Venusians

“ The cities were wrought of synthetic minerals and metals, and all the houses were connected by tubes which were employed for purposes of traffic. Passengers, or any desired article, could be shot through them to a given point in a few instants. The buildings were illumined with lamps made of radio-active materials. The Venusians had also begun the growing of ultra-terrestrial fruits and vegetables and the breeding of certain creatures that were more like gigantic insects than animals. ”

“ One day the shaft of rays struck the layer of substance on the screen where and where alone the spontaneous work of chemical decomposition and immediate reconstitution could be performed. On that day, thanks to Noël Dorgeroux [Pg 241] and thanks to luck, as we must confess, for Noël Dorgeroux was pursuing an entirely different series of experiments on that particular day, the Venusians established the connection between the two planets. The greatest fact in the history of the world was accomplished. ”

“ Not Mars, for that planet was far in the heavens. But Venus!—misnamed for the Goddess of Love. It was Venus, and she alone, who by any stretch of the imagination could be threatening Earth. [189]
What did it mean? They had no answer. The ship was the only answer to that. Would there be more?—could we meet them?—defeat them? And again the wise men of the world refused to hazard a guess.
But they told what they knew; that Venus was past her eastern elongation, was approaching the earth. ”

“ Venus is so brilliant that perhaps you will hardly credit me when I tell you that she has no more light of her own than has a stone or a handful of earth, or a button. Is it possible that this is the case, you will say, for as we see the planet so exquisitely beautiful, how can she be merely a huge stone high up in the heavens? The fact is that Venus shines by light not her own, but by light which falls upon her from the sun. She is lighted up just as the moon, or just as our own earth is lighted. ”

“ We do not say that there is any caprice in the movements of Venus, as known to those who diligently consult their almanacs. The movements of the lovely planet are there prescribed with a prosaic detail hardly in harmony with the character usually ascribed to the Goddess of Love. But to those who do not devote particular attention to the stars, the very unexpectedness of its appearance is one of its greatest charms. Venus has not been noticed, not been thought of, for many months. ”

“ Venus, the next in order, bore the same relation to the Greater Fortune Jupiter which Mars bore to Saturn the Greater Ill-fortune. She was the Lesser Fortune, and her influence was in nearly all respects benevolent. The persons born under the influence of this planet are handsome, with beautiful sparkling hazel or black eyes (but another authority assigns the subject of Venus, 'a full eye, usually we say goggle-eyed,' by which we do not usually imply beauty) , ruddy lips, the upper lip short, soft smooth hair, dimples in the cheek and chin, an amorous look and a sweet voice. ”

“ Venus. Hot ’un! You speak in enigmas? You are fully aware why I come hither?
Alph. I don’t. You are the statue out of them gardens, ain’t you?
Venus. I am no statue—I am Venus, I tell you! I have lain in a long, long trance, how long I know not, in my own palace in the Isle of Cyprus. How long I should have lain in that trance I know not had it not been for thou, most lovely mortal!
Alph. (Aside.) She knows me.
Venus. Yes; it was the touch of your kind mortal hand that has given me power to animate this marble shell!
Alph. (Aside.) She says she’s a shell. ”

“ While these clouds render the planet surprisingly lustrous to our eyes, they must, of course, keep the globe beneath them most of the time in shadow. It is a source of keen regret that the surface of Venus can not be seen as clearly as that of Mars, for, a priori, there is rather more reason to regard Venus as possibly an inhabited world than any other of the Earth's sister planets, not excepting Mars. ”

“ It is a beautifully clear evening; the sun has just set. The lover of nature turns to admire the sunset, as every lover of nature will. In the golden glory of the west a beauteous gem is seen to glitter; it is the evening star—the planet Venus. A few weeks later another beautiful sunset is seen, and now the planet is no longer a point low down in the western glow; it has risen high above the horizon, and continues a brilliant object long after the shades of night have descended. Again, a little later, and Venus has gained its full brilliancy and splendour. ”

