 What was the monstrosity that Moran cut apart with his torch?
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Fantastic Stories of Imagination May 1962. I. Moran cut apart the yard-long monstrosity with a slash of flame. Then he knew he was being marooned on a planet of endless terrors. Moran, naturally, did not mean to help in the carrying out of the plans which would mean his destruction one way or another. The plans were thrashed out very painstakingly, in formal conference on the space-yacht Nadine , with Moran present and allowed to take part in the discussion. From the viewpoint of the Nadine's ship's company, it was simply necessary to get rid of Moran. The Nadine was out of overdrive and all the uncountable suns of the galaxy shone steadily, remotely, as infinitesimal specks of light of every color of the rainbow. Two hours since, the sun of this solar system had been a vast glaring disk off to port, with streamers and prominences erupting about its edges. Now it lay astern, and Moran could see the planet that had been chosen for his marooning. The ice-cap, by its existence and circular shape, proved that the planet rotated at a not unreasonable rate. A water-ice ice-cap said that there were no poisonous gases in the planet's atmosphere. A small one like this meant wide tropical and sub-tropical zones. The fact was verified by the thick, dense cloud-masses which covered most of the surface,—all the surface, in fact, outside the ice-cap. But since there were ice-caps there would be temperate regions. In short, the ice-cap proved that a man could endure the air and temperature conditions he would find. Moran observed these things from the control-room of the Nadine , then approaching the world on planetary drive. He was to be left here, with no reason ever to expect rescue. Two of the Nadine's four-man crew watched out the same ports as the planet seemed to approach. Moran disagreed, but he did not answer.
 A worm that had grown out of control.
 A worm that had grown out of control.  A roach that had grown out of control.  A mosquito that had grown out of control.  A beetle that had grown out of control.