Even as they watched, a pair of scooters broke from the side of the
Ranger and slid down toward the sun side of the asteroid. "I don't
know," Johnny said. "I think they intended to stay hidden, until Tom
lost control of his bumper, and got far enough around there to spot
them." He frowned as the first scooter touched down on the asteroid
surface.

"Can't we fire on them?" Greg said angrily.

"Not the way this tub is lurching around. They've got our main gyros,
and the auxilliaries aren't powerful enough to steady us. Another blast
or two could send us spinning like a top, and we'd have nothing to
stabilize us...."

There was another flash from the Ranger's hull, and the ship jerked
under their feet. "Well, we're a sitting duck here," Greg said. "Maybe
those engines will still work." He slid into the control seat, flipped
the drive switches to fire the side jets in opposite pairs. They fired,
steadying the lurching of the ship somewhat, but there was no response
from the main engines. "No good. We couldn't begin to run from them.
We're stuck here."

"They could outrun us anyway," Tom said, watching the viewscreen. "And
they're moving in closer now."

"They're going to board us," Tom said.

Johnny nodded, his eyes suddenly bright. "I think you're right. And if
they do, we may have a chance. But we've got to split up.... Greg, you
take the control cabin here, try to keep them out if you can. Tom can
cover the main corridor to the storage holds, and I'll take the engine
room section. That will sew up the entrances to control, here, and give
us a chance to stop them."

"They may have a dozen men," Tom said. "They could just shoot us down."

"I don't think so," Johnny said. "They want _us_, not the ship, or they
wouldn't bother to board us. We may not be able to hold them off, but we
can try."

"What about making a run for it in the _Scavenger_?" Greg said.

Johnny chuckled grimly. "It'd be a mighty short run. That Ranger's got
homing shells that could blow the _Scavenger_ to splinters if we tried
it. Our best bet is to put up such a brawl that they think twice about
taking us."

They parted in the corridor outside control, Johnny heading down for the
engine room corridors, while Tom ran up toward the main outer-shell
corridor, a Markheim stunner in his hand. The entire outer shell of the
ship was storage space, each compartment separately sealed and connected
with the two main corridors that circled the ship