CHAPTER ELEVEN - HARD WORDS FOR O'BRINE
The _Scorpius_ could have taken direct hits with little or no major damagefrom a hundred rockets of the kind Rip had used, but Commander O'Brinetook no chances. When the alarm bell signaled that the outer hull had beenhit, the commander acted instantly with a bellowed order.
The Planeteers on the asteroid blinked with the speed of the cruiser'sgetaway. Fire flamed from the stern tubes for an instant and then therewas nothing but a fading glow where the _Scorpius_ had been.
Rip had a mental image of everything movable in the ship crashing againstbulkheads with the terrific acceleration.
And in the same moment, the Consops cruiser reacted. The Connie commanderwas ready to fire guided missiles, when his target suddenly, mysteriouslyblasted into space at optimum acceleration. There was only one reason theConnie could imagine: his cruiser had been spotted. The ambush had failed.It was one thing for the Connie to lie in ambush for a single, deadlysurprise blast at the Federation cruiser. It was quite another to face thenuclear drive ship with its missile ports cleared for action. The Connieknew he had lost.
Rip and the Planeteers saw the Consops ship suddenly flame away, then turnand dive for low space below the asteroid belt in a direction opposite theone the _Scorpius_ had taken. The helmet communicators rang with theircheers.
The young officer clapped Santos on the shoulder and exclaimed weakly,"Good shooting!"
The corporal turned anxiously to Koa. "The lieutenant's pretty weak. Can'twe do something?"
"Forget it," Rip said. There was nothing anyone could do. He was trappedinside his space suit. There was nothing anyone could do for his wounduntil he got into air.
Koa untied his safety line and moved to Rip's side. "Sir, this isdangerous, but there's just as much danger without. I'm going to tie offthat arm."
Rip knew what Koa meant. He stood quietly as the big sergeant-major putthe line around his arm above the wound, then put his massive strengthinto the task of pulling the line tight. The heavy fabric of the suit wasstiff, and the air pressure gave further resistance that had to beovercome. Rip let most of the air out of the suit, then fought for breathuntil the pain in his arm told him that Koa had succeeded. He inflated thesuit again and thanked the sergeant-major weakly.
The tight line stopped the bleeding, but it also cut off the aircirculation. Without the air, the heating system couldn't operateefficiently. It was only a matter of time before the arm froze.
"Stand easy," Rip told his men. "Nothing to do now but wait. The_Scorpius_ will be back." He set an example by leaning against the thoriumcrystal in which the cave was located. It was a natural but meaninglessgesture. With no gravity pulling at them they could remain standingindefinitely, sleeping upright.
Rip closed his eyes and relaxed. The pain in his arm was less now, and heknew the cold was setting in. He was getting light-headed, and most of allhe wanted to sleep. Well, why not? He slumped a little inside the suit.
He awoke with Koa shaking him violently. Rip stood upright and shook hishead to clear his vision. "What is it?"
"Sir, the _Scorpius_ has returned."
Rip blinked as he stared out into space to where Koa was pointing. He hadtrouble focusing his eyes at first, and then he saw the glow of thecruiser.
"Good," he said. "They'll send a landing boat first thing."
"I hope so," Koa replied.
Rip wanted to ask why the big Planeteer doubted, but he was too tired tophrase the question. He contented himself with watching the cruiser.
In a short time the _Scorpius_ was balanced with nose tubes counteractingthe thrust of stern tubes, ready to flash into space again at a second'snotice.
Rip watched, puzzled. The cruiser was miles away. Why didn't it come anycloser? Then, suddenly, it erupted a dozen fiery streaks.
"Snapper-boats," someone gasped.
Rip jerked fully awake. In the ruddy glow of the fighting rockets' tubeshe had seen that the cruiser's missile ports were yawning wide, ready tospew forth deadly nuclear charges.
The snapper-boats flashed toward the asteroid in a group, sheered off, andbroke formation. They came back in pairs, streaking space with the sparksof their exhausts.
"Into the cave," Koa shouted.
The Planeteers obeyed instantly. Koa took Rip's arm, to lead him inside,but the young officer shook him off. "No, Koa. I'll take my chances outhere. I want to see what they're up to."
