“Why should it?” demanded Vernon.
They sat silently, watching the Twin climb rapidly toward the zenith. Dust spurted in the mine pits as a few tiny meteors plunged down on the asteroid.
“If one of those hit us, it would be over in a minute,” observed Vernon.
“Look!” screamed Vince. “The Twin is falling!”
Vernon jerked his head upward.
The Twin was falling! Falling with a rotary motion around the axis of its length. Even as he watched it seemed to draw closer!
“A meteor,” exclaimed Vince, his voice tense, “a large meteor. Struck it and threw it out of its orbit! That’s the only thing that can account for it.”
“It is bringing the Space Pup back to us!” said his brother.
“It will crush the Space Pup” declared Vince. “Likely smash us, too. It will land smack on top of us.”
“It won’t hurt the Space Pup” argued Vernon. See, it is rotating. The top will be turned toward us when it strikes. The ship will be on top. It will be safe!”
“By God, you’re right,” yelled Vince. “Here kid, we’re getting out of here! Grab a handful of rocks and jump as you’ve never jumped before! At an angle to carry you out over the edge.”
He stooped and scooped up handfuls of rubble.
“Get going!” he screamed at his brother.
Vernon was running. Running with long leaps toward the nearer edge of the planetoid, gaining speed at every leap. Then he shot upward, as if he had been catapulted from a gigantic sling shot. Up and up he went, out and out, until he was a speck against the blackness.
Bouncing along over the surface, Vince put all of his strength into a tremendous leap as he struck the rock beneath with both feet planted firmly. He seemed to be rushing out, away from the asteroid, at an express train speed. Rapidly the bloated space suit encasing his brother seemed to leap to meet him. Then he was floating free in space, looking back at the Twin rushing downward upon the slab of rock he had so recently quit. He could see that the rotary motion of the Twin, probably imparted to it when a meteor had struck with force enough, not only to knock it out of its orbit, but to also reverse its directional spin, had brought the Space Pup to the upper side. The two planetoids were so close now that the ship could not possibly be crushed between them. They were due to crash any moment now and the Space Pup was on top!
He clawed with his hands at empty space, swinging his body around until his back was toward the asteroid. Then with all his strength he heaved a rock straight away from him. With a rush his body moved backwards, slowed down, glided. Another thrown rock and another leap… another… another. Over his shoulder he could see out of the tail of his eye that he was proceeding in the right direction.
A short distance away he could see Vernon also heaving rocks.
Another rock…. but this time his body did not slow to a glide. It kept on moving. He realized that he was falling, that he was influenced by gravity!
Sudden fear assailed him. Had he miscalculated? Had he been captured again by the first asteroid before the Twin had struck? Or had the Twin already struck?
Desperately he attempted to twist about He succeeded and glimpsed jagged rock surface beneath him. The matter of landing without ripping his suit or cracking his helmets ports took all of his attention during the next few seconds.
He struck on his two feet, tumbled and rolled, his arms shielding his helmet. The ground seemed to be pitching and rocking. He could feel it quivering and moving beneath him. Like an earthquake. He gained his feet, but lost his balance again.
As he fell he caught sight of a familiar silvery shape looming large before him, swaying and rocking as the surface of the asteroid swayed and rocked. He was on the Twin, which must have already struck the first asteroid…. and the Space Pup was only a few rods away!
He spread his body flat on the surface to keep from being tossed about as the two slabs of rock, suddenly thrown together with terrific force, danced a jig in space.
Where was Vernon? Had he landed? Or was he miles behind? As soon as the Twin struck, the first asteroid also must have been knocked out of its orbit. Both must now be rushing through space. If Vernon had not been close enough to be captured by the gravity of the two, he would now be somewhere out there in the’ darkness alone, and perhaps helpless.
A wave of illness swept over Vince at that thought. Would he be able to find him in time? Or would he only pick up a corpse, a man floating in space, dead from lack of air?
He raised his head to stare at the Space Pup and a cry of gladness welled up into his throat A man was crawling toward him over the weaving surface. Vernon! His brother…. safe!
Words beat in upon him.
“Vince, are you all right? Vince! Vince, you’re all right, aren’t you?”
“Sure, I’m all right, kid.”
The two crawled together and locked arms.
“We took an awful chance, kid,” said Vince.
“It was the only thing to do,” replied Vernon. “We couldn’t stay and be smashed in the collision.”
Arm in arm, they crawled over the buckling, gyrating world toward the Space Pup.