Philip K. Dick

“ Groves touched a wheel. "Doesn't this guide her?"
"It governs the brake rockets, the landing jets. As for the central drive we don't know what it is or how you control it, once you're started. Semantics won't help you. Only experience. We can translate numbers only into numbers."
Groves and Carmichel looked at each other.
"Well?" Groves said. "We may find ourselves lost in space. Or falling into the sun. I saw a ship spiral into the sun, once. Faster and faster, down and down—"
"We're a long way from the sun. And we'll point her out, toward Pluto. We'll get control eventually. ”

“ You are astonished to find your world reduced in size, populated by minute beings. But size, of course, is relative. As you discover when you go into the future."
"So that's it." Groves let out his breath. "Well, that's all. You can have your ship."
"Time travel," the Ganymedean said regretfully, "is not a successful undertaking. The past is too small, the future too expanded. We considered this ship a failure."
The Gany touched the globe with his feeler. ”

“ Siller raised the Boris gun, but Groves pushed the muzzle down. "Impossible." He advanced, staring down at the ground. An arrow pinged against his helmet. "Little men. With bows and arrows."
Suddenly the little men turned and fled. They raced off, some on foot, some on horseback, back through the weeds and out the other side.
"There they go," Siller said. "Should we follow them? See where they live?"
"It isn't possible." Groves shook his head. "No planet has yielded tiny human beings like this. So small!"
Commander Carmichel strode down the ridge to them. ”

“ Countless spires rose up, a conglomeration of peaks and gables, tops of buildings. There was furious activity going on inside the city. A cacophony of shrill sounds from countless throats drifted across the moat to the four men, growing louder each moment. ”

“ General Groves said. Suddenly he caught his breath. "You don't suppose this—this could be a gravity drive ship? The Ganys were supposed to be experimenting with gravity."
"What's that?" Basset said.
"A gravity drive ship would reach its destination without time lapse. The velocity of gravity is infinite. Can't be measured. If this globe is—"
"Nonsense," Carmichel said. "Einstein showed gravity isn't a force but a warpage, a space warpage."
"But couldn't a ship be built using—"
"Gentlemen!" The Senate Leader came quickly into the laboratory, surrounded by his guards. "Is this the ship? ”

“ Basset peered out the port. "We're hanging about a mile up from the city. Terra City. Dropping slowly down. The sky is full of ships. We don't need help, do we?"
"No," Carmichel said. He began to fire the brake rockets slowly, easing the ship down.
"Someday, when the war is over," Basset said, "I want to ask the Ganymedeans about this. I'd like to find out the whole story."
"Maybe you'll get your chance," Groves said, suddenly sobered. "That's right. Ganymede! Our chance to win the war certainly fizzled."
"The Senate Leader is going to be disappointed," Carmichel said grimly. ”

“ Groves said. "Notice the horizontal curve—This is a small planet we're on. Maybe a moon. But it's no planet or moon I've ever seen before. Not in the System, and not the Proxima area, either."
Carmichel stood up. "The units must be big multiples, all right. We're out of the System, perhaps all the way around the galaxy." He peered out the port at the rolling water.
"I don't see any stars," Basset said.
"Later on we can get a star reading. When we're on the other side, away from the sun."
"Ocean," Siller murmured. "Miles of it. And a good temperature." He removed his helmet cautiously. ”

“ He spat. "If we could only break them. But by that time—"
"By that time the colonies won't exist."
"We have to get our cradles back in our own hands," Groves said grimly. "Even if it takes capitulation to do it."
"No other way will do?"
"You find another way." Groves pushed past Siller, out into the corridor. "And if you find it, let me know."
The war had been going on for two Terran months, with no sign of a break. The System Senate's difficult position came from the fact that Ganymede was the jump-off point between the System and its precarious network of colonies at Proxima Centauri. ”