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The Main Persons
* Vladimir Surov - the most famous Russian biologist, who understands English but doesn\'t know enough to conversate with the others; behaves very strange.
* the teller of the story (his name isn\'t mentioned) - commander of the British space shuttle
* Henderson - a British geophysicist
* Commander Krasnin - the russian commander, very worried about Surov.
Outline of contents
Vladimir Surov is a very able and famous Russian biologist who is stationed on moon to do experiments. He has even built up a little hydroponic farm there, where he successfully grows dwarf trees and vegetables to nourish the Russian team. He attracts attention to the British commander because of his very peculiar behaviour: even in the tiny and tight world of a spaceship, he manages to be alone and sits in his corner, peering through a microscope or working on his notes. Though he is respected by the rest of russian crew.
One day the commander (who tells the story) sees Surov walking out in the open of the moon - by himself. This is forbidden, because it is very dangerous to go out alone because many accidents can happen which would be trivial if you were with a companion.
During the next two months, he is often seen walking alone until one day the British comander receives an emergency call by Kras-nin, the russian one. Of each of the three ships on the moon (there is also an American one) a search party is sent out and they are shocked when they find Surov lying dead on the ground, in front of a strange plant he had grown secretly, \"Surov\'s Cactus\", a plant who can survive in vacuum and grow upon rocks. His helmet has been smashed by one of the plant\'s seeds, he had been shot at point-blank range by his own creation.
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