Charles L. Fontenay

“ He must abandon the sphere as an asset. Jonner could take that away from him anyhow. On the other hand, if Jonner took over the sphere, Kraag could use the same weapon against him. He could break open the sphere.
So the sphere was no longer a factor. The food and water were no longer a factor, for food and water went with the sphere. He would admit Jonner to equality in those supplies—not full equality, for he could provision himself now more fully than Jonner had been provisioned two Ceres days earlier. He still might pin Jonner down as Jonner tried to get to the sphere for more supplies. ”

“ I'm the captain, so I'm it."
"Well, don't get out of sight," warned Stein. "We don't have an atmosphere here to bounce radio waves over the horizon."
Through the glassite port, Kraag could see Jonner poking around at the asteroid's surface with his steel probe. Against the incredibly curved horizon, Jonner's suited figure leaned at a slight angle under the black, star-studded sky. The distant sun gleamed from the sphere of his helmet.
"Pretty smooth terrain," remarked Jonner. "It's not much of a planet, but it seems to have enough mass to pull down any mountains. ”

“ Jonner, ready, jumped back, and Jonner was a more powerful man. Handling a heat-gun with the hand-hooks of a spacesuit is awkward business, and by the time Kraag could bring the weapon to bear on Jonner and press the trigger, Jonner's distance was such that the ray obviously did no worse than make things uncomfortably warm for him. ”

“ He needed coffee.
"I see you've gone back to the heat-gun," said Jonner. "That's smart."
"You'd like to see me exhaust the fuel tank of your pistol shooting it in the dark, when I can't hit you, wouldn't you?" retorted Kraag. "No, thanks. I'll keep it for long distances."
"Fuel tank? Oh, you mean the magazine." Jonner laughed. "I'd stay away from that old .45 of mine if I were you, Kraag. It's been with me too long. It's a lot more likely to turn on my enemies than to do me any harm."
"Rot!" snapped Kraag. "It's a gun. All I have to do is get the hang of aiming it properly." ”

“ Until he saw the epitaph Jonner had written for Stein, Kraag had thought Jonner looked at this as he did: one man against the other, and winner take all. But Jonner intended to win even if he lost, because Jonner was not fighting just for Jonner's survival but for due process of law.
Jonner was trying to make certain that, even if Kraag killed him, Martian law would punish Kraag for Stein's death. And if Jonner got into the sphere, he could get his message to Marsport or the rescue ship simply by turning on the radio. ”

“ There was a brief period when Stein talked with Marsport, then he got in touch with Jonner. Until Jonner got some distance from the wrecked ship, most of their conversation was an argument.
"I still think two of us ought to go out and one stay at the ship," argued Stein. "Kraag agrees with me. What if you fall into a crevice?"
"There's not much danger, and you've got a directional fix on me," replied Jonner's voice through the loudspeaker. "If we had a large crew, I'd agree we ought to explore in pairs. Since there are just three of us, only one ought to be endangered at a time. ”

“ A rock could be a deadly weapon if Jonner got inside the sphere, too.
At any rate, there was no point in concealing Stein's body from Jonner any longer and Kraag couldn't take chances on it polluting the atmosphere of the sphere. He dragged the corpse from the food compartment, down to the airlock, and pushed it out onto the surface of Ceres. The body settled stiffly to the ground a few feet away.
Kraag removed his helmet and hand-hooks, went back up to the control room and settled himself to watch Jonner. Jonner walked around freely, periodically hurling rocks at the sphere. ”

“ Kraag swore.
"I'm going to blow you off the damned planet," he threatened, and leaped for the gun rack.
"You'll have to come outside to do it," reminded Jonner. "If you try to shoot through the ports, you'll save me a lot of work."
Kraag raced up and down the sphere twice before he had sense enough to turn out all the lights and use the searchlight. Then he located Jonner, clinging to the sphere outside the astrodome on the navigation deck. Jonner had a sledge hammer from the ship's cargo section in his hand. ”

“ The kick of a .45 on an asteroid is pretty powerful. Kraag must have bounced 50 feet backward over the terrain before he slid to rest on his stomach. But he held on to the pistol—and, since he never had a chance to release the pressure of his hand-hook on the trigger, it did not fire again.
When he struggled upright, Jonner was standing at the edge of the fuel tank, watching him.
"Using my gun now, eh, Kraag?" Jonner said. "You'd better stick to weapons you know something about." ”

“ If Jonner broke the hull of the sphere, it could be repaired—by someone working outside, free from interruption by an enemy. Until it was repaired, it would mean that Kraag, too, would have to live in a spacesuit. And Jonner might knock open a hole, or more than one, big enough to permit him to enter the sphere and attack Kraag in the darkness. ”

“ If I have to do that, I'll track you down tomorrow—and I think I can stay outside and fight you away from the sphere tonight."
"Getting desperate enough to fight like a man now, aren't you, Kraag? If you want a showdown today, I'm willing."
Kraag's mind was clear now. He had the situation under control. He glanced around the landscape at the scattered portions of the wrecked ship. There was the cargo hull, burst open, where Jonner had gotten his sledge hammer and the pick to bury Stein. ”

“ Jonner was always so reticent, always required his orders to be obeyed without explanation. During the whole argument about taking an orbit around the asteroid, during the whole time it had taken to spiral down to a crash, he had not told Kraag how he expected them to stay alive until they were rescued. ”

“ Looks like there should be some hills, though. It must have been in a molten state when the original trans-Martian planet was broken up."
"That ought to mean high albedo," said Stein. "Higher than it ought to be."
"Sounds more like Vesta," said Jonner. "Sure we're on Ceres?" ”

“ Then Kraag's remaining advantage lay in the guns. They should be enough. If he could get close enough to use a heat-gun, he could blast Jonner. Jonner's own projectile weapon would keep Jonner out of rock-throwing range, and sooner or later he would hit Jonner with it. ”

“ Stein looked at the notes he had made from the ship's instruments, before the crash.
"The escape velocity was 1,552.41 feet per second," he said, "and the diameter 0.06. I figure the mass at .000108."
"All those figures are off according to the latest table for Ceres," said Jonner.
"The fellows that made that table were on Mars," reminded Stein. "Vesta doesn't have a 480-mile diameter. It must be Ceres."
"You're the navigator," surrendered Jonner. "I'll take your word for it."
The personnel sphere of the ship rested on the ground, tilted at almost a 20-degree angle from the horizontal. ”

“ It would automatically prime itself again after firing. It would fire each time he pressed the trigger now, until it exhausted its projectiles.
Exultant, he laid it carefully in a contour chair, where it wouldn't slide out. ”