I did not see Kingsford for almost two days. While I busied myself with the elaborate mechanisms of warning and defense, he and the small group of geologists and reaction engineers, who also insisted on drawing guard duty, went through the mechanics of erecting the loaders and converters, then the refining equipment for reducing the ore to its pure state, and the reactor that would further refine the prize to its absolute, the purpose for the whole expedition, a cargo of plutonium such as man had never seen. During the two days of setting up the defense system, I grew to feel quite comfortable on Aldebaran IX. I roamed the hills and depressions, brought back certain fruits and vegetables and subjected them to tests and discovered that they were entirely palatable. Perhaps these pastoral musings were a premonition on my part or simple scientific curiosity. I have never dwelt too long on it. The planet cycle of Aldebaran IX is relatively short, about seventeen hours as measured on Earth. We grew accustomed to relatively short, but intensive periods of work and the remainder of the time was spent in sheer luxuriance at the idea of being out of doors after so many months in space. No sign of Kingsford's quarry appeared, and the excitement of the hunt began to dwindle somewhat among the crew. I, myself, lost much of my feeling of apprehension, and began to relax in the foretaste of future wealth. The reactor was completed on the second day, and the production of the man-made element began. The second night, I dined with Kingsford. * * * * * As my tension had relaxed, quite the opposite, it seemed, had happened to him. He was more brooding than ever, more responsive to the slightest sound. He ate practically nothing and said little. Late in the evening, he began to speak, seemingly for the first time aware that he had a guest. "You wonder about my monster, Mr. Rogers, don't you?" "Yes. I do wonder a bit." "So do I. Do you still think it would be less waste if we had returned without making landfall?" "I'd imagine it was a bit soon to say." "Do you understand now, Mr. Rogers, why I maintained my silence about this place? Why I spoke little of the Essex and her crew? You have noticed, I am sure, that absolutely no vestige of either the crew of the equipment is to be seen. Only a newly green pasture where there was a desert when I escaped. Such is the devastation to which we might be subjected, except for your excellent defense pattern. A devastation so complete as to leave no sign of devastation whatsoever. Have you ever seen anything like it, Mr. Rogers?" "No." "This," he said, indicating the eye patch. "This is the only sign that forty-two men perished within five kilometers of this spot. And I have returned now. Now the waiting." "I don't understand." I said.