said they believed--that when high vacuum really wanted you,there was nothing you could do.
Rip had come across an interesting bit of word knowledge. Spacemen andPlaneteers alike had a way of using the phrase, "By Gemini!" Gemini, ofcourse, was the constellation of the Twins, Castor and Pollux. Both wereuseful stars for astrogation. The Roman horse soldiers of ancient historyhad sworn, "By Gemini," or "By the Twins." The Romans believed the starswere the famous Greek warriors Castor and Pollux, placed in the heavensafter their deaths. In later years, the phrase degenerated to simply "byjiminy" and its meaning had been lost. Now, although few spacemen knew thehistory of the phrase, they were using it again, correctly.
Other space talk grew out of space itself, and not history. For instance,the worst thing that could happen to a man was to have his helmet broken.Let the transparent globe be shattered and the results were both quick andfinal. Hence the oft-heard threat, "I'll bust your bubble."
Speaking of bubbles ... Rip realized suddenly that he and his men wouldhave to live in bubbles and space suits while on the asteroid. None of theminor planets were big enough to have an atmosphere or much gravity.
If only he could get a look into those cases! But the ship was stilldecelerating and he would have to wait. He put his head against the chairrest and settled down to wait as patiently as he could.
Brennschluss was a long time coming. When the deceleration finallystopped, Rip didn't wait for gravity. He hauled himself out of the chairand the squadroom and went down the corridor hand over hand. He headedstraight for where the supplies were stacked, his Planeteers close behindhim.
Commander O'Brine arrived at the same time. "We're starting to scan forthe asteroid," he greeted Rip. "May be some time before we find it."
"Where are we, sir?" Rip asked.
"Just above the asteroid belt near the outer edge. We're beyond theposition where the asteroid was sighted, moving along what the _Altair_figured as its orbit. I'm not stretching space, Foster, when I tell youwe're hunting for a needle in a junk pile. This part of space is filledwith more objects than you would imagine, and they all register on therad-screens."
"We'll find it," Rip said confidently.
O'Brine nodded. "Yes. But it probably will take some hunting. Meanwhile,let's get at those cases. The supply clerk is on his way."
The supply clerk arrived, issued tools to the Planeteers, then opened aplastic case attached to one of the boxes and produced lists. As thePlaneteers opened and unpacked the crates, Rip and O'Brine inspected andthe clerk checked the items off.
The first case produced a complete chemical cutting unit with anassortment of cutting tips and adapters. Rip looked around for the gascylinders and saw none. "Something's wrong," he objected. "Where's thefuel supply for the torch?"
The supply clerk inspected the lists, shuffled papers, and found theanswer.
"The following," he read, "are to be supplied from the _Scorpius_complement. One landing boat, large, model twenty-eight. Eight each,oxygen cutting unit gas bottles. Four each, chemical cutting unit fueltanks."
"That's that," Rip said, relieved. Apparently he was supposed to do a lotof cutting on the asteroid, probably of the thorium itself. The hot flameof the torch could melt any known substance. The torch itself could meltin unskilled hands.
The next case yielded a set of astrogation instruments carefully cradledin a soft, rubbery plastic. Rip left them in the case and put them to oneside. As he did so, Sergeant-major Koa let out a whistle of surprise.
"Lieutenant, look at this!"
Corporal Santos exclaimed, "Well stonker me for a stupid space squid!
Dothey expect us to find any people on this asteroid?"
The object was a portable rocket launcher designed to fire light attackrockets. It was a standard item of fighting equipment for Planeteers.
"I recognize the shape of those cases over there, now," Koa said. "Tenracks of rockets for the launcher, one rack to a case."
Rip scratched his head. He was as puzzled as Santos. Why supply fightingequipment for a crew on an asteroid that couldn't possibly have any livingthing on it?
He left the puzzle for the future and called for more cases. The next twoyielded projectile type handguns for ten men, with ammunition, andstandard Planeteer space knives. The space knives had hidden blades whichwere driven forth violently when the operator pushed a thumb lever,releasing the gas in a cartridge contained in the handle. The bladessnapped forth with enough force to break a bubble, or to cut through aspace suit. They were designed for the sole purpose of space hand-to-handcombat.
The Planeteers looked at each other. What were they up against, that suchequipment was needed on a barren asteroid?
Private Dowst opened a box that contained a complete tool kit, the toolsdesigned to be handled by men in space suits. Yards of wire, for severalpurposes, were wound on reels. Two hand-driven dynamos capable ofdeveloping great power were included.
Corporal Pederson found a small case which contained books, the latestastronomical data sheets, and a space computer and scratch board. Thesewere obviously for Rip's personal use. He examined them. There were allthe references he would need for computing orbit, speed, and just aboutanything else that might be required. He had to admire the thoroughness ofwhoever had written the order. The unknown Planeteer had assumed that thespace cruiser would not have all the astrophysics references necessary andhad included a copy of each.
