m are miserable. Only custom makes us take the caste-shape of our
ancestors."

"Pilot," Ilg said, "all Grom are born Shapeless!"

"And being born Shapeless, all Grom should have Freedom of Shape,"
Ger said.

"Exactly," Ilg said. "But he'll never understand. Now excuse me. I
want to Think." And the oak tree was silent.

Pid laughed humorlessly. "The Men will kill you off," he said. "Just
as they killed off all the other expeditions."

"No one from Grom has been killed," Ger told him. "The other
expeditions are right here."

"Alive?"

"Certainly. The Men don't even know we exist. That Dog I was Hunting
with is a Grom from the twelfth expedition. There are hundreds of us
here, Pilot. We like it."

Pid tried to absorb it all. He had always known that the lower castes
were lax in caste-consciousness. But this was preposterous!

This planet's secret menace was--freedom!

"Join us, Pilot," Ger said. "We've got a paradise here. Do you know
how many species there are on this planet? An uncountable number!
There's a shape to suit every need!"

Pid ignored them. Traitors!

He'd do the job all by himself.

So Men were unaware of the presence of the Grom. Getting near the
reactor might not be so difficult after all. The others had failed in
their duty because they were of the lower castes, weak and
irresponsible. Even the Pilots among them must have been secretly
sympathetic to the Cult of Shapelessness the Chief had mentioned, or
the alien planet could never have swayed them.

What shape to assume for his attempt?

Pid considered.

A Dog might be best. Evidently Dogs could wander pretty much where
they wished. If something went wrong, Pid could change his shape to
meet the occasion.

"The Supreme Council will take care of all of you," he snarled, and
shaped himself into a small brown Dog. "I'm going to set up the
Displacer myself."

He studied himself for a moment, bared his teeth at Ger, and loped
toward the gate.

* * * * *

He loped for about ten feet and stopped in utter horror.

The smells rushed at him from all directions. Smells in a profusion
and variety he had never dreamed existed. Smells that were harsh,
sweet, sharp, heavy, mysterious, overpowering. Smells that terrified.
Alien and repulsive and inescapable, the odors of Earth struck him
like a blow.

He curled his lips and held his breath. He ran on for a few steps, and
had to breathe again. He almost choke