Blish,James – And all the Stars a Stage

they did gnats; and their rigid exoskeletons seemed to be made of something

closely resembling tool steel. The wings under those impossible wingcases

had iron-sheathed venules: and the color in the blood of the creatures was

provided by Reeks of rust, which picked up and lost oxygen and energy by

changing cyclicaHy from ferrous to ferric oxides and

And all the Stars a Stage 127

-impossibly-back again. Nothing so heavy for its size could ever have flown,

not even an inch.

They could not, indeed, be said to be true fliers, despite the wings.

Instead, they hovered or trayelled in the planet’s magnetic fleld. Such

wing movements as they made set up eddy currents throughout the metal

exoskeleton, which were promptly transformed into movement, at more than

bullet-like velocities, along a line of magnetic force. The sudden slowing

and veering motions which had been observed from the beginning were

probably attributable to passage over local iron ore deposits; there was

plenty of the metal on the planet, though the natives did not know its

uses.

“The velocities involved vary, but some are quite sufficient to penetrate

a spacesuit with a man in it,” Dr. Cbase-Huebner reported to a hastily

convened council of war. “The injuries and deaths we have sustained thus

far have been due to nothing but standing in the way. We shall sustain many

more, depending entirely on how long we decide to stay here. I can think of

no way to prevent it, and neither can anybody else that I have talked to.”

“Does the impact kill the insect too?” Jorn asked.