Then, giving each team a kit, he ordered them to the jet
boats.
Just before the crew of Earthmen left the _Polaris_, Connel gave them
last-minute instructions.
"Report back to the _Polaris_ in one hour. Make as many tests as you can
over as wide an area as possible. Don't forget to leave one man in the
jet boat while the other is making the test. Keep your audio
communicator in the jet boat on at all times. And be sure your belt
communicator is always open. Check your oxygen supply and space suits.
All clear?"
One by one, the spacemen checked in through the audio communicators that
all was clear. The sliding hatch on the side of the _Polaris_ was
opened, and the jet boats blasted out into the brilliant sunlight of
Alpha Centauri, going in three different directions.
Tom piloted his small craft over the rugged surface of the satellite,
circling the larger peaks and swooping into the small valleys. Connel
would indicate when it was time to stop, and Tom would set the craft
down. While Connel made the tests, Tom would talk to the others over the
audio communicators. The three small ships covered the satellite quickly
in evenly divided sections, reporting their readings on the needlelike
instrument to Connel, who kept recording the reports on a pad at his
knee.
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