"Don't be a fool, Mark!"
"But the dial read clear, man! And we know nobody is going to shoot us. All life had to be wiped out."
"How about minor power installations?"
Jarvis took a chocolate bar from his pocket, sat down on a piece of broken rubble and began to eat. "You're too careless—far too careless, Mark."
Mark laughed. "You've always been cautious enough for both of us. Got me out of plenty of scrapes back in school, too. Don't think I've forgotten." Affection warmed his blue eyes as they rested on the face of his friend.
"Okay! Okay! But what happened to them? Where did they go?" Jarvis took nervous bites from his second chocolate bar. Then he, too, peeled off his suit. He sniffed the air distrustfully, as he wiggled his shoulders to free them from the clinging, damp shirt. Then he took a few experimental steps forward.
"Seems all right, Mark. But how do you explain about Hank and Garland? Never were two more careful guys."
"Probably a simple miscalculation. Or an accident. We know it couldn't have been enemy action. Tests prove conclusively that we wiped them out—to a man." He took deep gulps of air into his lungs, and stretched like a cat. "We'll find out soon enough. Boy, I feel great!"
They deflated and folded their safety suits and added the bundles to the other equipment on their backs. Then, with their instruments held before them, they probed their way into the twisted wreckage, still following the faint, dust-filled footprints.