"Great Cosmos, sir! They'll go over this rock like Martian beetles. You'llget it for sure."
"Get inside," Rip ordered. He gathered strength enough to make his voicefirm. "I'm staying here until I figure out some way to call them off. Wecan't just stand here and let them blast us. They're our own men."
"Then I'm staying, too," Koa stated.
A pair of snapper-boats flashed overhead, and vanished below the horizon.Two more swept past from another direction.
Rip watched, curious. What were they up to? Another pair quartered pastthem at high speed, then two more. The dozen boats seemed to becriss-crossing the asteroid in a definite pattern. Why?
A pair streaked past, and something sped downward from one of them,trailing yellow flame. It exploded in a ball of molten fire that lickedacross the asteroid in waves. Rip tensed, then saw that the chemical wouldburn out before it reached them.
"Fire bomb," Koa muttered.
Rip nodded. He had recognized it. The Planeteers were trained in the useof fire bombs, tanks of chemicals that burned even in an airless world.They were equipped with simple jets for use in space.
The snapper-boats drew off, back toward the _Scorpius_. Rip watched,searching for some reason for their actions. Then one of the boats pulledaway from the others. It returned to the asteroid with stern jet burningfitfully.
"Is he landing?" Koa asked.
Rip didn't know. The snapper-boat was moving slowly enough to make alanding.
Directly over the asteroid it changed direction, circled, and returnedover their heads. Rip could almost have picked it off with a pistol shot.Santos could have blasted it into space dust with one rocket.
The snapper-boat changed direction, and for a fraction of a second sternand side tubes "fought" each other, making the boat yaw wildly, then itstraightened out on a new course.
"They're Using Fire Bombs," Muttered Koa.]
"They're Using Fire Bombs," Muttered Koa.
Koa exclaimed, "That's a drone!"
Rip got it then. A pilotless snapper-boat! That's why its actions were alittle uneven. Only one thing could explain its deliberate slowness. Itwas bait. The _Scorpius_ had sent piloted snapper-boats over the asteroidat high speed, criss-crossing in order to cover the thorium worldcompletely, expecting to have the unknown rocketeer fire at them. Then afire bomb had been dropped as a further means of getting the asteroid tofire. But no rockets had been fired from the asteroid, so the pilot incontrol of the drone had sent it at low speed, a perfect target.
That meant O'Brine wasn't sure of what was going on. He must have seen theblip on his screen as the Connie cruiser flamed off, Rip reasoned. But thecommander probably suspected that the Connies had overcome the Planeteersand were in control of the asteroid. He had sent the snapper-boats to tryand draw fire in an attempt to find out more surely whether Planeteers orConnies had the thorium rock.
"The _Scorpius_ doesn't know what's going on," Rip told his Planeteers."O'Brine didn't know the cruiser was waiting to ambush him, so the rocketwe fired made him think the Connies had taken us over."
He put himself in O'Brine's place. What would his next step be? Thesnapper-boats hadn't drawn fire, even when a drone was sent over at lowspeed. The next thing would be to send a piloted boat over slowly enoughto take a look.
Rip hoped O'Brine would hurry. There was no longer any feeling in his armbelow Koa's safety line. That meant the arm had frozen. He had to getmedical attention from the _Scorpius_ pretty soon.
He gritted his teeth. At least he was no longer lo
sing blood. He wasn'tgetting any weaker. But every now and then his vision fogged and he had toshake his head to clear it.
The pilotless snapper-boat made another slow run, then put on speed andflashed back to the group of boats near the cruiser. Another boat detacheditself from the squadron and moved toward the asteroid.
Rip wished for a communicator powerful enough to reach the _Scorpius_, butknew it was useless to try with his helmet circuit. The carrier waves ofthe snapper-boats were on the same frequency, and they would smother thefaint signal from his bubble.
But the boats might be able to hear if they got close enough! He had aswift memory of the communications circuits. The pilots were plugged intotheir boat communicators. If a boat got near enough, he could turn up hisbubble to full volume and yell. Not only would the boat pilot hear him,but his voice would go through the pilot's circuit and be heard in theship!
Rip grabbed Koa's arm. "Let's move away from the cave a little farther."
