Zorg replied.‘We think our transporter is at the bottom of the Slime Pond. But we don’t have any diving gear.’ ‘We do,’ said Kip with a grin. ‘Come on, let’s go!’ At the door of Zert and Zorg’s house, there was a rope made of knotted dried slime vines, hanging down to the ground. Kip climbed down from the hanging house, using the rope’s knots as footholds. Finbar, Zorg and Zert followed. Zorg called out to the other two houses. Four more aliens appeared and climbed down to help. ‘Pustula’s that way,’ Finbar said, pointing. Together, they all set off. In Grimor’s high-gravity atmosphere, trekking to the Slime Pond was exhausting. Beads of sweat popped up under Kip’s helmet. Kip saw the aliens staring at his sweaty face. They weren’t sweating at all. Kip guessed that they might not have sweat glands. To them, the sight of Kip’s wet forehead probably looked bizarre. Just like the way their handshake looks weird to us, Kip thought. The aliens were clearly used to high gravity.
