h flared, slicing through the thorium as
he prepared their firing position.

The atomic charge was ready. The wires had been laid up to the rim of the
crater in which Kemp worked, and the dynamo was attached.

Rip was everywhere, checking on the launcher, on Kemp, on the pistols of
his men. And Santos, hunched over his illuminated sight, watched the
Connie snapper-boats draw near.

"Here we go," the corporal muttered. He pressed the trigger.

The first rocket sped outward in a sweeping curve, and for a moment Rip
opened his mouth to yell at Santos. The sun's gravity affected the attack
rockets, too! Then he saw that the corporal had allowed for the sun's
pull.

The rocket curved into the squadron of on-coming boats, and they all
tried to dodge at once. Two of them met in a sideways crash, then a third
staggered as its stern globe flared and exploded. Santos had scored a
hit!

Rip called, "Good shooting!"

The corporal's reply was rueful. "Sir, that wasn't the one I aimed at.
The sun's pull is worse than I figured."

The damaged snapper-boat instantly blasted from its nose tubes,
decelerated, and went into reverse, flipping through space crabwise as it
tried to regain the safety of the cruiser. The two boats that had crashed
while trying to dodge were blasting in great spurts of flame, following
the example of their damaged companion.

"Seven left," Rip called, and another rocket flashed on its way. He
followed its trail as it curved away from the asteroid and into the
squadron. Its proximity fuse detonated in the exhaust of a Connie boat,
blowing the tube out of position. The boat yawed wildly, cut its stern
tubes, and blasted to a stop from the bow tube. Then it, too, started
backward toward the cruiser. Six left!

Flame blossomed a few yards from Rip. He was picked up bodily and flung
into space, whirling end over end. Koa's voice rang in his helmet.

"Watch it! They're firing back!"

Rip tugged frantically at an air bottle in his belt. He pulled it out and
used it to whirl him upright again; then its air blast drove him back to
the surface of the asteroid. Sweat poured from his forehead, and the suit
ventilator whined as it picked up the extra moisture. Great Cosmos! That
was close!

Santos fired again, twice, in rapid succession. The Connie snapper-boats
scattered as the proximity fuses produced flowers of fire among them. Two
near misses, but they threw the enemy off course. Rip watched tensely as