R. R. Winterbotham

“ A moment later Spartan came in through the bulkhead door. His eyes darted about suspiciously, as if expecting some trick.
"It's sort of a carrier wave," said Axel as Spartan anchored himself on the floor. "Seems to be a kind of radar—as if we're being watched." It was obvious that Axel was awed by the new phenomenon.
"It's utterly ridiculous," said Spartan. "Radar would indicate intelligent life. Mars is a dying world. The age of intelligent life ended there long ago." ”

“ We can't take the Quinnies to that planet!"
"I won't."
"It's mutiny. Give me the gun; I'll kill myself."
"There's no such thing as mutiny any more, Al. We're just two men in space. The last earthmen alive. The problem will solve itself."
"Oakey, we're not going to land on the planet alive."
"Be yourself. We've made a good fight. We lost. Let's die with a solid piece of ground under our legs. What if we do infect a planet with a plague. There's a thousand planets just like it in the universe. Every man on them will die, if not today, then in a few years from now. ”

“ Masters tugged on Taylor's sleeve.
"Come on! We've got a chance, if we can get to the tunnel!"
Taylor shook his head.
"No need. We're safe now. If they've changed to radio energy, the big broadcast is on."
The sky was filled with exploding spheres as the whispers sobbed the tale of the disaster. A score of the energy monsters, bred from the metal pot overnight, burst in the rays of the rising sun. Energy, meeting resistance, was changing to something else. The war of energy and matter might continue on the molten surface of the sun, but on earth there would be only the wars of ideals. ”

“ Rosemary broke in. "I just told Dave that I have a spaceship. You can go away if you wish, or stay. It's up to you. I didn't tell you before, because I hadn't made up my own mind. Now I have."
"It's my mind that has to be made up," I said. "I'm the only one of us who can pilot a spaceship. No matter what you want to do, I've got quite a say in the matter."
Clive sat down on the ground beside me. "So you're the most important one. You're the king for a day. If we want to go back to civilization, you're the only one who can take us." ”

“ Mjly was a microbe, the beginning of animal life on the earth. She lives today, she is and always will be her sisters, her mothers, herselves and her ancestors. But there are few ancestors, for microbes do not die—just part of themselves die.
And I do not die. For I crept away into a hole in the ground, where I will live forever. I do not starve, for roots reach me here. But I miss my love life with Mjly. I can never be a mother or a sister. I will always be me, a lonesome old bem. ”

“ Why couldn't your invention be used for time travel? Couldn't you connect the present—Now of Rihlon with any Now in the time line of the earth—any Now of the past or future?"
"The idea occurred to me, but it won't work," Trella replied. "There's a serious obstacle we can't overcome. In going backward or forward in time we do not travel in lines perpendicular to the parallel time lines of the earth and Rihlon—or for any other planet for that matter. But we travel like this—" Trella drew a figure on a piece of paper. ”

“ She did not open her mouth but she spoke in waves of thought. Without her saying so, Captain Hawes knew her name was Loetta and somehow, as she spoke, Hawes perceived that in spite of this creature's claims to superiority, she needed man. Hawes and Duerkes had been brought here for a purpose. There was a problem to be solved and only man could solve it.
"Our lives lie one step in evolution beyond yours," Loetta went on, as though she were trying to erase the thoughts that crept into Hawes' mind. "First life on earth was plant life. ”

“ Bruber. You're trying to make me say things that are not logical."
"Okay, let's forget logic and look at what Earth is likely to do if it follows its 'natural' trend. You say it will destroy itself."
"If someone else doesn't do it first," said Olbu. "It will continue to have wars till it exhausts all opportunities for it on the planet. Then it will war in the skies, with other planets, with other stars, finally with other galaxies. Man has a thirst for power, and that thirst is never satisfied. On the other hand, knowledge leads to contentment. ”

“ Rocket engineers in developing machines for space travel had found speed the foremost bugaboo. It was the speed a rocket had to attain to leave terrestrial gravity that balked engineers. There also was man's instinctive fear of going fast, in spite of the assurances of science that speed, in itself, was harmless. It was acceleration and deceleration that killed people.
One might travel seven miles a second indefinitely and suffer no ill effects, once he got going that rate of speed. However, one might die quickly while attaining it. ”

