"Damned if I know," snorted Archie Simms. He ambled toward the purple sphere. "Shoo," he said. "Go on, get out of here. Shoo!" The purple sphere did not move, but its two huge eyes regarded him sadly.
"Hey, don't get too close to it."
"Don't worry." Archie procured a rock from the ground and hurled it at the purple sphere. He missed; the eyes of the sphere contemplated him even more sadly. The sphere did not move.
"Should I fire the cannon at it?" queried Ed.
"Leave it alone. It just wants to sit there and watch us." He walked up to the purple sphere and examined it closely. He petted it between its two huge eyes and it looked at him sadly.
Ed jumped down from the ship with a large book under one arm. He paged hurriedly through it. Archie ran his hand gently over the purple sphere's fur. The purple sphere eyed him sadly.
"Here's where we are," said Ed. "That meteor rammed us just as we came to Sector QMA. That star up there's XTM-L-48935; we're on the eighth planet. Says here the place was explored twenty years ago: No life on it."
"Wonder how they missed this fellow," commented Archie, stroking the sphere sympathetically. The sphere looked at him with great, sad eyes.
"Incompetent bastards," Ed remarked pleasantly. "That's the racket we should be in, Arch:—space exploring. You get lots of money and you don't do any work. Why, I've heard stories—"
"Let's see about it when we get back," suggested Archie.