The Planeteers knew what to do. Corporal Pederson produced hardened steel spikes with ring tops. Private Trudeau had a sledge. Driving the first spike would be the hardest, because the action of swinging the hammer would propel the Planeteer like a rocket exhaust. In space, the law that every action has an equal and opposite reaction had to be remembered every moment. Rip watched, interested in how his men would tackle the problem. He didn’t know the answer himself, because he had never driven a spike on an airless, almost gravityless world and no one had ever mentioned it to him. Pederson searched the gray metal with his torch and found a slender spur of thorium perhaps two feet high a short distance from the boat. "Here’s a hold," he said. "Come on, Frenchy. You, too, Bradshaw." Trudeau, carrying the sledge, walked up to the spur of rock and stood with his heels against it. Pederson sat down on the ground with the spur between his legs. He stretched, hooking his heels around Trudeau’s ankles, anchoring him. With his gloves he grabbed the seat of the Frenchman’s space suit. Bradshaw took a spike and held it against the gray metal ground. The Frenchman swung, his hammer noiseless as it drove the tough spike in. A few inches into the metal was enough. Bradshaw took a wrench from his belt, put it on the head of the spike and turned it. Below the surface, teeth on the spike bit into the metal. It would hold. The rest was easy. The spike was used to anchor Trudeau while he drove another, at his longest reach. Then the second spike became his anchor, and so on, until enough spikes had been set to lace the boat down against any sudden shock. The boat piloted by the spaceman was tied to the one that would remain and the Planeteers floated its supplies through a window. It took only a few moments, with Planeteers forming a chain from inside the boat to a spot a little distance away. Even the heaviest crates weighed almost nothing. They passed them from one to the other like balloons. "All clear, sir," Koa called. Rip stepped inside and made a quick inspection. The box was empty except for the spaceman pilot. He put a hand on the pilot’s shoulder. "On your way, Rocky. Thanks." "You’re welcome, sir." The pilot added, "Watch out for high vack." Rip and Koa stepped out and walked a little distance away. Santos and Pederson cast the landing boat adrift and shoved it away from the anchored boat. In a moment fire spurted from the bottom tube, spreading over the dull metal and licking at the feet of the Planeteers.