“ It was obvious that he hoped Morrie could successfully refute the story told by Gail.
Morrie shrugged, his whole manner noncommittal.
"I want an answer," said Spartan. "Is she telling the truth?" He was driving for the answer he wanted.
Morrie breathed deeply. "What is the truth, Dr. Spartan?" he asked.
"Surely you know the truth." An incredulous look sprang to his face.
"Don't act so damned dogmatic. The truth can be a dozen different things. Right now I don't know what's real and what isn't. Nothing is the same out here as it was on the earth. Everything familiar is millions of miles away. ”

“ The factory saw-toothed the horizon with its hideous profile as the moon rose in the east. The red glow of the furnaces bathed the tall buildings, the gigantic scaffolds, the cord-like elevated pipelines and the columnar smokestacks in the crimson of anger. Even the moon seemed to fade as the long-fingered smokestacks reached toward it belching their pollution. The air, which should have been clean, was filled with the reek of unfamiliar odors.
From the machine shop, where giant cannon were forged into smooth, sleek instruments of death, came noise: unchecked, unmuffled, blasphemous din. ”

“ There's no earth women here. Even if we live a few years longer, the strain of earth-blood dies with us. We're licked, Al. Let's surrender gracefully."
"We're earthmen," said Al. "We fight."
"The last earthmen. There's nothing left to fight for—"
"Except life," said Al. "Now listen, Oakey. I'm still commander. I know what I'm doing and you take orders from me—or it's mutiny. Yeah, I know the Quinnies have covered the earth. From the Arctic to the tropics men died shooting sparks like fireworks. But the earth isn't the only planet in the Galaxy where men exist. ”

“ Clive said. "Woman has always been the dominant sex—the stronger sex if you like. On earth she invented the idea that man was the Big Shot, but that was to keep men from being discontented. Equality of the sexes always has been a myth, but I didn't realize it until civilization was reduced to its simplest form."
"What about you, Dave?" Rosemary asked.
"Personally, I like life on easier terms," I said. "Not that it isn't pleasant here, but we have to work so hard. And we've been lucky not to have had any real sickness, except for the time Clive ate a clam and that wasn't serious. ”

“ Her name was Mjly.
I watched her with patronizing amusement. The static electricity showed that she was nervous and upset, but people often get nervous and upset over trivial matters. "Now, how," I reasoned, "could our world come to an end? The other planet has gone on for thousands of years without colliding with us. We circle it, in fact."
"No," Mjly said, "that is not our doom. Actually our world will not cease to exist. Life will end here, that is all." ”

“ I wheeled the Mars-car around behind Spartan's, halting in a position which would allow me to watch.
The Martians were loping casually toward the two cars, seemingly in no rush to get there. And it was then I suddenly realized that their actions weren't hostile. I'd been frightened when they'd set fire to the Martian saguaro in the canal, but I realized that this had been defensive. They had been as afraid of me as I had been of them. Nothing in the world panics a man as does a situation he's never encountered before and does not know how to handle. ”

“ One by one the lights of the city went out as workers went back to bed, to toss restlessly. Without noise there could be no sleep.
The tongues of flame still whispered.
A car moved rapidly through the streets of the city. At the wheel was a man dressed in a captain's uniform. The machine whirled onto the highway that led toward the factory. A barricade, lighted by torch-lanterns, barred his path. A sentry with a bayoneted gun stood to one side, signaling a halt.
The car slowed.
"Captain Ted Taylor, ordnance department!" the captain said, extending his pass toward the sentry. ”

“ Duerkes was too busy thinking to reply. The doctor apparently had forgotten that his thoughts no longer were secret and that what he was thinking was perceptible to every person present.
"Am I alive? I do not breathe, yet I feel that I am absorbing ozone through my skin. I cannot be dead, for I possess consciousness. If I am neither, what am I doing here?"
"Your friend is disturbed, Captain Hawes," said the turquoise cloud.
"He has never been formally introduced to a green cloud before," the captain apologized. "Come to life, Doc! Meet the headman here!" ”

“ I said.
"You see, Dave," she said, "I'm still the most important person on this planet. I can have almost anything happen, just by the decision I make."
"What is your decision?" asked Clive.
She looked at me, then at Clive. "You started out playing politics," she said, "and it all comes back to the same old thing. Man and woman. Maybe that's politics, because nations are based on the family. But we have proved one thing anyhow. Even in a civilization of only three people, each one has his moments of supremacy. And there must always be compromise, or bloodshed. ”

