"Yes. He's fine, sir."
O'Brine glared down at Rip. "Can you give me a good reason why I
shouldn't have you treated for space madness and then toss you in the
space pot until we reach Earth?"
"Best reason in the galaxy," Rip said cheerfully. "But before we talk
about it, I want to know how my men are. One got cut, and another had his
bubble cracked. Also, one of the Connies got badly cut, another had some
broken bones, and a third one bled into high vack when Koa cracked his
bubble."
The doctor answered Rip's question. "Your men are all right. We put the
one with the cracked bubble into high compression for a while, just to
relieve his pain a little. The other one didn't bleed much. He's back in
the squad room right now. Two of the prisoners are patched up, but the
third one is in the other operating room. I don't know whether we can
save him or not. We're trying."
O'Brine nodded. "Thanks, Doctor. Now, Foster, start talking. You fired
on this ship, scored a hit, and broke the air seal. No casualties,
fortunately. But by forcing us to accelerate at optimum speed, you caused
so much breakage of ship's stores that we'll have to put into Marsport
for new stocks. And on top of all that, you insulted me within the
hearing of every man on the ship. I don't mind being insulted by
Planeteers. I'm used to it. But when it's done over the communications
system, it's bad for discipline."
Rip tried to keep a straight face. He said mildly, "Sir, I'm surprised
you even give me a chance to explain."
"I wouldn't have," O'Brine said frankly. "I would have shot off a special
message to Earth, relieving you of command and asking for Discipline
Board action. But when I saw those Connie prisoners, I knew there was
more to this than just a young space pup going vack-wacky."
"There was, Commander." Rip recited the events of the past few hours
while the Irishman listened with growing amazement. "I had to convince
you in a hurry that we still held the asteroid, so I used some insulting
phrases that would let you know, without any doubt, who was talking. And
you did know, didn't you, sir?"
O'Brine flushed. For a long moment his glance locked with Rip's, then he
roared with laughter.