“Maybe he’s saying his prayers,” the engineer smirked.
The navigator threw his sextant viciously against the bulkhead.
“Shut up, I said!” he snapped.
“Now hear this! Now hear this!”
Each crewman straightened as the general call activated his individual receiver.
“The captain will address the crew. Attention, please.”
There was a pause, then the familiar voice of the skipper came through.
“Men, there is no need for me to remind you of the gravity of our situation. We have no power, and as we are without communications our chances for immediate rescue are practically nonexistent. The situation, however, is not entirely hopeless.”
The crew stirred in surprise and a murmur echoed through the intercom.
“As you know, we were blown off our course by the blast recoil. We are in a strange sector being drawn into the planet below us. The planetologist informs me that this world has an atmosphere similar to that of our home planet. The gravity and vegetation, too, are very similar. In short, if need be, we can manage to survive there. Even more important than that, however, we have discovered signs of a highly developed culture. The alien sociologist tells me that this planet shows all the earmarks of a seventh-level culture. If that is true, then it means we might very well be able to obtain aid in returning home!”