The Satanic Landscape

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.