. "Ride it," he said. "Your orders say you're to capture
this asteroid, blast it out of its orbit, and drive it back to earth!"

CHAPTER FOUR - FIRST, FIND THE NEEDLE!

Rip walked into the squadroom with a copy of the orders in his hand. After
one look at his face, the Planeteers clustered around him. Santos woke
those who were sleeping, while Rip waited.

"We have our orders, men," he announced. Suddenly he laughed. He couldn't
help it. At first he had been completely overcome by the responsibility,
and the magnitude of the job, but now he was getting used to the idea and
he could see the adventure in it. Ten wild Planeteers riding an asteroid!
Sunny space, what a great big thermo-nuclear stunt!

Koa remarked, "It must be good. The lieutenant is getting a real atomic
charge out of it."

"Sit down," Rip ordered. "You'd better, because you might fall over when
you hear this. Listen, men. Two days ago the freighter _Altair_ passed
through the asteroid belt on a run from Jupiter to Mars." He sat down,
too, because deceleration was starting. As his men looked at each other in
surprise at the quickness of it, he continued, "The old bucket found
something we need. An asteroid of pure thorium."

The enlisted Planeteers knew as well as he what that meant. There were
whistles of astonishment. Koa slapped his big thigh. "By Gemini! What do
we do about it, sir?"

"We capture it," Rip said. "We blast it loose from its orbit and ride it
back to earth."

He sat back and watched their reactions. At first they were stunned.
Trudeau, the Frenchman, muttered to himself in French. Dominico, the
Italian, held up his hands and exclaimed, "Santa Maria!"

Kemp, one of the American privates, asked, "How do we do it, sir?"

Rip grinned. "That's a good question. I don't know."

That stopped them. They stared at him. He added quickly, "Supplies came
aboard at Marsport. We'll get the clue when we open them. Headquarters
must have known the method when they assigned us and ordered the
equipment."

Koa stood up. He was the only one who could have moved upright against the
terrific deceleration. He walked to a rack at one side of the squadroom
and took down a copy of "The Space Navigator." Then, resuming his seat, he
looked questioningly at Rip. "Anything else, sir? I thought I'd read what
there is about asteroids."

"Go ahead," Rip agreed. He sat back as Koa began to recite what data there
was, but he didn't listen. His mind