‘Get up front and strap yourself in,’ Nancy shouted, already pulling herself up the other side of the launcher. ‘Move it, Nathan.’

The launcher was entirely open to vacuum, and was little more than a computer-controlled rocket platform with two pairs of seats mounted on its nose. At the rear, four primary nozzles angled outwards from the cargo bay that comprised most of the craft’s volume. As Ty got into his seat, he glanced up and felt relief wash over him like a tide. The Mjollnir was still right where it should be.

A dense cloud of dust was rising from some point just around the curve of the asteroid’s narrow horizon. A fog of ice and grit now covered its surface. Whatever had struck it must have been big.

‘What about Cesar?’ he asked.

Nancy was already strapped in and stabbing at the launcher’s control console. ‘Your guess is as good as mine.’

‘He should have been here at the controls.’

‘We abandoned some equipment at the camp, remember. All I can think is he must have left the launcher running on automatic, and tried to salvage some of that.’ Nancy peered at the panel. ‘Shit, one of the thrusters is out of action. I’m going to have to shut it off and hope I can compensate with the rest. But I’m getting close-to-fail readings on the others, so cross your fingers and hope they don’t turn us into a fireball before we get back to the ship.’

‘Thanks for that thought,’ Ty replied.

‘Just strap in and get ready. This is going to be a rough ride.’

Ty then caught sight of a suited figure drifting close to the asteroid’s surface, partially obscured by the clouds of grit and ice. It took a few moments before he realized with a shock that the lower half of Cesar’s body was missing. He pointed this out to Nancy and she cursed. ‘He should have stayed with the damn launcher.’

‘I guess he must have been hit by debris. We’re lucky the launcher wasn’t wiped out the same way.’

‘Right now, I just want to get the hell out of here before we wind up like him.’

Something flashed out of the sky and the asteroid was struck a second time. A fresh plume of grey dust and ice shot up from its surface.

‘I’m going to perform a fast burn,’ announced Nancy, her voice taking on a hysterical edge. Ty twisted around to look at her, but all he could see was the side of her helmet. Suddenly it seemed important to be able to see her face. ‘Then I’m going to decelerate for thirty seconds,’ she added. ‘Got it?’

‘Got it.’