"I know why Terra base sent us the fighting
equipment," he announced. "They were afraid word of this thorium asteroid
would leak out to Consops--and it has. A Connie cruiser blasted off from
Marsport and it's headed this way."
He watched the faces of his men carefully, to see how they would take the
news. They merely looked at each other and shrugged. Conflict with
Consops was nothing new to them.
"The freighter that found the asteroid landed at Marsport, didn't it?"
Koa asked. Getting a nod from Rip, he went on, "Then I know what probably
happened. The two things spacemen can't do are breathe high vack and keep
their mouths shut. Some of the crew blabbed about the asteroid, probably
at the Space Club. That's where they hang out. The Connies hang out
there, too. Result, we get a Connie cruiser after the asteroid."
"You hit it," Rip acknowledged.
Corporal Santos shrugged. "If the Connies try to take the asteroid away,
they'll have a real warm time. We have ten racks of rockets, twenty-four
to a rack. That's a lot of snapper-boats we can pick off if they try to
make a landing."
The Planeteers stopped talking as the voice horn sounded. "Get it! We are
going into no-weight. Prepare to stay in no-weight indefinitely.
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