The two of them stepped away from the cave and stood in full view as thesnapper-boat moved cautiously down toward the asteroid. Rip planned whathe would say. "Commander O'Brine, this is Foster!"
No, that wouldn't do. Connies would know that Kevin O'Brine commanded the_Scorpius_, and if they had taken over the Planeteers on the asteroid,they would also have learned Rip's name. He had to say something thatwould identify him beyond a doubt.
The snapper-boat was closing in slowly. Rip knew the pilot and gunner mustbe tense, frightened, ready to blast with their guns at the first wrongmove on the asteroid. He groped with his good arm and turned up his helmetcommunicator to full volume.
The fighting rocket drew closer, cut in its nose tube, and hovered only afew hundred feet above the Planeteers.
Rip summoned enough strength to make his voice sharp and clear. His wordssped through space into the bubble of the pilot, echoed in the helmet andwere picked up by the pilot's microphone, then hurled through thesnapper-boat circuit through space to the control room of the cruiser.
O'Brine stiffened as the speaker threw Rip's voice at him, amplified andhollow-sounding from reverberations in the boat pilot's helmet.
"_O'Brine is so ugly he won't look at his face in a clean blast tube! Thatno-good Irishman wouldn't know what to do with an asteroid if he hadone!_"
The commander turned purple with rage. He bellowed, "Foster!"
A junior space officer hid a grin and murmured, "Looks like the Planeteersstill have the asteroid."
O'Brine bent over the communicator and yelled, "Deputy commander! Launchlanding boats. Get those Planeteers and bring them here, under armedguard. Ram it!"
The snapper-boat pilot through whose circuit Rip had yelled turned to lookwide-eyed at his gunner. "Did you hear that? Throw a light down on theasteroid. It must have come from there."
The gunner threw a switch and a searchlight port opened in the boat'sbelly. Its beam searched downward, swept past, then steadied on twospace-clad figures.
"It worked," Rip said tiredly. He closed his eyes to guard them againstthe brilliant glare, then waved his good arm.
Santos called from the cave entrance. "Sir, landing boats are beinglaunched!"
"Bring out the prisoners," Rip ordered. "Line them up. Planeteers fall inbehind them."
The landing boats, with snapper-boats in watchful attendance, blasted downto the surface of the asteroid. Spacemen jumped out, awkward at first onthe no-weight surface. An officer glided to meet Rip, and he had a pistolin his hand.
"It's all right," Rip told him. "The Connies are our prisoners. You won'tneed guns."
The spaceman snapped, "You're under arrest."
Rip stared incredulously. "What for?"
"The commander's orders. Don't give me any arguments. Just get aboard."
"I can't argue with a loaded gun," Rip said wearily. He called to his men."We're under arrest. I don't know why. Don't try to resist. Do as thespacemen order."
Rip got aboard the nearest landing boat, his head spinning. O'Brine hadmade a mistake of some kind. The landing boats, loaded with Planeteers andConnies, lifted from the asteroid to the cruiser. They slid smoothly intothe air locks and settled. The massive lock doors slid closed and lightsflickered on. Rip waited, trying to keep consciousness from slipping away.
The lock gauges registered normal air, and the inner valves slid open.Commander O'Brine stepped through, his square jaw outthrust and his faceflushed with anger. He bellowed, "Where's Foster?"
His voice was so loud Rip heard him faintly even through the bubble. Hestepped out of the landing boat and faced the irate commander.
O'Brine ordered, "Get him out of that suit." Two spacemen jumped forward.One twisted Rip's bubble free and lifted it off. The heavy air of the shiphit him with physical force.
O'Brine grated, "You're under arrest, Foster, for firing on the_Scorpius_, for insubordination, and for conduct unbecoming an officer.Get out of that suit and get flaming. It's the spacepot for you."
Rip had to grin. He couldn't help it. He started to reply, but the heavyair of the cruiser, so much richer and denser than that of the suits, wastoo much. He slumped unconscious.
There was no gravity to pull him to the floor, but the action of hisrelaxing muscles swung him slowly until he lay face down in the air a fewfeet above the floor.
Commander O'Brine stared for a moment, then he took the unconsciousPlaneteer and swung him upright. His quick eyes took in the patch on thearm, the safety line tied tightly. He roared, "Quick! Get him to the woundward!"
