IV
—
The next stage of the adventure came a month afterward. That was when
the mortal danger began.
The sun that men had once named Mimir burned with four times the
brightness of Sol; but at a distance of five astronomical units it
showed tiny, a bluish-white firespot too intense for the unshielded eye.
Covering its disc with a finger, you became able to see the haze around
it–gas, dust, meteoroids, a nebula miniature in extent but thick as any
to be found anywhere in the known universe–and the spearpoints of light
created by reflection within that nebula. Elsewhere, darkness swarmed
with remoter stars and the Milky Way foamed around heaven.
Somewhat more than four million kilometers from the scoutboat, Regin
spread over two and a half times the sky diameter of Luna seen from
Terra. The day side of the giant planet cast sunlight blindingly off
clouds in its intensely compressed atmosphere. The night side had an
ashen-hued glow of its own, partly from aurora, partly from luminosity
rebounding off a score of moons.
They included Wayland. Though no bigger than Luna, the satellite
dominated the forward viewscreen: for the boat was heading straight down
out of orbit. The vision of stark peaks, glacier fields, barren plains,
craters old and eroded or new and raw, was hardly softened by a thin
blanket of air.
Flandry sent his hands dancing over the pilot board. Technically Comet
class, his vessel was antiquated and minimally equipped. Without a
proper conning computer, he must make his approach manually. It didn’t
bother him. Having gotten the needful data during free fall around the
globe, he had only to keep observant of his instruments and direct the
grav drive accordingly. For him it was a dance with the boat for
partner, to the lilt of cosmic forces; and indeed he whistled a waltz
tune through his teeth.
Nonetheless he was taut. The faint vibrations of power, rustle and
chemical-sharp odor of ventilation, pull of the interior weightmaking
field, stood uncommonly strong in his awareness. He heard the blood beat
in his ears.
Harnessed beside him, Djana exclaimed: “You’re not aiming for the
centrum. You’re way off.”
He spared her a look. Even now he enjoyed the sight. “Of course,” he
said.
“What? Why?”
“Isn’t it obvious? Something mighty damn strange is going on there. I’m
not about to bull in. Far better we weasel in.” He laughed. “Though I’d
rather continue tomcatting.”
Her features hardened. “If you try to pull any–”
“Ah-ah. No bitching.” Flandry gave his attention back to the board and
screens. His voice went on, abstractedly: “I’m surprised at you. I am
for a fact. A hooker so tough albeit delectable, not taking for granted
we’d reconnoiter first. I’m going to land us in that crater–see it?
Ought to be firm ground, though we’ll give it a beam test before we cut
the engine. With luck, any of those flying weirdies we saw that happens
to pass overhead should register us as another piece of meteorite. Not
that I expect any will chance by. This may be a miniworld, but it wears
a lot of real estate. I’ll leave you inboard and take a verree cautious
lookabout. If all goes well, we’ll do some encores, working our way
closer. And don’t think I don’t wish a particularly sticky hell be
constructed for whatever coprolite brain it was that succeeded in
packing the impeller cases with oxygen bottles.”
He had not made that discovery until he was nearing Regin and had broken
out the planetside gear Ammon had assembled to his order. You didn’t
need personal flying units on routine surveillance. The last thing you
were supposed to do was land anywhere. They weren’t even included in
your emergency equipment. If you ran into trouble, they couldn’t help
you.
I should have checked the whole lot when we loaded it aboard on Planet
Eight, he thought. I’m guilty of taking something for granted. How Max
Abrams would ream me out! … Well, I guess Intelligence agents learn
their trade through sad experience like everybody else.
After a string of remarks that made Djana herself blush, he had
seriously considered aborting the Wayland mission. But no. Too many