was getting lightheaded, and, most of
all, he wanted to sleep. Well, why not? He slumped a little inside the
suit.

He awoke with Koa shaking him violently. Rip stood upright and shook his
head to clear his vision. "What is it?"

"Sir, the _Scorpius_ has returned."

Rip blinked as he stared out into space to where Koa was pointing. He had
trouble focusing his eyes at first, and then he saw the glow of the
cruiser.

"Good," he said. "They'll send a landing boat first thing."

"I hope so," Koa replied.

Rip wanted to ask why the big Planeteer was dubious, but he was too tired
to phrase the question. He contented himself with watching the cruiser.

In a short time the _Scorpius_ was balanced, with nose tubes
counteracting the thrust of stern tubes, ready to flash into space again
at a second's notice.

Rip watched, puzzled. The cruiser was miles away. Why didn't it come any
closer? Then suddenly it erupted a dozen fiery streaks.

"Snapper-boats!" someone gasped.

Rip jerked fully awake. In the ruddy glow of the fighting rockets' tubes,
he had seen that the cruiser's missile ports were yawning wide, ready to
spew forth their deadly nuclear charges in an instant.

The snapper-boats flashed toward the asteroid in a group, sheered off,
and broke formation. They came back in pairs, streaking space with the
sparks of their exhausts.

"Into the cave," Koa shouted.

The Planeteers obeyed instantly. Koa took Rip's arm to lead him inside,
but the young officer shook him off. "No, Koa. I'll take my chances out
here. I want to see what they're up to."

"Great Cosmos, sir! They'll go over this rock like Martian beetles.
You'll get it, for sure."

"Get inside," Rip ordered. He gathered strength enough to make his voice
firm. "I'm staying here until I figure out some way to call them off. We
can't just stand here and let them blast us. They're our own men."

"Then I'm staying, too," Koa stated.

A pair of snapper-boats flashed overhead and vanished below the horizon.
Two more swept past from another direction.

Rip watched, curious. What were they up to? Another pair quartered past
them at high speed, then two more. The boats seemed to be crisscrossing
the asteroid in a definite pattern.

A pair streaked past, and something sped downward from one of them,
trailing yellow flame. It exploded in a ball of molten fire that licked
across the asteroid in waves. Rip tensed, then saw that the chemical
would burn out bef