Sergeant-major Koa had made no comment since notifying Rip of the call from Terra base. Now he asked thoughtfully, "Lieutenant, can the Connie launch boats this close to the sun? Won't the sun's pull suck them right in?"
Corporal Pederson scoffed, "Naw, Koa. If sun's gravity be that strong, it pull us in, too."
"Not quite, Pederson," Rip corrected. "Koa is on the right track. The pull of the sun is pretty strong. But I don't think it's strong enough to capture boats."
He had figured the asteroid's orbit to pass as close to the sun as possible while maintaining a margin of safety. He had wanted to use the sun's gravity to pick up speed. His regular star sightings had told him several days before that the sun was dragging them.
But Koa had started a train of ideas running through Rip's head. If they could get close enough to the sun so small boats would be unable to break free of its gravity, the Connie wouldn't dare send a landing force. The powerful engines of a cruiser could break loose from Sol's pull, but not the chemical[pg 170] jets of a cruiser's boats.
Rip got his instruments and pulled out a special slide rule designed for use in space. He had Koa stand by with stylus and computation board and take down figures as he called them off.
He recalculated the safety factor he had used when deciding how close to put the asteroid to the sun, then took quick star sights to determine their exact position. They were within a few miles of perihelion, the point at which they would be closest to Sol.
Rip tapped gloved fingers on his helmet absently. If they could blast out of the orbit and drive into the sun ... he estimated the result. A few miles per second of extra speed would put them so far within the sun's field of gravity that, within an hour or so, small boats would venture into space only at their peril.
He reviewed the equipment. They had tubes of rocket fuel, but the tubes wouldn't give the powerful thrust needed for this job. They had one atomic bomb. One wasn't enough. Not only must they drive toward the sun, they must keep reserve power to blast free again. If only they had a pair of nuclear charges!
He called his Planeteers together and outlined the problem. Perhaps one of them would have an idea. But no useful suggestions were forthcoming until little Dominico spoke up. "Sir, why don't we make two bombs from one?"