Avery shrugged. "The chronometer stopped. A long time, though. Twenty
hours, perhaps."
Falken went to the controls. "Better go back now. We'll swing wide
of Mercury, and perhaps we can get through." He hoped their constant
velocity hadn't carried them too far for their fuel.
Relief surged over Avery's face. "The size of that Sun," he said
jerkily. "It's terrifying. I never felt...."
He broke off sharply. Something about his tone brought Sheila's eyes
wide open.
Suddenly, the bell of the mass-detector began to ring, a wild insistent
jangle.
"Meteor!" cried Falken and leaped for the 'visor screen. Then he froze,
staring.
It was no meteor, rushing at them out of the vast blaze of the Sun. It
was a planet.
A dark planet, black as the infinity behind it, barren and cruel as
starvation, touched in its jagged peaks with subtle, phosphorescent
fires.