Rip Foster Rides the Gray Planet, Harold L. Goodwin [red white royal blue .txt] 📗
- Author: Harold L. Goodwin
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Rip understood all right. He understood too well. "Got you," he said shortly. "Now what?"
The communicator buzzed. "Take any appropriate action. You're on your own, Foster. Sorry. Sending the cruisers is all we can do. We'll stand by for word from you. If you think of any way we can help, let us know."
Rip asked, "How long before the cruisers arrive?"
"You're too close to us for them to move fast. They'll have to use time accelerating and decelerating. The Sagittarius should arrive in something less[pg 168] than two hours and the Aquila a few minutes later."
The communicator paused, then continued. "One thing more, Foster. The Connies know how badly we want that asteroid, but they also know we don't want it enough to start a war. Got that?"
"Got it," Rip stated wryly. "I got it good. Thanks for the warning, Terra base. Foster off."
"Terra base off. Stay out of high vack."
Fine advice, if it could be taken. Rip stared up at the brilliant stars, thinking fast. The Connie would have almost an hour's lead on the space patrol cruisers. In that hour, if the Connie were willing to pay the price in blasted snapper-boats, Consops would have the asteroid. And Terra base had made it clear that the space patrol would not try to blast the Connie cruiser and take back the asteroid, because that would mean war.
Added together, the facts said just one thing: they had one hour in which to think of some way to hold off the Connies for an additional hour.
The Planeteers were clustered around him. Rip asked grimly, "Any of you ever study the ancient art of magic?"
The Planeteers remained silent and tense.
"Magic is what we need," Rip told them. "We have to make the whole asteroid disappear, or else we have to conjure up a space cruiser out of the thorium. Otherwise, we have a little more than an hour before we're either prisoners or dead!"
Sergeant-major Koa had made no comment since notifying Rip of the call from Terra base. Now he asked thoughtfully, "Lieutenant, can the Connie launch boats this close to the sun? Won't the sun's pull suck them right in?"
Corporal Pederson scoffed, "Naw, Koa. If sun's gravity be that strong, it pull us in, too."
"Not quite, Pederson," Rip corrected. "Koa is on the right track. The pull of the sun is pretty strong. But I don't think it's strong enough to capture boats."
He had figured the asteroid's orbit to pass as close to the sun as possible while maintaining a margin of safety. He had wanted to use the sun's gravity to pick up speed. His regular star sightings had told him several days before that the sun was dragging them.
But Koa had started a train of ideas running through Rip's head. If they could get close enough to the sun so small boats would be unable to break free of its gravity, the Connie wouldn't dare send a landing force. The powerful engines of a cruiser could break loose from Sol's pull, but not the chemical[pg 170] jets of a cruiser's boats.
Rip got his instruments and pulled out a special slide rule designed for use in space. He had Koa stand by with stylus and computation board and take down figures as he called them off.
He recalculated the safety factor he had used when deciding how close to put the asteroid to the sun, then took quick star sights to determine their exact position. They were within a few miles of perihelion, the point at which they would be closest to Sol.
Rip tapped gloved fingers on his helmet absently. If they could blast out of the orbit and drive into the sun ... he estimated the result. A few miles per second of extra speed would put them so far within the sun's field of gravity that, within an hour or so, small boats would venture into space only at their peril.
He reviewed the equipment. They had tubes of rocket fuel, but the tubes wouldn't give the powerful thrust needed for this job. They had one atomic bomb. One wasn't enough. Not only must they drive toward the sun, they must keep reserve power to blast free again. If only they had a pair of nuclear charges!
He called his Planeteers together and outlined the problem. Perhaps one of them would have an idea. But no useful suggestions were forthcoming until little Dominico spoke up. "Sir, why don't we make two bombs from one?"
"I wish we could," Rip said. "Do you know how, Dominico?"
"No, Lieutenant. If we had parts, I could put bombs together. I can take them apart, but I don't know how to make two out of one." The Italian Planeteer looked accusingly at Rip. "I thought maybe you know, sir."
Rip grunted. If they had parts, he could assemble nuclear bombs, too. Part of his physics training had been concerned with fission and its various applications. But no one had taught him how to make two bombs out of one.
The theory of nuclear explosions was simple enough. Two or more correctly sized pieces of plutonium or uranium isotope, when brought together, formed what was known as a critical mass, which would fission. The fissioning released energy and produced the explosion.
