We stood there by the outcropping and looked out along the wide, red desert beyond. It stretched flatly for miles from this point, south toward Mars' equator—dead sandy wastes, crisscrossed by the "canals," which we had observed while landing to be great straggly patches of vegetation, probably strung along underground waterflows.
BLONG-G-G-G- ... st-st-st- ...
We jumped half out of our skins. Ozone bit at our nostrils. Our hair stirred in the electrical uproar.
"L-look," Janus chattered, lowering his smoking gun.
About forty feet to our left, a small rabbity creature poked its head from behind a rock and stared at us in utter horror.
Janus raised his gun again.
"Don't bother," said Allenby tiredly. "I don't think it intends to attack."
"But—"
"I'm sure it isn't a Martian with religious convictions."