That's a gas-giant. We'd be squashed if we landed
there--though that big moon looks promising. I think we'd better try
yonder."
"Okay," said Jones in a flat voice. "Center on the next one in, Al, and
we'll toddle over."
Cochrane felt the ship swinging in emptiness. He knew because it seemed
to turn while he felt that he stayed still.
"We've got a show to put on!" he raged. "We've got to fake something--."
Jamison looked aside from his telescope.
"Tell him, Bell," he said expansively.
"I wrote a script of sorts," said Bell apologetically. "The story-line's
not so good--that's why I wanted a castaway narrative to put in it,
though I wouldn't have had time, really. We spliced film and Jamison
narrated it, and you can run it off. It's a kind of show. We ran it as a
space-platform survey of the glacier-planet, basing it on pictures we
took while we were in orbit around it. It's a sort of travelogue.
Jamison did himself proud. Alicia can find the tape-can for you."
He went back to his cameras. Cochrane saw a monstrous globe swing past a
control-room port. It was a featureless mass of clouds, save for
striations across what must be its equator.
Pages:
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230