But there was a wide gap between theory and practice. A nuclear bomb was actually pretty complicated. It had to be complicated to keep the pieces of the fissionable material apart until a chemical explosion drove them together fast and hard enough to create a fission explosion. If the pieces weren't brought together rapidly enough, the mass would fission in a slow chain reaction and no explosion would result.
Rip was trained in scientific analysis. He tackled the problem logically, considering the design of a[pg 173] nuclear bomb and the reasons for it.
Atomic bombs had to be carried. That meant an outer casing was necessary. Probably the casing had a lot to do with the design. Suppose no casing were required? What would be needed?
He took the stylus and computation board from Koa and jotted down the parts required. First, two or more pieces of plutonium large enough to form a critical mass. Second, a neutron source—some material with the type of radioactivity that produced neutrons—to start the reaction. Third, some kind of neutron reflector. And fourth, explosive to drive the pieces together.
Did they have all those items? He checked them off. Their single five KT bomb contained at least enough plutonium for two critical masses, if brought together inside a good neutron reflector. Each mass should give about a two kiloton explosion. And they did have a good neutron reflector—nuclite. There wasn't anything better for the purpose.
"What have we got for a neutron source?" he asked aloud. He was really asking himself, but he got a quick answer from Koa.
"Sir, some of the stuff left in the craters from the other explosions gives off neutrons."
"You're right," Rip agreed instantly. A small piece from one of the craters, when combined with half of the neutron source in the bomb, should be enough. As for the explosive, they had exploding heads on[pg 174] their attack rockets.
In other words, he had what he needed—except for a method of putting all the pieces together to create a bomb.
If only they had a tube of some sort that would withstand the chemical explosion—the one that brought the critical mass together!
He told the Planeteers what he had been thinking, then asked, "Any ideas for a tube?"
"How about a tube from the snapper-boat?" Santos suggested.
Rip shook his head. "Not strong enough. They're designed to withstand the slow push of rocket fuel, not the fast rap of an explosion. When I say slow, I mean slow-burning when compared with explosive. Who has another idea?"
Kemp, the expert torchman, said, "Sir, I can burn you a tube into the asteroid."
Rip grabbed the Planeteer so hard they both floated upward. "Kemp, that's wonderful! That's it!" The details took form in his mind even as he called orders. "Dominico, tear down that bomb. Santos, remove two heads from your rockets and wire them to explode on electrical impulse. Kemp, we'll want the tube just a fraction of an inch wider than a rocket head. Get your torch ready."
He took the stylus and began calculating. He talked as he worked, telling the Planeteers exactly what they were up against. "I'm figuring out where[pg 175] to put the charge so it will do the most good, but my data isn't complete. If our homemade bomb goes off, I don't know exactly how much power it will give. If it gives too much, we'll be driven so close to the sun well never get free of its gravity."
Bradshaw, the English Planeteer, said mildly, "Don't worry, Lieutenant. We're caught either way. If it isn't the solar frying pan, it's Connie fire."
A chorus of agreement came from the other Planeteers. What a crew! Rip thought. What a great gang of space pirates!
He finished his calculations and found the exact spot where Kemp would cut. A few feet away from the spot was a thick pyramid of thorium. That would do, and they could cut into it horizontally instead of drilling straight down. He pointed to it. "Let's have a hole straight in for six feet. And keep it straight, Kemp. Allow enough room for a lining of nuclite. Koa, pull a sheet of nuclite out of the cave and cut it to size."
Kemp's torch already was slicing into the metal. Rip asked, "Can you weld with that thing, Kemp?"
"Just show me what you want, sir."
"Good." Rip motioned to Trudeau. "Frenchy, we'll need a strong rod at least eight feet long."
The French Planeteer hurried off. Rip consulted his chronometer. Less than ten minutes had passed since the call from Terra base.
He went over his plan again. It had to work! If[pg 176] it didn't, asteroid and Planeteers would end up as subatomic particles in the sun's photosphere, because he had calculated his blast to drive the asteroid past the limit of safety. It was the only way he could be sure of putting them beyond danger from Connie landing boats or snapper-boats. The Connie would have only one chance—to bring his cruiser down on the asteroid.
If he tried that, Rip thought grimly, he would get a surprise. The second nuclear charge would be set, ready to be fired. The Connie cruiser was so big that no matter how it pulled up to the asteroid, some part of it would be close enough to the charge to be blown into space dust. No cruiser could survive an atomic explosion within five hundred yards, and the Connie would have to get closer to the nuclear charge than that.
Dominico reported that the bomb had been dismantled. Rip went to it and examined the raw
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