“ He turned his eyes on the chronometer a moment. "What fouls up the safety valve, as long as we're mixing metaphors?"
"Maybe we've got more than life," said Al. "We've got emotions, consciousness and a lot of things that life in general doesn't have. But you and I can control our emotions. We're cold-blooded. I just shot a friend, your friend too and you let me do it. Our cold-blooded common sense told us it was the thing to do. We have to stomp out the Quinnies before we land on the Green Planet. If you get the disease, I'll kill you, just like I killed Joe. ”

“ Spartan, in spite of everything, success of the expedition came first. And ahead of us was Mars—which could mean death to some of us.
The planet loomed like a red giant on the television screens. The signals, which we believed to be ominous, were now signals of hope. If there was life on Mars, there might be water. True, scientists had pointed out that life, different from ours, might exist without water, using ammonia, perhaps. ”

“ Behind lay a world, unlike the earth, which the spheres called home. It was a gaseous, flaming world where matter and energy mingled as one substance. It was mottled with spots of cold gases which warred with the whispering spheres. It was the sun.
The sun was power, yet a ceaseless struggle between energy and matter. But neither energy nor matter was in control. Should matter control, the sun would cool. If energy triumphed, the sun would explode. It was war, like the wars of the earth, where one philosophy was based on power, and the other seeking justice. ”

“ I was startled by Spartan's voice over the helmet radio.
"Yes?" I said, omitting the sir.
"I want you to know that whatever our differences were in the past, they are forgotten for the moment. We are all earthmen. We are being attacked by an entirely different form of life. I remain your enemy, and you have reason to hate me as much as any human being alive. But what matters is that the earth and the scientists of our planet are waiting for us to bring back information about Mars. Therefore we must survive. We will fight together now. ”

“ Spartan asked. "Eventually Mars will become a colony of the earth."
"That's the same mistake Spain made when Columbus discovered America," said Axel. "A lot of blood could have been spared if the nations of the earth hadn't thought of land grabbing."
"Idealistic motives become you, Ludson," said Spartan, "but they never got anybody anywhere. Man is the highest form of intelligent life in the solar universe—"
"How do you know?" Gail asked.
"Because I am a man. We will be doing the Martians a favor by giving them the benefits of our civilization. I mean to claim Mars for the earth. ”

“ You see, Masters, heat is energy, just like electricity and light. The energy these spheres shoot out is a mixture of energies. We can imagine a spark of electricity shooting out and striking a man like a bolt of lightning, but it's hard to visualize heat behaving that way. ”

“ No one sold Spartan short on his ability as an astronaut. The Martians would not recognize guns. Anything we carried in our hands, a scientific instrument, even a flag of truce, might be mistaken for a weapon. Just as Mars was new, different and incomprehensible to us, the earth would be to them, and so would the people of the earth. ”

“ Masters said, solemnly.
"Yes, but life isn't everything. Any man, no matter how yellow or mean he is, has some ideal he's willing to die for—or at least he's willing to risk dying to attain. Look at Norden. He's hard, cold-blooded and he doesn't think twice about putting a bomb in a plant to wipe out scores of lives. He dared me to kill him, rather than help us. His code as a spy is his primary objective. Look at Pember. He must have been frightened by the spheres, but we had to force him to leave his post. ”

“ Gail was rubbing her hand gingerly over her weapon. "I don't know how to fire this thing, Dr. Spartan," she said.
"There's nothing to know," said Spartan. "You point the gun and pull the trigger. It's very simple if you aim it accurately."
Axel cleared his throat. "Don't you think it would be wiser, sir, if we made our first appearance on Mars without arms? If we meet the intelligent life of the planet, or if they should detect us through spotting devices, it might convince these creatures that we are not hostile invaders, but peaceful scientists." ”

“ Spartan snorted. "Intelligence is knowing what is true and what isn't. A thing can either be true or false. There's not much difference between intelligences."
I'd learned you couldn't argue with Spartan, who refused to recognize that truth is relative and that there are at least two sides to any question; that, more often, there are an infinite number of points of view, all true in a sense, none altogether false. ”