Several large cases remained. Koa ripped the side from one and let out anexclamation. Rip hurried over and looked in. His stomach did a quickorbital reverse. Great Cosmos! The thing was an atomic bomb!
Great Cosmos! It Was An Atomic Bomb!]
Great Cosmos! It Was An Atomic Bomb!
Commander O'Brine leaned over his shoulder and peered at the lettering onthe cylinder. "Equivalent ten KT."
In other words, the explosion the harmless-looking cylinder could producewas equivalent to 10,000 tons of TNT, a chemical explosive no longer inactual use but still used for comparison.
Rip asked huskily, "Any more of those things?" The importance of the jobwas becoming increasingly clear to him. Nuclear explosives were not usedwithout good reason. The fissionable material was too valuable for otherpurposes.
The sides came off the remaining cases. Some of them held fat tubes ofconventional rocket fuel in solid form, the detonators carefully packedseparately.
There were three other atomic bombs, making four in all. There were twobombs each of five KT and ten KT.
Commander O'Brine looked at the amazing assortment of stuff. "Does thatcheck, clerk?"
The spaceman nodded. "Yes, sir. I found another notation that says foodsupplies and personal equipment to be supplied by the _Scorpius_."
"Well, vack me for a Venusian rabbit!" O'Brine muttered. He tugged at hisear. "You could dump me on that asteroid with this assortment of junk andI'd spend the rest of my life there. I don't see how you can use thisstuff to move an asteroid!"
"Maybe that's why the Federation sent Planeteers," Rip said, and was sorrythe moment the words were out.
O'Brine's jaw muscles bulged, but he held his temper. "I'm going topretend I didn't hear that, Foster. We have to get along until theasteroid is safely in an orbit around earth. After that, I'm going to takea great deal of pleasure in feeding you to the spacefish, piece by piece."
It was Rip's turn to get red. "I'm sorry, Commander. Accept my apologies."He certainly had a lot to learn about space etiquette. Apparently therewas a time for spacemen and Planeteers to fight each other, and a time forthem to cooperate like friends. He hoped he'd catch on after a while.
"I'm sure you'll be able to figure out what to do with this stuff,"O'Brine said. "If you need help, let me know."
And Rip knew his apology was accepted.
The deputy commander arrived, drew O'Brine aside, and whispered in hisear. The commander let out an exclamation and started out of the room. Atthe door he turned. "Better come along, Foster."
Rip followed as the commander led the way to his own quarters. At thedoor, two space officers were waiting, their faces grave.
O'Brine motioned them to chairs. "All right. Let's have it."
The senior space officer held out a sheet of flimsy. It was pale blue, thecolor used for highly confidential documents. "Sir, this came in SpaceCouncil special cipher."
"Read it aloud," O'Brine ordered.
"Yessir. It's addressed to you, this ship. From Planeteer Intelligence,Marsport. 'Consops cruiser departed general direction your area. Agentsreport crew _Altair_ may have leaked data re asteroid. Take appropriateaction.' It's signed 'Williams, SOS, Commanding.'"
Rip saw the meaning of the message instantly. The Consolidation ofPeople's Governments of earth, traditional enemies and rivals of theFederation of Free Governments, needed radioactive minerals as badly, orworse, than the Federation. In space it was first come, first take. Theyhad to find the asteroid quickly. It was to prevent Consops from knowingof the asteroid that security measures had been taken. They hadn't worked,because of loose space chatter at Marsport.
O'Brine issued quick orders. "Now, get this. We have to work fast.Accelerate fifty percent, same course. I want two men on each screen. Ifanything of the right size shows up, decelerate until we can get mass andalbedo measurements. Snap to it."
The space officers started out, but O'Brine stopped them. "Use onelong-range screen for scanning high space toward Mars. Let me know theminute you get a blip, because it probably will be that Consops cruiser.Have the missile ports cleared for action."
Rip's eyes opened. Clear the missile ports? That meant getting the cruiserin fighting shape, ready for instant action. "You wouldn't fire on thatConsops cruiser, would you, sir?"
O'Brine gave him a grim smile. "Certainly not, Foster. It's against ordersto start anything with Consops cruisers. You know why. The situation is sotense that a fight between two space ships might plunge earth into war."His smile got even grimmer. "But you never know. The Consops ship mightfire first. Or an accident might happen."
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 ridespace along with you, and if any Consops thieves try to take over andcollect that thorium for themselves, they'll find Kevin O'Brine waiting.That's a promise, boy."
Rip felt a lot better. He sat back in his chair and regarded the commanderwith mixed respect and something else. Against his will, he was beginningto like the man. No doubt of it, the _Scorpius_ was well named. And thesting in the scorpion's tail was O'Brine himself.