oment his glance locked with Rip's, then he
roared with laughter.

Rip grinned his relief. "My apologies, sir."

"Accepted," O'Brine chuckled. "I'm sorry I won't have an excuse for
dumping you in the spacepot, Foster. Your explanation is acceptable, but I
have a suspicion that you enjoyed calling me names."

"I might have," Rip admitted, "but I wasn't in very good shape. The only
thing I could think of was getting into air so I could have my arm
treated. Commander, we've moved the asteroid. Now we have to correct
course. And we have to get some new equipment, including nuclite
shielding. Also, sir, I'd appreciate it if you'd let my men clean up and
eat. They haven't been in air since we left the cruiser."

For answer, O'Brine strode to the operating room communicator. "Get it,"
he called. "The deputy commander will prepare landing boat one and issue
new space suits and helmets for all Planeteers with damaged equipment. Put
in two rolls of nuclite. Sergeant-major Koa will see that all Planeteers
have an opportunity to clean up and eat immediately. The Planeteers will
return to the asteroid in one hour."

Rip asked, "Will I be able to go into space by then?"

The doctor replied. "Your arm will be normal in about twenty minutes. It
will ache some, but you'll have full use of it. We'll bring you back to
the ship in about twenty-four hours for another look at it, just to be
sure."

Sixty minutes later, clean, fed, and contented, the Planeteers were again
on the thorium planet while the _Scorpius_, riding the same orbit, stood
by a few miles out in space.

The asteroid and the great cruiser arched high above the belt of tiny
worlds in the orbit Rip had set, traveling together toward distant Mars.

CHAPTER TWELVE - MERCURY TRANSIT

The long hours passed, and only Rip's chronometer told him when the end of
a day was reached. The Planeteers alternately worked on the surface and
rested in the air of the landing boat compartment while the asteroid sped
steadily on its way.

When a series of sightings over several days gave Rip enough exact data to
work on, he recalculated the orbit, found the amount that the course had
to be corrected, and supervised the cutting of new and smaller holes in
the metal.

Tubes of ordinary rocket fuel were placed in these and fired, and the
thrust moved the asteroid slightly, just enough to make the corrections
Rip needed. It was not necessary to take to the landing boat for th