The planet Pandora is covered with a dense, mysterious, incomprehensible forest. The famous star pilot Leonid Gorbovsky sits on the edge of a cliff, who understands that humanity, having reached Noon, has reached a dead end. People are not ready to meet something truly Alien. Meanwhile, Atos-Sidorov, who ended up in the forest due to an accident, is trying to get out “to his own people.” But first he needs to understand what is happening in the forest, what kind of war is being waged against the villagers. Note: In 1990, a shortened version of the story (Gorbovsky’s chapter) was published under the title “Anxiety.” The full version was published in 1991 under the title “ Snail on the slope - 1.”