The babble in the phones grew to a hopeful crescendo for a moment before the captain’s voice resumed.
“Do not become too optimistic however; we have a serious problem before us first. Since we have no power, our ship’s degravitators are useless; therefore if we are to manage a landing at all we must rely upon our suit degravitators. In short, we will abandon ship just as soon as we enter the atmosphere.
“Since our course carries us on a shallow tangent with the planet, and our atmospheric speed will exceed several thousand units per hour, we will be widely scattered when we land. Also contributing to our wide dispersion will be the high surface winds of the planet. Even if we leave as quickly as possible to negate the other difficulties, the winds will fling us to all points of the compass; especially as we will be nearly weightless with our degravitators on. It is quite possible that we may be separated by as much as the diameter of the planet.
“In order that we maintain as much fighting force as possible we will tie ourselves together in groups of three; more than that may prove cumbersome and dangerous. Some of the groups may be lost in the oceans. Some may die elsewhere in landing. I can only hope and pray that we all make it.
“The chief navigator will issue maps to each group designating the rendezvous point on the planet for the entire crew. Proceed to that point as quickly as possible, by any means that you can manage. Good luck for now, and God be with you.”
Illustrated by Arthur Sussman
There was a faint click as the captain signed off. His voice in the intercom was replaced by the excited babble of the crew.
“All right men, knock it off!” the chief navigator ordered through the phones. “Here’s the dope on this operation.”
He walked among the crew handing out the freshly printed maps. The first officer spoke next.