A colder air nipped through the broken window.

Cloud-wisps began to blur the glass; the stars began to burn more whitely in a blacker sky.
The Master touched a button at the left side of the steering-post.
Below his feet, as they rested in their metal stirrups, an aluminum plate silently slid back.

An oblong of dim light blurred up through the heavy plate-glass sheet it had masked.
Glancing down, the Master saw far, far below him a slowly rotating vagueness of waters black and burnished, of faintly twinkling lights.
Lights and water drew backward, as the rotary motion gave way to a southern course.

The Master slowed the helicopters.

A glance at the altimeter showed him 1,965 feet.