The asteroid and the great cruiser arched high above the belt of tiny
worlds in the orbit Rip had set, traveling together toward distant Mars.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Mercury Transit
The long hours passed, and only Rip's chronometer told him when the end
of a day was reached. The Planeteers alternately worked on the surface
and rested in the air of the landing boat compartment, while the asteroid
sped steadily on its way.
When a series of sightings over several days gave Rip enough exact data
to work on, he recalculated the orbit, found the amount that the course
had to be corrected, and supervised the cutting of new holes in the
metal.
Tubes of ordinary rocket fuel were placed in these and fired, and the
thrust moved the asteroid slightly, just enough to make the corrections
Rip needed. It was not necessary to take to the landing boat for these
blasts. The Planeteers retired to their cave, which was now lined with
nuclite as a protection against radiation.
Rip watched his dosimeter climb steadily as the radiation dosage mounted.
Then he took the landing boat to the Scorpius, talked the problem over
with the ship's medical department, and arranged for his men to take
injections that would keep them from getting radiation sickness.
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