walk in a straight line," Chief Watts said, "you'll find
yourself back at the Garrison in about six hours. It's a damn small
asteroid. There's a couple of streams and lakes, so don't fall in."

"How about snakes or poisonous insects?"

"Nothing like that reported. We did a lot of tramping around at first,
but it's grown back now, the way it was. We never encountered anything
dangerous."

"Thanks, Chief," Harris said. They shook hands. "I'll see you before
nightfall."

"Good luck." The Chief and his two armed escorts turned and went back
across the rise, down the other side toward the Garrison. Harris watched
them go until they disappeared inside the building. Then he turned and
started into the grove of trees.

The woods were very silent around him as he walked. Trees towered up on
all sides of him, huge dark-green trees like eucalyptus. The ground
underfoot was soft with endless leaves that had fallen and rotted into
soil. After a while the grove of high trees fell behind and he found
himself crossing a dry meadow, the grass and weeds burned brown in the
sun. Insects buzzed around him, rising up from the dry weed-stalks.
Something scuttled ahead, hurrying through the undergrowth. He caught
sight of a grey ball with many legs, scampering furiously, its antennae
weaving.

The meadow ended at the bottom of a hill. He was going up, now, going
higher and higher. Ahead of him an endless expanse of green rose, acres
of wild growth. He scrambled to the top finally, blowing and panting,
catching his breath.

He went on. Now he was going down again, plunging into a deep gully.
Tall ferns grew, as large as trees. He was entering a living Jurassic
forest, ferns that stretched out endlessly ahead of him. Down he went,
walking carefully. The air began to turn cold around him. The floor of
the gully was damp and silent; underfoot the ground was almost wet.

He came out on a level table. It was dark, with the ferns growing up on
all sides, dense growths of ferns, silent and unmoving. He came upon a
natural path, an old stream bed, rough and rocky, but easy to follow.
The air was thick and oppressive. Beyond the ferns he could see the side
of the next hill, a green field rising up.

Something grey was ahead. Rocks, piled-up boulders, scattered and
stacked here and there. The stream bed led directly to them. Apparently
this had been a pool of some kind, a stream emptying from it. He climbed
the first of the boulders awkwardly