It was self-leveling in an atmosphere,
and automatic flare computers were supposed to make it possible for an
amateur to judge the rate of descent near the surface. It looked
reassuring--and was probably written with that in mind.
Finally he reached for the control, hoping he'd figured his landing
orbit reasonably well by simple logic. He smoothed it out in the
following hours as he watched the markings on Mars. When they were near
turnover point, he began cranking the little gyroscope to swing the
ship. It saved fuel to turn without power, and he wasn't sure he could
have turned accurately by blasting.
He was gaining some proficiency, however, he felt. But now he had to
waste fuel and ruin his orbit again. There was no way to practice
maneuvering without actually doing so.
In the end, he compromised, leaving a small margin for a bad landing
that would require a second attempt, but with less practice than he
wanted.
He had located Jake's village through the little telescope when he
finally reached for the main blast control. The thin haze of Mars'
atmosphere came rushing up, while the blast lashed out. Then they were
in the outer fringes of the sky and the blast was beginning to show a
corona that ruined visibility.
He turned to the flare computer and back to what he could see through
the quartz viewport. He was going to land about half a mile from the
village, as nearly as he could judge.
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