A forest of tall, twisted trees, with dark green leaves growing in irregular clumps, occupied the right hand side of the viewscreen. It ended, quite abruptly, the ground becoming flat and sandy. The sand was a pale beige. The sky above an ordinary sky blue. Here and there, faint white clouds could be seen. Reflections from the sun gave them a faint yellow tinge. The trees swayed in the breeze.
Wally was the first to move. "Wow," he said, and suddenly bounded up out of his seat. "Let's get out there!" Without waiting for any agreement, he ran out of the cockpit, barely glancing at Elaine or Guybrush.
"Well, I guess we might as well get out there," said Guybrush. He stood up. "Are you coming?"
"You can't just... go out there like that," objected Elaine. "What if the atmosphere's poisonous?"
"It won't be," said Guybrush. "One, the vegetation is green, hence photosynthesis. Two, the sky is blue, which means it probably has the same proportion of gases as the earth's atmosphere."
"But there might be trace elements."
"It's a risk worth taking," said Guybrush. "Why are we talking about this? I didn't think you'd want to stay on this ship."
"Oh, all right, I'll come," said Elaine. "But you can't just chance your life like that. What if you were wrong?"
"Then me and Wally will be dead and you'll have control of this ship. I thought you'd like that."
Elaine growled at him.
Together they left the cockpit and walked to the ladder. They looked up. Above them was a circle of blue - Wally had opened the hatch and was already outside.
Guybrush sniffed the air. "Smell anything?" asked Elaine. Guybrush shook his head. He started climbing. Elaine, reluctantly, followed shortly after.
Shortly, they were out on the top of the ship. Wally had already climbed down to the surface. He had some complicated equipment in his hands, as well as a sketchbook and a pencil. He hunched over the equipment, occasionally turning to furiously scribble something in his sketchbook.
"What's he doing?" asked Elaine.
"Oh, he's just surveying. Poor guy can't help himself."
They both looked around. It soon became clear that they had landed on top of a plateau of some kind, as the land all around them gradually fell away. Because of this, and the greater horizon of this planet, it seemed they could see an incredible amount of terrain. They saw dark, enormous forests, and regions of rocky desert. Several lakes dotted the landscape, the closest a few minutes walk away. The vista stirred up the strangest feelings in Elaine - at first glance it could have been anywhere in Earth, but concentrate on just one detail and you immediately noticed subtle differences - like the way the trees were taller and straighter, or the way the clouds twisted themselves into strange, unfamiliar shapes. She had the very strong impression that this planet was just another version of Earth, as if a scientific-minded creator had decided to tweak a few things and see what happened.
Then she saw movement.
"Look! Over there!" she said urgently. Guybrush followed her pointing finger. In the air above one of the nearby forests, he saw a whirling pack of black dots.
"Are those birds?" said Guybrush.
"I don't know. They could be..." Elaine could only stand there and stare. She willed them to come closer, but they suddenly settled into the forest and vanished.
"Let's head down," said Guybrush. They slowly took the stairs down to the ground. Guybrush walked a few steps away, then turned and looked back at Boss Hog. Strangely, it didn't look all that big. He then turned and went over to Wally. "So, what have you found out?" he said.
"Nothing much yet, Guybrush," said Wally. "Surveying takes a while - give me a few hours."
Elaine couldn't get those birds - if that was what they were - out of her head. She wanted to run over immediately and try to see them - but her fear of the unknown held her back. She looked into the forest. The nearest trees were only ten metres away, and very quickly the space between them became inky black. It should have been home to hundreds of animal species, but she could see none.
The sudden noise caught them all by surprise.