He released his blast, and the ship turned nose up. Gravity became heavier. The ship plummeted down.
"Here's the last of the jets," Herb hissed, and he eased them in, slowing the fall, slowing it....
Down the ship came.
The Earth expanded and a fantastically fast painter seemed to be sketching in the details of the landscape.
The sun was cut off by the horizon. A few lights sparkled in slowly waking Washington.
The jets sputtered, and the ship slipped; the jets caught, sputtered, and died.
Herb slammed on the low lift controls. The aerodynamically designed platform-like wings spun and hissed against the air. For a long moment, Herb was afraid they would not brake the fall, but the lifts caught, and the ship jerked, and Herb felt the buoyancy through the ship and through his mind and through his body.
CHAPTER XV
Less than five minutes later, they were stationary. The slowing lifts purred and the landing ladder hissed down.