the hut was smashed to fragments as the monster charged through it , although terton survived by clinging to the circumfence ; some weeks later he was picked up by a returning salvage fleet , subsequently escaped from krull on a hijacked lens ( having developed hydrophobia to an astonishing degree ) and after a number of adventures eventually found his way to the great nef , an area of the disc so dry that it actually has negative rainfall , which he nevertheless considered uncomfortably damp .