Into the Comet

The plot concerns a journey by a spaceship to enter through the layers of gas surrounding a comet and observe the nucleus at close range. This part of the mission is successful, but the ship's computer develops a malfunction and they are unable to compute the required orbit to escape the comet. The ionised gas in the comet's tail prevents any radio communication with Earth.

George Takeo Pickett, a part-Japanese journalist on board the ship, recalls the use of the abacus used by his granduncle, a bank teller, and persuades the ship's astronomer to give it a try. Once convinced, the astronomer creates a production line of the crew, using abaci to carry out the calculations that the computer would normally do.

The procedure is successful and an orbit is calculated to bring the ship within radio range of Earth.

• Clarke, Arthur C. The Best of Arthur C Clarke; 1956 - 1972, published 1973

• Into the Comet title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• "Into the Comet" at the Internet Archive