"You're too close to us for them to move fast. They'll have to use time
accelerating and decelerating. The _Sagittarius_ should arrive in
something less than two hours and the _Aquila_ a few minutes later."
The communicator paused, then continued. "One thing more, Foster. The
Connies know how badly we want that asteroid, but they also know we don't
want it enough to start a war. Got that?"
"Got it," Rip stated wryly. "I got it good. Thanks for the warning, Terra
base. Foster off."
"Terra base off. Stay out of high vack."
Fine advice, if it could be taken. Rip stared up at the brilliant stars,
thinking fast. The Connie would have almost an hour's lead on the
space-patrol cruisers. In that hour, if the Connie were willing to pay
the price in blasted snapper-boats, Consops would have the asteroid. And
Terra base had made it clear that the space patrol would not try to blast
the Connie cruiser, because that would mean war.
Added together, the facts said just one thing: They had one hour in which
to think of some way to hold off the Connies for an additional hour.
The Planeteers were clustered around him. Rip asked grimly, "Any of you
ever study the ancient art of magic?"
The Planeteers remained silent and tense.
"Magic is what we need," Rip told them. "We have to make the whole
asteroid disappear, or else we have to conjure up a space cruiser out
of the thorium. Otherwise, we have barely an hour till we're either
prisoners or dead!"