bomb. Fire it whether I'm
back or not."

Koa replied, "Got it, sir."

That would give the Planeteers a minute's leeway. Not much of a safety
margin, especially when he wasn't sure how much power the atomic charge
would produce.

He plugged into the snapper-boat's communicator and called, "Ready,
Santos?"

"Ready, Lieutenant."

He braced himself against acceleration and flipped the speed control to
full power. The fighting rocket rammed out from the asteroid, snapping
him back against the seat. He made a quick check. Gunsight on, fuel tanks
almost full, propulsion tubes racked handy to his hand.

They drove toward the enemy cruiser at top speed, swerving in a great arc
as the sun pulled at them. The enemy's big boat was out of the ship, its
jets firing.

Rip leaned over his illuminated gunsight. The boat showed up clearly, the
rings of the sight framing it. He estimated distance and the pull of the
sun, then squeezed the trigger on the speed control handle. The cannon up
in the nose spat fire. He watched tensely and saw the charge explode on
the hull of the Connie cruiser. He had underestimated the sun's drag. He
compensated and tried again.

He missed. Now that he was closer and the charge had less distance to
travel, he had overestimated the sun's effect. He gritted his teeth.
The next shot would be at close range.

The fighting rocket closed space, and the landing boat loomed large in
the sight. He fired again, and the shot blew metal loose from the top of
the boat's hull. A hit, but not good enough. He leaned over the sight to
fire again, but before he had sighted, an explosion blew the assault boat
completely around.

Koa and Pederson had scored a hit from the asteroid!

The big boat fired its side jets and spun around on course again. Flame
bloomed from its side as Connie gunners tried to get the range on the
snapper-boat.

Rip was within reach now. He fired at point-blank range and flashed over
the boat as its front end exploded. Santos, firing from the rear, hit it
again.

Rip threw the rocket into a turn that rammed him against the top of his
harness. He steadied on a line with the crippled Connie craft. It was
hard hit. The bow jets flickered fitfully, and the stern tubes were dead.
He sighted, fired. A charge hit the boat aft and blew its stern tubes off
completely.

And at the same moment, a Connie gunner got a perfect bead on the
snapper-boat.

Space blew up in Rip's face. The snapper-