If the ship doesn't
come back, the dosage will mount."
He looked at them grimly. "It won't kill us, and it won't even make us
very sick. I'll have the ship take us off before we build up that much
dosage."
Santos started. "But, sir! That means--"
"I know what it means," Rip stated bitterly. "It means the ship has got
to return in time to give us some nuclite shielding, or we'll be the
laughingstock of the Special Order Squadrons--the detachment that started
a job the spacemen had to finish!"
CHAPTER SEVEN
Earthbound!
There was something else that Rip didn't add, although he knew the
Planeteers would realize it in a few minutes. Probably some of them
already had thought of it.
To move the asteroid into a new orbit, they were going to fire nuclear
bombs. Most of the highly radioactive fission products would be blown
into space, but some would be drawn back by the asteroid's slight
gravity. The craters would be highly radioactive, and some radioactive
debris was certain to be scattered around, too. Every particle would add
to the problem.
"Is there anything we can do, sir?" Koa asked.
Rip shook his head inside the transparent bubble. "If you have a good
luck charm in your pocket, you might talk to it.
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