The round trip to Alpha Centauri is STL. The explorers are robots. One contains a downloaded human personality. On Demeter, there is rain and wind and there are two suns in the sky.
A fifteen-centimeter insect-like biologist robot probing a green-brown vegetable mat with its tendrils transmits to a balloon-borne receiver which amplifies the signal and re-transmits it to the mainframe computer at the station.
Through his robot body's treads, download Guthrie feels fine grit and damp soil. Through its eye stalks, he sees a beach strewn with weed, shells and dead animals like worms or jellyfish and the surfacing of a mother vessel for robots studying the sea. Production facilities make investigators which are then flown around the planet. Guthrie also has a legged body. He makes discoveries and devises procedures transcending the abilities of computer programs.
