now, burning freely. It moved away
from them, its stern jets still firing weakly.

Rip took a look toward the enemy cruiser. The assault boat was no longer
showing an exhaust. Instead, it was being dragged rapidly away from the
Connie cruiser by the pull of the sun. At least it was hit in time to
prevent launching of the atomic guided missiles. Or, he thought, perhaps
the enemy had never intended using them. The principal effect, besides
killing the Planeteers, would have been to drive the asteroid into the
sun at an even faster rate.

The enemy assault boat was no longer a menace. Its occupants would be
lucky if they succeeded in saving their own lives.

Rip wondered what the Connie cruiser commander would try now. Only one
thing remained, and that was to set the cruiser down on the asteroid.
If the Connie tried, he would arrive at just about the time set for
releasing the nuclear charge. And that would be the end of the
cruiser--and probably of the Planeteers as well.

Santos asked coolly, "Lieutenant, wouldn't you say we're in a sort of bad
spot?"

Rip had been so busy sizing up the situation that he hadn't thought about
his own predicament. Now he looked down and suddenly realized that he was
floating free in space, a considerable distance above the asteroid, and
with only small propulsion tubes for power.

He gasped, "Great space! We're in a mess, Santos."

The corporal asked, still in a calm voice, "How long will it be before
we're dragged into the sun, sir?"

Rip stared. Santos had used the same tone he might have used in asking
for a piece of Venusian _chru_. An officer couldn't be less calm, so
Rip replied in a voice he hoped was casual, "I wouldn't worry, Santos. We
won't know it. The heat will get through our suits long before then."

In fact, the heat should be overloading their ventilating systems
right now. In a few minutes the cooling elements would break down, and
that would be the end. He listened for the accelerated whine as the
ventilating systems struggled under the increased heat load but heard
nothing.

Funny. Had it overloaded and given out already? No, that was impossible.
He would be feeling the heat on his body if that were the case.

He looked for an explanation and realized for the first time that they
weren't in the sunlight at all. They were in darkness. His searching
glance told him they were in the cone of shadow stretching out from
behind the asteroid. The thorium rock was b