Explore "Wall of Crystal, Eye of Night" by Algis Budrys on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
The door opened, and Martians stood looking. They were spindly-limbed and slight, their faces framed by folds of leathery tissue. Their mouths were lipped with horn as hard as dentures, and pursed, forever ready to masticate. They were pleasant neither to look at nor, Sollenar knew, to deal with. But Cortwright Burr had done it. And Sollenar needed to do it.
"Does anyone here speak English?" he asked.