THE COSMIC COMPUTER

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    XIII

The ship lurched slightly. In the outside screens, the lights around,
the crowd that was waving good-bye, and the floor of the crater began
receding. The sound pickups were full of cheering, and the boom of a big
gun at one of the top batteries, and the recorded and amplified music of
a band playing the traditional "Spacemen's Hymn."

"It's been a long time since I heard that played in earnest," Jacquemont
said. "Well, we're off to see the Wizard."

The lights dwindled and merged into a tiny circle in the darkness of the
crater. The music died away; the cannon shots became a faint throbbing.
Finally, there was silence, and only the stars above and the dark land