What is the basic of a weapon?
"Caroline," Gary asked, "what would you say a weapon was?”
"Why," she told him, "that seems simple to me. An extension of your fist.
An extension of your power to hurt, of your ability to kill. Men fought first with tooth and nail and fist and then with stones and clubs. The stones and clubs were extensions of man's fist, an extension of his muscles and his hate or need.”
Stones and clubs, he thought. And then a spear. And, after that, a bow, A bow!
He swung on his heel, walked rapidly back along the ship, jerked open the door to the supply cabinet. Rummaging inside it, he found the things he wanted.
He brought them out, a fistful of wooden flagpoles, each with small flags fastened to one end, the other end steel-tipped for easy sticking in the ground.
"Explorer flags," he explained to Caroline. "You go out on an alien planet and you want to be sure that you can find your way back to the ship. You plant these things at intervals and then follow them back to the ship, picking them up as you go along. No chance of getting lost.”
"But…" said Caroline.
"Evans figured he was going to use this ship to go to Alpha Centauri, He took some of these things along, just in case.”