"I can't tell you how it's done," he went on, "because it only just happened to me. We'll have to study it. But apparently this creature has the ability, by means of these antennae of his, to counter, or nullify the mind-destroying waves of the flowers."
"Great heavens!" Gorsline exclaimed. "Then it must have been lurking—one like it, at any rate—each time we came near the flowers."
"Yes. It would have saved Bodkin," Fenner said, "but it was afraid of the rest of you. You were so many, so noisy—"
"But why should it try to save us?" Hakim said. "If it is an animal, I mean."
Fenner shrugged. "Why did the first dog become domesticated, and how did it happen? Perhaps," he said softly, "there were once other beings here who were its masters. One thing is clear to me: this creature is very intelligent. And like all intelligent creatures it has a profound need—"
"For food, you mean? Or shelter?"
"Oh, of course, for food, shelter, propagation, and so on. No," said Fenner, smiling, "it is a deeper need than that."
"What?"
"Affection," said Fenner, and he set off walking, with the beast at his heels.
THE END