Rip came back to consciousness on the operating table. The wound in hisarm had been neatly repaired, and below the wound, where his arm hadfrozen, a plastic temperature bag was slowly bringing the cold flesh backto normal. On his other side, a pulsing pressure pump forced new bloodfrom the ship's supplies into his veins.
A senior space officer with the golden lancet of the medical service onhis blue tunic bent over him. "How do you feel?"
Rip's voice surprised him. It was as full and strong as ever. "I feelwonderful. Can I get up?"
"When we get enough blood into you and your arm is fully restored."
Commander O'Brine appeared in the door frame. "Can he talk?"
"Yes. He's fine, sir."
O'Brine glared down at Rip. "Can you give me a good reason why I shouldn'thave you treated for space madness, then toss you in the spacepot until wereach earth?"
"Best reason in the galaxy," Rip said cheerfully. "But before we talkabout it, I want to know how my men are. One got cut and another had hisbubble cracked. Also, one of the Connies got badly cut, another had somebroken bones, and a third one bled into high vack when Koa cracked hisbubble."
The doctor answered Rip's question. "Your men are all right. We put theone with the cracked bubble into high compression for a while, just torelieve his pain a little. The other one didn't bleed much. He's back inthe squadroom right now. Two of the prisoners are patched up, but thethird one is in the other operating room. I don't know whether we can savehim or not. We're trying."
O'Brine nodded. "Thanks, doctor. Now, Foster, start talking. You fired onthis ship, scored a hit, and broke the airseal. No casualties,fortunately. But by forcing us to accelerate at optimum speed, you causedso much breakage of ship's stores that we'll have to put into Marsport fornew stocks. And on top of all that, you insulted me within the hearing ofevery man on the ship. I don't mind being insulted by Planeteers. I'm usedto it. But when it's done over the ship's communications system, it's badfor discipline."
Rip tried to keep a straight face. He said mildly, "Sir, I'm surprised youeven give me a chance to explain."
"I wouldn't have," O'Brine said frankly. "I would have shot off a specialmessage to earth relieving you of command and asking for Discipline Boardaction. But when I saw those Connie prisoners, I knew there was more tothis than just a young space-pup going vack-wacky."
"There was, Commander." Rip recited the events of the past few hours whilethe Irishman listened with growing amazement. He
finished with, "I had toconvince you in a hurry that we still held the asteroid, so I used someinsulting phrases that would let you know who was talking without anydoubt at all. And you did know, didn't you, sir?"
O'Brine flushed. For a long moment his glance locked with Rip's, then heroared with laughter.
Rip grinned his relief. "My apologies, sir."
"Accepted," O'Brine chuckled. "I'm sorry I won't have an excuse fordumping you in the spacepot, Foster. Your explanation is acceptable, but Ihave a suspicion that you enjoyed calling me names."
"I might have," Rip admitted, "but I wasn't in very good shape. The onlything I could think of was getting into air so I could have my armtreated. Commander, we've moved the asteroid. Now we have to correctcourse. And we have to get some new equipment, including nucliteshielding. Also, sir, I'd appreciate it if you'd let my men clean up andeat. They haven't been in air since we left the cruiser."
For answer, O'Brine strode to the operating room communicator. "Get it,"he called. "The deputy commander will prepare landing boat one and issuenew space suits and helmets for all Planeteers with damaged equipment. Putin two rolls of nuclite. Sergeant-major Koa will see that all Planeteershave an opportunity to clean up and eat immediately. The Planeteers willreturn to the asteroid in one hour."
Rip asked, "Will I be able to go into space by then?"
The doctor replied. "Your arm will be normal in about twenty minutes. Itwill ache some, but you'll have full use of it. We'll bring you back tothe ship in about twenty-four hours for another look at it, just to besure."
Sixty minutes later, clean, fed, and contented, the Planeteers were againon the thorium planet while the _Scorpius_, riding the same orbit, stoodby a few miles out in space.
The asteroid and the great cruiser arched high above the belt of tinyworlds in the orbit Rip had set, traveling together toward distant Mars.
Rip Foster Rides the Gray Planet Page 12