At least the Connie cruiser couldn't harm them now, Rip thought grimly.
He looked for the cruiser and failed to find it for several seconds. It
had moved. He finally saw its exhausts some distance away.
He forgot his own predicament and grinned. The Connie cruiser had moved,
but not because its commander had wanted to. It had been right in the
path of the nuclear blast and had been literally shoved away.
Then Rip forgot the cruiser. His suit ventilator was whining in the
terrific heat, and his whole body was now bathed in perspiration. The sun
was getting them. It would be only a short time until the ventilator
overloaded and burned out. They had to reach the asteroid before then.
The trouble was that there was nothing further he could do about it. He
had only air bottles left, and their blast was so weak that the effect
wouldn't speed him up much. Nevertheless, he called to Santos and
directed him to use his bottles.