These weren't nuclear bombs; they
were simple tubes of chemical fuel. The tubes wouldn't destroy the hole
Kemp was cutting.
He reached a quick decision and called Koa to join them. Koa appeared as
Kemp pulled his torch from the hole and started running again to avoid
the sun. Rip and Koa ran right along with him, crossing the dark zone to
meet the crystal as it came around again.
"There's no reason to drill three holes," Rip explained as they ran.
"We'll use one hole for all three charges. They don't have to be fired
all at once."
"How do we fire them?" Koa asked.
"Electrically. Who has the igniters and the hand dynamo?"
"Dowst has the igniters. One of the Connies is carrying the dynamo."
Speaking of the Connies--Rip hadn't seen the Consops cruiser recently. He
looked up, searching for its exhaust, and finally found it, some distance
away.
The Connie commander was stalemated for the time being. He couldn't land
his cruiser on a spinning asteroid, and he had no more boats. Rip thought
he probably was just waiting around for any opportunity that might
present itself.
The Federation cruisers should be arriving. He studied his chronometer.
No, the nearest one, the _Sagittarius_ from Mercury, wasn't due for
another ten minutes or so.
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