e was no longer any feeling in his arm
below Koa's safety line. That meant the arm had frozen. He had to get
medical attention from the _Scorpius_ pretty soon.

He gritted his teeth. At least he was no longer losing blood. He wasn't
getting any weaker. But every now and then his vision fogged, and he had
to shake his head to clear it.

The pilotless snapper-boat made another slow run, then put on speed
and flashed back to the group of boats near the cruiser. Another boat
detached itself from the squadron and moved toward the asteroid.

Rip wished for a communicator powerful enough to reach the _Scorpius_,
but he knew it was useless to try with his helmet circuit. The carrier
waves of the snapper-boats were on the same frequency, and they would
smother the faint signal from his bubble.

But the boats might be able to hear if they got close enough! He had a
swift memory of the communications circuits. The pilots were plugged into
their boat communicators. If a boat got near enough, he could turn up his
bubble to full volume and yell. Not only would the boat pilot hear him,
but also his voice would go through the pilot's circuit and be heard in
the ship!

Rip grabbed Koa's arm. "Let's move away from the cave a little farther."

The two of them stepped away from the cave and stood in full view as the
snapper-boat moved cautiously down toward the asteroid. Rip planned what
he would say. "Commander O'Brine, this is Foster!"

No, that wouldn't do. Connies would know that Kevin O'Brine commanded the
_Scorpius_, and if they had taken over the Planeteers on the asteroid,
they would also have learned Rip's name. He had to say something that
would immediately identify him beyond the shadow of a doubt.

The snapper-boat was closing in slowly. Rip knew the pilot and gunner
must be tense, frightened, ready to blast with their guns at the first
wrong move on the asteroid. He groped with his good arm and turned up his
helmet communicator to full volume.

The fighting rocket drew closer, cut in its nose tube, and hovered only a
few hundred feet above the Planeteers.

Rip summoned enough strength to make his voice sharp and clear. His words
sped through space into the bubble of the pilot, echoed in the helmet,
were picked up by the pilot's microphone, and then were hurled through
the snapper-boat circuit and through space to the cruiser's control room.

O'Brine stiffened as the speaker threw Rip's voice at him, amplified and
h