t come." It had been, of course, because
Cochrane would not risk taking Babs through a forest in which trees were
falling. "We finally had to choose between taking off and crashing. So
we took off."

"That was quite right. We'd all be messed up if you hadn't," Cochrane
told him.

Jones waved his hands.

"I didn't think we could ever find you again. We were sixty light-years
away when that booster effect died out. Then Doctor Holden got on the
communicator. He got Earth. The astronomers back there located us and
gave us the line to get back by. We found the planet. Even then I didn't
see how we'd pick out the valley. But Doc had had 'em checking the shots
we transmitted as we were making our landing. We had the whole first
approach on film-tape. They put a crowd of map-comparators to work. We
went in a Space Platform orbit around the planet, transmitting what we
saw from out there--they figured the orbit for us, too--and they checked
what we transmitted against what we'd photographed going down. So they
were able to spot the exact valley and tell us where to come down. We
actually spotted this valley last night, but we couldn't land in the
dark."

Cochrane felt abashed.

"I couldn't have done that job," he admitted, "so I didn't think anybody
could. Hm. Didn't all this cost a lot of fuel?"

Jones actually smiled.

"I worked out something. We don't use as much fuel as we did. We're
probably using too much now. Al--go ahead and lift. I want to check what
the new stuff does, anyhow. Take off!"

The pilot threw a switch, and Jones threw another, a newly installed
one, just added to his improvised control-column. A light glowed
brightly. Al pressed one button, very gently. A roaring set up outside.
The ship started up. There was practically no feeling of acceleration,
this time. The ship rose lightly. Even the rocket-roar was mild indeed,
compared to its take-off from Luna and the sound of its first landing on
the planet just below.

Cochrane saw the valley floors recede, and mountain-walls drop below.
From all directions, then, vegetation-filled valleys flowed toward the
ship, and underneath. Glaciers appeared, and volcanic cones, and then
enormous stretches of white, with smoking dots here and there upon it.
In seconds, it seemed, the horizon was visibly curved. In other seconds
the planet being left behind was a monstrous white ball, and there were
patches of intolerable white sunlight coming in the ports.

A