owly with distance. In short, its
gravitational potential was high and the ship's Calculator was a
run-of-the-mill model not designed to plot landing trajectories at that
potential range. That meant the Pilot would have to use manual controls.

It would have been wiser to install a more high-powered model, but that
would have meant a trip to some outpost of civilization; lost time;
perhaps a lost secret. The Merchant demanded an immediate landing.

The Merchant felt it necessary to defend his position now. He said
angrily to the Explorer, "Don't you think the Pilot knows his job? He
landed you safely twice before."

Yes, thought the Explorer, in a scout-ship, not in this unmaneuverable
freighter. Aloud, he said nothing.

He kept his eye on the visi-plate. They were descending too quickly.
There was no room for doubt. Much too quickly.

The Merchant said, peevishly, "Why do you keep silence?"

"Well, then, if you wish me to speak, I would suggest that you strap on
your Floater and help me prepare the Ejector."

The Pilot fought a noble fight. He was no beginner. The atmosphere,
abnormally high and thick in the gravitational potential of this world
whipped and burned about the ship, but to the very last it looked as
though he might bring it under control despite that.

He even maintained course, following the extrapolated line to the point
on the northern continent toward which they were headed. Under other
circumstances, with a shade more luck, the story would eventually have
been told and retold as a heroic and masterly reversal of a lost
situation. But within sight of victory, tired body and tired nerves
clamped a control bar with a shade too much pressure. The ship, which
had almost levelled off, dipped down again.

There was no room to retrieve the final error. There was only a mile
left to fall. The Pilot remained at his post to the actual landing, his
only thought that of breaking the force of the crash, of maintaining the
spaceworthiness of the vessel. He did not survive. With the ship bucking
madly in a soupy atmosphere, few Ejectors could be mobilized and only
one of them in time.

When afterwards, the Explorer lifted out of unconsciousness and rose
to his feet, he had the definite feeling that but for himself and
the Merchant, there were no survivors. And perhaps that was an
over-calculation. His Floater had burnt out while still sufficiently
distant from surface to have the fall stun him. The Mercha