see?”
“
“What if there’s level land, then? We’ll miss it in the dark.”
“No, Janov, we won’t. Radar reflected from water is not at all like radar reflected from land. Water is essentially flat; land is rough. For that reason, reflection from land is substantially more chaotic than reflection from water. The computer will know the difference and it will let me know if there’s land in view. Even if it were day and the planet were sun-lit, the computer might well detect land before I would.”
They fell silent and, in a couple of hours, they were back in daylight, with an empty ocean again rolling beneath them monotonously, but occasionally invisible when they passed through one of the numerous storms. In one storm, the wind drove the
“Probably the edge of a hurricane,” said Trevize.
Pelorat said, “See here, old chap, we’re just traveling west to east—or east to west. All we’re examining is the equator.”
Trevize said, “That would be foolish, wouldn’t it? We’re following a great-circle route northwest-southeast. That takes us through the tropics and both temperate zones and each time we repeat the circle, the path moves westward, as the planet rotates on its axis beneath us. We’re methodically criss-crossing the world. By now, since we haven’t hit land, the chances of a sizable continent are less than one in ten, according to the computer, and of a sizable island less than one in four, with the chances going down each circle we make.”
“You know what I would have done,” said Pelorat slowly, as the night hemisphere engulfed them again. “I’d have stayed well away from the planet and swept the entire hemisphere facing me with radar. The clouds wouldn’t have mattered, would they?”
Trevize said, “And then zoom to the other side and do the same there. Or just let the planet turn once. — That’s hindsight, Janov. Who would expect to approach a habitable planet without stopping at a station and being given a path—or being excluded? And if one went under the cloud layer without stopping at a station, who would expect not to find land almost at once? Habitable planets are—land!”
“Surely not all land,” said Pelorat.
“I’m not talking about that,” said Trevize, in sudden excitement. “I’m saying we’ve found land! Quiet!”
Then, with a restraint that did not succeed in hiding his excitement, Trevize placed his hands on the desk and became part of the computer. He said, “It’s an island about two hundred and fifty kilometers long and sixty-five kilometers wide, more or less. Perhaps fifteen thousand square kilometers in area or thereabout. Not large, but respectable. More than a dot on the map. Wait—”
The lights in the pilot-room dimmed and went out.
“What are we doing?” said Pelorat, automatically whispering as though darkness were something fragile that must not be shattered.
“Waiting for our eyes to undergo dark-adaptation. The ship is hovering over the island. Just watch. Do you see anything?”
“No— Little specks of light, maybe. I’m not sure.”
“I see them, too. Now I’ll throw in the telescopic lens.”
And there was light! Clearly visible. Irregular patches of it.
“It’s inhabited,” said Trevize. “It may be the only inhabited portion of the planet.”
“What do we do?”
“We wait for daytime. That gives us a few hours in which we can rest.”
“Might they not attack us?”
“With what? I detect almost no radiation except visible light and infrared. It’s inhabited and the inhabitants are clearly intelligent. They have a technology, but obviously a preelectronic one, so I don’t think there’s anything to worry about up here. If I should be wrong, the computer will warn me in plenty of time.”
“And once daylight comes?”
“We’ll land, of course.”
75.
They came down when the first rays of the morning sun shone through a break in the clouds to reveal part of the island—freshly green, with its interior marked by a line of low, rolling hills stretching into the purplish distance.
As they dropped closer, they could see isolated copses of trees and occasional orchards, but for the most part there were well-kept farms. Immediately below them, on the southeastern shore of the island was a silvery beach backed by a broken line of boulders, and beyond it was a stretch of lawn. They caught a glimpse of an occasional house, but these did not cluster into anything like a town.
Eventually, they made out a dim network of roads, sparsely lined by dwelling places, and then, in the cool morning air, they spied an air-car in the far distance. They could only tell it was an air-car, and not a bird, by the manner of its maneuvering. It was the first indubitable sign of intelligent life in action they had yet seen on the planet.
“It could be an automated vehicle, if they could manage that without electronics,” said Trevize.
Bliss said, “It might well be. It seems to me that if there were a human being at the controls, it would be heading for us. We must be quite a sight—a vehicle sinking downward without the use of braking jets of rocket fire.”
“A strange sight on any planet,” said Trevize thoughtfully. “There can’t be many worlds that have ever witnessed the descent of a gravitic space-vessel. —The beach would make a fine landing place, but if the winds blow I don’t want the ship inundated. I’ll make for the stretch of grass on the other side of the boulders.”
“At least,” said Pelorat, “a gravitic ship won’t scorch private property in descending.”
Down they came gently on the four broad pads that had moved slowly outward during the last stage. These pressed down into the soil under the weight of the ship.
Pelorat said, “I’m afraid we’ll leave marks, though.”
“At least,” said Bliss, and there was that in her voice that was not entirely approving, “the climate is evidently equable. —I would even say, warm.”
A human being was on the grass, watching the ship descend and showing no evidence of fear or surprise. The look on her face showed only rapt interest.
She wore very little, which accounted for Bliss’s estimate of the climate. Her sandals seemed to be of canvas, and about her hips was a wraparound skirt with a flowered pattern. There were no leg-coverings and there was nothing above her waist.
Her hair was black, long, and very glossy, descending almost to her waist. Her skin color was a pale brown and her eyes were narrow.
Trevize scanned the surroundings and there was no other human being in sight. He shrugged and said, “Well, it’s early morning and the inhabitants may be mostly indoors, or even asleep. Still, I wouldn’t say it was a well-populated area.”
He turned to the others and said, “I’ll go out and talk to the woman, if she speaks anything comprehensible. The rest of you—”
“I should think,” said Bliss firmly, “that we might as well all step out. That woman looks completely harmless and, in any case, I want to stretch my legs and breathe planetary air, and perhaps arrange for planetary food. I want Fallom to get the feel of a world again, too, and I think Pel would like to examine the woman at closer range.”
“Who? I?” said Pelorat, turning faintly pink. “Not at all, Bliss, but I
Trevize shrugged. “Come one, come all. Still, though she may look harmless, I intend to take my weapons
