Ed held out his arms and assisted his comrade aboard the ruined rocket ship. They shut the hatch behind them.
All night the purple sphere glowed in the dark, watching the ship with great, sad, luminescent eyes.
Another frightful noise and its concomitant shock hurled Archie violently out of his bunk. "God-awful planet," he muttered as he climbed off of Ed Bailey. "How's that old song go? 'Where the sun comes up like thunder from—'"
"You got better things to do than sing. Let's get going. I'll check the engine and you see if you can't fix the radio."
Archie yawned loudly and opened the escape hatch. "Hey, Ed, Melancholy's still out here!"
"Fix that radio, damn you!" shouted Ed from the recesses of the ship.
Archie sat diligently in the open hatchway and tried to fix the radio. Frequently he addressed comments to the purple sphere and the purple sphere gazed at him with its sad eyes.
The morning passed but the radio did not heal. At eleven o'clock Archie grabbed two hot wires and shouted in anguish. Rising to his feet, he kicked the radio savagely out the open hatch. It crashed against the ground and slid toward the purple sphere. The purple sphere looked up at Archie sadly.
Archie hurled a wrench at it and the purple sphere winced. "Stop looking at me like that!" shouted Archie. "Fix it yourself, damn you!"