As Maskull continued to explore the landscape, he forgot Oceaxe and his passion. Other strange feelings came to the front. The morning was gay and bright. the sun scorched down, quickly changing clouds sailed across the sky, the earth was vivid, wild, and lonely. Yet he experienced no aesthetic sensations - he felt nothing but an intense longing for action and possession. When he looked at anything, he immediately wanted to deal with it. The atmosphere of the land seemed not free, but sticky; attraction and repulsion were its constituents. Apart from this wish to play a personal part in what was going on around and beneath him, the scenery had no significance for him.
So preoccupied was he, that his arm partly released its clasp. Oceaxe turned around to gaze at him. Whether or not she was satisfied with what she saw, she uttered a low laugh, like a peculiar chord.
"Cold again so quickly, Maskull?"
"What do you want?" he asked absently, still looking over the side.
"it's extraordinary how drawn I feel to all this.""You wish to take a hand?"
"I wish to get down."
"Oh, we have a good way to go yet.... So you really feel different?""Different from what? What are you talking about?"' said Maskull, still lost in abstraction.
Oceaxe laughed again. "it would be strange if we couldn't make a man of you, for the material is excellent."After that, she turned her back once more.