He had the
facilities of Terra base within easy reach by communicator. He dictated
his data and let them do the mathematics on the giant electronic
computers.
He and his men rode the gray planet past the moon, so close they could
almost see the Planeteer lunar base, circled Terra in a series of
ellipses, and finally blasted the asteroid into its final orbit within
sight of the space platform.
Landing craft and snapper-boats swarmed to meet them, and within an hour
after their arrival the Planeteers were surrounded by spacemen, cadets
from the platform, and officers and men wearing Planeteer black.
A cadet approached Rip and looked at him with awe. "Sir, I don't know how
you ever did it!"
And Rip, his eyes on the great curve of Earth, answered casually,
"There's one thing every space chick has to learn if he's going to be a
Planeteer. There's always a way to do anything. To be a Planeteer, you
have to be able to figure out the way."
A new voice said, "Now, that's real wisdom!"
Rip turned quickly and looked through a helmet at the grinning face of
Maj. Joe Barris.
Barris spoke as though to himself, but Rip turned red as his hair. "Funny
how fast a man ages in space," the Planeteer major remarked.
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