The stars look funny, he thought uneasily.
The timer ticked. The radar whispered, searching. Time passed and his fear grew thicker, less reasonable.
His fingers dug hard at the metal of the instrument panel as the night slipped by outside the hull. The ship's orbital ellipse, Kepler's contribution to the new frontier, was established.
Pete thought, something's wrong. Very wrong. The stars look queer.
The constellations in the telescreens were distorting, and there was something ahead of the ship where there should be nothing but emptiness. It showed in the screen for just an instant and was lost. A ringed sphere.
I must be dreaming, Pete thought. But then, what is reality? That sphere was Saturn. And it was a hundred yards across.
Reality? Insanity!
I'd better check with Base, Pete thought, and tell them I've gone off my rocker, that I'm suffering hallucinations.
But he did nothing except cling shaking to the panel, watching the distorted stars in the screen. They were blurring now, streaks of light that seemed to be very close to the ship.