"What kind of people are they?"
"Well, the story is that they're originally from Mars. They don't look much like Martians, though. They're dark, a kind of coppery color. Thin. Very agile, in their own way. They hunt and fish. No written language. We don't pay much attention to them."
"I see." Harris paused. "Chief, have you ever heard of anything called—The Pipers?"
"The Pipers?" Watts frowned. "No. Why?"
"The patients mentioned something called The Pipers. According to Bradshaw, the Pipers taught him to become a plant. He learned it from them, a kind of teaching."
"The Pipers. What are they?"
"I don't know," Harris admitted. "I thought maybe you might know. My first assumption, of course, was that they're the natives. But now I'm not so sure, not after hearing your description of them."
"The natives are primitive savages. They don't have anything to teach anybody, especially a top-flight biologist."
Harris hesitated. "Chief, I'd like to go into the woods and look around. Is that possible?"
"Certainly. I can arrange it for you. I'll give you one of the men to show you around."