All Flesh is Grass

Наверно, вот так, в теплых лучах заходящего солнца, под защитой холмов можно сидеть целую вечность.

I had put my hands on either side of me and had been idly rubbing them back and forth across the surface of the stone on which I sat. My hands must have told me almost instantly that there was something strange about the surface, but I was so engrossed with the sensations of sun and water that it took some minutes before the strangeness broke its way into my consciousness.

Бездумно, от нечего делать я коснулся ладонями камня, на котором сидел, и начал его поглаживать.

When it did, I still remained sitting there, still rubbing the surface of the stone with the tips of my fingers, but not looking at it, making sure that I had not been wrong, that the stone had the feel of artificial shaping.

Я и тут не вскочил, я по-прежнему сидел и кончиками пальцев водил взад и вперед по камню, но теперь и не глядя убеждался: ошибки нет, на ощупь ясно  — это не просто каменная глыба, а обтесанная плита.

When I got up and examined the block, there was no doubt of it. The stone had been squared into a block and there were places where the chisel marks could still be seen upon it. Around one corner of it still clung a brittle substance that could be nothing else than some sort of mortar in which the block had once been set.

I straightened up from my examination and stepped away, back into the stream, with the water tugging at my ankles.

Наконец, я поднялся и посмотрел  — да, сомнений нет. Передо мною квадратная плита, кое-где еще видны знаки от удара зубилом. И на одном углу сохранились следы хрупкого вещества  — должно быть, некогда это было подобие цемента.

Разглядев все это, я выпрямился и отступил, пришлось войти в ручей, вокруг щиколоток заплескалась вода.

Not a simple boulder, but a block of stone! A block of stone bearing chisel marks and with a bit of mortar still sticking to one edge.

"The Flowers, then, were not the only ones upon this planet. There were others—or there had been others. Creatures that knew the use of stone and had the tools to chip the stone into convenient form and size.

Не просто глыба, не какой-нибудь валун, а каменная плита! Обтесанная плита со следами зубила и с остатками цемента по краю!

Значит, Цветы  — не единственные обитатели этой планеты.