Krai experienced some difficulty in accustoming himself to the heavier gravitational pull of the new planet at first. But this was short-lived.
As he moved over the plain toward the forest, Krai cut a strange figure. He was small and squat, barely four feet high; his body triangular-shaped and tapering to a truncated point at the top. Three thin tentacular legs supported the trunk and provided locomotion. Four equally thin and powerful appendages were attached to the upper part of the trunk, two on the chest and one on each side of the hardly visible head. Each of Krai's two large eyes was embedded in the end of a foot-long stalk, giving him highly maneuverable and easily concentrated vision in all directions. Several spiracles dotted the lower part of the head, on each side of which was a huge ear—nature's answer to the problem of his own world's thin atmosphere.
In the denser air of the earth these latter proved very useful, if a trifle disconcerting with their powers of magnification. He could distinguish the slightest sounds at tremendous distances. The patter of an animal's feet deep in the forest; the noise of a falling branch.
In places the forest was quite thick and the going sometimes difficult, but for the most part the journey was uneventful. Presently he began to catch the sounds of movement and voices.
Krai approached warily. He realized that these people were still very primitive, had not even begun to walk on the ground. Up to now he had exercised overmuch caution because he hadn't known what to expect, but now he knew there was nothing to fear.
Detaching his pressure projector from the equipment secured to his back, Krai advanced on the alert. His job was by no means an easy one, despite the fact that everything seemed to be working in with his plans. If he were discovered, disaster could still wreck those selfsame plans.
He paused. Through the concealing foliage he looked out upon a small clearing. In the trees surrounding this were the houses of the arboreal community and, singly and in groups, chattering gibberish to each other, its inhabitants.
They were outlandish-looking beings to Krai, just as he would have been to them. Nearly twice as tall as he and powerful with the strength of the brute. Few of them wore any covering, but the plentiful hair on their bodies seemed to be ample covering of itself. Communication was carried on with a combination of grunts and gestures and as far as Krai could make out the articulate part was very limited in meaning; almost incomprehensible to an intelligent mind.
So far they hadn't detected the presence of another, but the alien knew he must not tarry.