n line into darkness, they stopped
running and rode the crystal through the shadow until it reached the sun
again. Then the two Planeteers ran back across the dark zone to meet the
crystal as it came around again. There was only a few minutes' working
time each revolution.

Kemp worked fast, and the first hole deepened. Rip helped as best he
could by pushing away the chunks of thorium that Kemp cut free, but it
was essentially a one-man job.

As Kemp neared the bottom of the first hole, Rip reviewed his plan and
realized he had overlooked something. These weren't nuclear bombs; they
were simple tubes of chemical fuel. The tubes wouldn't destroy the hole
Kemp was cutting.

He reached a quick decision and called Koa to join them. Koa appeared as
Kemp pulled his torch from the hole and started running again to avoid
the sun. Rip and Koa ran right along with him, crossing the dark zone to
meet the crystal as it came around again.

"There's no reason to drill three holes," Rip explained as they ran.
"We'll use one hole for all three charges. They don't have to be fired
all at once."

"How do we fire them?" Koa asked.

"Electrically. Who has the igniters and the hand dynamo?"

"Dowst has the igniters. One of the Connies is carrying the dynamo."

Speaking of the Connies--Rip hadn't seen the Consops cruiser recently. He
looked up, searching for its exhaust, and finally found it, some distance
away.

The Connie commander was stalemated for the time being. He couldn't land
his cruiser on a spinning asteroid, and he had no more boats. Rip thought
he probably was just waiting around for any opportunity that might
present itself.

The Federation cruisers should be arriving. He studied his chronometer.
No, the nearest one, the _Sagittarius_ from Mercury, wasn't due for
another ten minutes or so. He turned up his helmet communicator and
ordered all hands to watch for the exhaust of a nuclear drive cruiser,
then turned it down again and gave Koa instructions.

"Have Trudeau turn his load over to a Connie and collect the igniters and
the dynamo. We'll need wire, too. Who has that?"

"Another Connie."

"Get a reel. Cut off a few hundred feet and connect the dynamo to one end
and an igniter to the other."

The crystal came around again, and Kemp got to work. Rip stood by, again
reviewing all steps. They couldn't afford to make a mistake. He had no
margin for error.

Kemp finished the hole a few seconds before the cryst