"Strap down," he said "Figure it out. A place where all kinds of wonderful food hangs from the trees. Where there's no bacteria to hurt you, not even a sharp rock to stub your toes. A place filled with marvellous, amusing, gentle animals. Where everything's designed to delight you.
"A playground!"
The scientists stared at him.
"The shaft is a key. The place ran down while we made our unauthorized visit. Now someone's winding the planet up again."
Outside the port the shadows were stretching for thousands of feet across the green meadow.
"Hang on," Kilpepper said as he punched the take-off stud. "Unlike the toy animals, I don't want to meet the children who play here. And I especially don't want to meet their parents."
1953