him hurriedly got into space suits and opened
up.

"It's Terra base calling on the communicator, sir," Koa reported. "Urgent
message, they said, and they want to talk to you, personally."

Rip hurried to the base cave. The communicator indicator light was glowing
red. He plugged in his helmet circuit and said, "This is Lieutenant
Foster. Go ahead."

A voice crackled across space from earth. "This is Terra base. Foster, a
Consops cruiser has apparently been hiding behind the sun waiting for you.
Our screens just picked it up, heading your way. We've sent orders to the
_Sagittarius_ on Mercury to give you cover, and the _Aquila_ has taken off
from here. But get this, Foster. The Consops cruiser will reach you first.
You have about one hour. Do you understand?"

Rip understood all right. He understood too well. "Got you," he said
shortly. "Now what?"

The communicator buzzed. "Take any appropriate action. You're on your own,
Foster. Sorry. Sending the cruisers is all we can do. We'll stand by for
word from you. If you think of any way we can help, let us know."

Rip asked, "How long before the cruisers arrive?"

"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 and take back the asteroid, 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