ike this _possibly_ work?"

"It's fully Gunthered," Lola explained. "It works itself. That is,
almost all the time. Whenever we land on any planet for the first time,
one of us has to control it. Or for any other special job not in its
memory banks. When you're ready for us to land I'll show you--it's my
turn to work."

"Miss Flurnoy, have they cleared the air over Pylon Six?"

"Yes, sir. Clearance came through five minutes ago. They are holding it
clear for us."

"Thank you. Miss Montandon, you may land at your convenience."

"Thank you, sir." Lola took the pilot's chair. "This is the scanner. I
pull it over my face and head, so. Since I am always in tune with the
field...."

"What does _that_ mean?" Entlore asked, dark foreboding in his mind.

"I was afraid of that. You can't feel an Operator Field. I'm sorry, sir,
but that means you can't handle these forces and never will be able to.
Certain Gunther areas of your brain are inoperative. On our scale you
are a Gunther First...."

"On ours, I'm an Esper Ten, the highest rating in the world--except for
a few theoretical crackpots who.... Excuse me, please, I shouldn't have
said that, in view of what I see happening here."

"No offense taken, sir. Those who developed the Gunther Drive were
crackpots until they got the first starship out into space. But with
this scanner on, I think of where I want to look and I can see it. I
then think the ship a few miles sidewise--so--and we are now directly
over your Pylon Six. I'm starting down, but I won't go into free fall."

Apparent weight grew less and less, until: "This is about enough for
you, Miss Flurnoy?"

"Just," the ComOff agreed, with a gulp. "One pound less and I'm afraid
I'll upchuck that lovely lunch I just ate."

"We're going fast enough now. Everyone sitting down? Brace yourselves,
please. You'll be about fifty percent overweight for a while."

* * *

As bodies settled deeper into cushions Entlore sent Garlock a
thought. "We three weigh about five hundred pounds. You lifted
us--instantaneously or nearly so, but I'll pass the question of
acceleration for the moment--eleven hundred miles straight up. How did
you repeal the Law of Conservation?"

"We didn't. We have fusion engines of twenty million horsepower. Our
Operator Field, which has a radius of fifteen thousand miles and is
charged to an electrogravitic potential of one hundred thousand gunts,
stores energy. Its act