Rip Foster in Ride the Gray Planet | Page 6

fighting.
The spacemen carried them back and forth, kept them supplied, and handled their
message traffic. The Planeteers did the hard work and the important work--or so they
believed.
To become a Planeteer, a recruit had to pass rigid intelligence, physical, aptitude, and
psychological tests. Fewer than fifteen out of each one hundred who applied were chosen.
Then there were two years of hard training on the space platform and the moon before a
recruit was finally accepted as a Planeteer private. Out of each fifteen who started
training, an average of five fell by the wayside.
For Planeteer officers, the requirements were even tougher. Only one out of each five
hundred applicants finally received a commission. Six years of training made them
proficient in the techniques of exploration, fighting, rocketeering, and both navigation
and astrogation. In addition, each became a full-fledged specialist in one field of science.
Rip's specialty was astrophysics.
Sergeant Major Koa continued, "That business on the Icarus started the war, but both
sides have been feeding it ever since. I have to admit that we Planeteers lord it over the
spacemen like we were old man Cosmos himself. So they get back at us with dirty little
tricks while we're on their ships. We command on the planets, but they command in
space. And they sure get a great big nuclear charge out of commanding us to do the dirty
work!"
"We'll take whatever they hand us," Rip assured him, "and pretend we like it fine." He
gestured at the other Planeteers. "Tell me about the men, Koa."
"They're a fine bunch, sir. I handpicked them myself. The one with the white hair is
Corporal Nels Pederson, from Sweden. I served with him at Marsport, and he's a real
tough spacewalker in a fight. The other corporal is Paulo Santos. He's from the
Philippines, and the best snapper-boat gunner you ever saw."
He pointed out the six privates. Kemp and Dowst were Americans. Bradshaw was an
Englishman, Trudeau a Frenchman, Dominico an Italian, and Nunez a Brazilian.
Rip liked their looks. They were as relaxed as acceleration would allow, but you got the

impression that they would leap into action in a microsecond if the word were given. He
couldn't imagine what kind of assignment was waiting, but he was satisfied with his
Planeteers. They looked capable of anything.
He made himself as comfortable as possible and encouraged Koa to talk about his service
in the Special Order Squadrons. Koa had plenty to tell, and he talked interestingly. Rip
learned that the tall Hawaiian had been to every planet in the system, had fought the
Venusians on the central desert, and had mined nuclite with SOS One on Mercury. He
also found that Koa was one of the seventeen pure-blooded Hawaiians left. During the
three hours that acceleration kept them from moving around the ship, Rip got a new view
of space and of service with the SOS--it was the view of a Planeteer who had spent years
around the Solar System.
"I'm glad they assigned you to me," Rip told Koa frankly. "This is my first job, and I'll be
pretty green, no matter what it is. I'll depend on you for a lot of things."
To his surprise, Koa thrust out his hand. "Shake, Lieutenant." His grin showed strong
white teeth. "You're the first junior officer I ever met who admitted he didn't know
everything about everything. You can depend on me, sir. I won't steer you into any
meteor swarms."
Koa had half turned to shake hands. Suddenly he spun on around, banging his head
against the deck. Rip felt a surge of relaxing muscles that had been braced against
acceleration. At the same time, silence flooded in on them. Rip murmured
"Brennschluss," and the murmur was like a trumpet blast.
The Scorpius had reached velocity, and the nuclear drive had cut out. From terrific
acceleration, they had dropped to zero. The ship was making high speed, but velocity
cannot be felt. For the moment the men were weightless.
A nearby spaceman had heard Rip's comment. He spoke in an undertone to the man
nearest. His voice was pitched low enough that Rip couldn't object officially, but loud
and clear enough to be heard by everyone.
"Get this, gang. The Planeteer officer knows what Brennschluss is. He doesn't look old
enough to know which end his bubble goes on."
Rip started to his feet, but Koa's hand on his arm restrained him. With a violent kick, the
big sergeant major shot through the air. His line of flight took him past the spaceman, and
somehow their arms got linked. The spaceman was jerked from his post, and the two
came to a stop against the ceiling.
Koa's voice echoed through the ship. "Sorry. I'm