McBride listened, frowned and rubbed his cheek. "In other words, we might as well give up any idea of living off the fat of the land."
"That's about the size of it," Flaunders agreed. "Our best bet, the way things stand now, would be to try and have a garden going before our supply of food runs out."
"Check," said McBride. "But the seed was brought along just in case the soil and climate should prove suitable for planting. What do you make of that?"
"Climate ought to be just about perfect," Flaunders grunted. "As to the soil, Thompson and I will check on that right away."
In another day a few things had been learned. There was now no doubt about the poisonous nature of Venus. The infuriating thing about it was that the creatures native to Venus thrived about them on food that would put out the lights for good for any Earth-born animal.
But that was not quite so hard to take when they found that the soil was suitable for Earth crops. That left nothing to get excited about.
So they thought, until Venus turned stubborn.
No one knew exactly how stubborn Venus could get until the garden location was being cleared of weeds. They had gone over about fifty feet of the clearing, working earnestly and not bothering to look back, when one of the men--a lanky individual called Henry Higgins--turned to look back, put one grimy fist on his hip, hunched his shoulders, stuck out his chin and hollered, "Damn!"
The others turned and looked surprised. Not that Higgins' well-known exaggerative ways any longer surprised them, but what Higgins was looking at might surprise anyone, including the botanist in Flaunders.
The eight-or-ten feet of ground directly behind the men was clear of weeds. But at the far edge of this cleared space little green shoots were thrusting inquisitive noses above the ground. Beyond these were one-inch plants, then two-inch, and four and six and eight, on up. They formed a slope up to the edge of the clearing.
"Damn!" Higgins said again, and tossed away his spade.
Someone laughed uncertainly. The others scratched their heads, cast blank stares at one another and forgot how to keep their mouths closed.
"Just what in blazes do you make of that?" McBride asked of Flaunders.