E-text prepared by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan,
and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
()
| Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Analog Science Fact Science Fiction, November, 1962. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed. |
Anchorite
by Johnathan Blake Mackenzie
Illustrated by Schelling
There are two basic kinds of fools—the ones who know they arefools, and the kind that, because they do not know that, areutterly deadly menaces!
The mountain was spinning.
Not dizzily, not even rapidly, but very perceptibly, the great mass ofjagged rock was turning on its axis.
Captain St. Simon scowled at it. "By damn, Jules," he said, "if you cansee 'em spinning, it's too damn fast!" He expected no answer, and gotnone.
He tapped the drive pedal gently with his right foot, his gaze shiftingalternately from the instrument board to the looming hulk of stonebefore him. As the little spacecraft moved in closer, he tapped thereverse pedal with his left foot. He was now ten meters from the surfaceof the asteroid. It was moving, all right. "Well, Jules," he said in hismost commanding voice, "we'll see just how fast she's moving. Prepare tofire Torpedo Number One!"
"Yassuh, boss! Yassuh, Cap'n Sain' Simon, suh! All ready on the firin'line!"
He touched a button with his right thumb. The ship quivered almostimperceptibly as a jet of liquid leaped from the gun mounted in the noseof the ship. At the same time, he hit the reverse pedal and backed theship away from the asteroid's surface. No point getting any more gunk onthe hull than necessary.
The jet of liquid struck the surface of the rotating mountain andsplashed, leaving a big splotch of silvery glitter. Even in the vacuumof space, the silicone-based solvents of the paint vehicle took time toboil off.
"How's that for pinpoint accuracy, Jules?"
"Veddy good, M'lud. Top hole, if I may say so, m'lud."
"You may." He jockeyed the little spacecraft around until he wasreasonably stationary with respect to the great hunk of whirling rockand had the silver-white blotch centered on the crosshairs of the peeperin front of him. Then he punched the button that started the timer andwaited for the silver spot to come round again.
The asteroid was roughly spherical—which was unusual, but notremarkable. The radar gave him the distance from the surface of theasteroid, and he measured the diameter and punched it through thecalculator. "Observe," he said in a dry, didactic voice. "The diameteris on the order of five times ten to the fourteenth micromicrons." Hekept punching at the calculator. "If we assume a mean density of twopoint six six times ten to the minus thirty-sixth metric tons per cubicmicromicron, we attain a mean mass of some one point seven four timesten to the elev