Kingsford didn't answer right away. He looked at me quietly for a time. Then a slow smile spread across his face.
"For the betterment of mankind, Mr. Rogers," he said. "You see, I believe that the crew of the Essex met a fate that was destined long before preliminary surveys of Aldebaran IX were even projected. Before, even, men developed the power to travel into space. It was a warning. That is my belief, and my faith."
He was interrupted by the communications buzzer. They had scanned the planet and matched the chart. Throne had located the landing site and we were awaited in the control room. We both stood.
"I take it, Mr. Rogers, that you are not with me in this Aldebaran venture."
"I am Executive Officer aboard this ship, Captain. I know the meaning of performing my duties. But if you are looking for moral approbation in all of this, I cannot give it. The way I put it all together, I think it would be less a waste if we were to raise ship right now and set a course directly for Earth."
"Why? Are you afraid, Mr. Rogers?"
"No. It's just that I'm not given much to the idea of playing God."
Kingsford stopped at the door. "I seem to have underestimated you, Mr. Rogers," he said. He opened the cabin hatch and stepped through.
The setting down went off without a hitch, and the job of establishing Kingsford's precautionary system began. I was the first out of the ship, meeting the density of the atmosphere for which Kingsford had prepared me. It was thick, yet not oppressive like the heavy tropical atmosphere on Earth. It did not restrict movement, the gravitational force being less than that of Earth. One seemed to counter-balance the other to give a man equal physical capabilities to those on Earth. With Pierce, I scouted the area within a few miles of the ship, chose certain high grounds for emplacements and watches, then returned and began the deployment of the arms and crew to the chosen spots. I worked out a schedule of rotation so that the outer emplacements would be manned for no more than three hours by any one group. During this entire operation, there was no sign of animal life on the planet. The climate seemed sub-tropical and vegetable life proportional to this climate abounded. Fruit trees and plains of grass, forests and spots of dense undergrowth, much like the greenery of a dozen planets I had seen. But there was no sound, and absolutely no discernible movement of air. The mountain chain I had seen noted on Kingsford's chart stood off in the far horizon, and the land about us was all rolling hills and plains.