"I was never so glad to see s.p.a.cemen in my life," Rip said truthfully.
"What kind of craft is this, sir?"
"Experimental," the s.p.a.ce officer answered. "It has a number, but we call it the ball-bat because it"s shaped like a ball and goes like a bat. We were about to take off for some test runs around the s.p.a.ce platform when we got a hurry call to come here. The _Aquila_ has two of these. If they prove out, they"ll replace the snapper-boats. More power, greater maneuverability, heavier weapons, and they carry more men."
Rip looked out through the port and saw the two Federation cruisers closing in on the Connie. Apparently the Connie commander had agreed to let the cruisers come alongside.
The ball-bat blasted to the _Aquila_, paused at an open port, then slid inside. The valve was shut before Rip could unbuckle his harness. Air flooded into the chamber, and the lights flicked on. The s.p.a.ce officer gave Rip a hand out of the harness, and the young Planeteer went through the hatch to the deck.
The inner valve opened, and a lean, sandy-haired officer in s.p.a.ce blue, with the insignia of a commander, stepped through. Grinning, he hurried to Rip"s side and twisted his bubble, lifting it off.
"Hurry, lad," he greeted Rip. "I"m MacFife. Get out of that suit quick, because ye don"t want to miss what"s aboot to happen." With his own hands he unlocked the complicated belt with its gadgets and equipment.
Rip slipped the upper part over his head and stepped out of the bottom.
"Thanks, Commander. I"m one grateful Planeteer, believe me!"
"Come on. We"ll hurry right across ship to the opposite valve. Lad, I"ve a son in the Planeteers, and he"s just about your own age. He"s on Ganymede. He and the others will be proud of what ye"ve done."
MacFife was pulling himself along rapidly by the convenient handholds.
Rip followed, his breathing a little rapid in the heavier air of the ship. He followed the Scottish commander through the maze of pa.s.sages that crossed the ship. They stopped at a valve where s.p.a.cemen were waiting. With them was an officer who carried a big case.
"The instruments," MacFife said, pointing. "We"ve tinkered with them a bit, just to make it look real."
"But why do you want to board the Connie?"
MacFife"s eye closed in a wink. "Ye"ll see."
There was a slight b.u.mp as the cruiser touched the Connie. The waiting group recovered balance and faced the valve. Rip knew that s.p.a.cemen in the inner lock were making fast to the Connie, setting up the airtight seal.
It wasn"t long before a bell sounded, and a s.p.a.ceman opened the inner valve. Two men in s.p.a.ce suits were waiting, and beyond them the outer valve was joined by a tube to the outer valve of the Connie ship. Rip stared at the Connie s.p.a.cemen in their red tunics and gray trousers.
One, an officer with two pistols in his belt, stepped forward.
Rip noted that the other Connies were heavy with weapons, too. None of his group had any.
"I"m the commander," the scowling Connie said. "Bring your instruments in. We"ll check them; then you get out."
"Ye"re no verra friendly," MacFife said, his burr even more p.r.o.nounced.
He led Rip and the officer with the instruments into the Connie ship.
A handsome Federation s.p.a.ceman with a moustache, the first Rip had ever seen, stepped into the room from a pa.s.sageway on the opposite side. The s.p.a.ceman bowed with exquisite grace. "I have the honor of making myself known," he proclaimed. "Commander Remy Galliene of the _Sagittarius_."
The Connie commander grunted. He was afraid, Rip realized. The Connie suspected a trick, and he had no idea what it might be.
Galliene saw Rip"s black uniform and hurried to shake his hand. "So this is the young lieutenant who is responsible! Lieutenant, today the s.p.a.cemen honor the Planeteers because of you. Most days we fight each other, but today we fight together, eh? I am glad to meet you!"
"And I"m glad to meet you, sir," Rip returned. He liked the twinkle in the Frenchman"s eye. He would have given a lot to know what scheme Galliene and MacFife had cooked up.
The Connie had overheard Galliene"s greeting. He glared at Rip. The Frenchman saw the look and smiled happily. "Ah, you do not know each other? Commander, I have the honor to make known Lieutenant Foster of the Federation Special Order Squadrons. He is in command on the asteroid."
The Connie blurted, "So! I send boats to help you, and you fire on them!"
So that was to be the Consops story! Rip thought quickly, then held up his hand in a shocked gesture that would have done credit to the Frenchman. "Oh, no, Commander! You misunderstand. We had no way of communicating by radio, so I did the only thing we could do. I fired rockets as a warning. We didn"t want your boats to get caught in a nuclear explosion."
He shrugged. "It was very unlucky for us that the sun threw my gunner"s aim off and he hit your boats--quite by accident."
MacFife coughed to cover up a chuckle. Galliene hid a smile by stroking his moustache.
The Connie commander growled, "And I suppose it was accident that you took my men prisoner?"
"Prisoner?" Rip looked bewildered. "We took no prisoners. When your boats arrived, the men asked if they might not join us. They claimed refuge, which we had to give them under interplanetary law."
"I will take them back," the Connie stated.
"You will not," Galliene replied with equal positiveness. "The law is very clear, my friend. Your men may return willingly, but you cannot force them. When we reach Terra we will give them a choice. Those who wish to return to the Consolidation will be given transportation to the nearest border."
The Connie commander motioned to a heavily armed officer. "Take their instruments. Check them quickly." He put his lips together in a straight line and stared at the Federation men. They stared back with equal coldness.
The minutes ticked by. Rip wondered again what kind of plan MacFife and Galliene had.
Additional minutes pa.s.sed, and the officer returned with the cases.
Wordlessly he handed them to Galliene and MacFife. The Connie commander snapped, "There. Now get out of my ship."
Galliene bowed. "You have been a most courteous and gracious host,"
he said. "Your conversation has been stimulating, inspiring, and informative. Our profound thanks."
He shook hands with Rip and MacFife, bowed to the Connie commander again, and went out the way he had come. There wasn"t anything to say after the Frenchman"s sarcastic farewell speech. MacFife, Rip, and the officer with the instruments went back through the valves into their own ship.
Once inside, MacFife called, "Come with me. Hurry." He led the way through pa.s.sages and up ladders, to the very top of the ship, to the hatch where the astrogators took their star sights. The protective shield of nuc.l.i.te had been rolled back, and they could see into s.p.a.ce through the clear-vision port.
Rip and MacFife hurried to the side where they were connected to the Connie. Rip looked down along the length of the ship. The valve connection was in the middle of each ship, at the point of greatest diameter. From that point each ship grew more slender.
MacFife pointed to the Connie"s nose. Projecting from it like great horns were the ship"s steering tubes. Unlike the Federation cruiser, which blasted steam through internal tubes that did not project, the Connie used chemical fuel.
"Watch," MacFife said.
There were similar tubes on the Connie"s stern, Rip knew. He wondered what they had to do with the plan.
MacFife walked to a wall communicator. "Follow instructions."
He turned to Rip. "Remember, lad, the _Sagittarius_ is on the other side of the Connie, about to do the same thing."
Rip waited in silence, wondering.
Then the voice horn called. "Valve closed!"
A second voice yelled, "Blast!"
A tremor jarred its way through the entire ship, making the deck throb under Rip"s feet. He saw that the ship"s nose had swung away from the Connie. What in s.p.a.ce--
"Blast!"