"Funny, though;—here's this thing waiting for us as soon as we smash. They must've been blind drunk when they explored this place. Or else purple there's come since."
"Maybe that's it."
"I'll check." He riffled through some more pages. "This damn index is alphabetical. Maybe it's from another planet and just visiting."
"Who knows?"
"What do you think they'll call it in here?"
"I can't ever find anything in that damn catalogue. Try under spheres: Purple spheres."
"Mmmm." He concentrated on the index. "'Parallelopipeds' ... 'pseudospheres' ... 'rhombi' ... 'segmented objects' ... here it is: 'Spheres.' They've got a lot of spheres here! All sorts of 'em. We've got to go by color. You think he's purple?"
"Sort of purple."
"Here's something violet: 'Spheres, violet. Fire-breathing mammal of Planet III, TRP-U-44476, Sector LKW. Approximately three feet in diameter. Females frequently found with yellow polka dots on underside.'"
"Try again. Melancholy here's three times that big." He stooped down and gazed up at the purple sphere from underneath. "Uh-uh, no yellow polka dots either." The purple sphere looked down at him with sad eyes.