"Sounds like a reasonable explanation," Thorp admitted. "I've seen those Asgardian jungles. Crawling, thrashing masses of vegetation." He shook his head. "It gives a body the creeps."
"But how can anything live in that jungle?" Joel protested.
Liedl said triumphantly: "Nothing could! Nothing but plants!"
Fifteen minutes before twenty-two hours, a warning bell rang and the lights dimmed. Nick Thorp showed Joel the clothes locker where he could secure sleepers.
The lights went out while Joel was taking his shower. He switched on the dryer in the dark.
After a few seconds his eyes began to adjust. There was a dim night lamp in the mess-room beyond the fo'cs'le. Joel could see by its reflected light almost as well as he could by day. The only difference was the absence of color. Everything appeared in varying shades of gray like a photograph.
The deadening effect of the chemicals that had been used to purify the air of the Experimental Station was beginning to wear off. A medley of familiar and unfamiliar smells beset his nostrils.
All at once, he halted.
There was something here that shouldn't be. Joel could smell it. A strange alien odor that he'd caught only once before.