violent animals. Could he survive? As if
to add emphasis to his thoughts, the sky darkened over and rain hissed
into the forest, marching towards him. Jason scrambled to his feet and
took a bearing before the rain closed down visibility. A jagged chain of
mountains stood dimly on the horizon, he remembered crossing them on the
flight out. They would do as a first goal. After he had reached them, he
would worry about the next leg of the journey.

* * * * *

Leaves and dirt flew before the wind in quick gusts, then the rain
washed over him. Soaked, chilled, already bone-tired, he pitted the
tottering strength of his legs against the planet of death.

When nightfall came it was still raining. There was no way of being sure
of the direction, and no point in going on. If that wasn't enough, Jason
was on the ragged edge of exhaustion. It was going to be a wet night.
All the trees were thick-boled and slippery, he couldn't have climbed
them on a one-G world. The sheltered spots that he investigated, under
fallen trees and beneath thick bushes, were just as wet as the rest of
the forest. In the end he curled up on the leeward side of a tree, and
fell asleep, shivering, with the water dripping off him.

The rain stopped around midnight and the temperature fell sharply. Jason
woke sluggishly from a dream in which he was being frozen to death, to
find it was almost true. Fine snow was sifting through the trees,
powdering the ground and drifting against him. The cold bit into his
flesh, and when he sneezed it hurt his chest. His aching and numb body
only wanted rest, but the spark of reason that remained in him, forced
him to his feet. If he lay down now, he would die. Holding one hand
against the tree so he wouldn't fall, he began to trudge around it. Step
after shuffling step, around and around, until the terrible cold eased a
bit and he could stop shivering. Fatigue crawled up him like a muffling,
gray blanket. He kept on walking, half the time with his eyes closed.
Opening them only when he fell and had to climb painfully to his feet
again.

The sun burned away the snow clouds at dawn. Jason leaned against his
tree and blinked up at the sky with sore eyes. The ground was white in
all directions, except around the tree where his stumbling feet had
churned a circle of black mud. His back against the smooth trunk, Jason
sank slowly down to the ground, letting the sun soak into him.

Exhaustion