Shortly after landing on Malacandra, Weston and Devine attempt to drag Ransom to the servants of Oyarsa, but a particular incident distracts them, and Ransom escapes. In the course of his adventures on Malacandra, Ransom learns that the Oyarsa, the being to whom he was supposedly to be sacrificed, wanted only to speak with a human to learn of the conditions on Earth, the 'Silent Planet'. The "civilized' Weston cannot understand this, expecting only savagery from "primitive" cultures.