because of their intimate knowledge and sure handling of the giant ship.

"Prepare the ship for touchdown, Corbett!" yelled Vidac.

"Yes, sir," said Tom. He flipped on the intercom and barked orders to
Astro below on the power deck.

"Stand by to reduce thrust to one-quarter space speed, Astro. Stand by
forward nose braking rockets."

"Right," replied Astro.

"Hey, Roger!" yelled Tom. "How far are we from the surface?"

"Estimated distance to touchdown is two hundred thousand feet," answered
Roger crisply.

"Reduce thrust to minimum, Astro," barked Tom, his eyes watching every
dial and meter on the control board.

"Distance one hundred fifty thousand feet," reported Roger. "Looks like
an open plain right below us. Maybe we'd better try for it, eh?"

"I guess so," said Tom. "Relay your scan down here to the control-deck
scanner." Tom gave it a quick glance, saw that there was plenty of room
on the plain Roger had mentioned to hold the entire fleet, and turned to
Vidac. "Request permission to touch down, sir," said Tom.

"Granted," replied Vidac.