“I’ve been thinking of that,” interrupted Lackland. “I think you’d better come up here as soon as the wind drops sufficiently. I can give you another set — perhaps it would be better if you had several. I gather that the journey you will be taking for us will be dangerous, and I know for myself it will be long enough. Thirty-odd thousand miles as the crow flies, and I can’t yet guess how far by ship and overland.”
Lackland’s simile occasioned a delay; Barlennan wanted to know what a crow was, and also flying. The first was the easier to get across. Flying for a living creature, under its own power, was harder for him to imagine than throwing — and the thought was more terrifying. He had regarded Lack-land’s proven ability to travel through the air as something so alien that it did not really strike home to him. Lackland saw this, partly.
“There’s another point I want to take up with you,” he said. “As soon as it’s clear enough to land safely, they’re bringing down a crawler. Maybe watching the rocket land will get you a little more used to the whole flying idea.”
“Perhaps,” Barlennan answered hesitantly. “I’m not sure I want to see your rocket land. I did once before, you know, and — well, I’d not want one of the crew to be there at the time.”
“Why not? Do you think they’d be scared too much to be useful?”
“No.” The Mesklinite answered quite frankly. “I don’t want one of them to see me as scared as I’m likely to be.”
“You surprise me, Commander.” Lackland tried to give his words in a jocular tone. “However, I understand your feelings, and I assure you that the rocket will not pass above you. If you will wait right next to.the wall of my dome I will direct its pilot by radio to make sure of that.”
“But how close to overhead will it come?”
“A good distance sideways, I promise. That’s for my own safety as well as your comfort. To land on this world, even here at the equator, it will be necessary for him to be using a pretty potent blast. I don’t want it hitting my dome, I can assure you.”
“All right. I will come. As you say, it would be nice to have more radios. What is this ‘crawler’ of which you speak?”