I found a thick, stainless metal tray in the galley and brought it to
her. She looked at her reflection. She held it to her breast with hands
folded over it and closed her troubled eyes.
* * * * *
We recorded the presence of an unknown mass ten days later. It was on
the orbit we had intercepted. The electronic radar screen gave us the
first indication, transmitting its speed and size into figures that
were fed into the calculator. We set the ship on automatic control,
tracking the body by instrument. For the next two weeks we were in a
constantly shortening trajectory.
Our course was navigated by the slower moving stars beyond the planet
as the sleek ship carried us closer, day by day. The discovery of the
planet had snapped Karen out of the lethargic condition she had come to
know as her existence.
Carl worked with her in the lab while we installed the deceleration
cots in the navigation room. The padded chair in the control room was
positioned so I could check our rate of fall in the radar when we came
in tail first. The last two days sleep was forgotten as we spent our
time in front of the screen, watching the image grow larger and larger,
processing the constant readings into the automatic equipment that gave
us specifications on our new world.
It was slightly larger than Earth, with a mass six times heavier
than water. On the last day we began to perceive the variations in
the surface. It was mostly covered with water, with a large land
mass cutting diagonally from the tipped polar cap to the high south
latitudes. Other lands masses were revealed as the planet revolved in
thirty earth hours.
"Look at this," Carl said.
He thrust a rough map towards us. "Here's the distribution of land and
water. It's probably in a stage like the Cenozoic era. These mountains
are rugged, not worn down by wind or weather. Here, this looks like
glacial activity down into the temperate zone."
We studied the penciled map he had drawn. There was no resemblance to
Earth, but when the spectrograph analysis showed vegetation we began to
think of it as home.
How shall I describe what we felt when the ship thudded on solid
ground? My ears were still pounding with the echo of the roaring jets,
as I lay on my back in the chair and watched the radar pip off point
zero. Gravity was a new sensation, pulling me back and making my head
ache as blood rushed to it. The engines had cut out, yet I still felt
the vibration going through it. It was daylight on the planet and
golden brightness poured into the ship.
There was an air of dulled emotion in the others as if they could
absorb only so much newness and no more. I felt it too as I climbed
down to them. We crowded around the porthole talking excitedly.
"What do you make of it," John asked.
I stood by Karen, looking out in silence. We were three hundred and
fifty feet in the air. Below I could see the fin of the tail. Out from
that a carpet of vegetation sloped up to a jungle-like forest of leafy
trees. Everything was blue in color as far as I could see.
"I'd like to walk around down there," Carl said.
"Anything moving?" Paul asked.
"Not that I can see. A few clouds, sort of low over those peaks."