ESCAPE VELOCITY
BY CHARLES L. FONTENAY
It was a duel to the death and Kraag had all
the advantages, including offense and defense.
Jonner had neither, but he employed an old equation
peculiarly adaptable to the situation. And the
proper equation properly worked....
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Worlds of If Science Fiction, October 1954.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
Murdering Stein was easy. Kraag waited until Jonner donned hisspacesuit and went out to have a personal look at the asteroid. Eventhen Kraag held his patience, because he wanted Jonner to come back tothe ship unsuspecting.
Kraag sat tensely at the back of the control room while Stein, thenavigator and communications man, operated the radio. There was a briefperiod when Stein talked with Marsport, then he got in touch withJonner. Until Jonner got some distance from the wrecked ship, most oftheir conversation was an argument.
"I still think two of us ought to go out and one stay at the ship,"argued Stein. "Kraag agrees with me. What if you fall into a crevice?"
"There's not much danger, and you've got a directional fix on me,"replied Jonner's voice through the loudspeaker. "If we had a largecrew, I'd agree we ought to explore in pairs. Since there are justthree of us, only one ought to be endangered at a time. I'm thecaptain, so I'm it."
"Well, don't get out of sight," warned Stein. "We don't have anatmosphere here to bounce radio waves over the horizon."
Through the glassite port, Kraag could see Jonner poking around atthe asteroid's surface with his steel probe. Against the incrediblycurved horizon, Jonner's suited figure leaned at a slight angle underthe black, star-studded sky. The distant sun gleamed from the sphere ofhis helmet.
"Pretty smooth terrain," remarked Jonner. "It's not much of a planet,but it seems to have enough mass to pull down any mountains. Looks likethere should be some hills, though. It must have been in a molten statewhen the original trans-Martian planet was broken up."
"That ought to mean high albedo," said Stein. "Higher than it ought tobe."
"Sounds more like Vesta," said Jonner. "Sure we're on Ceres?"
Stein looked at the notes he had made from the ship's instruments,before the crash.
"The escape velocity was 1,552.41 feet per second," he said, "and thediameter 0.06. I figure the mass at .000108."
"All those figures are off according to the latest table for Ceres,"said Jonner.
"The fellows that made that table were on Mars," reminded Stein. "Vestadoesn't have a 480-mile diameter. It must be Ceres."
"You're the navigator," surrendered Jonner. "I'll take your word forit."
The personnel sphere of the ship rested on the ground, tilted at almosta 20-degree angle from the horizontal. The tilt was no inconvenience,however. Each of the men weighed only five or six pounds here, andslippage was hardly noticeable.
"I'll turn you over to Kraag," said Stein at last, glancing up at thechronometer. "It's my day to fix supper, you know."
It was the signal Kraag had been waiting for. He reached behind him andfumbled in the rack for a gun.
The one he brought out was Jonner's, and it wasn't a heat-gun but theancient pistol Jonner swore by. Kraag put it back hurriedly, but notbefore Stein had turned in his chair and seen it.
"What's up, Kraag?" asked Stein without alarm. "Why the gun?"
Kraag pul