Working while
running, he lashed the two containers together with his safety line. Then
he improvised a rope sling so they could hang on his back.
Kemp, meanwhile, assembled his torch and put the proper cutting nozzle in
place. When he was ready, he moved over to Rip's side and connected the
torch hoses to the tanks the lieutenant carried. Kemp had the torch
mechanism strapped to his own back. It was essentially a high-pressure
pump that drew oxygen and fuel from the tanks and forced them through
the nozzle, under terrific pressure.
When he had finished, he pressed the trigger that started the cutting
torch going. The fuel ignited about a half inch in front of the nozzle.
The nozzle had two holes in it, one for oxygen and the other for fuel.
The holes were placed and angled to keep the flame always a half inch
away, otherwise the nozzle itself would melt.
"How do we work this?" Kemp asked.
"We'll get ahead of the others," Rip explained. "Keep up speed until
we're running at the forward sun line. Then, when the crystal we want
comes around into the shadow, we stop running and work until it spins
back into the sunshine again."
Rip estimated the axis on which the asteroid was spinning and selected
a crystal in the right position.
Pages:
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213