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"Indeed," he rambled on, "Treadmore babbled for Heaven knows how long on the relative occurrence of parahydrogen and orthohydrogen on Eisberg." He took his eyes from the glass and looked down at the girl who was seated demurely on the edge of his bunk. Her smile was encouraging.
It is, as far as we can tell, the only war in human history in which Mankind is fully justified as the invading aggressor. It is not a defensive war; neither space nor other planets have attacked Man. Man has invaded space "simply because it is there." It is war of a different sort, true, but it is nonetheless a war. The Space Service was used to the kind of battle it waged on Eisberg.
The extra help was needed to get the new base established. It was obviously impossible to try to move the Brainchild a hundred miles. With nothing to power her but the Translation drive, she was as helpless as a submarine on the Sahara. Especially now that her drive was shot. The Eisberg base had to be built around Snookums, who was, after all, the only reason for the base's existence.
Sixty seconds later the Brainchild began her long, logarithmic drop toward the surface of Eisberg. Landing a ship on her jets isn't an easy job, but at least an ion rocket is built for the job. Maybe someday the Translation drive will be modified for planetary landings, but so far such a landing has been, as someone put it, "50 per cent raw energy and 50 per cent prayer."
Put him in irons until we are ready to transfer to the Fireball. Thank you." Leda Crannon helped Mike pack his gear. Neither of them wanted, just yet, to bring up the subject of Mike's leaving. Leda would remain behind on Eisberg to work with Snookums, while Mike would be taking the Fireball back to Earth.
I'd've been a dead man if I'd worn it out on the surface of Eisberg." "What did he do to it?" she asked. "Fix it so it would leak?" "Yes but not in an obvious way," Mike said. "I'll give him credit; he's clever. "What he did was use the wrong patching material.
At its best, it has the continent of Antarctica beat four thousand ways from a week ago last Candlemas. At its worst, it is sudden death; at its best, it is somewhat less than sudden. Not that Eisberg is a really mean planet; Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, or Neptune can kill a man faster and with less pain. No, Eisberg isn't mean it's torturous.
First, the ionizing source of radiation the primary star was farther away from Eisberg than Sol was from Earth, which tended to reduce the total ionization. Second, the upper atmosphere of Eisberg was pretty much pure hydrogen, which is somewhat easier to ionize than oxygen or nitrogen.
When the engines compensated for the lost tube, the descent was more leisurely, and the ship settled gently well, not exactly gently on the surface of Eisberg. Captain Quill's voice came over the intercom. "We are nearly a hundred miles from the base, Mister Gabriel. Any excuse?" "No excuse, sir," said Mike the Angel.
A man without clothes, placed suddenly on the surface of Eisberg anywhere on the surface would die. But the trouble is that he'd live long enough for it to hurt. Man can survive, all right, but it takes equipment and intelligence to do it.
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