Ted decided he would find out just why the boy was watching them. “Hello,” Ted greeted.
“Hi,” the boy answered.
“What’s your name?” Ted asked.
“Randy Matthews,” the boy returned.
Before Ted could go on with his questioning, Dr. Kenton spoke up. “Randy, would you like to go with us to visit the observatory?”
“Yes, sir, I would,” was the ready reply.
“You’d better check with your folks first,” Dr. Kenton advised.
“I don’t have any folks here,” Randy said. “Mr. Collins is taking care of me. He’s an engineer.”
“Then check with him and come on back if you can,” Dr. Kenton said.
When Randy had left, Ted said, “He’s been watching us a long time, Dad, just as if he couldn’t wait to make friends with us.”
“I’ve noticed it, too,” his father said. “I wonder what he meant when he said he has no folkshere?”
Randy got back shortly and said he could go with them. The Kentons had to wait for him to dress, but they were surprised at his speed. He seemed to know all the fasteners and fittings perfectly.
The four of them left the building and went outside where an odd vehicle awaited them.
“What a funny-looking car!” Jill exclaimed, and Ted could hear her merry laugh ring in his helmet receiver.
“A fresh-air taxi!” Ted put in.
The car had enormous tires and an open top. It looked more like a tractor than anything else.
“Let’s climb in,” Dr. Kenton said. He helped the children in, then took the driver’s seat. He turned a switch, and they were off.
When they had gotten up speed, Ted thought this the most exciting ride he had ever taken! They bounced along over the rough ground without feeling any of the bumps. Dr. Kenton explained that the tires were low-pressured and shock-absorbent.
The young folks were so impressed by their ride that it was much later before they took time to notice the breath-taking beauty of the sky. The stars were so numerous, they looked like swaths of white dust against the absolute blackness. Randy was the first to notice the big green globe of Earth behind them, and pointed it out.
“It makes me homesick seeing it,” Jill said, and Ted detected a tremor in her voice.
Ted couldn’t help admiring Jill for her courage in agreeing to come along against her wishes, just to keep the family together.
When the Moon car reached the observatory, Ted did not find exactly what he had expected. Instead of a white tower, like the observatories at home, what he saw was a natural, tall column of jagged rock, on the top of which was a man-made shiny dome with a slit in it where the telescope eye peeped out.
The four got out of the car and walked through a doorway that had been blasted through the rock in some time past. Beyond this was an air lock that kept the compressed air of the observatory from escaping.
When they had gone through the door, the four found facing them a crude elevator. Dr. Kenton motioned the young people inside and then followed. He threw a switch, and the elevator cage began rising slowly.
“This column of rock has always been hollow,” he explained, “so it was easy to run an elevator up through it.”
He unfastened his helmet and took it off. “You can take off your hats now,” he told the children. “There’s air in here.”
The elevator stopped at the top of the shaft. The four got out and entered a big room with a rounded ceiling. Ted knew this to be the dome that housed the telescope. The reflector was like a huge cylinder resting in its horseshoe yoke across the room.
“Hello!” Dr. Kenton called. “Is anyone home?”
Suddenly a round face appeared at the side of the telescope. The face reminded Ted of a circus clown’s, with its wild, wispy hair and broad grin.
“John Kenton!” cried the little man, as he ran out and embraced Ted’s dad. The elderly scientist asked, “What in the world are you doing on Luna? And who are these young folks with you?”
Dr. Kenton explained that he was on a stop-over to Mars, and he introduced the children to the funny little scientist, whose name was Dr. Beeler.
“We had some time to kill so we decided to visit the observatory,” Dr. Kenton finished. “Will you show the children some of the sights?”
Dr. Beeler’s eyes brightened with pleasure. Ted was sure that the little man was truly enjoying their visit. Ted thought he must get awfully lonesome up here by himself.
Dr. Beeler set the position of the telescope by turning two cranks. Then he conducted the children up a catwalk to a platform about twelve feet from the floor. Jill took the first peek through the eyepiece at the top of the tube.
“Oooh—it’s beautiful!” Jill cried with a gasp.
