the
flimsiest covering of white over the brown sandy soil.

"Not even lichens," muttered Brown in disgust.

But disgust cannot long stand against the magic of a fresh new planet
and Brown continued his avid, though barren, search until hunger forced
his return to the ship. He had been able to detect no life and was
completely unaware of his close proximity to the planet's dominant
species. It had been considered neither practical nor particularly
desirable to build a microscope into the space suit. Simplicity and the
least possible weight had been the watchwords here as with everything
designed to go aboard the ship.

In any case, a microscope would have done Brown little good in trying to
detect the submicroscopic beings of the Rell.

The Rell, who had somewhat lost their fear of Brown, hastily retreated
when they saw him returning to the still awesome ship.

"But are you _sure_ he's _completely_ self-powered?" the speculative
bank queried. "No Rell inside him at all?"

"There are many Rell-like beings in various parts of him," replied the
interpretive bank. "Some help digest his food, others are predators, and
still others their enemies. But most are too big and clumsy to have
developed intelligence, and even the small ones appear completely
mindless."

"But where do the thought waves come from? We all felt them."

"It's hard to accept but we are almost forced to conclude they are
emanating from the mobile unit itself, or rather from the living part
within the cocoon."

"You're positive they aren't the product of some of the Rell-beings
inside?"

"Almost positive. The mesh insists not. In fact, it claims this is an
un-Rell like type of intelligence, though that appears to be a
contradiction in terms. The thought pattern is completely outside our
experience. In fact, it is so alien we haven't broken it down yet to the
meaning behind it."

"But if the Rell inside are too large to have developed intelligence,
how could this gigantic monster in which they live have done so?"

"We cannot yet say. Remember, the theory that intelligence cannot
develop in creatures above a certain size is unproven, even though never
before challenged. We've watched other races die through failure to
adapt to change so apparently it is true of Rell-like creatures on this
world. But who can say about organisms on another world or of the
unprecedented size of this one? Completely different physical laws may
apply."

It was la