t wasn't much good, anyway. And, in
the second place, the same energy requirements applied on Eisberg as did
on Chilblains Base. It was easier to cool the helium bath of the brain
if it only had to be lowered 175 degrees or so.

It was a great place for cold-work labs, but not worth anything for
colonization.

* * * * *

Chief Powerman's Mate Multhaus looked gloomily at the figures on the
landing sheet.

Mike the Angel watched the expression on the chief's face and said:
"What's the matter, Multhaus? No like?"

Multhaus grimaced. "Well, sir, I don't like it, no. But I can't say I
_dis_like it, either."

He stared at the landing sheet, pursing his lips. He looked as though he
were valiantly restraining himself from asking questions about the other
night's escapade--which he was.

He said: "I just don't like to land without jets, sir; that's all."

"Hell, neither do I," admitted Mike. "But we're not going to get down
any other way. We managed to take off without jets; we'll manage to land
without them."

"Yessir," said Multhaus, "but we took off _with_ the grain of Earth's
magnetic field. We're landing _across_ the grain."

"Sure," said Mike. "So what? If we overlook the motors, that's okay. We
may never be able to get off the planet with this ship again, but we
aren't supposed to anyway.

"Come on, Multhaus, don't worry about it. I know you hate to burn up a
ship, but this one is supposed to be expendable. You may never have
another chance like this."

Multhaus tried to keep from grinning, but he couldn't. "Awright,
Commander. You have appealed to my baser instincts. My subconscious
desire to wreck a spaceship has been brought to the surface. I can't
resist it. Am I nutty, maybe?"

"Not now, you're not," Mike said, grinning back.

"We'll have a bitch of a job getting through the plasmasphere, though,"
said the chief. "That fraction of a second will--"

"It'll jolt us," Mike agreed, interrupting. "But it won't wreck us.
Let's get going."

"Aye, sir," said Multhaus.

* * * * *

The seas of Eisberg were liquid methane containing dissolved ammonia.
Near the equator, they were liquid; farther north, the seas became
slushy with crystallized ammonia.

The site picked for the new labs of the Computer Corporation of Earth
was in the northern hemisphere, at 40 deg. north latitude, about the same
distance from the equator as New York or Madrid,