Devine is first to exit the ship, toting a revolver. Weston orders Ransom out of the ship next, and he takes his first steps onto the pink, vegetation-covered ground of Malacandra. The ship has landed on the shore of a body of water. Ransom is briefly thrilled to recognize a house, believing that it indicates human inhabitants. However, he soon realizes that the house belongs to Devine and Weston, who have been to Malacandra previously and set up camp.

As Ransom works alongside his captors to unload cargo from the ship, he takes in his surroundings. Malacandra is beautiful, far from the horrorscape he imagined. They are surrounded by water, rippling with unearthly waves that are “the wrong shape […] too high for their length, too narrow at the base, too steep in the sides” (44). The water surrounds them on at least three sides (the fourth is obscured by the spaceship). Across the largest stretch of water, Ransom sees a puffy rose-colored formation that looks “like the top of a gigantic red cauliflower” (45). On the nearer shore is a forest of strange purple vegetation, soft, thin stalks ending in a transparent canopy. Devine calls the men in for lunch, and Ransom eats copiously in anticipation of his upcoming escape attempt.