“ A sphere was forming on the surface of the metal.
"The rise of living energy!" Norden said. "Our own kind of life may have begun ages ago in much the same way. A spore from some far off world may have drifted here through space, found conditions just right, and taken root. Thus the spore of the sun—the whispering spheres—found a set of conditions fitted for growth. That metal pot is filled with seeds of the spheres. One by one they will hatch and grow into a force that will bring extinction to all men, except those of my race. ”

“ Be that as it may, most creatures of the earth tend to destroy what they don't understand."
"But we don't hate Martians!" Gail insisted.
"Maybe hatred is too strong a word. However, for want of a more accurate one, let's considered the difference between the hatred we feel for, say, a Dr. Spartan, and the kind we feel for Martians. One stems from self-preservation, and one from race-preservation. This scouting trip, for example, is hate motivated. We're trying to get the best of the Martians without getting hurt ourselves. And they want to destroy us with a minimum of casualties." ”

“ Morrie asked. "I'm not so sure. We're living under conditions that are decidedly upsetting. It wouldn't take much to push any of us over the edge into a psychosis. Nothing is real, not even our thoughts, because our world is totally different."
Spartan's lips pressed together. Then he asked: "Is this your excuse?"
"Gail Loring is the only real thing aboard. That's because she's a woman and I'm a man. The only thing traveling with us that we knew on earth is sex." ”

“ Mars had it once," I said. "Gail and I found evidence that it destroyed a city north of Pnyx."
"You don't make an atom bomb like you bake a cake," said Axel. "And I doubt if they've got one. If we can't lick 'em, we'll just leave this stinkin' planet—begging your pardon, Miss Loring." He paused. "And we've got Spartan—he'll fight with us."
"Don't turn him loose, Axel. Don't give him a gun."
"This is us against Mars, Bill. Spartan has to help out. He's got no choice. And if he helps, we'll go less hard on him when we get home." ”

“ I objected to Spartan's being listed as a hero, but Gail said, "It's not really him, Bill Drake. It's what he stood for."
"Murder, egotism, selfishness?"
"He was a human being," she replied. "The monument is to humanity. There are good human beings, bad ones and the strong."
"It's hard to swallow," I said. "But including him doesn't detract from the others."
People, I decided, shouldn't be judged by specific, isolated acts, but by the sum of their contributions. Besides, not many folks will go to Mars to see the cairn—at least, not for a long, long time—even if the Martians leave it standing. ”

“ I slipped on my helmet, picked up my rifle and went through the locks.
I could feel the city as I stepped from the Mars-car. There's a kind of sensation you get when you're approaching a large metropolis, and it holds true on earth as well as on Mars. It's much different from the way you feel in the wide open spaces—on the prairie or in the mountains. Maybe it's extrasensory perception. Or maybe the soles of our feet transmit seismic vibrations of living people to our nerves. ”

“ The Martians will meet us on their own soil, undoubtedly with superior numbers and, possibly, with weapons we will not comprehend. But on the earth there are many glorious tales of small, determined groups who have defended themselves against vastly superior forces. In the interest of self-preservation we must stick together. In the interest of the faith of our world in us, the expedition must succeed. We must stick together until our last day on Mars. ”

“ Axel remained in the control room, alert for Martians, listening to the radio which now was filled with a variety of weird whistles, chirping noises and rattles.
"They know we've landed," said Axel. "I can't understand these Martians, but I have a feeling a lot of this is about us."
"We can defend ourselves," said Spartan.
"What if they have nuclear weapons?" I asked.
Dr. Spartan shrugged. "It's not impossible," he said.
That first day on Mars was all work. We went to the nearest rocket ship that had landed with us, the one that remained upright, and unpacked its cargo. ”

“ Axel shrugged. "As long as there's life there's some kind of chance," he replied. "But if Gail were aboard the ship, you wouldn't have any chance. Spartan could go back to earth, report a mutiny and subsequent casualties that occurred in quelling it. Nobody could prove anything different. But with Gail gone, I think Spartan will postpone any moves he might make until she returns."
I thought it over. Gail, being one of us, would never live to reach the earth, that was certain.
The thought decided me. She would be safer with me, facing all of the Martians on Mars, than in Spartan's hands. ”