Eventually a wall of glass begins to assemble from the blast craters, showing evidence of a highly advanced doubler nanotechnology. Shortly thereafter the area around the ship is bombarded for several hours, although no direct attempts are made to damage the vessel. While the expedition explored the settlement, a large group of doubler vehicles had reconnoitered the crash site and then fled.Īfter some studies with their resident doubler and an expedition to gather water, the crew learns that the local civilization is planning to act against them. One doubler however, comes to the jeep and refuses to return to the settlement, and is brought back to the ship. Two expedition members exploring the settlement become caught in a stampede of doublers, who seem totally indifferent to the presence of these aliens. The jeep team eventually discovers structures resembling graves and hundreds of preserved skeletons, and adjacent to it, a settlement. After an attack never comes, they assemble their jeep and half the team sets out to explore further, the other half remaining behind to repair the ship. Killing the pilot and fleeing in his vehicle, they return to the ship and prepare defenses. Eventually they come into conflict with a vehicle's pilot, who is a doubler. The next day, setting out to find a source of water, the expedition begins to come into contact with the local civilization, and their strange, top-like vehicles. They name these large creatures, with small torsos retractable into their large bodies, doublers (from 'double-bodied', in original (Polish): dubelty). At the crash site they find a local creature has entered their vessel. There they find a constant cycle of materials being produced and then destroyed and recycled. After escaping their wrecked ship they set out to explore the planet, first traveling through an unsettling wilderness and coming upon an abandoned automated factory. A starship crew-Captain (in the original, Coordinator), Doctor, Engineer, Chemist, Physicist and Cyberneticist (robotics expert)-crash land on an alien world they call Eden.

Eden by Stanisław Lem