"I've read that there are often yellowish clouds of dust but it is only at night, when the cold comes with sunset, that moisture clouds are formed. Nights are too cold for human existence without special protection."
She shivered. "I'd get to hate that sky after a time. It is pitiless."
"You certainly would if you were lost on this desert."
"Let's rest a bit, John, and see what the manual has to say."
"Fine! We can lean our backs against this rock."
"We'd better get on the sunny side of it."
They walked around the rock, and slid down to the hard sand. Faint twists of sand curled around the sides of the rock but they were sheltered from the wind, and out of sight of the entrance, as if in a world of their own.
She rested her head on his shoulder contentedly as he turned the old, crudely typeset pages of the manual. There were pen and ink illustrations of strange beasts, but no chapters on inhabitants.
"We're the only people here—" said Hilda, in an awed tone.
"Regular Adam and Eve picnic, with clothes on."