n a few moments the
equipment was ready, fuel and oxygen bottles attached.

"Who's the champion torchman?" Rip asked.

Koa replied, "Kemp is, sir."

Kemp, one of the two American privates, took the torch and waited for
orders. "We need a hole six feet across and twenty feet deep," Rip told
him. "Go to it."

"How about direction, sir?" Kemp asked.

"Straight down. We'll take a bearing on an overhead star when you're in a
few feet."

Dowst inscribed a circle around the X he had made and stood back. Kemp
pushed the striker button and the torch flared. "Watch your eyes," he
warned. The Planeteers reached for belt controls and turned the rheostats
that darkened the clear bubbles electronically. Kemp adjusted his flame
until it was blue-white, a knife of fire brighter by far than the sun.

Koa stepped behind Kemp and leaned against his back, because the flame of
the torch was like an exhaust, driving Kemp backward. Kemp bent down and
the torch sliced into the metal of the asteroid like a hot knife into ice.
The metal splintered a little as the heat raised it instantly from almost
absolute zero to many thousands of degrees.

When the circle was completed, Kemp adjusted his torch again and the flame
lengthened. He moved inside the circle and cut at an angle toward the
perimeter. His control was quick and certain. In a moment he stood aside
and Koa lifted out a perfect ring of thorium. It varied from a knife edge
on the inner side to 18 inches thick on the outer edge.

In the middle of the circle there was now a cone of metal. Kemp cut around
it, the torch angling toward the center. A piece shaped like two cones set
base to base came free. Since the metal cooled in the bitter chill of
space almost as fast as Kemp could cut it, there was no heat to worry
about.

Alternately cutting from the outside and the center of the hole, Kemp
worked his way downward until his head was below ground level. Rip called
a halt. Kemp gave a little jump and floated straight upward. Koa caught
him and swung him to one side. Rip stepped into the hole and Santos gave
him a slight push to send him to the bottom. Rip knelt and sighted upward.
Kemp had done a good job. The star Rip had chosen as an overhead guide was
straight up.

He bounced out of the hole and as Koa caught him he told Kemp to go ahead.
"Dominico, here's your chance. Get tools and wire. Find a timer and
connect up the ten kiloton bomb. Nunez, bring it here while Dominico ge