She had no idea at the moment what that life might be doing, or what sort of ecological pattern would have to be worked out before the little planet made sense. Life, however, could do things like make oxygen and ammonia coexist in large quantities on Hrimm, or oxygen and cellulose on so many other worlds. This was even odder than having the oxygen, one of the most savagely active elements in the universe, existing free, as it did—thanks to life—in so many environments.

She had to see more. Finding Molly was also desirable, of course, taking reasonable care of her own safety should be given some sort of weight, but a possibility like this simply had to be checked out.

There was that sparkling, metallic stuff, too; now that she remembered, that could be living. She knew perfectly well there were races made of high-conducting hydrocarbons. Molly had collected some of this, of course, but Carol wanted to see for herself. Hurrying, even under near-zero gravity, was safe enough as long as one could see well ahead ...

And as long as one looked underfoot.

Her mind did not work as fast as Joe’s. He would probably have thought about hydrogen bonds being characteristic of life even while he was spinning through the air; he would have reasoned that that might be what made the sticky stuff that Molly had reported so sticky; he would have expected it to produce slippery material, too.

Carol didn’t. She was very annoyed with herself as she spun, but none of the explanations got to her consciousness until somewhat later.