Rip pulled a tube from his belt, held it overhead, and triggered it. His
flight through space speeded up but he wasn’t at all sure they would make
it. He turned up his helmet communicator to full power and called, "Koa,
can you hear me?"
The sergeant-major’s reply was faint in his helmet. "I hear you weakly. Do
you hear me?"
"Same way," Rip replied. "Get this, Koa. Don’t fail to explode that charge
at twenty-three-oh-five. Can you see us?"
The reply was very slightly stronger. "I will explode the charge as
ordered, Lieutenant. We can see a pair of rocket exhausts, but no boats.
Is that you?"
"Yes. We’re coming in on propulsion tubes."
Koa waited for a long moment, then: "Sir, what if you’re not with us by
twenty-three-oh-five?"
"You know the answer," Rip retorted crisply.
Of course Koa knew. The nuclear blast would send Rip and Santos spinning
into outer space, perhaps crippled, burned, or completely irradiated. But
the lives of two men couldn’t delay the blast that would save the lives of
eight others, not counting prisoners.
Rip estimated his speed and course and the distance to the asteroid. He
was increasingly sure that they wouldn’t make it, and the knowledge was
like the cold of space in his stomach. It would be close, but not close
enough. A minute would make all the difference.
For a few heartbeats he almost called Koa and told him to wait that extra
minute, to explode the nuclear charge at 2306, at the very last second.
But even Planeteer chronometers could be off by a few seconds and he
couldn’t risk it. His men had to be given some leeway.
The decision made, he put his mind to the problem. There must be some way
out. There must be!
He surveyed the asteroid. The nuclear charge was on his left side, pretty
close to the sun line. At least he and Santos could angle to the right, to
get as far away from the blast as possible.
The edge of the asteroid’s shadow was barely visible. That it was visible
at all was due to the minute particles of matter and gas that surrounded
the sun, even millions of miles out into space. He reduced helmet power
and told Santos, "Angle to the right. Get as close to the edge of shadow
as you can without being cooked."