"I have no right to force you," she went on stubbornly, "but I can't handle them alone. You simply _have_ to come." "But Ven--I'm a physical cipher. This gravity flattens me. I won't make it." "You will," she said. "I'll help you. But this job needs a male mind." It was deliberate flattery, I suppose. But there was an element of truth in it. Ven obviously couldn't do it, and obviously she thought I could. I couldn't help feeling pride in her need for me. I liked the feeling. For, after all, we hadn't been mated so long that there was too great an amount of familiarity in our relationship. The Eugenics Council had taken care of that very effectively when we announced our plans for our sabbatical. "All right--I'll go," I repeated. With a quick light movement she touched my antennae with her primary digits. The shock ran through me clear to my pads. "You're good," she said--and the way she said it was an accolade. II "This way," Ven said, emitting a faint yellow aura that lighted the area around her. "Follow me." She staggered a little under the weight of the equipment she was carrying. I wished that we had enough power to energize an air sled---but we had none to spare. The robots had used up most of our scanty power metal reserves in camouflaging the ship and the adaptor had taken the rest. This was going to be a miserable trip. It was going to be painful, uncomfortable and perhaps even dangerous. It was. We went across rocks, through sharp-twigged brush--across the saw-edged grass of the meadow below us, over more rocks, and down-hill along a faint double trail that never seemed to end. I was nearly dead with weariness when Ven's aura flicked off and the dark closed in. My proprioceptors were screaming as I sank to the ground and panted the rich air of this world in and out of my aching chest. "They're just ahead," Ven whispered. "Around that next group of rocks. Be careful." We moved forward cautiously. "There was a fire," Ven whispered. "There isn't now," I said. "I can't sense any heat." The night air blew a rank odor to my nostrils. My spines stiffened! I knew what Ven meant when she said that these natives repelled her. I had smelled that scent before--the scent of our ancestral enemies! So _these_ were the natives, the dominant life on this planet! I gagged, my tongue thick in my throat. "You see?" Ven asked. I nodded. "It's pretty bad," I said. "It reminds me of a zoo," Ven answered softly. I nodded. It did and it was thoroughly unpleasant. I strained my perception to its limits, pushing it through the gelid darkness, searching until I found the natives. "They're asleep," I said. "What's that?" "Suspension of consciousness. Something like estivation." "Oh. Then we can approach safely?" "If we are quiet," I replied. "Sleep is broken easily and consciousness returns quickly."