neteer. He didn't stop to ask questions. He said, "I'll
make a small entrance and open the cave out inside." He picked up the
torch and got busy.

Rip smiled. The Planeteer was right. He should have thought of it himself,
but it was good to see increasing proof that his men were smart as well as
tough and disciplined.

"Bring up all supplies," he told Koa. "Move the boat over here, too. We
won't be able to bury that, but we want it close by." He had an idea for
the landing boat. It could maneuver infinitely faster than the big
cruiser. They could put the supplies in the cave, then take to the boat,
depending on its ability to turn quickly and on Dowst's skill at piloting
to play hide and seek. Dowst certainly could keep the asteroid between
them and the cruiser.

The plan would fail when the cruiser sent a landing party. They would
certainly come in snapper-boats, and the deadly little fighting craft
could blast rings around the landing boat. The snapper-boats had gotten
their name because fast acceleration and quick changes of position could
snap a man right out of his seat, if he forgot to buckle his harness
tightly.

The solution would be to keep the landing boat close to the asteroid. At
the first sign of a landing party, they would blast in and take to the
cave, using the rocket launcher as a defense.

The supplies began to arrive. The Planeteers towed them two crates at a
time in a steady line of hurrying men.

Kemp's torch sent an incandescent knife three feet into the metal at each
cut. He was rapidly slicing out a cave. 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. That could mean they're just hunting in
the area. Or it could mean, that they've stopped somewhere close by. They
could be looking us over, for all we know."

Rip surveyed the stars. "If that's so, they're not too close, Koa.
Otherwise they'd block out a patch of stars."

"Well, sir--" Koa hesitated. "I mean, if you were looking over this
asteroid and you weren't sure whether the enemy had it or not, how close
would you get?"

"Probably about one AU," Rip said jokingly. That was one astronomical
unit, equal to about 93