remain and
the Planeteers floated its supplies through a window. It took only a few
moments, with Planeteers forming a chain from inside the boat to a spot a
little distance away. Even the heaviest crates weighed almost nothing.
They passed them from one to the other like balloons.

"All clear, sir," Koa called.

Rip stepped inside and made a quick inspection. The box was empty except
for the spaceman pilot. He put a hand on the pilot's shoulder. "On your
way, Rocky. Thanks."

"You're welcome, sir." The pilot added, "Watch out for high vack."

Rip and Koa stepped out and walked a little distance away. Santos and
Pederson cast the landing boat adrift and shoved it away from the anchored
boat. In a moment fire spurted from the bottom tube, spreading over the
dull metal and licking at the feet of the Planeteers.

Rip watched the boat rise upward to the great, sleek, dark bulk of the
_Scorpius_. The landing boat maneuvered into the air lock with brief
flares from its exhausts. In a few moments the sparkling blast of
auxiliary rocket tubes moved the spaceship away. O'Brine was putting a
little distance between his ship and the asteroid before turning on the
nuclear drive. The ship decreased in size until Rip saw it only as a dark,
oval silhouette against the Milky Way, then the exhaust of the nuclear
drive grew into a mighty column of glowing blue and the ship flamed into
space.

For a moment Rip had a wild impulse to yell for the ship to come back. He
had been in vacuum before, but only as a cadet, with an officer in charge.
Now, suddenly, he was the one responsible. The job was his. He stiffened.
Planeteer officers didn't worry about things like that. He forced his mind
to the job in hand.

The next step was to establish a base. The base would have to be on the
dark side of the asteroid, once it was in its new orbit. That meant a
temporary base now and a better one later, when they had blasted the
little planet onto its new course. He estimated roughly the approximate
positions where he would place his charges, using the sun and the star
Canopus as visual guides.

"This will do for a temporary base," he announced. "Rig the boat
compartment. While two of you are doing that, the rest break out the
rocket launcher and rocket racks and assemble the cutting torch. Koa will
make assignments."

While the sergeant-major translated Rip's general instructions into
specific orders for each man, the young lieutenant walked