Jan must have been wholly silent, thinking of me, dead, burned, back there in the darkness of the gully.
"You all right now, lad?"
"Yes," Jan said. "Yes—I'm all right."
"When we get back, we ought to get a bonus," Torrence said. "Don't worry, Jan—I'll see you get plenty. Your report and mine—to tell them the hazards of this trip—"
"We should go back?" Jan said.
"Yes, certainly we should. Get back to Earth as fast as we can. No chance of doing anything else—"
Torrence gazed apprehensively around them in the darkness. That much at least—the reality of his apprehension as they sat there on the open plateau—that was authentic enough. And Jan also felt that at any moment one of the flaming creatures might attack them.
"You strong enough to start now?"
"Yes, sure I am," Jan agreed.
They started, picking their way along. Jan tried to remember how far we three had come from our own ship until we had discovered the Roberts' vessel.... For ten or fifteen minutes now he and Torrence clambered over the rocks.