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instead of concentrating all our energies on repairing what can be repaired, on digging the ship out, and so on, we're going exploring—with no arms, no means of defense, and no idea at all of what we will find here."
    The Captain heard him out in silence, looking around at the men. They were all unshaven, and their three-day's growth had begun to give them a wild look. The Engineer's words made an obvious impression, but no one spoke, as if they were all waiting to see what the Captain would say.
    "Six men can't dig out a spaceship, Henry," he said, weighing his words carefully. "You know that perfectly well. As things now stand, we can't even tell how long it will take to get the smallest unit operating. The planet is inhabited. Yet we know nothing at all about it. We didn't even circle it before the crash. We approached from the nightside and by error fell into its tail. As we fell, we reached the terminator. I was lying near the last screen to go. I saw, or at least I thought I saw, what resembled … a city."
    "Why didn't you tell us?" the Engineer asked slowly.
    "Yes, why?" the Physicist also asked.
    "Because I wasn't certain. I don't even know in which direction to look for it. The ship was spinning. But there is a chance, a small chance, that we will receive help. You all know how desperate our situation is. We need water. Most of it flooded the lower level and is contaminated. So I think we can allow ourselves to take risks."
    "I agree," said the Doctor.
    "So do I," said the Physicist.
    The Cyberneticist moved off a few paces and faced south, as though not wanting to hear what the others said. The Chemist nodded. The Engineer walked down the knoll, put on his knapsack, and asked, "Which way?"
    "North," said the Captain. The Engineer began walking, and the others joined him. When they looked back a few minutes later, the knoll was barely visible—only the ship's fuselage stood against the sky.
    It was hot. Their shadows grew shorter the farther they walked. Their boots sank in the sand, and the only sounds were their footsteps and their breathing. As they approached one of the slender shapes that in the twilight had resembled trees, they slackened their pace. Out of the buff-colored soil rose a perpendicular trunk, as gray as an elephant's hide and with a faint metallic luster. The trunk, no thicker at the base than a man's arm, developed, at the top, into a flattened cup-shaped structure some seven feet above the ground. It was impossible to see whether or not the calyx was open at the top. It was completely motionless. The men stopped about twenty feet from this extraordinary growth, but the Engineer continued toward it and was lifting his hand to touch the "trunk" when the Doctor cried, "Stop!"
    The Engineer drew back reflexively. The Doctor pulled him away by the arm, then picked up a small stone and tossed it high into the air. The stone described a steep arc and dropped straight into the flattened top of the calyx. They all gave a start, so sudden and unexpected was the reaction. The calyx began undulating and closed; there was a brief hissing sound, like gas escaping, and the whole grayish column, now trembling feverishly, sank into the earth as if sucked in. The hole that was created was instantly filled by a greasy, foaming brown substance. Then particles of sand began to float on the surface, the coating of sand became thicker, and in a few seconds no trace of the hole remained: the ground was smooth and unbroken. They were still standing there in amazement when the Chemist shouted, "Look!"
    They lifted their heads. Before, they had been surrounded, at a distance of a few hundred feet, by three or four similar tall and slender growths—now there was not one.
    "They all disappeared!" exclaimed the Cyberneticist.
    They strained their eyes but could see no trace of the calyxes. The sun was growing stronger; the heat was hard to bear. They moved on.
    After an hour they had spread out in a long file, like a