Summary

Chapter 4 opens on the Planet of the Archbuilders. Pella and her brothers are spending time outdoors with siblings Bruce and Martha Kincaid. They are joined by Morris Grant, the only other child in the settlement. Morris has a 15-year-old brother named Doug. The planet’s landscape is generally defined by “stones and ruin” (44). The Kincaid siblings show the Marsh siblings the planet’s “potatoes” (45), which is the planet’s varied form of edible vegetation. Pella then recalls seeing the Archbuilders’ architectural ruins for the first time. Bruce Kincaid uses his knife to pull up a potato and show it to the other children. He explains that the Archbuilders altered all of their favorite foods to grow on their own as potatoes, thus obviating the need for farming. Bruce explains that one settlers, Efram Nugent, refuses to eat the potatoes. The kids pick up a...