"I learned to hunt as a boy," Tom said. "I even had to make my own spear out of scraps. Kids don't have the credits for suits and stuff." "No sport to it with a suit," Bart said, as they paddled lazily along with their heads up, toward shore. "As bad as hunting animals with rifles. They killed off all the animals with guns, now they're fishing out the seas with suits." "Yeah," Tom answered, "might as well buy the fish from the hatcheries as to go after them with a portable sub." They dived under, and worked their way along the bottom toward shore, coming up for air, then diving again, until they were back to the beach. They walked out and dropped on the sand to rest, the sun warm on them. "Notice the water?" Tom asked. "Yeah," Bart said, "no waves. Calm as hell. Can't be waves without a moon to pull them." "Doesn't seem to be as salty as the seas at home, either," Tom said. "Yeah, I noticed that too. Must not be as much salt in the ground as at home." "Could be it's a young planet that hasn't had much time to wash it out of the ground, too," Tom said. They rested in silence for a few minutes, the only sound all about them was the wind blowing across the empty land. Then Bart jumped to his feet and started pulling on his clothes. "Come on, Tom," he said, "Let's take a look around while it's still light." After they dressed, Bart led the way along the strip of red sand towards the ridge. The tangled mass of yellow-green vegetation grew right down to the strip of red sand, and in some places, grew right over it to stop at the sea. "I'll be darned," Tom said, stopping at the edge of the plants. The ferns covered the ground solidly; small ones, medium ones, big ones. He crashed back into the thicker growth and kicked some of it aside with his boot. The cloud of dust choked him for a minute. Bart came crashing in to Tom. "What you got?" "Look," Tom said. "All these dead ferns underneath, then just the sand. They haven't decayed." He searched under the dead growth. "The dead ones just fall down underneath and the live ones just grow on top. There's not only no life here, but no decay either. Just ferns. I wonder if Willie was right." "Don't ask me," Bart said. "Come on, let's look from that ridge." They followed the sand around the impassable vegetation to the ridge and scrambled a little way up the barren red rocks. As far as they could see over the flat land, it was covered with the sickly yellow-green of the ferns. They looked out and rested, then noting the sun was getting close to the horizon, they made their way back to the huge grey splotched aluminum hulk of their ship. As Tom was about to follow Bart up the ladder, he noticed a solitary figure sitting at the edge of the sea. "Hey, Willie," he hollered, "Come to chow." His voice echoed in the quiet. The figure waved and Tom turned back to join him. He sat down on a small boulder near where Willie was sitting and lit his tiny pipe.