The sound of empty space beside them was almost unnoticeable. The swish, so familiar for such speeds near their own planetary chain far out in the universe, was now missing.
As they approached the Earth, a thin crescent of daylight appeared to their right.
"Father," Gelerie said, "I cannot help myself. I am in love with this Earth form. I have this—this deep sense of beauty, of love, of desire. I cannot seem to quell it."
Threlkeld tried to help her with logic. "Homekind gave us the pills for a brief mission. I have lived long enough not to desire these human qualities. You are much younger and have much more to learn. Homekind devised these pills for but one purpose—you are to lure a young man of your choosing into our vehicle. He will then be transported home, and your father will have his old job back on the ferry to Betelgeuse. Do not fail me, Gelerie."
A bright, mercury-like flood of daylight appeared, and Threlkeld explained to her that it was light from the Earth's source of life, the solar body they had passed. He explained that Homekind was now selecting by remote control their landing site.
The pod now skittered through the skies, safely avoiding other space craft which Earth might have sent up.
Threlkeld's mind left his daughter and consumed the view below them. A grand chasm of blue-green, an ocean. Strips of sand here and there along a vast continental shelf. Thick vegetation on the continent. An excess of river inlets. All important bearings on their location should they need to call home for help. He observed the scene with satisfaction.
And then they were slowing to a snail's pace, and Homekind was selecting a clearing in the sand along the shore of a river. Then the seed pod, its shape so much like that of the zephyr of Earth, twisted whirlybird fashion to the ground. Threlkeld lifted the rear of the container, and stiffly the two Earth imitations stepped out.
"Now we roll the vehicle into the trees." They carefully gathered sticks and bramble from the water's edge and made a natural pile of debris in front of the pod, so that anyone glancing its way would never see the brownish green vehicle for other than was intended to be seen—a mound of dried clay.