“ In order to comprehend how great the earth must appear from Venus when the two are in line with the sun, it will only be necessary the coming winter to look at Venus herself, shortly after sundown—at the same time remembering that the splendor which dazzles our eyes comes from but a small fraction of the illuminated surface of that planet, while the earth as seen from Venus will show its whole round face like a full moon! ”

“ Our ships first reached Venus only seventy-two years ago, and the only human beings on the planet have been those at Terra Nova. Nor does human knowledge include any perfectly transparent, non-refractive solid such as the substance of this building. Prehistoric human invasions of Venus can be pretty well ruled out, so that one must turn to the idea of native construction. Did a forgotten race of highly-evolved beings precede the man-lizards as masters of Venus? ”

“ In Fig. 44 we show three views of Venus under different aspects. The planet is so much closer to the earth when the crescent is seen, that it appears to be part of a much larger circle than that made by Venus when more nearly full. This drawing shows the different aspects of the globe in their true relative proportions. It is very difficult to perceive distinctly any markings on the brilliantly lighted surface. Sometimes observers have seen spots or other features, and occasionally the pointed extremities of the horns have been irregular, as if to show that the surface of Venus is not smooth. ”

“ The transit of Venus, in 1874, occurs after an interval of one hundred and five and a half years.
Venus, being the second planet from the sun, and the larger of the two inferior planets having their orbits within that of the earth, appears to the earth the most luminous of all the planetary stars, her light at the period of her greatest splendor being so intense as to cast a shadow. She is seen in her full orbit beauty in regions under the equator at the period of her greatest elongation. ”

“ LIVING WORLD OR INCINERATED PLANET
Before Mariner II, Venus probably caused more controversy than any other planet in our solar system except Mars. Observers have visualized Venus as anything from a steaming abode of Mesozoic-like creatures such as were found on the Earth millions of years ago, to a dead, noxious, and sunless world constantly ravaged by winds of incredible force. ”

“ A man removed to Venus would, consequently, find himself perceptibly lighter than he was at home, and would be able to exert his strength with considerably greater effect than on his own planet. But the difference would amount only to an agreeable variation from accustomed conditions, and would not be productive of fundamental changes in the order of nature.
Being, like Mercury, nearer to the sun than the earth is, Venus also is visible to us only in the morning or the evening sky. ”

“ The simplest observations would show that Venus did not move round the heavens in the same fashion as the sun or the moon. Look at the evening star when brightest, as it appears in the west after sunset. Instead of moving towards the east among the stars, like the sun or the moon, we find, week after week, that Venus is drawing in towards the sun, until it is lost in the sunbeams. Then the planet emerges on the other side, not to be seen as an evening star, but as a morning star. ”

“ THE PLANET VENUS.—Camille Flammarion Revolving round the sun in 224 days, Venus has its motion combined with ours in such a manner that it passes its inferior conjunction, between the sun and us, every 584 days; but the plane in which it revolves is inclined 3° 23′ to that in which the earth itself moves. When Venus attains its greatest elongations from the sun it shines in the west in the evening, then in the morning in the east, with a splendid brightness which eclipses that of all the stars. It is, without comparison, the most magnificent star of our sky. ”

“ But when this is admitted we have said almost all that has ever been alleged to be discernible by us of the topography of that globe which is really our nearest planetary neighbour. The little that we have seen merely suggests what a wonderful spectacle might be disclosed could we put Venus into a more favourable position. If Venus were placed where Mars is, then the greater size of the former planet would make it a far more striking spectacle than Mars ever can be. ”

“ As I am about to turn aside into one of the green walks I see Venus sitting before me on a stone bench, not the beautiful woman of marble, but the goddess of love herself with warm blood and throbbing pulses. She has actually come to life for me, like the statue that began to breathe for her creator. Indeed, the miracle is only half completed. Her white hair seems still to be of stone, and her white gown shimmers like moonlight, or is it satin? ”

