The Planet MappersEvans, E. Everett (Edward Everett)
Science
The Planet Mappers
Evans, E. Everett (Edward Everett)
Families -- Juvenile fiction; Science fiction; Space flight -- Juvenile fiction; Space pirates -- Juvenile fiction
Everything else ready, he watched anxiously, then admiringly, as Jon
started the tubes firing, balanced them and took them off with the
throwing of his one switch. In his visiplate the elder man watched with
intense interest the scenery over which they were passing--Jon had set
course so they would go completely around this world of Two until they
came to that desert. Mr. Carver made many enthusiastic comments about
this splendid planet that now bore his wife's name.
"Yes, and Three's just as nice, only colder," Jon reported eagerly.
"Folks who like cold weather can live there without too much trouble at
all."
"It's funny, though," Jak declared with a frown, "that there's no
protoplasmic life there at all. That we could find," he hastened to add.
"Lots of vegetation, though," Jon added. "That means the soil will be
good for growing things, doesn't it?"
"It certainly sounds like it." His father smiled. "The colonists may
have to adapt their Earth-seeds to fit, and probably bring their own
worms and bees and so on. But they should be able to farm there. From
your surveys, it appears there are plenty of minerals so they can start
mines and factories of all kinds right away. Yes, this looks like a
pretty good solar system."
"You bet, Pop. You sure picked a winner in this one," Jon's eyes
gleamed with satisfaction.
"I had an idea, from the spectroscopic examinations we made 'way back
there near Sirius, that we'd find it fairly good here. But, to be
honest, I didn't dare hope it would be this good. To tell the truth, I
was really more interested in that line which seemed to indicate that
fuel-stuff, than I was in new planets for colonization, although we
needed those, too, to make the trip pay off."
Before long they came above the beginning of that well-remembered
desert, and Jon slowed and circled, preparatory to landing.
Jon kept his eyes upon his instruments, and when he saw they were close
to the actual latitude and longitude, he killed the speed to their
slowest cruising range, and their height to a few hundred yards. When
he knew he was almost at the exact spot, he stared intently into his
pilot's magnifying visiplate, at the same time keeping his fingers
tautly on the landing switch.
Soon, in his plate, he saw the top of that cache cover in the nearing
distance. He circled until he judged he could land close to it, then
closed the switch.
Softly, easily, the space-yacht came in to a landing on the hard packed
sand, and Jon shut off the power and put everything in neutral.
His father had wisely kept silent during this maneuvering, but now he
let out his breath in a _whoosh_.
"That's the neatest landing I ever saw," he told Jon admiringly. "That
gadget of yours will make you a young fortune when we get it back to
Terra."
Jon actually blushed with pleased embarrassment. "Aw, it's...."
But Jak interrupted him almost fiercely. "Don't go playing coy,
Chubby. You know darned well it's wonderful."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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