he
viewscreen, and the long wait began.

He spotted their destination point an hour before the computer had
predicted contact ... at first a tiny pinpoint of reflected light in the
scope, gradually resolving into two pinpoints, then three in a tiny
cluster. Greg cut in the rear and lateral jets momentarily, stabilizing
their contact course; the dots grew larger.

Ten minutes later, Tom could see their goal clearly in the
viewscreen ... the place where Roger Hunter had died.

* * * * *

It was neither large nor small for an asteroid, an irregular chunk of
rock and metal, perhaps five miles in diameter, lighted only by the dull
reddish glow from the dime-sized sun. Like many such jagged chunks of
debris that sprinkled the Belt, this asteroid did not spin on any axis,
but constantly presented the same face to the sun.

Just off the bright side the orbit-ship floated, stable in its orbit
next to the big rock, but so small in comparison that it looked like a
tiny glittering toy balloon. And clamped on its rack on the orbit-ship's
side, airlock to airlock, was the _Scavenger_, the little scout ship
that Roger Hunter had brought out from Mars on his last journey.

While Greg maneuvered the Dutchman into the empty landing rack below the
_Scavenger_ on the hull of the orbit-ship, Johnny scanned the blackness
around them through the viewscope, a frown wrinkling his forehead.

"Do you see anybody?" Tom asked.

"Not a sign ... but I'm really looking for other rocks. I can see three
that aren't too far away, but none of them have claim marks. This one
must have been the only one Roger was working."

They stared at the ragged surface of the planetoid. Raw veins of
metallic ore cut through it with streaks of color, but most of the
sun-side showed only the dull gray of iron and granite. There was
nothing unusual about the surface that Tom could see. "Could there be
anything on the dark side?"

"Could be," Johnny said. "We'll have to go over it foot by foot ... but
first, we should go through the orbit-ship and the _Scavenger_. If the
Patrol ship missed anything, we want to know it."

The interior of the orbit-ship was dark. It spun slowly on its axis,
giving them just enough weight so they would not float free whenever
they moved. Their boots clanged on the metal decks as they climbed up
the curving corridor toward the control cabin.

Then Johnny threw a light switch, and they stared around