"But to an ape a car is incomprehensible?"

"Yes, that's a good point. Is this door opening in the side of the moon incomprehensible to us?

None of the others thought so.

It is only incomprehensible if you want it to be," replied Phillip. "Look at the realities here, will you? We are witnessing a slowly sinking chunk of metal. It is solid and real, and made from an as yet unknown arrangement of molecules. Given time and our scientists will have a bit of this stuff to analyze, and then they'll get the formula. We have no idea as to who built this door, or why, but we have the inclination to feel that it was put here with discovery by humans in mind".

"I agree with all this," said John, "But why should a creature go to all this trouble? Are we expected to just waltz down the hole and say 'gidday' to whatever is down there?"

"Of course not."

"May I say something?" interjected Paul. "I would like to approach this problem from several angles.

"First, if this hole is leading us and the human race to extinction, then we will not be able to stop it, because whoever was intelligent enough to build this thing must have been powerful enough to exterminate life on Earth - but they didn't, so it's logical to assume that they meant us no harm. Therefore I think we should view this door with optimism.

"Second, if this is part of some benign plan lo help Mankind, then we have nothing to lose by investigating it to the fullest.

"Third, if this is for Man, and I think it is, then we need not be afraid, but if it isn't for Man, then we may still be the recipients of great things. Imagine the potential for reverse engineering? I think we should follow this up, and take the risk that we will find something good."

"Coming from you," said Phillip, "1 would expect this view. You have always held that life should be taken as it comes. You're a Fatalist."

"Should we tell Earth about all this now?" asked Ralph. He sounded worried.

"Not yet," replied Phillip. "We cannot risk being recalled. You know what they'd do! The military would be all over this place like ants, and nobody would know