Each an Explorer
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Each and Explorer is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov. It was writen in June 1956 and published in issue #30 of Future
The story focuses on Chouns and Smith, two members of the 'Exploration Teams', who are charged with exploring for new planets, especially those that are potentially habitable by humans. Whilst temporarily without their hyperspace drive, which has apparently broken down, they land on a planet with Earth-like gravity and atmosphere, and find an advanced agricultural civilisation, with grain-like plants tended by short four-legged beings.
The beings show the two visitors hyperspacial sighters - valuable instruments for galactic navigation - despite the planet never having been visited by humans before. They indicate that more of the instruments are to be found on the neighbouring planet and the explorers leave in a hurry to visit it; never stopping to consider the impossibility of the situation. On the second planet, they meet aquatic snake-like creatures who offer them more sighters.
Back in the spaceship, Chouns, who is known for his 'hunches', eventually realises for the first time what's been happening; that they've been telepathically 'conditioned' to transfer pollen from the plants (who are the real masters) on one planet to the other. Also, they were made to believe that the ship's navigation system was faulty.
But what both men don't realise is that when they return to Earth, they will bring pollen with them to establish the plants on Earth as the potentially controlling intelligence.
