The Ancient Mariner high in the air, twenty-five miles above the surface of the little lake. Wade, as chemist, the air while the others the and air apparatus. By the time they had finished, Wade was with his report.
"Air pressure about 20 psi at the surface; temperature around ninety-five Fahrenheit. Composition: eighteen oxygen, seventy-five nitrogen, four-tenths of one dioxide, residue—inert gasses. That's not water vapor, of which there is a amount.
"I put a into the air, and the bird liked it, so I it's safe for bacteria, perhaps. Naturally, at this the air is germ-free."
"Good," said Morey, "then we can take our swim and work without about spacesuits."
"Just a minute!" Fuller objected. "What about those Wade mentioned? If you think I'm going out in my where some of can at my anatomy, you've got another think coming!"
"I wouldn't worry about it," Wade said. "The of along the same line is slim. We may the of the same shape as those of another world, the is well anatomically. The is in a place where it will be able to see over a wide area and it's in a safe place. The hand is very useful and can be upon but little. True, the Venerians have a second thumb, but the is the same.
"But chemically, the are very different. The people of Venus are different chemically; the that can make a Venerian is killed the it enters our body, or else it to death it can't the of chemical food it needs to live. And the same thing when a Venerian is by an Earthly microorganism.
"Even on Earth, has produced such of life that an that can on one is totally of on another. You, for instance, couldn't catch tobacco virus, and the tobacco plant can't catch the virus.
"You couldn't a to here that was of on Earth-type tissues; they would have to death long ago."
"What about animals?" Fuller asked cautiously.
"That's different. You would be to an carnivore, but he'd kill you to out. If he ate you, it might kill him in the end, but that would be small consolation. That's why we're going to go out armed."
Arcot the ship until they were a hundred over the of the lake. There was a little its way the mountainside, and another which the clear overflow away.
"I if there's anything of great size in that lake," Arcot said slowly and thoughtfully. "Still, small fish might be deadly. Let's play safe and remove all of life, and otherwise. A little touch of the motion ray, diffused, will do the trick."
Since the the motion of the of matter, it chemical from taking place, when diffused; all the to go in the same direction to such an that the of chemical that is life is upset. It is too a thing to any power that the so violently. All are killed instantly.
As the light of the air them out in a cone, the water of the and to move in its depths, but there was no great movement of the waters; they only a of their weight. But every thing in that died instantly.
Arcot the ship, and the over to one of the where a little beach them. There no of life about.
Each of them took a of the they had brought, and them out under the of an pine-like tree—a of that into the sky to its green in a sea of foliage. The of the star above them them very much at home. Its color, intensity, and were all the same as on Earth.
Each of the men his power to in the they had brought, for the here was a higher than that of Earth. The in air pressure was so little as to be noticeable; they the of the ship to it.
They had every of here for awhile. It was to in the warm sun once more; so that it difficult to that they were of long miles from their own home planet. It was hard to that the warm, star above them was not Old Sol.
Arcot was a of food in a box. He had his weight until, and all, he about a hundred pounds. This was necessary in order to permit him to a length of him toward the water, so it be used as an for the pumps.
Morey, meanwhile, was having trouble. He had been a of to use—a pneumatic pillows, a iron pot for the water, and a number of other things.
He his destination, having the hundred or so from the ship by using his power suit. He forgot, momentarily, and his load. Immediately, he too to "drop"—upward! He had a of around three hundred pounds, and a weight of only two fifty. In the load, the had the power unit to him upward, and somehow the on the power pack was loose.
Morey up into the air, a of progress toward his late abode—space! And he had no way to stop himself. His hand power unit was too weak to overcome the of his power-pack, and he was and faster!
He that his friends catch him, and laughingly called down: "Arcot! Help! I'm being by my power suit! To the rescue!"
Arcot looked up at Morey's call and that his power had come off. He there was twenty miles or so of air above, and long Morey rose that far, he catch him in the Ancient Mariner, if necessary.
He on his own power suit, using a of a hundred pounds, which gave him Morey's acceleration. Quickly he speed that him up toward his friend, and a moment later, he had up with him and passed him. Then he off his power and to a he to again. As Morey rose toward him, Arcot the power in his own to match Morey's velocity.
Arcot Morey's leg and his power until he had a weight of fifty pounds. Soon they were again, and when their of to twenty miles hour, Arcot cut their weight to zero and they through their momentum. Just of the ground, he free of Morey, who, on by momentum, touched the ground a moment later. Wade at once jumped in and him down.
"Now, now! Calm yourself," said Wade solicitously. "Don't go up in the air like that over the least little thing."
"I won't, if you'll and take this thing off—or some lead to my feet!" Morey, starting to the mechanism.
"You'd your there," said Arcot. "If you take that off now, we sure will need the Ancient Mariner to catch up with it. It will produce an that no man stand—something on the order of five thousand gravities, if the it. And since that one is with the apparatus, you'd be out one good suit. Restrain yourself, boy, and I'll go a new control.
"Wade, the boy a to him down. Better tie it around his so he won't it and off into space again. It's a so small an object in space and I promised his father I'd the if there was anything left of it." He Morey as Wade him a large stone.
