"
Rip thanked them both, then stood up. "Sir, I'm going back to my men. I
want to be sure everything is ready. If there's a Connie cruiser headed
this way, we don't want to lose any time."
"Good idea. I think we'll dump you on the asteroid, Foster, and then
blast off. Not too far, of course. Just enough to lead the Connie away
from you if its screen picks us up."
That sounded good to Rip. "We'll be ready when you are, sir."
The chief analyst took less than the estimated ten minutes for his next
set of figures. Commander O'Brine called personally while Rip was still
searching for the right landing-boat ports. The voice horn bellowed, "Get
it, Lieutenant Foster! The mass measurements are correct. This is your
asteroid. Estimated twelve minutes before we reach it. Your data will be
ready by the time you get back here. Show an exhaust!"
Rip found Koa and the men and asked the sergeant major for a report.
"We're ready, sir," Koa told him. "We can get out in three minutes. It
will take us that long to get into space gear. Your stuff is laid out,
sir."
"Get me the books and charts from the supplies," Rip directed. "Have
Santos take them to the chief analyst. I'm going back and figure our
course.
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