On the first ever discovery of intelligent beings on another planet the two-man landing party find their preconceptions shattered.

Intelligent Life

"I still can't believe these things are intelligent"
Darren was walking along a trackway following a metre- high slug-like creature.
"At the speed they move they make tortoises look lively."
Phil circled the animal, which was munched at the mossy track surface as it surged slowly forward.
"I know what you mean, but they're definitely what's managing this environment… All these roadways, those burrows, and those buildings - if that's the right word."
During the brief hours since they landed the two men had seen scores of similar creatures moving in ordered lines, shaping and moulding the landscape - some using tools and machinery. They farmed ground-cover crops, constructed roadways, created order.
"It's a kind of civilisation", said Phil, screwing his face in self-disbelief.

They dubbed the creatures "slug-cows" as soon as they saw them and they had been the magnet that drew Earth's attention to the planet. Their physiology could not be judged from space, but distant observations identified signs of creative activity. Years of astronomical surveying had failed to identify extra-terrestrial life more advanced than the simplest single-cell bacteria - until this planet was discovered, with its geometrical pathways and its evidence of designed construction. The planet was unremarkable, geologically speaking, but observations had been strongly suggestive of advanced development. Phil and Darren were the first to witness it directly.

Slug-cows had no hands, nor any definite limbs, but they 'handled' tools; extending folds from their flexible bodies and twisting them round the object to be grasped. Neither man had the courage yet to test the strength of this grip, but it was strong enough to use tools without dropping them. To call their bodies 'flexible' is not descriptive enough; they were like jelly held together within grey, elastic elephant skins. Their method of locomotion was a compromise between the many-limbed walk of the millipede and the relentless drift of a glacier. Some kind of ripple flowed along their bodies, but it was more of an oscillation than a walk. Slug-cows were slow, but purposeful; they were shapeless, but adaptable to all their needs. Best of all, they seemed tireless in this oppressive environment, which kept Phil and Darren down to 30 minute bursts of muscle-aching activity. The force of gravity on this planet was 50% greater than on Earth.

Their inter-stellar craft circled eighteen hundred kilometres above them, passing over their heads every second day. A closer orbit was considered unwise in this gravity field and there were serious questions about the two-man pod's ability to rejoin their mother ship at the end of the mission. Their objective had been predetermined since space travel first became a reality to Earth people almost two centuries earlier. Some day we knew we must find intelligent life elsewhere in the universe and we would have to find ways to communicate with it.