No
cruiser could survive an atomic explosion within five hundred yards, and
the Connie would have to get closer to the nuclear charge than that.
Dominico reported that the bomb had been dismantled. Rip went to it and
examined the raw plutonium, being careful to keep the pieces widely
separated.
This particular bomb design used five pieces of plutonium which were
driven together to form a ball. Rip made a quick estimate. Two were
enough to form a critical mass. He would use two to blast into the sun
and three to blast out again. He would need the extra kick.
There was only one trouble. The pieces were wedge shaped. They would have
to be mounted in thorium in order to keep them rigid. Only Kemp could do
that. They had no cutting tool but the torch.
Santos appeared, carrying a rocket head under each arm. They had wires
wound around them, ready to be attached to an electrical source.
Rip hurried back to where Kemp was at work. The private was using a
cutting nozzle that threw an almost invisible flame five feet long.
In air, the nozzle wouldn't have worked effectively beyond two feet, but
in space it cut right down to the end of the flame. Kemp had his arm
inside the hole and was peering past it as he finished the cut.
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