Eden by Stanislaw Lem

crackling, as of logs in a fireplace, but the Captain went on squeezing the trigger with a numb finger, until there was nothing before him but a pile of glowing cinders. Holding his jector high, he jumped on them and began to kick them apart.
    "Give me a hand!" he cried hoarsely.
    "I can't," groaned the Chemist. He was standing with his eyes shut, his forehead beaded with sweat, and clutching his throat with both hands, as if prepared to strangle himself.
    But the Doctor joined the Captain in kicking the cinders apart. The two of them looked funny, jumping up and down. When they had stamped the burned lumps into the ground, they raked the soil over the spot, using the butts of their jectors, until no trace was left.
    "How are we better than they?" asked the Doctor when they paused to rest, covered with sweat and panting.
    "It attacked us first," snarled the Engineer, wiping the soot from his jector, both furious and revolted.
    "All right, it's done!" the Captain called to the others. They approached slowly. There was a piercing smell in the air, and the plant cover was charred across a wide radius.
    "And what about that?" asked the Cyberneticist, pointing to the azure craft, which towered over them at a height of four stories.
    "Let's see if we can get it going," said the Captain.
    The Engineer's eyes opened wide. "You think we can?"
    "Watch out!" cried the Doctor.
    Three disks appeared over the copse, one after another. The men ran and hit the ground. The Captain checked his battery charger and waited, elbows spread wide against coarse moss. The disks passed over and continued on.
    "Are you coming with me?" the Captain asked the Engineer, nodding at the gondola that hung twelve feet above the ground.
    Without a word, the Engineer ran to one of the arms supporting the craft and, putting his hands in the perforations, quickly climbed up. The Captain followed on his heels. Reaching the gondola ledge first, the Engineer moved something—whatever it was, the men could hear the sound of metal against metal. Then he pulled himself up and extended a hand to the Captain, who grabbed it; both men disappeared from view. For a long while nothing happened; then the five outspread sides of the gondola slowly closed without making the slightest sound. The men below shuddered and stepped back.
    "What was that ball before?" the Doctor asked the Physicist as they looked up. Inside the gondola shadows were moving around.
    "It looked like spherical lightning," said the Physicist after some hesitation.
    "But it was the animal that emitted it!"
    "Yes, I saw that. Maybe some local electrical effect—look!"
    The azure polygon suddenly shook, clanged, and began revolving. It almost fell when the arms supporting it spread and twisted. At the last moment, as it teetered dangerously, there was another clang, and this time a high, piercing tone; the entire craft dissolved in a blur, and a breeze swept over the men below. The disk whirled, faster, slower, but stayed in place. It roared like the engine of a giant plane; the men moved back. One supporting arm, then the other, rose and disappeared into the luminous vortex. Like a shot, the disk sped along the groove, left the groove, and slowed down just as suddenly, kicking up soil. It made a dreadful noise, but little progress. When finally it returned to the groove, it flew off at a terrific speed, and in fifteen seconds diminished to a glimmer on the slope where the forest was.
    On its way back, the disk left the groove again and slowed to a crawl, moving with apparent difficulty, and the cloud of dirt churned into the air enveloped it at its base.
    There was a clang as the arms extended and the craft became visible. The gondola opened, and the Captain leaned out and shouted, "Everybody get in!"
    "What!" cried the Chemist in amazement, but the Doctor grasped the situation.
    "We're going for a ride."
    "Will we all fit?" asked the Cyberneticist, clutching a metal support. But the Doctor was already on