"Ready, sir."
The Planeteers had already carried away the torch and its fuel and oxygen supplies. The area was clear of pieces of thorium.
Rip announced, "We're setting the explosion for ten minutes." He leaned over the timer, which rested[pg 099] near the lip of the hole, took the dial control in his glove and turned it to position ten. He held it long enough to glance at his chronometer and say, "Starting now!" Then he let it go.
Wasting no time, but not hurrying, he and Dominico returned to the landing boat. The Planeteers were already aboard, except for Koa, who stood by to cast off the remaining tie line. Rip stepped inside and counted the men. All present. He ordered, "Cast off." As Koa did so and stepped aboard, he added, "Pilot, take off. Straight up."
The landing boat rose from the asteroid. Rip counted the men again, just to be sure. The boat seemed a little crowded, but that was because the rear compartment took up quite a bit of room.
Rip watched his chronometer. They had plenty of time. When the boat reached a point about ten miles above the asteroid, he ordered, "Stern tube." The boat moved at an angle. He let it go until a sight at the stars showed they were about in the right position, 90 degrees from the line of blast and where they would be behind the asteroid as it moved toward the new course.
He looked at his chronometer again. "Two minutes. Line up at the side if you want to watch, but darken your helmets to full protection. This thing will light up like nothing you've ever seen before."
It was a good thing space cruisers depended on their radar and not on sight, he thought. Usually[pg 100] spacemen opened up visual ports only when landing or taking a star sight for an astro-plot. The clear plastic of the domes had to be shielded from chance meteors. Besides, radar screens were more dependable than eyes, even though they could pick up only solid objects. If the Consops cruiser happened to be searching visually, it would see the blast. But the chance had to be taken. It wasn't really much of a chance.
"One minute," he said. He faced the asteroid, then darkened his helmet, counting to himself.
The minute ticked off slowly, though his count was a little fast. When he reached five, brilliant, incandescent light lit up the interior of the boat. Rip saw it even though his helmet was dark. The light faded slowly, and he put his helmet back on full transparent.