A minutes later, he returned with a new and repaired Morey's apparatus. The was when he it, and Morey with the with relief.
Morey in relief, and looked at the pack.
"You know, that being with a sky-bound that you can't turn off is the of stupid, helpless, comical, and I've yet. It now—somewhat late—occurs to me that this is with a power coil, off the production line, and that it has a cut-out for protection of equipment. I want to an switch, in case a knob, or something else, goes sour. But I want to have the where I can decide or not an is to be accepted. I'd a more than if that while I was a thousand up.
"Trouble with all this new of ours is that we haven't had time to out all the 'I of that' that can go wrong. If the on that out, for instance, what would it do?"
Arcot an at the power pack, the circuits. "Full blast, up, and no control. But modern printed don't fail."
"That's what it says in all the books." Wade wisely. "And you should see the stock of every shop stocks for purposes of units, too. You've got a point, my friend."
"I can see four we can these to fail-safe operation, if we add Morey's cut-off switch. If it did go on-full then, you use operation and down," Arcot acknowledged.
"Anybody know what fail-unsafe we in the Ancient Mariner?" Fuller asked.
"That," said Wade with a grimace, "is a question. The 'I didn't think of that' type of failure I didn't think of that, and the I didn't think of it is it to me. If we'd been able to think of 'em, we would have. We'll with a more yet, we back. But at least we can clean up a in these now."
"Forget it for now, Wade, and that on," Fuller. He was on his back, only in a pair of trunks, and life. "We can do that when it's dark here."
"Fuller has the right idea," said Morey, looking at Fuller with a eye. "I think I'll his example."
"Which makes three in and one on the way," said Arcot, as he came out of the ship and on the soft of the beach.
They around for a while after lunch, and then to swim in the of the lake. One of them was to while the others in swimming. Standing of on his on the soft sand, and up at the of green and sky.
It was hours they up their and returned to the ship. They more rested than they had their exercise. They had not been before, restless, and the physical had them more comfortable.
They again in the room. All the had been taken in; the were filled, and the replenished. They closed the and were to start again.
As they into the air, Arcot looked at the that was them. "Nice place for a picnic; we'll have to that place. It isn't more than twenty light years from home."
"Yes," Morey, "it is handy. But we out where home is first; let's go the local inhabitants."
"Excellent idea. Which way do we go to look?" Wade asked.
"This must have an to the sea," Morey answered. "I we it. Most of any size have a port near the mouth, and a port means a city."
"Let's go," said Arcot, the ship about and along the line of the little that had its at the lake. They moved on across the and over the green until they came to a broad, plain.
"I wonder if this is inhabited," Arcot mused. "None of this land to be cultivated."
Morey had been the with a pair of powerful binoculars. "No, the land isn't cultivated, but take a look over there—see that range of little over to the right? Take a look." He the to Arcot.
Arcot looked long and quietly. At last he the and them to Wade, who sat next to him.
"It looks like the of a city," Arcot said. "Not the that a would make, but the that high would make. I'd say there had been a and the people who once here had been off."
"So would I," Morey. "I wonder if we the conquerors?"
"Maybe—unless it was annihilation!"
They rose a higher and their speed to a thousand miles an hour. On and on they flew, high above the plain, mile after mile. The little a great river, and the river more and more. Ahead of them was a range of hills, and they how the river its way among them. They that it through a pass that high mountains.
A miles on, they came to a great natural in the pass, a wide, level bowl. And in almost the exact center, they saw a of buildings—a great city!
"Look!" Morey. "I told you it was inhabited!"
Arcot winced. "Yes, but if you in my ear like that again, you'll have to out for me for after." He was just as as Morey, nevertheless.
The great of the city was like a that mile high and was a mile and a in radius. But the thing about it was the perfect with which the and every to to this plan. It as though an invisible, but very line had been in the air.
It was as though a had been posted: "Here there shall be buildings. Beyond this line, no shall extend, any vehicle go!"
The air directly above the city was packed with slim, long, needle-like ships of every size—from private ships less than fifteen long to of six hundred and longer. And every one of them to the perfectly!
Only around the of the city there to be a deviation. Where the should have touched the ground, there was a series of low of some dark metal, and all about them the ground appeared and churned.
"They to have some of screen over that city," Morey commented. "Just look at that perfect and those low are the projectors."
Arcot had the ship to a as he came through the pass in the mountain. The was in the of the gorge, and was, no doubt, hard to see from the city.
Suddenly, a of the sun through a in the of clouds and touched the of the Ancient Mariner with a of gold. Instantly, the ship like the of a heliograph.
Almost immediately, a low came from the city. It was a that came through the in a cadence; a low, drone, like some wild music. Louder and it grew, in slowly, then it ended in a of sound—a of alarm.
As if by magic, every ship in the air above the city downward, out of sight. In seconds, the air was cleared.
"It they've us," said Arcot in a voice he to make nonchalant.
A of great, long ships was from the neighborhood of the building, the of the group. They in a and along the of the until they were directly over the low nearest the Ancient Mariner. There was a in the air. In an instant, the ships were through and toward the Ancient Mariner at a rate.
They with an that was to the men in the spaceship. In perfect formation, they toward the lone, ship from far-off Earth!
