Putting the asteroid into an orbit around earth was actually the most delicate part of the whole trip, but Rip wasn’t worried. 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 Major 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. "Take Foster. A few weeks ago he was just a cadet, a raw recruit who had never met high vack. Now he’s talking like the grandfather of all space. I don’t know how the Special Order Squadrons ever got along before he became an officer." Rip had been feeling a little too proud of himself. "It’s good to get back," Rip said. CHAPTER TWENTY - ON THE PLATFORM There were two things Rip could see from his hospital bed on the space platform. One was the great curve of earth. He was anxious to get out of the hospital and back to Terra. The second thing was the asteroid. Spacemen were at work on it, slowly cutting it to pieces. The pieces were small enough to be carried back to earth in supply rockets. It would be a long time before the asteroid was completely cut up and transported to Terra base. Sergeant-major Koa came into the hospital ward and sat on Rip’s bed. The plastifoam mattress compressed under his weight. "How are you feeling, sir?" "Pretty good," Rip replied. The worst of the radiation sickness was over and he was mending fast. Here and there were little blood stains just below the surface of his skin, and he had no more hair than a plastic ball. Otherwise he looked normal. The stains would go away and his hair would grow back within a matter of weeks. Santos, now officially a sergeant, was in the same condition. The rest of Rip’s Planeteers had resumed duties on the space platform. He saw them frequently because they made a point of dropping in whenever they were near the hospital area.