"Let's get
going on part two, right now. Joe?"
"Ready Zip," the lanky Starman responded. He stepped through the
airlock and leaped off the iron surface of the asteroid toward the
derelict. Powered by small jets of oxygen he sped to the ship and
disappeared through the open door.
"Everyone else get busy," called Zip. They ran back through the airlock
to the hangar. The others were already aboard their escape craft. Zip
piloted it through the airlock and kept the ship close to the surface
of the asteroid. The airlock closed behind them. In the meantime Joe
had caused the damaged ship to drift back down toward the asteroid out
of radar range. He and Zip brought the two ships together and made a
link. Joe left the broken ship and joined the others.
"Ready, Zip" he announced, once he was aboard. Zip put the slightest
possible power into the escape ship, then turned the power off. Both
ships began to drift away from the asteroid, so slowly as to be almost
unnoticeable. Zip was hoping that when the pirates saw the blip on
their radar, they would conclude it was the derelict and pay no
attention. He was ready to drift for as long as it took to escape the
notice of the pirates before turning on the power and setting a course
for freedom. But now that the asteroid was not in the Belt any longer,
he knew that they would have to drift for much longer than he had
anticipated.
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