_It had arrived. It had found a birthing-place. It grew. There in the
lone, lorn silence, in the thawing warmth of the nourishing sands. It
spawned according to its nature._
_It made no sound save that of a thin, dry grating as Its shell-like
covering stirred against the sides of the pit. But a change had come
upon Its carapace. Its one-time stony surface now was mottled with
yolky cloud; Its one-time opaque walls were now translucent with a
jelly-like shimmering. And from within the egg came the bruit of liquid
movement. Slow, groping movement of Life that would be free. Amorphous
hands scraped and slithered at softening, yielding walls. A single
flake chipped and fell away from the gigantic shell. Another followed
it. Another ... and another._
_A native of the planet, random-roaming, chanced upon the pit. His
nostrils quivered with the scent of food. With greedy stealth he moved
upon his prey._
_And then:_
_And then the native witnessed the phenomenon. Wide-eyed with wonder he
beheld the monstrous sight ... the ultimate emergence of the Thing!_
_In his dull, brutelike brain there dawned a dreadful fear. A fear ...
and a great hope! On trembling limbs he fell back from the pit, all
thoughts of food forgotten, turned and scampered to the city whence he
had come._
_Meanwhile, the sprawling, raw and new-fledged Thing lay gasping in the
sunlight, sucking strength from the depths of the nourishing soil. It
was born. It grew...._