“ In short, all observers of Venus agree in thinking that her atmosphere, to a greater or less extent, serves as a mask to conceal her real features, and the possibilities of so extensive an atmosphere with reference to an adjustment of the peculiar conditions of the planet to the requirements of life upon it, are almost unlimited. If we could accurately analyze that atmosphere we would have a basis for more exact conclusions concerning Venus's habitability. ”

“ It denotes wisdom which is not mere intellectuality, but Intuition and Imagination. Hence, the nature of Venus is essentially love, and it is the cementing influence in the life whereby we are attracted to others for mutual benefit; although Venus in and of herself is not concerned with mutual benefit, it being her nature to attract others, and that good comes by her is only an incident.
The planet Jupiter is symbolized by the half-circle above the cross, It denotes the human spirit, whose faculty is abstract thought. ”

“ Venus. I am Venus! I have many names in the outer world! It is I who rule the God of Love, I sway the hearts of all true lovers; in your world I have caused you poor mortals to burn for me—aye, and with an unconsuming, unquenchable fire! ”

“ You know already how dense the atmosphere of Venus is. It follows that balloons, and all sorts of machines for aerial navigation, can float much more easily here than over the earth. I was prepared to find the inhabitants of Venus skilled in such things, and I'm not surprised by what we see."
"Venus with wings!" cried Jack. "Now, Edmund, that sounds more like it. I guess we've struck the right planet after all." ”

“ They would seem to us to narrow and become at the same time less salient as they advanced. This is just what their spoke-like character shows. Thus the peculiar look of the Venusian markings proves to be in exact keeping with what the conditions demand, and by so doing bears testimony that those conditions actually exist.
Not less strange on its face and equally interesting for its disclosure is another phenomenon connected with the planet which also has been deemed incredible—the exceeding brightness of Venus's disk. ”

“ And as Venus glowed with increasing splendor in the serene evenings of June, she continued to be mistaken for some petty artificial light instead of the magnificent world that she was, sparkling out there in the sunshine like a globe of burnished silver. Yet Venus as an evening star is not so rare a phenomenon that people of intelligence should be surprised at it. ”

“ Venus. But, where is that fearful youth who slew my doves? Bring him forth!
Alph. I can’t bring him fourth or fifth. He was not talking about a dove; he was talking about a ballet girl. And now, missus, to come to the point, now you’ve seen me doing my daily business you’ve thought better of it, ain’t you?
Venus. Better; aye, far better! They sit at your bidding, and you make them sit in silence while you bend over their faces with yonder sharp little instrument, and you threaten their bare throats! You are indeed a king of mortals, and I love you even more! I would do anything for thee! ”

“ They have made it plain that in one most important respect Venus is very unlike our Earth. Our globe, of course, rotates on its axis once each day, but Venus requires no less than 225 days to complete each rotation. In fact, this planet rotates in such a fashion that she always keeps the same face to the sun. The inhabitants of Venus will therefore find that it is perennial day on one side of this globe and everlasting night on the other. ”

“ Once grant that there are intelligent beings on Venus and the conclusion follows with irresistible force that they must study our globe with an intensity of interest and application proportional to the ease with which their observations can be made. And this is exactly the particular in which they possess a great advantage over us. 198In fact, there is no place in the entire solar system where an astronomer could have so favorable a position for examining another world than his own as he would have on the planet Venus. ”

“ Venus. Boozed! Is he a god?
Alph. Not quite; though sometimes it is a spirit.
Venus. Come, Alphonzo—come, join me in my [Pg 7] aerial flight to the regions far beyond these lowly worlds!
Alph. You’ll excuse—I can’t, I’ve made other arrangements. I am already engaged! I’ve got a girl!
Venus. I remember a bright-eyed mortal in the gardens. Is she your love?
Alph. Yes.
Venus. She must die! I myself will crush her!
Alph. (Aside.) I must drop Jane a postcard. (Aloud.) What do you want to crush her for?
Venus. Because she is in my path! And shall any mortal maid stand between you and I? ”