rl nodded. "But that means that in relation to Earth we are ourselves
upside down right now!"

"Of course," said Clyde. "But in space, everything is strictly relative.
We are no longer on Earth. We are a separate body in space, falling
through space toward the Sun."

"Why the Sun?" asked Burl. "I thought our first objective was to be the
planet Venus?"

"It was too hard to get a fix on Venus from so near the Earth. Instead,
we latched on to the Sun to pull us inward. When we are near to Venus'
orbit, we'll reverse and pull in on Venus," was the astronomer's answer.

"Isn't that rather risky?" asked Burl, remembering some of the quick
briefings he had been given. "That's a departure from your plans."

Lockhart looked up quickly. "Yes, you're right," he admitted. "But on a
trip like this we've got to learn to improvise and do it fast. We made
that decision at take-off."

For an instant Burl felt a chill. He realized then what all the other
men on the ship had known all along--that in this flight they were all
amateurs, that everything they did was to be improvisation in one way or
another, that they must always run the risk of a terrible mistake.

Had latching on to the Sun been the first such error?

Chapter 6. _Sunward Ho!_

Gradually the ship settled down to routine. There was, as Burl
discovered, nothing very much to do for most of the crew on such a space
flight. The course was charted in advance, a pattern laid out that would
carry the ship falling toward its objective--falling in a narrow curving
orbit. A certain amount of time would pass during which the ship would
traverse a specific section of this plotted route at a certain rate of
speed or acceleration.

Then, at a specified moment, the speed would be checked, the attraction
of the Sun reversed, and the ship would attempt to brake itself and to
halt its fall toward the great Sun. At such a time as its fall came to a
stop, it should, if the calculations had been correct, be crossing the
orbit of the planet Venus in the same place and at about the same moment
that Venus itself would be. In that way, the ship would arrive at the
planet.

Now all these calculations had been made, and once made, set into motion
on the control panels of the ship. The interval of many days between
actually left little to do, except for making astronomical observations,
checking on the performance of the stellarators, setting a watch against
the damage caused by m