The others said nothing. It did not look at all encouraging.
The Danaë went in on a spiral descending orbit. Borden looked for other planets. He found a gas giant with a high-speed rotation. It was flattened, oblate. He checked it with the two polar caps on the nearer world and said worriedly:
"If the ecliptic's where I think it is, there'll be no seasons to speak of. I was hoping this planet was near its equinox, because the ice-caps are so nearly the same size."
Ellen said absorbedly, "I think I see a tinge of olive-green around that ice-cap. The smaller one."
"Probably vegetation," agreed her husband. "But I don't see any more. The place does look to be mostly desert."
They went in closer, circling as they headed for atmosphere.
Then Jerry said diffidently: "Could that be ice, there?"
There was a white spot in the middle of the sandy-colored northern hemisphere. It was the size of a pin head to the naked eye. Borden swung a telescope on it. They were nearly above the point now, where day turned into night.
The sunlight fell upon the white spot at a flat angle. If the whiteness were perpetual snow on the tops of mountains, the mountains should cast shadows. But Borden could not make out shadows near the white. Automatically he snapped the telecamera before he gave up the effort to understand the white spot.