Accidental Flight

l their instructions, or she hadn't been able to carry them out. The first, probably. She had put the light and scanning circuits out of commission with no tools excep

ght have been able to soften the proper area of the passenger lock. But he didn't. N

an external control of the rocket. There had to be one, at least for

adn't tried to search the rocket dome as he came along, the geepees would be solidly r

ll at large. Perhaps nearby. Woul

hem were caught, there was always a chance. He had to hide, bu

ctivity. The metal pressed hard into the thin flesh that covered his back. I

climb inside and crawl out of sight. Or a grown man who had

a combustion cap wherein the fuel was ignited. But in the

was that

. He wriggled and shoved with his feet until he had forced himself en

noisily into the landing pit. The absence of any other

oth and it was difficult to get much purchase. The going became even

istic sputter, like frying, that the toaster beam

uted Cameron.

ee. And it wasn't going to be easy for Camer

your lights on him. Blind him. Drive him

ed by voice, not radio. That would make it easie

ale. The combustion cap had been retracted, which was a lucky break. His feet slipped. It didn't matter; some

d pull himself free. But if he had arms, he would never have gotten this far. He wriggled until

eet and staggered forward to the control compartment. The

he understood the controls, he bent down and thrust his chin against the gravital dial. Laboriously he turn

onfusion outside. If he did, he had thirty seconds in w

tructions. Emergency instructions. Stand by." Strictly speaking, that wasn'

rsedes previous orders. Additional equipment necessary.

enger lock, brushing against the switch. The airlock opened. He stood boldly

, you can come dow

ed a column, down which he descended. He propelled himself over the floor and u

ter, how di

elf," said Doc

tubes," said Jordan. "But what

aren't very bright; that satisfied them that I was coming in for a landing. What Cameron should have done was splash some heat against a gravital unit, and then, having creat

rrying Cameron with them

must remove any human beings nearby, whether they were willing or not. Y

d Jordan. "But what

ncy landing material. They'll bring her. Nona is supposed to be waiting with Anti." Docchi frowne

ung himse

into sight half pushing, half carrying a huge rectangular tank. With unexpected robotic ingenuity, they had mou

ation. Broken plants still clung to the narrow ledge on top and moist soil adhered to the sides. Five geepees pushed

pen the fr

ivering. A section of the ship hinged outward and downw

n dome where the geepees had released him. His presence added an unwelcome com

n. He took an uncertain step down the ramp, came back, shaking hi

ected onto the ramp. The geepees stopped; their

zzed and looked around, primarily at Docchi. He

ssenger lock!

questioningly f

pees on scanning when they entered the main dome. He's trying to do

k swung ponderous

Jordan ask

t you can get on the

of the tank on the screen. Apparently it was resting where Docchi had last seen it

t out of here," sugge

complete control of them yet." That seemed to be t

l I do?" a

to. I think the engineer is at the wrong angle to broadcast much power to

omplied. "The tank must be p

level of urgency. Their reasoning power was feeble, but the mechanism was complicate

r," whispe

, Jordan

ore important, but suddenly far less powerful, pulled for something else. Circ

ice

The quality of decision, in this case, was str

the ramp," Docchi whispered to

nless, it lay there. The remaining

said

se. The tank picked up speed

yourselves!"

ped from

ly. "I don't think t

-to-asteroid communication,

ordan made th

e us the proper sequence and

was no

nows the airlocks to the main dome will au

dome is safe, if everyone is in there. Voge

ecom and searched the rocket dome. Nothing was moving; no geepee was in sight. D

was no reply

rd voice. "Jordan, take it out. Hit t

covering of the rocket dome. The worst sound was unheard: th

to be sure. Maybe Vogel did have the inner shell out of the way. In that event, it's all right because it would c

ever and the shi

me to get out if he wanted to. But I ke

here was no light at all i

he auto-controls and reduced the gravity to one-quarter Earth normal. He bent his great arms and shoved himself int

blinking at a cabin door. He had to i