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They were dressed in many different styles of clothes; the loose flowing robes of the lads from the Martian deserts; the knee-length shorts and high stockings of the boys from the Venusian jungles; the vari-colored jacket and trouser combinations of the boys from the magnificent Earth cities. But they all had one thing in common a dream.
The verdict came back: "They could be genuine, of course, but they also could have been easily faked by a ten year old with a Brownie camera." For a few weeks we forgot George Adamski. But then the press began to clamor at our gates. The news was leaking out of Southern California. George Adamski had talked to a Venusian!
"No, why?" asked Tom, playing along with the game. "Because they knew any time the Polaris ran out of reactant fuel we could just stick Manning in the rocket tubes and have him blow out some of his special brand of space gas!" "Listen, you Venusian throwback! One more word out of you and " "All right, you two!" broke in Tom good-naturedly. "Enough's enough! Come on.
"In all my experience, I have never seen one of those bolts work loose of its own accord or because of heat or vibration on the power deck." He glanced at Astro, who was hunched forward, listening intently. "Have you, Astro?" The big Venusian shook his head slowly. "Never," he said. "Well, thank you, Corbett, that will be all for now," said the major and then turned to Kit.
And it looks to be as thickly populated as as Rhode Island! Why, you must have a colossal population; let me see." And she scribbled away in her memorandum book. But both Smith and the doctor had already worked it out. They looked up, blinking dazedly. "Over three hundred billion," murmured the doctor, as though dizzy. The Venusian checked Smith's correction with, "You dropped one cipher, doctor.
"Pressure up to seven ninety-six, sir," he called. "Stand by to fire all rockets!" roared Connel. "Make it good, you Venusian clunk," yelled Roger. "Seven ninety-nine, sir!" bellowed Astro. Astro watched the gauge of the pressure creep slowly toward the eight-hundred mark. In all his experience he had never seen it above seven hundred.
Van Emmon and Billie followed more slowly; the one, because he did not share the doctor's confidence in their guide; the other, because of a sudden shyness in his presence. The Venusian noted this. "You need not feel any embarrassment," said he to Billie's vast astonishment. "There is no distinction here between the dress of the two sexes."
At Astro's easy reply Connel could only stand openmouthed in amazement. Again, one of the three cadets of the Polaris unit had developed a revolutionary procedure that even top rocket scientists would be proud to call their own. Winking at Tom, Astro turned away and suddenly noticed Barret sprawled on the deck, unconscious. "What happened to him?" asked the big Venusian.
Special crews of psychologists were dispatched to Venus to contact the natives; they returned, exuberant, with test-results that proved the natives were friendly, intelligent, co-operative and resourceful, and the Board of Directors rubbed their hands more eagerly together, and poured more money into the Piper Venusian Installation. It took money to make money, they thought. Let the fools laugh.
He made a slight movement toward Vidac and Bush, but they leveled their guns quickly. "None of that," warned Vidac. Astro's shoulders drooped. He was almost in tears as he walked toward Tom. The curly-haired cadet stood immovable, staring at his friend. The Venusian leaned over and picked up Tom gently. "Take it easy, Astro," whispered Tom, not moving his lips. "I'm not frozen. He missed me!"
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