oat was hovering a foot above the asteroid. Dowst cut the
exhausts, and Rip stepped out onto the tiny planet.

The Planeteers knew what to do. Corporal Pederson produced hardened steel
spikes with ring tops. Private Trudeau had a sledge. Driving the first
spike would be the hardest, because the action of swinging the hammer
would propel the Planeteer like a rocket exhaust. In space, the law that
every action has an equal and opposite reaction had to be remembered
every moment.

Rip watched, interested in how his man would tackle the problem. He
didn't know the answer himself, because he had never driven a spike
on an airless world with almost no gravity, and no one had ever mentioned
it to him.

Pederson searched the gray metal with his torch and found a slender spur
of thorium, perhaps two feet high, a short distance from the boat.
"Here's a hold," he said. "Come on, Frenchy. You too, Bradshaw."

Trudeau, carrying the sledge, walked up to the spur of rock and stood
with his heels against it. Pederson sat down on the ground with his legs
on either side of the spur. He stretched, hooking his heels around
Trudeau's ankles, anchoring him. With his gloves, he grabbed the seat of
the Frenchman's space suit.

Bradshaw took a spike and held it against the gray metal ground. The
Frenchman swung, his hammer noiseless as it drove the tough spike. A
few inches into the metal was enough. Bradshaw took a wrench from his
belt, put it on the head of the spike, and turned it. Below the surface,
teeth on the spike bit into the metal. It would hold.

The rest was easy. The spike was used to anchor Trudeau while he drove
another, at his longest reach. Then the second spike became his anchor,
and so on, until enough spikes had been set to lace the boat down against
any sudden shock.

The boat piloted by the spaceman was tied to the one that would remain,
and the Planeteers floated its supplies through a window. It took only a
few moments, with Planeteers forming a chain from inside the boat to a
spot a little distance away. The crates weighed almost nothing, but still
retained their mass. Once their inertia was overcome, they moved from one
man to the next like ungainly balloons.

"All clear, sir," Koa called.

Rip stepped inside and made a quick inspection. The box was empty except
for the spaceman pilot. He put a hand on the pilot's shoulder. "On your
way, Rocky. Thanks."

"You're welcome, sir." The pilot added, "Watch out fo