The Planeteers ran to obey. Rip waited until the landing boat was nearly loaded, then told Dominico to set the timer for five minutes. He wondered how they would explode the second charge, since they had only the one timer left, then forgot about it. Time enough to worry when faced with the problem. "I’ll take the snapper-boat," he stated. "Santos in the gunner’s seat. Koa in charge in the landing boat. Dowst pilot. Let’s show an exhaust." He fitted himself into the tight pilot seat of the snapper-boat while Santos climbed in behind. Then, handling the controls with the skill of long practice, he lifted the tiny fighting rocket above the asteroid and waited for the landing boat. When it joined up, Rip led the way to safety. As he cut his exhaust to wait for the explosion, he sighted past the snapper-boat’s nose to the asteroid. He was moving, and the direction of his move told him the sun was already pulling. Its pull was strong, too. He cut his jets back on, just to hold position, and saw Dowst do the same. Another few miles toward the sun and the landing boat wouldn’t have the power to get away from Sol’s gravity. A few miles beyond that, even the powerful little snapper-boat would be caught. Below, the timer reached zero. A mighty fan of fire shot into space. The asteroid shuddered from the blast, then swerved gradually, picking up speed as well as new direction. Rip swallowed hard. Now they were committed. They would reach a new perihelion far beyond the limits of safety. P for perihelion and P for peril. In this case, they were the same thing! CHAPTER FOURTEEN - BETWEEN TWO FIRES Back on the asteroid, the Planeteers started laying the second atomic charge. Rip selected the spot, found a near-by crystal that would serve to house the bomb, and Kemp started cutting. The Planeteers knew what to do now, and the work went rapidly. Rip kept an eye on his chronometer. According to the message from Terra base, he had about fifteen minutes before the Consops cruiser arrived. "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."