the boats fought to regain their course. He knew asteroid, cruiser, and
boats were speeding toward the sun at close to fifty miles a second,
and the drag was getting terrific. The Connies knew it, too.

There was an exultant yell from the Planeteers as two of the boats gave
up and turned back, using full power to regain the safety of the mother
ship. Four left!

Santos scored a direct hit on the nose of the nearest one, but
its momentum drove it to within a few yards of the asteroid. Five
space-suited figures erupted from it, holding hand propulsion units,
tubes of rocket fuel used for hand combat in empty space.

The Connies lit their propulsion tubes and drove feet first for the
asteroid. The Planeteers estimated where the enemy would land, and
they were there waiting, with aimed handguns. The Connies had their hands
over their heads, holding the propulsion tubes. They took one look at the
gleaming Planeteer guns, and their hands stayed upright.

The Planeteers lashed the Connies' hands behind them with their own
safety lines and, at Rip's orders, dumped all but one of them into the
crater where Kemp was just finishing his cutting.

Three snapper-boats remained. Rip watched, holding tightly to the arm of
the Connie he had kept at his side. The man wore the insignia of an
officer.

The remaining snapper-boats were going to make it. Santos threw rockets
among them and scored hits, but the boats kept coming. The Connies were
too far away from the cruiser to return, and they knew it. Getting to the
asteroid was their only chance.

Rip called, "Santos! Cease fire. Set the launcher for ground level. Let
them land, but don't fire until I give the word."

He put his helmet against his prisoner's for direct communication. "You
speak English?"

The man shouted back, "Yes."

"Good. We're going to let your friends land. As soon as they do, I want
you to yell to them. Say we have assault rockets trained on them. Tell
them to surrender, or they'll be killed in their tracks. Got that?"

The Connie replied, "Suppose I refuse?"

Rip put his space knife against the man's stomach. "Then we'll get them
with rockets. But you won't care, because you won't know it."

The truth was that Santos couldn't hope to get them all with his rockets.
They might overcome the Connies in hand-to-hand fighting, but there would
be a cost to pay in Planeteer casualties. Rip hoped the Connie wouldn't
call his bluff, because that's all it was.