The spaceship, Muddlin' Through, circumnavigates Satan and descends:
Beta Crucis, four times the size of Sol seen from Earth, rages on the horizon;
the sky is incandescent;
roiling clouds are steaming white or gray and lightning-riven or black with volcano smoke;
glacial melt cascades from mountains;
terrible winds, rain, earthquakes and floods lash stony plains;
a tornado and gales blow away vapors that had covered half a continent;
giant icebergs clash;
atmospheric turbulance rocks the spaceship;
there are repeated shocks and a rising noise;
the computer pilots while Falkayn and Chee Lan wait to make decisions;
rising wind velocities are already over 500 kph;
heavy rain and frequent supersqualls bombard the antarctic;
the ship passes through thunder and wind-swept snow and lands just below the cold but quieter arctic circle.
I
have tried, by summarizing Poul Anderson's narrative, to show that he
describes a dynamic environment where major events occur without any
interventions by intelligent beings. The description of Satan continues
when we had thought that it was already complete.
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