d for action."

Rip's eyes opened. Clear the missile ports? That meant getting the cruiser
in fighting shape, ready for instant action. "You wouldn't fire on that
Consops cruiser, would you, sir?"

O'Brine gave him a grim smile. "Certainly not, Foster. It's against orders
to start anything with Consops cruisers. You know why. The situation is so
tense that a fight between two space ships might plunge earth into war."
His smile got even grimmer. "But you never know. The Consops ship might
fire 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 ride
space along with you, and if any Consops thieves try to take over and
collect 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 commander
with mixed respect and something else. Against his will, he was beginning
to like the man. No doubt of it, the _Scorpius_ was well named. And the
sting in the scorpion's tail was O'Brine himself.

CHAPTER DIVE - THE SMALL GRAY WORLD

Rip rejoined his Planeteers in the supply room and motioned for them to
gather around him. "I know why Terra base sent us the fighting equipment,"
he announced. "They were afraid word of this thorium asteroid would leak
out to Consops--and it has. A Connie cruiser blasted off from Marsport and
headed this way."

He watched the faces of his men carefully, to see how they would take the
news. They merely looked at each other and shrugged. Conflict with Consops
was nothing new to them.

"The freighter that found the asteroid landed at Marsport, didn't it?" Koa
asked. Getting a nod from Rip, he went on, "Then I know what probably
happened. The two things spacemen can't do are breathe high vack and keep
their mouths shut. Some of the crew blabbed about the asteroid, probably
at the Space Club. That's where they hang out. The Connies hang out there,
too. Result, we get a Connie cruiser after the asteroid."

"You hit it," Rip acknowledged.

Corporal Santos shrugged. "If the Connies try to take the asteroid away,
they'll have a real warm time. We have ten racks of rockets, twenty-four
to a rack. That's a lot of snapper-boats we can pick off if they try to
make a landing."

The Planeteers stopped talking as the voice horn sounded. "Get it! We are
going into no-weight. Prepar