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levity.

"Oh, yes," the Gardener responded. She beamed with joy at this lonely and lovely jewel. It looked much as she had imagined, swirled in brilliant shades of blue and white with smudges of gray and brown and green. She pointed out a large, revolving storm hovering over an ocean area just off the coast of one of the larger landmasses.

"It looks positively vibrant," she observed.

Her pilot concurred silently as he directed the ship with more careful attention now. He had obtained complete control of the vehicle and focused most of his concentration on the feedback system that would guide them to the planet's surface. Their relative motion was now so slow that even his partner could easily follow their progress.

The planet's dense atmosphere put the craft's protective shell to the test it had endured several times during the sojourn. The travelers' previous stop was now long behind them. As the ship descended, amazing details clarified and delighted the pair. Each pointed out interesting features formed of water and rock and organic compounds. The Gardener was busy stockpiling a great quantity of mental notes when the Pilot suddenly muttered a foul oath.

"What is it?" Sthon-ghta asked, alarmed.

Gsainmht tried to control his anger. "Sthon, don't you see? Look there," he pointed, "and there. The whole damn place is infested, overrun!" His eyesight was keener than hers, but she soon agreed.

The planet's surface bore the unmistakable scars of unnatural straight lines and tiny cubic structures in clusters of varying density. Automatic chemical analysis of the lower atmosphere raised several alarms for dangerous contaminants.

"Oh, Gsai!" she sighed. "It's ruined! Our beautiful garden has been destroyed." She was near tears now.

He touched her again now in sympathy. "Unsalvageable?" he asked her.

"I'm afraid so, love. There's nothing to be saved here. How sad, how sad," she said. "I wonder what happened to all those wonderful giant reptiles we expected to see here?" she added.

The pair shared a moment of silence as the evidence of the terrible scourge became all too clear. Endless patches of abnormal features were now clearly visible wherever land interrupted the great blue oceans. Even the spectacular azure waters showed signs of coastal contamination. Sthon-ghta was stunned at extent of the encroaching infection. Both were struck speechless.

When a squadron of tiny metallic winged creatures appeared in the distance, the Pilot knew they now had no choice at all. He blinked

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