"Good idea. I think we’ll dump you on the asteroid, Foster, and then blast off. Not too far, of course. Just enough to lead the Connie away from you if its screen picks us up." That sounded good to Rip. "We’ll be ready when you are, sir." The chief analyst took less than the estimated ten minutes for his next set of figures. Commander O’Brine called personally while Rip was still searching for the right landing boat ports. The voice horn bellowed, "Get it! Lieutenant Foster. The mass measurements are correct. This is your asteroid. Estimated twelve minutes before we reach it. Your data will be ready by the time you get back here. Show an exhaust!" Rip found Koa and the men and asked the sergeant-major for a report. "We’re ready, sir," Koa told him. "We can get out in three minutes. It will take us that long to get into space gear. Your stuff is laid out, sir." "Get me the books and charts from the supplies," Rip directed. "Have Santos bring them to the chief analyst. I’m going back and figure our course. No use doing it the hard way on the asteroid when I can do it in a few minutes here with the ship’s computer." He turned and hurried back, hauling himself along by handholds. The ship had stopped acceleration and was at no-weight again. As he neared the analysis section it went into deceleration, but the pressure was not too bad. He made his way against it easily. The chief analyst was waiting for him. "We have everything you need, Lieutenant, except the orbital stuff. We’ll do the best we can on that and have a good estimate in a few minutes. Meanwhile, you can mark up your figures. Incidentally, what power are you going to use to move the asteroid?" "Nuclear explosions," Rip said, and saw the chief’s eyes pop. He added, "With conventional chemical fuel for corrections." He felt rising excitement. The whole ship seemed to have come to life. There was excited tension in the computer room when he went in with the chief. Spacemen, all mathematicians, were waiting for him. As the chief led him to a table, they gathered around him. Rip took command. "Here’s what we’re after. I need to plot an orbit that will get us out of the asteroid belt without any collisions, take us as close to the sun as possible without having it capture us, and land us in space about ten thousand miles from earth. From then on I’ll throw the asteroid into a braking ellipse around the earth and I’ll be able to make any small corrections necessary." He spread out a solar system chart and marked in the positions of the planets as of that moment, using the daily almanac. Then he put down the position of the asteroid, taking it from the paper the chief analyst handed him. "Will you make assignments, Chief?" The chief shook his head. "Make them yourself, Lieutenant. We’re at your service."