"
"Yessir," Santos replied. "Thank you for the promotion. I hope I live to
collect the extra rating."
"Same here," Rip agreed fervently. His eyes were on his chronometer, and
with his free hand he took another air bottle. When the chronometer
registered exactly one minute before blast time, he called, "Now!" He
triggered the bottle and moved from shadow into glaring sunlight. A
slight motion of the bottle turned him so his back was to the sun; then
he used the remaining compressed air to push himself downward along the
edge of shadow. The sun's gravity tugged at him.
He pulled the last tube from his belt and held it ready while he watched
his chronometer creep around. With five seconds to go, he called to
Santos and fired it. Acceleration pushed at him.
In the same moment, the nuclear charge exploded.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Ride the Planet!
A mighty hand reached out and shoved Rip, sweeping him through space like
a dust mote. He clutched his propulsion tube with both hands and fought
to hold it steady. He swiveled his head quickly, searching for Santos,
and saw the corporal a dozen rods away.
From the far horizon of the asteroid the incandescent fire of the nuclear
blast stretched into space, turning from silver to orange to red as it
cooled.
Pages:
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204