"The carnivores?"
The biochemist nodded. "Where there's one, there are bound to be others. That one I saw was large enough to bite a chunk out of a skimmer."
Klendro, pale already, lost more color.
Each was assigned a continent to check. Of the two extra continents, Drog took one, and Gwann the other, the consensus being that the pilot and navigator could better cover extra territory than the others, who were less used to piloting the sleek skimmers.
Volval was to go to the Europe-Asia land mass, Gwann to Africa and Antarctica, Klendro to Australia, Jorik to South America, and Drog to Arctica, after first checking over the North American Continent on which they had landed.
"Something exceedingly strange," said Jorik, before they separated, "about the consolidation of their civilization. So much wasted land area."
"The sooner I get back to Venus, the happier I'll be," said Gwann, keeping his voice down so that only Jorik, the biochemist, could hear him. "This place is eerie. It's—it's like a ghost planet."
"And there's something wrong about the buildings. They are abominably inefficient. I can barely conceive the uses of some of the artifacts."
"Maybe," said Gwann suddenly, "we never will know!"