Ride the Planet!
A mighty hand reached out and shoved Rip, sweeping him through space like
a dust mote. He clutched his propulsion tube with both hands and fought
to hold it steady. He swiveled his head quickly, searching for Santos,
and saw the corporal a dozen rods away.
From the far horizon of the asteroid the incandescent fire of the nuclear
blast stretched into space, turning from silver to orange to red as it
cooled.
Rip knew they had escaped the heat and blast of the explosion, but now
there was a question of how much prompt radiation they had absorbed.
During the first few seconds, a nuclear blast sprayed gamma radiation and
neutrons in all directions. He and Santos certainly had gotten plenty.
But how much? His lower-level colorimeter had long since reached maximum
red, and his high-level dosimeter could be read only on a measuring
device.
Meanwhile, he had other worries. Radiation had no immediate effect. At
worst, it would be a few hours before he felt any symptoms.
As he sized up his position and that of the asteroid, he let out a yell
of triumph. His gamble would succeed! He had estimated that going into
the direct gravity pull of the sun at the proper moment and lighting off
their last tubes would put them into a landing position. The asteroid was
moving rapidly, into a new orbit that would intersect the course he and
Santos were on. He had planned on the asteroid's change of orbit. In a
minute at most they would be back on the rock.
His propulsion tube flared out, and he released it. It would travel along
with him, but his hands would be free.
Then he saw something else. The blast had started the asteroid turning!
He reacted instantly. Turning up his communicator he yelled, "Koa! The
rock is spinning! Cut the prisoners loose, grab the equipment, and run
for it! You'll have to keep running to stay in the shadow. If sunlight
hits those fuel tanks or the rocket tubes, they'll explode!"