Chapter 20: On the Platform

There were two things Rip could see from his hospital bed on the space platform. One was the great curve of Earth. He was anxious to get out of the hospital and back to Terra.

The second thing was the asteroid. Spacemen were at work on it, slowly cutting it to pieces. The pieces were small enough to be carried back to Earth in supply rockets. It would be a long time before the asteroid was completely cut up and transported to Terra base.

Sergeant Major Koa came into the hospital ward and sat on Rip’s bed. The plastifoam mattress compressed under his weight. “How are you feeling, sir?”

“Pretty good,” Rip replied. The worst of the radiation sickness was over, and he was mending fast. Here and there were little bloodstains, just below the surface of his skin, and he had no more hair than a plastic ball. Otherwise he looked normal. The stains would go away, and his hair would grow back in a few weeks.

Santos, now officially a sergeant, was in the same condition. The rest of Rip’s Planeteers had resumed duties on the space platform. He saw them frequently, because they made a point of dropping in whenever they were near the hospital area.

Koa looked out at the asteroid. “I sort of hate to see that rock cut up. There isn’t much about a chunk of thorium to get sentimental over, but after fighting for it the way we did, it doesn’t seem right to cut it into blocks.”

“I know how you feel,” Rip admitted, “but, after all, that’s what we brought it back for.”

He studied Koa’s dark face. The sergeant major had something on his mind. “Got vack worms chewing at you?” he asked. Vack worms were a spaceman’s equivalent of “the blues.”

“Not exactly, sir. I happened to overhear the doctor talking today. You’re due for a leave in a week.”

“That’s good news!” Rip exclaimed. “You’re not unhappy about it, are you?”

Koa shrugged. “We were all hoping we’d be together on our next assignment. The gang liked serving under you. But we’re overdue for shipment to somewhere, and if you take eight weeks’ leave, we’ll be gone by the time you come back to the platform.”

“I liked serving with all of you, too,” Rip replied. “I watched the way you all behaved when the space flap was getting tough, and it made me proud to be a Planeteer.”

Maj. Joe Barris came in. He was carrying an envelope in his hand.

“Hello, Rip. How are you, Koa? Am I interrupting a private talk?”

“No, Major,” Koa replied. “We’re just passing the time. Want me to leave?”

“Stay here,” Barris said. “This concerns you, too. I’ve been reassigned. My eight years on the platform are up, and that’s all an instructor gets. Now I’m off for space on another job.”

Rip knew that instructors were assigned for eight-year periods. And he knew that the major’s specialty was the Planeteer science of exploration, a specialty which required him to be an expert in biology, zoology, anthropology, navigation and astrogation, and land fighting--not to mention a half dozen lesser things. Only ten Planeteers rated expert in exploration, and all were captains or majors.

“Where are you going?” Rip asked. “Off to explore something?”

“That’s it.” Major Barris smiled. “Remember once I said that when they gave me the job of cleaning up the goopies on Ganymede, I’d ask for you as a platoon leader?”