Captain Torkel swallowed hard. "Me? Why, I remember, I--" His mouth
remaining open, he scratched the back of his neck. His memories
suddenly vanished like puffs of smoke.
"Just like the rest of us!" burst Garcia, triumphantly.
"You know, Captain," said Fox, "if we didn't go back, the race wouldn't
have to roast. People would still escape in their emergency rockets."
"But they wouldn't know where to go. They'd float around a few years,
and then those flimsy mass-production ships would break up. Good Lord,
men, we've got to act like human beings!"
Garcia stepped forward. "Why don't we decide this later? Can't we relax
for a few hours, Captain?"
Lieutenant Washington nodded agreement. "He's right. You said yourself,
Captain, that if the planet was good we'd spend a day or so getting the
madness out of our systems."
"All right," murmured Captain Torkel, shoulders drooping. "We'll look
around some more."
They walked toward the forest. Fox led Kelly by the hand. Lieutenant
Washington advanced under his own power.
They saw trees five hundred feet high with brown trunks like twisted,
lumpy crullers and leaves like elephant ears of green velvet. From
smaller trees hung fruit that shimmered like golden snow as light
touched it. Here and there were clusters of scarlet berries as large as
apples, and chocolate-brown balls the size of coconuts.
"Don't touch 'em," said Van Gundy, trembling. "I'll bet they're deadly
poison."
"They look delicious," said Captain Torkel, stuffing three specimens in
his knapsack, "but we'll test them first."
Van Gundy screamed.
The others whirled to look at him.
Van Gundy, speechless, pointed with a trembling forefinger.
A brown, smiling face broke out of the fern foliage. Then another
appeared, and another and another.
A score or more of brown-skinned humanoids walked up to them.