It was ready to address them. Now.
This was the greatest moment of Grg's and Yrl's lives.
They waited for the God to speak.
It was silent.
A long time passed. The God remained motionless, though in conversation-position, and silent. A very long time passed.
Then a tiny hole appeared in the God's side. It grew larger—larger—and then it stopped growing larger.
Something appeared at the hole. It paused, then dropped to the surface of Phobos, where it began to crawl about.
It bore considerable resemblance to a plllnk, except for its shiny-wrinkled grey skin (plllnks were purple.) And this thing was huge—Huge. It was one-fifth the size of the God's body.
Caught by horror, and fearing the worst, Grg and Yrl waited for the God to speak.
(Damn, John Cotter was thinking. That was a neat bit of sloppiness, that landing.... Carruthers will chew me out and in again! Pause: Holy cats, I hope the radio isn't busted, or I'll have a helluva wait before they follow up and find me!...)