Read the following passage and questions, then choose the right answer from options, the answer should be one of A, B, C, D.

<passage>:
Arthur Lanceford slapped futilely at the sith buzzing hungrily around Lanceford had the insane hope that the arthropod would fall out of Lanceford eyed the insect distastefully as he explored his jacket for Extraterrestrial Exploration couldn't have picked a better, but the funny thing about it was that they hadn't picked it in the first place. Niobe was the native word for Earth, or perhaps "the world" would be a more accurate definition. It was a coincidence, of course, but the to the sea. Trekking on Niobe was an amphibious operation unless one stayed in the highlands—a perpetual series of fords and river Lanceford shrugged fatalistically. Uncomfortable as a protection suit He looked at Kron squatting beside the trail and envied him. It was too bad that Earthmen weren't as naturally repellent to insects as the dominant native life. Like all Niobians, the native guide wore no clothing—ideal garb for a climate like this. His white, hairless hide, with its faint sheen of oil, was beautifully water-repellent. muscles like those of a terrestrial seal, argued an originally aquatic environment, and the large intelligent eyes set forward in the skull to give binocular vision, together with the sharp white carnassial teeth and pointed canines, indicated a carnivorous ancestry. But the modern Lanceford couldn't repress an involuntary shudder at some of the things they apparently enjoyed. Tastes differed—enormously so between Earthmen and Niobians. There was no doubt that the native was intelligent, yet he, like the rest of his race, was a technological moron. It was strange that a race which had a well-developed philosophy and an amazing comprehension of semantics could be so backward in mechanics. Even the simpler of the BEE's mechanisms left the natives confused. It was possible that they could learn about machinery, but Lanceford was certain that it would take a good many years before the first native mechanic would set up a machine shop on this planet. Lanceford finished tucking the last fold of face net under his collar, Lanceford looked at Kron inquiringly. "You have a place in mind where "Lead on," Lanceford said, groaning silently to himself—another managed to last through the others and this one could be no worse. At that, even an airless room full of natives was preferable to spending a night outside. And the sith wouldn't follow them. It didn't like airless rooms filled with natives. villages. Lanceford sighed a mingled breath of relief and unpleasant heading like a winged bullet for Lanceford's neck. But the man was at his right ear. The buzz stopped abruptly. Lanceford shook his head and the sith fell to the ground, satisfactorily swatted. Lanceford low doorway of the hunthouse and crawled inside. It took a moment for his eyes to become accustomed to the gloom within, but his nose told him even before his eyes that the house was occupied. The natives, he thought wryly, must be born with no sense of smell, otherwise they'd perish from sheer propinquity. One could never honestly say that most of it hung in an acrid undulating layer some six feet above the floor. The glow outlined the squatting figures of a dozen or so natives one of the hunters—a fellow-tribesman, judging from the tattoo on his chest. To a Niobian, the scene was ordinary, but to Lanceford it could have were almost painfully polite. Although Earthmen were still enough of a curiosity to draw attention, one searching look was all their customs allowed. Thereafter, they minded their own business. In some ways, Lanceford reflected, native customs had undeniable merit. empty sleeping platforms where they would spend the night. Lanceford Lanceford nodded, his stomach crawling with unpleasant anticipation. A native meal was something he would prefer to avoid. His digestive system could handle the unsavory mess, but his taste buds shrank from the forthcoming assault. What the natives classed as a delicate and elusive flavor was sheer torture to an Earthman. Possibly there was some connection between their inefficient olfactory apparatus and their odd ideas of flavor, but whatever the physical explanation might be, it didn't affect the fact that eating native food was an ordeal. Yet he couldn't refuse. That would be discourteous Lanceford's eyes watered, his stomach tautened convulsively, but the eaten during their past month of travel on Niobe, Kron had persistently Lanceford's dreams were unpleasant. Nightmare was the usual penalty of siths, reeking of vorkum, pursued him as he ran naked and defenseless He sighed and lay back. There wasn't anything more to do now. All he could do was wait and see if the anti-allergen worked. The Bureau of Extraterrestrial Exploration had discovered Niobe barely three years ago, yet already the planet was famous not only for its peculiar climate, but also for the number of men who had died upon its watery surface. Knowledge of this planet was bought with life, grim payment to decrease the lag between discovery and the day men could live and work on Niobe without having to hide beneath domes or behind protection suits. Lanceford never questioned the necessity or the minimum time. For Niobe was a made to order herbarium for a swampland plant called viscaya. The plant was originally native to Algon IV, but had been spread to practically every suitable growth center in the Galaxy. blank check and spurred on by a government which, in turn, was being spurred on by the people who composed it. The exploration of Niobe proceeded at all possible speed. With so many considerations weighed of humanoids in the Confederation, their sacrifice was worthwhile even if only a few days or hours were saved between discovery and Lanceford groaned as a violent pain shot through his head. The Seemed rather silly—a Class VII civilization using techniques that were old during the Dark Ages before the Atomic Revolution, sending foot parties to explore a world in the chance that they might discover something that the search mechs missed—anything that would shorten the The reaction was observably and painfully worse. It was important that the news of his death and the specimens he had collected get back to Base Alpha. They might have value in this complex their range, limited at best, was practically nonexistent on a planet from Kron. Despite his intelligence, the native could no more assemble a directional antenna than spread pink wings and fly. It was his duty to help Lanceford, but how could he? The Earthman that such an obviously intelligent species should have so little flexibility. They didn't understand the first principles of adaptation. Always and forever, they held to their own ways, trying with insensate Lanceford breathed wheezily. The swelling had invaded the inner made—the longest trek a man's made on this benighted planet." "Of course not," Lanceford said with weak surprise. He hadn't dreamed Despite the pain that tore at his throat, Lanceford managed a chuckle. nodded with satisfaction and returned to where Lanceford lay. The Lanceford was dimly conscious of Kron prying his swollen jaws apart dimly grateful, even though the primitive native nostrum would probably do no good other than to ease the pain. as the other muscles of his body and the native was outside his field of vision—but somehow he knew exactly what the Niobian was doing. He Lanceford's mind froze, locked in a peculiar contact that was more alien Earthmen, mixed with a wondering curiosity about what kept them here—what the true reasons were for their death-defying persistence and stubbornness—of an ironic native paraphrase for the Terran saying, "Every man to his own taste," and a profound speculation upon what fruits might occur from true understanding between his own race and the aliens.

<question>:
Why was Lanceford trekking around the planet?

<options>:
A To help people live longer
B To get away from the sith
C To try to get out of the rain
D To learn more about the natives

<answer>:

A