sir?.
"I was wondering which of those two was the murderer...
"Murderer, sir?" I said.
"Murderer, Gratz. I said and I mean it. Surely you didn't think those deaths were natural?.
"They seemed natural..."
"They were well enough managed but there was too much coincidence. Somebody was out to wreck this trip and kill us all...
"I don't see—.
"Think, man, think," he interrupted. "Suppose the secret of the Nuntia got out in spite of all our care? There are plenty of people who would want her to fail...
I flatter myself that I managed my surprise rather well.
"Metallic Industries, you mean?.
"Yes, and others. No one knows what may be the outcome of this voyage. There are a lot of people who find the world very comfortable as it is and would like to keep it so. Suppose they had planted one of those men aboard?.
I shook my head doubtfully. "It wouldn't do. It'd be suicide. One man couldn't get this ship back to Earth...
"Nevertheless I'm convinced that either Willis or Trail was planted here to stop us from succeeding...
The idea that both the men were genuinely scared and wanted only to get back to Earth had never struck him. I saw no reason to let it.
"Anyway," he added, "we've settled with the murdering swine now—at the cost of three good honest men...
He took some charts from a drawer. "Now come along, Gratz. We must get to work on this navigation. Who knows but that all our lives may soon depend on you...
"Who indeed, sir," I agreed.
STEALING THE SHIP
Another fortnight passed before the Nuntia at last dipped her nose into the clouds which had always made the nature of Venus' surface a matter for surmise. By circling the planet several times, Captain Tanner contrived to reduce our headlong hurtling to a manageable speed.
After I had taken a sample of the atmosphere—(which proved almost identical with that of Earth)—I took my place close beside him, gaining a knowledge of how the ship must be handled in the air. When the clouds closed in on our windows to obscure the universe we were travelling at a little more than two hundred miles an hour. Despite our extended wings we required the additional support of vertical rockets.
The Captain dropped cautiously upon a long slant. This, he told me, would be the most nerveracking part of the entire trip. There was no telling how far the undersides of the clouds were from the planet's surface. He could depend on nothing but luck to keep the ship clear of mountains which might lurk unseen in our path.
He sat tensely at the control board, peering into the baffling mist, ready at a moment's notice to change his course although we both knew that the sight of an obstacle would mean that it was too late. The few minutes we spent in the clouds seemed interminable.
My senses drew so taut that it seemed they must snap. And then, when I felt that I could not stand it a moment longer, the vapours thinned, dropped behind and we swept down at last upon a Venusian landscape.
Only it was not a landscape, for in every direction stretched the sea—a grey, miserable waste. Even our relief could not make the scene anything but dreary. Heavy rain drove across the view in thick rods, slashing at the windows and pitting the troubled water.
Leadgrey clouds, heavy with unshed moisture, seemed to press down like great, gorged sponges which would wipe everything clean. Nowhere was there a darkling line to suggest land. The featureless horizon which we saw dimly through the rain was a watery circle.
The Captain levelled out and continued straight ahead at a height of a few hundred feet above the surface. There was nothing for it but to go on and hope that we should strike land of some kind. For hours we did, and for the difference it made to the scene we might have been stationary. It was just a matter of luck.
Unknowingly, we must have taken a line on which the open sea lay straight before us for thousands of miles. The rain, the vastness of the ocean and the reaction from our
"I was wondering which of those two was the murderer...
"Murderer, sir?" I said.
"Murderer, Gratz. I said and I mean it. Surely you didn't think those deaths were natural?.
"They seemed natural..."
"They were well enough managed but there was too much coincidence. Somebody was out to wreck this trip and kill us all...
"I don't see—.
"Think, man, think," he interrupted. "Suppose the secret of the Nuntia got out in spite of all our care? There are plenty of people who would want her to fail...
I flatter myself that I managed my surprise rather well.
"Metallic Industries, you mean?.
"Yes, and others. No one knows what may be the outcome of this voyage. There are a lot of people who find the world very comfortable as it is and would like to keep it so. Suppose they had planted one of those men aboard?.
I shook my head doubtfully. "It wouldn't do. It'd be suicide. One man couldn't get this ship back to Earth...
"Nevertheless I'm convinced that either Willis or Trail was planted here to stop us from succeeding...
The idea that both the men were genuinely scared and wanted only to get back to Earth had never struck him. I saw no reason to let it.
"Anyway," he added, "we've settled with the murdering swine now—at the cost of three good honest men...
He took some charts from a drawer. "Now come along, Gratz. We must get to work on this navigation. Who knows but that all our lives may soon depend on you...
"Who indeed, sir," I agreed.
STEALING THE SHIP
Another fortnight passed before the Nuntia at last dipped her nose into the clouds which had always made the nature of Venus' surface a matter for surmise. By circling the planet several times, Captain Tanner contrived to reduce our headlong hurtling to a manageable speed.
After I had taken a sample of the atmosphere—(which proved almost identical with that of Earth)—I took my place close beside him, gaining a knowledge of how the ship must be handled in the air. When the clouds closed in on our windows to obscure the universe we were travelling at a little more than two hundred miles an hour. Despite our extended wings we required the additional support of vertical rockets.
The Captain dropped cautiously upon a long slant. This, he told me, would be the most nerveracking part of the entire trip. There was no telling how far the undersides of the clouds were from the planet's surface. He could depend on nothing but luck to keep the ship clear of mountains which might lurk unseen in our path.
He sat tensely at the control board, peering into the baffling mist, ready at a moment's notice to change his course although we both knew that the sight of an obstacle would mean that it was too late. The few minutes we spent in the clouds seemed interminable.
My senses drew so taut that it seemed they must snap. And then, when I felt that I could not stand it a moment longer, the vapours thinned, dropped behind and we swept down at last upon a Venusian landscape.
Only it was not a landscape, for in every direction stretched the sea—a grey, miserable waste. Even our relief could not make the scene anything but dreary. Heavy rain drove across the view in thick rods, slashing at the windows and pitting the troubled water.
Leadgrey clouds, heavy with unshed moisture, seemed to press down like great, gorged sponges which would wipe everything clean. Nowhere was there a darkling line to suggest land. The featureless horizon which we saw dimly through the rain was a watery circle.
The Captain levelled out and continued straight ahead at a height of a few hundred feet above the surface. There was nothing for it but to go on and hope that we should strike land of some kind. For hours we did, and for the difference it made to the scene we might have been stationary. It was just a matter of luck.
Unknowingly, we must have taken a line on which the open sea lay straight before us for thousands of miles. The rain, the vastness of the ocean and the reaction from our
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