 Why were they getting the jeeps out?
They were something more—and something less—they were, in short, humanity's hopes for survival! The Starship Pandora creaked and groaned as her landing pads settled unevenly in the mucky surface of the ugly world outside. She seemed to be restless to end her fool's errand here, two hundred light years from the waiting hordes on Earth. Captain Gwayne cursed and rolled over, reaching for his boots. The starlanes between Earth and her potential colonies were rough on the men who traveled them now. "And our two cadets sneaked out again. Earth couldn't turn out enough starmen in the schools, so promising kids were being shipped out for training as cadets on their twelfth birthday. The two he'd drawn, Kaufman and Pinelli, seemed to be totally devoid of any sense of caution. The blobs hadn't seemed dangerous, and the local animals were apparently all herbivorous and harmless. But something had happened to the exploration party fifteen years back, and to the more recent ship under Hennessy that was sent to check up. The Sol-type sun must be rising, since there was a dim light. Even the deep gorge where they'd found Hennessy's carefully buried ship was completely hidden by the fog. There were three of the blobs dancing about over the grazing animals now, as they often seemed to do. Earth had ordered him to detour here, after leaving his load of deep-sleep stored colonists on Official World 71, to check on any sign of Hennessy. If there was no sign in another day or so of what had happened to the men who'd deserted their ship and its equipment, he'd have to report back. Now the three were streaking at fantastic speed to a spot near the ship, to hover excitedly above something that moved there. One, at the front, was stuttering into life, and Gwayne dashed for it as the exit port slid back. At a gesture, the jeep rolled down the ramp, grinding its gears into second as it picked up speed. The huge leader suddenly waved and pointed toward the jeeps that were racing toward him. The jeep was doing twenty miles an hour now, but the horde began to increase the distance, in spite of the load of the two struggling boys! The creatures dived downward into lower ground, beginning to disappear into the mists. Then it cleared to show the mob of creatures doubling back on their own trail to confuse the pursuers. A spear crunched against the windshield from behind, and Gwayne caught it before it could foul the steering wheel.
 to go on an urgent rescue mission
 to tour the planet  to attack the natives  to find the lost crew  to go on an urgent rescue mission