To the left and behind was desert, stretching away in the dawnlight,
in every conceivable shade of tawny yellow and red, with blue shadows
behind the hummocks in the sand, and with an utterly cloudless sky
overhead. To the right and ahead was an area of straggling, stunted
vegetation beneath rose-tinted cloud masses with the dazzling white of
snow against the horizon. There were other clouds above the snow.
The drive burbled erratically. The ship dropped like a stone. Then the
drive flickered on, and off, and on and off again so that ship's whole
fabric shook.
Borden threw the drive off and on again and the induction surge of
current cleared whatever was wrong for a moment. They felt the ship
fighting wind pressure that was trying to turn it end over end. Then it
steadied, and nothing happened--and still nothing happened.
The crash came violently. Ellen was flung against Borden and held fast
to him. Jerry collapsed to the floor. Sattell went reeling and banged
against the end wall of the control room.
There was stillness.
Borden stared at the screens, then got up painfully and went to a port.
The ship had landed in soil which seemed to be essentially sand. It
had splashed the soil aside in coming to ground. But it was not desert
sand. There was moisture here. Beyond the impact area a straggling
ground cover grew. It looked like grass, but it was not.
Nearby was one greenish object which looked like a cactus without its
spines. It had a silky covering like down. A little farther on Borden
could see three or four things quite like stunted, barkless trees.
The ground was gently rolling. In the distance the growing light showed
a whiteish haze, and clouds in the sky. All shadows were long and
stretched-out. This was not far from the ice-cap. Indeed, it appeared
that snow was nearby. But from the port on the opposite side of the
ship the beginning of the planetary desert could be seen.
"We're down," said Borden with relief. "Now we've got to find out if
anybody saw us land, and if so, whether they'll insist on killing us or
whether we can make friends."
Sattell said, "You've got to arm me, Borden! Dammit, you can't leave me
unarmed on a hostile planet!"
"I'd like to have four weapons ready instead of three, though if we
have to fight a whole planet even four won't be much good. But I can't
risk letting you have anything dangerous in your hands," Borden said.
Sattell ground his teeth.