But the pogos could not make that great leap, nor could the giant things stop so easily. On they rushed and one after another they landed in the middle of that thick gummy deep swamp-like mass. The automatic vibrations of their shafts continued but their bases were hopelessly gummed in. The crews were hurled off in all directions and fell helplessly into the gooey morass.
We were saved! My ship was around at the other side but we could walk it. Nadia signalled our thanks to the bugger and it bounded off alone towards the distant horizon.
As we walked, Nadia complimented me on my trick of the swamp. I glowed within and, turning to her, said:
"Let us stay here and master this world, my Empress. I, Ajax Calkins, lay my heart and a planet at your feet."
But women are fickle creatures and cannot understand the ways of the great. She laughed and said: "Don't be silly, my husband is waiting for me at our own spaceship."
And then when we found that my ship had, while I had been away, sunk into the swamp completely and that we would have to walk the twenty or so miles to Nadia's craft, she laughed even louder. Women do not appreciate destiny.