fighting rocket above the asteroid
and waited for the landing boat. When it joined up, Rip led the way to
safety. As he cut his exhaust to wait for the explosion, he sighted past
the snapper-boat's nose to the asteroid.

Even though both boats had been careful to match velocity with the
asteroid as closely as possible, the slight difference remaining caused
them to drift sunward. Rip cut his jets in to compensate, and saw Dowst
do the same.

Another few miles toward the sun, and the landing boat wouldn't have the
power to get away from Sol's gravity. A few miles beyond that, even the
powerful little snapper-boat would be caught.

Below, the timer reached zero. A mighty fan of fire shot into space. The
asteroid shuddered from the blast, then swerved gradually, picking up
speed as well as new direction.

Rip swallowed hard. Now they were committed. They would reach a new
perihelion far beyond the limits of safety. _P_ for perihelion and _P_ for
peril. In this case, they were the same thing!

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Between Two Fires

Back on the asteroid, the Planeteers started laying the second atomic
charge. Rip selected the spot, found a nearby crystal that would serve to
house the bomb, and Kemp started cutting.

The Planeteers knew what to do now, and the work went rapidly. Rip kept
an eye on his chronometer. According to the message from Terra base, he
had about fifteen minutes before the Consops cruiser arrived.

"We have one advantage we didn't have back in the asteroid belt," he
remarked to Koa. "Back there they could have landed anywhere on the
rock. Now they have to stick to the dark side. Snapper-boats could last
on the sun side, but men in ordinary space suits couldn't."

"That's good," Koa agreed. "We have only one side to defend. Why don't we
put the rocket launcher right in the middle of the dark side?"

"Go ahead. And have all men check their pistols and knives. We don't know
what's likely to happen when that Connie flames in."

Rip walked over to the communicator and plugged his suit into the
circuit. "This is the asteroid calling Terra base. Over."

"This is Terra base. Go ahead, Foster. How are you doing?"

"If you need anything cooked, send it to us," Rip replied. "We have heat
enough to cook anything, including tungsten alloy." He explained briefly
what action they had taken.

A new voice came on the communicator. "Foster, this is Colonel Stevens."

Rip responded swiftly, "Yes,