ies,
the cruiser would have been only a tiny speck, too small to be noticed.
Or, if they had noticed it, the astronomers probably decided it was just
a very tiny sunspot.

The Planeteers worked with increased speed. Kemp welded the final plug
into place, then hurried to the crater from which they would set off
the charge. Dominico and Dowst connected wires from the rocket head to
a reel of wire and rolled it toward the crater. Nunez got a hand-driven
dynamo from the supplies and tested it for use in setting off the charge.
Santos stood by the rocket launcher, with Pederson ready to put another
rack of rockets into the device when necessary.

Rip and Koa watched the Connie cruiser. It decelerated to a stop for a
brief second, then started moving again, with no jets showing.

"That's the sun pulling," Rip said exultantly.

"They'll have to keep blasting to maintain position."

The Consops commander didn't wait to trim ship against the sun's drag.
His air locks opened, clearly visible to Rip and Koa because that side of
the cruiser was brilliant with sunlight. Ten snapper-boats sped forth.
Rip was certain now that this was the enemy cruiser they had fought off
back in the asteroid belt. Two Connie snapper-boats had been destroyed in
that clash, which explained why the commander was sending out only ten
boats instead of a full quota of twelve.

The squadron instantly formed a V, like a strange space letter made up of
globes. The sun's gravity pulled at them, dragging them off course. Rip
watched as flames poured from their stern tubes. They were firing full
speed ahead, but the drag of the sun distorted their line of flight into
a great arc.

Rip saw the strategy instantly. The Connie commander knew the situation
exactly, and he was staking everything on one great gamble, sending his
snapper-boats to land on the asteroid--to crash-land if necessary.

The asteroid was so close to the sun that even the powerful fighting
rockets would use most of their fuel in simply combating its gravity.

"All hands stand by to repel Connies," Rip shouted, and he drew his
pistol. He looked into the magazine, saw that the clip was full, and
then charged the weapon.

Santos was crouched over the rocket launcher, his space gloves working
rapidly as he kept the rockets pointed at the enemy.

Rip called, "Santos, fire at will."

The Planeteers formed a skirmish line which pivoted on the launcher. Only
Kemp remained at work. His torc