THE COSMIC COMPUTER

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They made their second, 180-degree turnover while weightless. Then they
began decelerating and approached Koshchei stern-on, and the gravity
gauge began climbing slowly up[Pg 108] again, and things began staying
put, and they were walking instead of floating. Koshchei grew larger and
larger ahead; the polar icecaps, and the faint dappling of clouds, and
the dark wiggling lines on the otherwise uniform red-brown surface which
were mountain ranges became visible. Finally they began to see, first
with the telescopic screens and then without magnification, the little
dots and specks that were cities and industrial centers.

Then they were in atmosphere, and Jacquemont made the final shift, to
horizontal position, and turned the ship over to Nichols.

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For a moment, the scout-boat tumbled away from the ship and Conn was
back in free fall. Then he got on the lift-and-drive and steadied it,