will have to; she's got to take astronomical observations. Zabal and I can help her if we
have to, and the rest of you can stay further down on the slopes if you can't make it."
"I can make it," Ewen said, "Remember, the oxygen content of this air is higher than earth's; anoxia won't set in quite so low." He looked around the group of men and women, seated and resting, except for Heather Stuart, who was digging out a soil sample and putting it into one of her tubes. And Lewis MacLeod had flung himself down full length and was breathing hard, eyes closed. Ewen looked at him with some disquiet, his trained eyes spotting what even Judith Lovat had not seen, but he did not speak. He couldn't order the man sent back at this dis-tance--not alone, in any case.
It seemed to the young doctor that MacAran was fol-lowing his thoughts when the other man said
abruptly, "Doesn't this seem almost too easy, too good? There has to
24
be a catch to this planet somewhere. It's too much like a picnic in a forest preserve."
Page 16
Ewen thought, some picnic, with fifty-odd dead and over a hundred hurt to the crash, but hedidn't say it, remembering Rafe had lost his sister. "Why not, Rafe? Is there some law that says anunexplored planet has to be dangerous? Maybe we're just so conditioned to a life on Earth without risksthat we're afraid to step one inch out-side our nice, safe technology." He smiled. "Haven't I heard youbitching because on Earth you said that all the mountains, and even the ski slopes, were so smoothed outthere wasn't any sense of personal conquest? Not that I'd know--I never went in for danger sports."
"You may have something there," MacAran said, but he still looked somber. "If that's so, though,
why do they make such a fuss about First Landing teams when they send them to a new planet?-
"Search me. But maybe on a planet where man never developed, his natural enemies didn't develop
either?"
It should have comforted MacAran, but instead he felt a cold chill. If man didn't belong here, couldhe survive here? But he didn't say it. "Better get moving again. We've got a long way to go, and I'd liketo get on the slopes before dark."
He stopped by McLeod as the older man struggled to his feet. "You all right, Dr. MacLeod?"
"Mac," the older man said with a faint smile, "we're not under ship discipline now. Yes, I'm fine
"You're the animal specialist. Any theories why we haven't seen anything larger than a squirrel?"
"Two," MacLeod said with a round grin, "the first, of course, being that there aren't any. The second, the one I'm committed to, is that with six, no, seven of us crashing along through the underbrush this way, anything with a brain bigger than a squirrel's keeps a good long way off !"
MacAran chuckled, even while he revised his opinion of the fat little man upward by a good many
notches. "Should we try to be quieter?"
"Don't see how we can manage it. Tonight will be a better test. Larger carnivores--if there's any
analogy to Earth--will come out then, hoping to catch their natural prey sleeping."
MacAran said, "Then we'd better make it our business
25
that we don't get crunched up by mistake," but as he watched the others sling their packs and get into forma-tion, he thought silently that this was one thing he had forgotten. It was true; the overwhelming attention to safety on Earth had virtually eliminated all but man-made dangers. Even Jungle safaris were undertaken in glass--sided trucks, and it wouldn't have occurred to him that night would be dangerous in that way.
They had walked another forty minutes, through thick-ening trees and somewhat heavier underbrush,where they had to push branches aside, when Judith stopped, rubbing her eyes painfully. At about thesame time, Heather lifted her hands and stared at them in horror; Ewen, at her side, was instantly alert.
"What's wrong!"
Page 17
"My hands--" Heather held them up, her face white. Ewen called,
have to, and the rest of you can stay further down on the slopes if you can't make it."
"I can make it," Ewen said, "Remember, the oxygen content of this air is higher than earth's; anoxia won't set in quite so low." He looked around the group of men and women, seated and resting, except for Heather Stuart, who was digging out a soil sample and putting it into one of her tubes. And Lewis MacLeod had flung himself down full length and was breathing hard, eyes closed. Ewen looked at him with some disquiet, his trained eyes spotting what even Judith Lovat had not seen, but he did not speak. He couldn't order the man sent back at this dis-tance--not alone, in any case.
It seemed to the young doctor that MacAran was fol-lowing his thoughts when the other man said
abruptly, "Doesn't this seem almost too easy, too good? There has to
24
be a catch to this planet somewhere. It's too much like a picnic in a forest preserve."
Page 16
Ewen thought, some picnic, with fifty-odd dead and over a hundred hurt to the crash, but hedidn't say it, remembering Rafe had lost his sister. "Why not, Rafe? Is there some law that says anunexplored planet has to be dangerous? Maybe we're just so conditioned to a life on Earth without risksthat we're afraid to step one inch out-side our nice, safe technology." He smiled. "Haven't I heard youbitching because on Earth you said that all the mountains, and even the ski slopes, were so smoothed outthere wasn't any sense of personal conquest? Not that I'd know--I never went in for danger sports."
"You may have something there," MacAran said, but he still looked somber. "If that's so, though,
why do they make such a fuss about First Landing teams when they send them to a new planet?-
"Search me. But maybe on a planet where man never developed, his natural enemies didn't develop
either?"
It should have comforted MacAran, but instead he felt a cold chill. If man didn't belong here, couldhe survive here? But he didn't say it. "Better get moving again. We've got a long way to go, and I'd liketo get on the slopes before dark."
He stopped by McLeod as the older man struggled to his feet. "You all right, Dr. MacLeod?"
"Mac," the older man said with a faint smile, "we're not under ship discipline now. Yes, I'm fine
"You're the animal specialist. Any theories why we haven't seen anything larger than a squirrel?"
"Two," MacLeod said with a round grin, "the first, of course, being that there aren't any. The second, the one I'm committed to, is that with six, no, seven of us crashing along through the underbrush this way, anything with a brain bigger than a squirrel's keeps a good long way off !"
MacAran chuckled, even while he revised his opinion of the fat little man upward by a good many
notches. "Should we try to be quieter?"
"Don't see how we can manage it. Tonight will be a better test. Larger carnivores--if there's any
analogy to Earth--will come out then, hoping to catch their natural prey sleeping."
MacAran said, "Then we'd better make it our business
25
that we don't get crunched up by mistake," but as he watched the others sling their packs and get into forma-tion, he thought silently that this was one thing he had forgotten. It was true; the overwhelming attention to safety on Earth had virtually eliminated all but man-made dangers. Even Jungle safaris were undertaken in glass--sided trucks, and it wouldn't have occurred to him that night would be dangerous in that way.
They had walked another forty minutes, through thick-ening trees and somewhat heavier underbrush,where they had to push branches aside, when Judith stopped, rubbing her eyes painfully. At about thesame time, Heather lifted her hands and stared at them in horror; Ewen, at her side, was instantly alert.
"What's wrong!"
Page 17
"My hands--" Heather held them up, her face white. Ewen called,
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