The commander leaned forward. "We’ll find that asteroid for you, Mr. Planeteer. We’ll put you on it and see you on your way. Then we’ll ride space along with you, and if any Consops thieves try to take over and collect that thorium for themselves, they’ll find Kevin O’Brine waiting. That’s a promise, boy." Rip felt a lot better. He sat back in his chair and regarded the commander with mixed respect and something else. Against his will, he was beginning to like the man. No doubt of it, the _Scorpius_ was well named. And the sting in the scorpion’s tail was O’Brine himself. CHAPTER DIVE - THE SMALL GRAY WORLD Rip rejoined his Planeteers in the supply room and motioned for them to gather around him. "I know why Terra base sent us the fighting equipment," he announced. "They were afraid word of this thorium asteroid would leak out to Consops—and it has. A Connie cruiser blasted off from Marsport and headed this way." He watched the faces of his men carefully, to see how they would take the news. They merely looked at each other and shrugged. Conflict with Consops was nothing new to them. "The freighter that found the asteroid landed at Marsport, didn’t it?" Koa asked. Getting a nod from Rip, he went on, "Then I know what probably happened. The two things spacemen can’t do are breathe high vack and keep their mouths shut. Some of the crew blabbed about the asteroid, probably at the Space Club. That’s where they hang out. The Connies hang out there, too. Result, we get a Connie cruiser after the asteroid." "You hit it," Rip acknowledged. Corporal Santos shrugged. "If the Connies try to take the asteroid away, they’ll have a real warm time. We have ten racks of rockets, twenty-four to a rack. That’s a lot of snapper-boats we can pick off if they try to make a landing." The Planeteers stopped talking as the voice horn sounded. "Get it! We are going into no-weight. Prepare to stay in no-weight indefinitely. Rotation stops in two minutes." Rip realized why the order was given. The _Scorpius_ could not maneuver while in a gravity spin and O’Brine wanted to be free to take action if necessary. The voice horn came on again. "Now get it again. The ship may maneuver suddenly. Prepare for acceleration or deceleration without warning. One minute to no-weight." Rip gave quick orders. "Get lines around the equipment and prepare to haul it. I’ll get landing boats assigned and we can load. Then prepare space packs. Lay out suits and bubbles. We want to be ready the moment we get the word."