"Suppose they find us while you're gone?" Rip asked.
"It's a chance," O'Brine admitted. "You'll have to take spaceman's luck on that one. But we won't be far away. We'll duck behind Vesta or another of the big asteroids and hide so their screens won't pick up our motion. Every now and then we'll sneak out for a look, if the screen seems clear. If those high-vack vermin do find you, get on the landing boat radio and yell for help. We'll come blasting."
He waved a hand, thumb and forefinger held together in the ancient symbol for "everything right," then ordered, "Get flaming." He stepped through the valve.
"Clear the lock," Rip ordered. "Open outer valve when ready."
"Get Flaming, Foster!"
He took a quick final look around. The pilots were in the boats. His Planeteers were standing by, safety lines already attached to the boats and their belts. He moved into position and snapped his own[pg 078] line to a ring on Dowst's boat. The spacemen vanished through the valve and the massive door slid closed. The overhead lights flicked out. Rip snapped on his belt light and the others followed suit.
In front of the boxlike landing boats a great door slid open and air from the lock rushed out. Rip knew it was only imagination, but he felt for a moment as though the bitter cold of space, near absolute zero, had penetrated his suit. Beyond the lights from their belts he saw stars, and recognized the constellation for which the space cruiser was named. A superstitious spaceman would have taken that as a good sign. Rip admitted that it was nice to see.
"Float 'em," he ordered.
The Planeteers gripped handholds at the entrance with one hand and launching rails on the boats with the other and heaved. The boats slid into space. As the safety lines tightened, the Planeteers were pulled after the boat.