He swiveled his head quickly, searching for Santos, and saw the Filipino a dozen rods away, still holding fast to his tube.
From the far horizon of the asteroid the incandescent fire of the nuclear blast stretched into space, turning from silver to orange to red as it cooled.
Rip knew they had escaped the heat and blast of the explosion, but there was a question of how much of the prompt radiation they had absorbed. During the first few seconds, a nuclear blast vomited gamma radiation and neutrons in all directions. He and Santos certainly had gotten plenty. But how much? Putting their dosimeters into a measuring meter aboard a cruiser would tell them. His low-level colorimeter had long since reached maximum red, and his high-level dosimeter could be read only on a measuring device.
Meanwhile, he had other worries. Radiation had no immediate effect. At worst, it would be a few[pg 206] hours before he felt any symptoms.
As he sized up his position and that of the asteroid, he let out a yell of triumph. His gamble would succeed! He had estimated that going into the direct gravity pull of the sun at the proper moment, and lighting off their last tubes, would put them into a landing position. The asteroid was swerving rapidly, moving into a new orbit that would intersect the course he and Santos were on. He had planned on the asteroid's change of orbit. In a minute at most they would be back on the rock.
His propulsion tube flared out and he released it. It would travel along with him, but his hands would be free. He watched closely as the asteroid drew nearer and estimated they would land with plenty of room to spare.
Then he saw something else. The blast had started the asteroid turning!
He reacted instantly. Turning up his communicator he yelled, "Koa! The rock is spinning! Cut the prisoners loose, grab the equipment, and run for it! You'll have to keep running to stay in the shadow. If sunlight hits those fuel tanks or the tubes of rocket fuel, they'll explode!"
Koa replied tersely, "Got it. We're moving."
The Planeteers and their prisoners would have to move fast, running to stay out of direct sunlight. A moment or two in the sun wouldn't hurt the men, but the chemical fuels in the cutting tanks and rocket[pg 207] tubes would explode in a matter of seconds.