The solution would be to keep the landing boat close to the asteroid. At
the first sign of a landing party, they would take to the cave, using the
rocket launcher as a defense.
The supplies began to arrive. The Planeteers towed them two crates at a
time in a steady line of hurrying men.
Kemp's torch sent an incandescent knife three feet into the metal at each
cut. He was rapidly slicing out a cave. He cut the metal out in great
triangular bars, angling the torch from first one side, then the other.
Koa came and stood beside Rip. "I haven't seen the Connie's exhaust for a
while, sir. They've probably stopped decelerating. We can't see them at
all."
"Meaning what?" Rip asked. He thought he knew, but he wanted Koa's
opinion.
"They're in free fall now, sir. That could mean they're just hunting in
the area. Or it could mean that they've stopped somewhere close by. They
could be looking us over right now, for all we know."
Rip surveyed the stars. "If that's so, they're not too close, Koa.
Otherwise they'd block out a patch of stars."
"Well, sir--" Koa hesitated. "I mean, if you were looking over this
asteroid, and you weren't sure whether the enemy had it or not, how close
would you get?"
"Probably about one AU," Rip said jokingly.
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