Part 2

The flood, cresting, ran clear and strong, the waves breaking heavily on the drowned shore by the river mouth. The rescue spinner, two hours out of Base and descending once again through the fleeting murk, checked at the sight of a begrimed human figure, staggering along the slick margin of the shore, carrying something large and limp under one arm, and with the other arm poking at the ground with a stick.

The spinner came down almost on top of him, and the two men in it reached to catch Calvin. He could hardly stand, let alone stumble forward, but stumble he did.

"Cal!" said the pilot. "Hold up! It's us."

"Let go," said Calvin thickly. He pulled loose, dug with his stick, dropped something from the limp thing into the hole he had made, and moved on.

"You out of your head, Cal?" cried the co-pilot. "Come on, we've got to get you back to the hospital."

"No," said Calvin, pulling away again.

"What're you doing?" demanded the pilot. "What've you got there?"

"Think-plant. Dead," said Calvin, continuing his work. "_Let go!_" He fought weakly, but so fiercely that they did turn him loose again. "You don't understand. Saved my life."

"Saved your life?" The pilot followed him. "How?"

"I was on an island. In the river. Flood coming up." Calvin dug a fresh hole in the ground. "It could have lived a little longer. It let me pull it ahead of time--so I'd have something to float to shore on." He turned exhaustion-bleared eyes on them. "Saved my life."

The pilot and the co-pilot looked at each other as two men look at each other over the head of a child, or a madman.

"All right, Cal," said the pilot. "So it saved your life. But how come you've got to do this? And what _are_ you doing, anyhow?"

"What am I doing?" Calvin paused entirely and turned to face them. "What am I doing?" he repeated on a rising note of wonder. "Why, you damn fools, I'm doing the first real thing I ever did in my life! I'm saving the lives of these seeds!"