"We have one advantage we didn't have back in the asteroid belt," he remarked to Koa. "Back there they could have landed anywhere on the rock. Now they have to stick to the dark side. Snapper-boats could last on the sun side, but men in ordinary space suits couldn't." "That's good," Koa agreed. "We have only one side to defend. Why don't we put the rocket launcher right in the middle of the dark side?" "Go ahead. And have all men check their pistols and knives. We don't know what's likely to happen when that Connie flames in." Rip walked over to the communicator and plugged his suit into the circuit. "This is the asteroid calling Terra base. Over." "This is Terra base. Go ahead, Foster. How are you doing?" "If you need anything cooked, send it to us," Rip replied. "We have heat enough to cook anything, including tungsten alloy." He explained briefly what action they had taken. A new voice came on the communicator. "Foster, this is Colonel Stevens." Rip responded swiftly, "Yes, sir!" Stevens was the top Planeteer, commanding officer of all the Special Order Squadrons. "We've piped this circuit into every channel in the system," the colonel said. "Every Planeteer in the Squadrons is listening and rooting for you. Is there anything we can do?" "Yes, sir," Rip replied. "Do you know if Terra base has been plotting our course this far?" There was a brief silence, then the colonel answered, "Yes, Foster. We have a complete track from the time you started showing on the Terra screens, about halfway between the orbits of Mars and Earth." "Did you just get our change of direction?" "Yes. We're following you on the screens." "Then, sir, I'd appreciate it if you'd put the calculators to work and make a time-distance plot for the next few hours. The blast we're saving to push to escape velocity is about three kilotons. Let us know the last moment when we can fire." "You will have it within fifteen minutes. Anything else, Foster?" "Nothing else I can think of, sir." "Then, good luck. We'll be standing by." "Yes, sir. Foster off." Rip disconnected and turned up his helmet communicator, repeating the conversation to his men. Koa came and stood beside him. "Lieutenant, how do we set off this next charge?" There was only one way. When the time came to blast, they would be too close to the sun to take to the boats. The blast had to be set off from the asteroid. "We'll get underground as far away from the bomb as we can," Rip said. He surveyed the dark side, which was rapidly growing less dark. "I think the second crater will do. Kemp can square it off on the side toward the blast to give us a vertical wall to hide behind." Koa looked doubtful. "Plenty of radiation left in those holes, sir." Rip grinned mirthlessly. "Radiation is the least of our problems. I'd rather get an overdose of gamma then get blasted into space." A yell rang in his helmet. "Here comes the Connie!"