Rip Foster in Ride the Gray Planet

by Harold L. Goodwin

The Connie commander grunted. He was afraid, Rip realized. The Connie suspected a trick, and he had no idea what it might be.

Galliene saw Rip's black uniform and hurried to shake his hand. "So this is the young lieutenant who is responsible! Lieutenant, today the spacemen honor the Planeteers because of you. Most days we fight each other, but today we fight together, eh? I am glad to meet you!"

"And I'm glad to meet you, sir," Rip returned. He liked the twinkle in the Frenchman's eye. He would have given a lot to know what scheme Galliene and MacFife had cooked up.

The Connie had overheard Galliene's greeting. He glared at Rip. The Frenchman saw the look and smiled happily. "Ah, you do not know each other? Commander, I have the honor to make known Lieutenant Foster of the Federation Special Order Squadrons. He is in command on the asteroid."

The Connie blurted, "So! I send boats to help you, and you fire on them!"

So that was to be the Consops story! Rip thought quickly, then held up his hand in a shocked gesture that would have done credit to the Frenchman. "Oh, no, Commander! You misunderstand. We had no way of communicating by radio, so I did the only thing we could do. I fired rockets as a warning. We didn't want your boats to get caught in a nuclear explosion."

He shrugged. "It was very unlucky for us that the sun threw my gunner's aim off and he hit your boats—quite by accident."

MacFife coughed to cover up a chuckle. Galliene hid a smile by stroking his moustache.

The Connie commander growled, "And I suppose it was accident that you took my men prisoner?"

"Prisoner?" Rip looked bewildered. "We took no prisoners. When your boats arrived, the men asked if they might not join us. They claimed refuge, which we had to give them under interplanetary law."