Chapter Eleven - Hard Words for O'Brine
The Scorpius could have taken direct hits with little or no major damage from a hundred rockets of the kind Rip had used, but Commander O'Brine took no chances. When the alarm bell signaled that the outer hull had been hit, the commander acted instantly with a bellowed order.
The Planeteers on the asteroid blinked with the speed of the cruiser's getaway. Fire flamed from the stern tubes for an instant and then there was nothing but a fading glow where the Scorpius had been.
Rip had a mental image of everything movable in the ship crashing against bulkheads with the terrific acceleration.
And in the same moment, the Consops cruiser reacted. The Connie commander was ready to fire guided missiles, when his target suddenly, mysteriously blasted into space at optimum acceleration. There was only one reason the Connie could imagine: his cruiser had been spotted. The ambush had failed. It was one thing for the Connie to lie in ambush for a single, deadly surprise blast at the Federation cruiser. It was quite another to face the nuclear drive ship with its missile ports cleared for[pg 147] action. The Connie knew he had lost.
Rip and the Planeteers saw the Consops ship suddenly flame away, then turn and dive for low space below the asteroid belt in a direction opposite the one the Scorpius had taken. The helmet communicators rang with their cheers.
The young officer clapped Santos on the shoulder and exclaimed weakly, "Good shooting!"
The corporal turned anxiously to Koa. "The lieutenant's pretty weak. Can't we do something?"
"Forget it," Rip said. There was nothing anyone could do. He was trapped inside his space suit. There was nothing anyone could do for his wound until he got into air.
Koa untied his safety line and moved to Rip's side. "Sir, this is dangerous, but there's just as much danger without. I'm going to tie off that arm."