Rocket from Infinity by Lester del Rey

motionless pauses in which the people acting out this tableau could have been part of the asteroid they were anchored to. Then Jane asked the next question.
    â€œDid you pick up the form, Uncle Homer? Did you pick it up and put it into your pocket and use it to file on Pete’s claim?”
    â€œJane! For heaven’s sake!”
    â€œYou don’t have to get excited, Uncle Homer. Just answer the question. A simple yes or no will do.”
    The man with the rifle had been moving forward.
    He was holding the weapon at a more threatening angle now.
    â€œWhat is this?” he demanded. His voice was deep and quiet. There was a calm, deadly quality about it.
    â€œWe’re trying to get at the truth,” Jane said.
    â€œPossession is the proof,” the man replied. “This claim is legally filed.”
    â€œThat’s right,” Uncle Homer echoed in a weaker, more sullen voice. “I’m surprised at you, Jane. Coming out here and bringing him with you. You know how it is with us. Everybody is down on the Barrys. We’ve got to stick together.”
    â€œShe’s got to stick,” the man with the rifle said. “What else can she do?”
    Uncle Homer turned and glanced uncertainly at the man, then looked back at Jane. “Honey, how would you like to have everything you ever wanted?”
    â€œUncle Homer, I asked you a question. All I want you to do is tell me the truth. Did you steal this claim?”
    â€œListen here, Deeds. This is no time to lose your nerve. The girl’s got to play it our way. If I’ve got it figured right, the kid’s got all the papers on him. Nobody can connect him with the claim if he’s not around to push his complaint. He has an accident…”
    Pete saw Uncle Homer’s eyes harden. He didn’t have the courage to commit murder himself, but with the triggerman’s recklessness to lean on, he would go along with it.
    Pete sat frozen. This was incredible. He’d heard stories of men desperate enough to murder for a rich claim, but he’d never believed them, because no proof had ever been found. The Asteroid Belt was vast—most of it uncharted. Millions of miles of ever-moving, ever-restless rock clusters, where finding a body was next to impossible.
    â€œLet’s quit jabbering and get it over with,” the third man said. It was the first time he’d spoken and now it appeared that he was the leader. Without hesitation, the other man brought up his rifle.
    Left on his own, Pete would have been dead within the next three seconds. But he was not without an ally. As the rifle began moving upward, Jane jammed her foot down on the switch that controlled the movement of the bubble. It snapped into place. The rifle cracked simultaneously and a slug scratched the thick, bullet-proof surface of the bubble and angled down against the rock of the asteroid.
    Another slug followed it; then another, and Pete heard Jane shrieking in his ear. “Move it! Don’t sit there! Do you want to get killed?”
    Uncle Homer was coming closer. With Pete’s possible escape looming as a danger to him, he became more decisive. Had he been able to bring his weight to bear, he might have held the car back long enough for the other two men to come to his aid. Then it would have been a simple matter to prevent its take-off and pry the bubble away with the tools they had available.
    But Pete cut off the magnetic grapple and hit the jet switch with the same motion and the monocar shot upward, Uncle Homer’s hand scraping the sides as it pulled away from him.
    The man with the rifle was still firing, pouring slugs after the car with frantic haste. They smashed against the underplating of the car, but construction heavy enough to stand against Belt conditions stood also against a rifle of the caliber that threw the slugs.
    As they arced away from the asteroid, the third man was already moving toward the scout car they