As the spacer scanned the celestial body the state-of-the-art star cruiser suddenly became drawn into an unexpected inescapable gravitational pull. The aerodynamic craft corkscrewed through streams of gas and dust striae. A solar-powered toy carousel from the PPK wobbled uncontrollably on the command console as the rough-rider struggled with the control yoke. "Earning our keep today," he said while experiencing white-knuckle extreme G's.

Haviland calculated that the commander’s survival rate would increase if he ejected in the escape pod. The star sailor did not agree, but the self-aware computer ran the sums again and jettisoned him. "Kurt Russ--" Landrover's module crashed within a frozen expanse of tundra. The submarine-shaped starship constructed of progressive materials grounded with a dead-stick in the desolate volcanic sierra.

With that the granddaddy of all comets ever proceeded by an interstellar nursery of nebular cloud pillars embedded with gestating stars in cocoons of perfect dust and gas into the wonders of space leaving behind an immense trailing wake resembling a shovelful of powdery dry dirt flung into the darkness of a yawning grave.