They were bipeds towering some seven feet into the thin Martian atmosphere. Their bodies were misshapen from any standard Gunnison was familiar with. Legs far too long for their incredibly wide torsos. They wore a combination of natural hair and badly tanned leather skirts and it was hard to tell where one left off and the other began. Their arms were like snapped-off tree trunks—at complete variance with other physical proportions. Their faces were probably the most disgusting aspect of all. Only the beginnings of faces really with mouths, noses, and eye sockets mere holes punched into the flattened sides of round heads.
Even as he crouched there with only the hope of a quick death, Gunnison could not help marveling. What manner of pitiful throwbacks were these. Monsters spawned by the century-old atomic bombardment that smashed the last of the Martian resistance? Caricatures created by nature in a vindictive mood?
The natives stared. Gunnison stared back. And began breathing again as moments passed and the frightful trio did not rush in to annihilate him or take him for torture.
Then his fears were overshadowed by interest in these strange people. The three faces had been plastered with identical grimaces of amazing hideousness. Gunnison had interpreted it as an expression of cunning and cruelty. Now he changed his mind. Coupled with the embarrassed twistings and posturings of the ungainly bodies, the expressions dawned on Gunnison in truth.
The natives were grinning. Also, they were glancing continuously into the sky and Gunnison knew they were fearful. But fearful of what? Had they experienced the arrival of alien ships at one time or another? He did not think so.
Now the one he had tentatively classified as female went to her knees and brought a hand from behind her back. The hand held forth a dish of colorless material that Gunnison thought to be food. The creature went prone and pushed the dish forward on the ground in a veritable agony of shy embarrassment.
Without thinking, Gunnison extended his own hand and laid it on the hideous head. The result was amazing. The monster increased her senseless writhings twofold and a shade of attractive lavender diffused her face.
She was blushing. Gunnison thought: They're entirely harmless, these creatures. More than that, they're a people shy to the point of pain. Good lord, what a switch!
Now the two males went suddenly crazy with fear. They looked into the sky and went into gibbering gymnastics as they sought to prevail on Gunnison without touching him. Obviously they wanted him to leave this terrible place. Why?
Evidently because of the black bird that circled over head. Gunnison looked up. The natives babbled inarticulate entreaty as they gestured toward Gunnison's camp. Then, as the bird gave forth an angry whistle and went into its dive, they broke and bolted madly for the nearby crags.