Ted let Randy have the next turn, and then he himself looked. The view was breath-taking. What he saw was the flattened, white globe of Saturn with its graceful rings and many satellites.
“The Moon is much better than the Earth for using a telescope,” Dr. Beeler said, “because here there is no atmosphere or haze to get in the way.”
The children saw other captivating sights. There was the shimmering pearl of Venus, Earth’s twin, then Jupiter, the king of planets, with its four orderly larger moons. The children also saw smoky-looking nebulae and star clusters that resembled bees in a hive. Then Dr. Beeler showed them what he seemed to think was the greatest treat of all—the Earth under high magnification. When Jill placed her eye to the eyepiece, she suddenly turned away, sobbing.
Dr. Beeler and her father came running to her.
“What’s the matter, honey?” Dr. Kenton asked.
“I—I guess I’m homesick!” Jill said. “I miss the green grass and the blue sky terribly! Oh, why did we ever have to leave home?”
Ted saw his father’s face grow grave. Now his dad knew that Jill had never wanted to come along. Her father placed his arm around her shoulders. “I didn’t know you felt this way,” he said softly.
Dr. Beeler stood by, fidgeting as though he wanted to say something but didn’t know just what.
Presently Dr. Kenton looked at his wrist watch which he could read through the plastic cuff of his space suit. “We’d better get back to the colony,” he said. “TheShooting Starmay be nearly ready to take off.”
They came down off the catwalk to the floor level where they took their leave of Dr. Beeler. Ted saw a sad look in the old astronomer’s eyes as though he would have liked them to stay longer.
“Good luck to all of you,” Dr. Beeler said. Then to Jill he added, “Don’t worry, young lady. You won’t find Mars such a bad place. And you’ll be seeing the good old Earth again, some day, too.”
As the four went down in the elevator, Jill said, “I’m sorry I was such a baby.”
“Nonsense,” her father returned. “I must confess I’ve been a little homesick myself since leaving Earth. How about you, Ted, and you, Randy?”
Ted had to admit to a certain amount himself, but the Kentons were surprised to hear Randy’s opinion.
“No sir,” Randy said, “I’m not homesick for Earth.”
Ted could not understand why a person should prefer the other planets to their own home world. Ted could see that his father felt the same, for he gave their new young friend an odd look.
Ted thought it would be a good time to learn something more about the mysterious Randy, and he was about to ask some questions when the cage touched the ground floor.
“Everybody out,” Dr. Kenton said. “Put on your helmets and turn on your air valves.”
There was no time for questioning now. The three younger folks did as instructed. Ted liked the caressing feeling he got as the air pumped up his suit. It was like a soft summer breeze against his skin. It made him want to giggle.
The explorers climbed into their car outside, and Dr. Kenton started it. Then they went flying across the bleak gray moonscape, back toward the Wheel. Jill had gotten over her gloom, and the excitement of the carefree ride prompted her to start singing. It was a well-known song that all the school children at home knew, and Ted and her father both joined in. Dr. Kenton invited Randy to chime in, but the boy surprised them once more when he said that he did not even know the song! This only added to the mystery of Randy.
Suddenly the scientist jammed the brakes on so suddenly that the children were pitched forward.
“What’s wrong?” Ted asked, when he had regained his wits.
He was surprised to see his father leap from his seat and vault to the ground. “Out of here—all of you—quickly!” he urged.
His insistent voice brought them tumbling out of the car to the ground.
“What is it?” Jill cried frantically.
“See those spurts of dust just up ahead?” her father said, pointing. “They’re meteorites striking the ground. We almost blundered right into a meteor shower!”
He looked around. “We’ve got to find some shelter,” he told them. “A cave—a clump of rocks—anything.”
“There’s a bunch of rocks!” Randy said, indicating a clump off to their left.
“That seems to be the closest place!” Dr. Kenton said. “Let’s go!”
They broke into a run across the ground, slipping and sliding in the powdery pumice. Ted saw bursts of Moon dust closer now, and they were coming with greater frequency. One huge geyser several feet away threw a shower of sand over all of them, blinding them momentarily.
When the “air” cleared, Ted was shocked to find Randy missing.
“Where’s Randy?” he cried.
“There he is—on the ground,” Jill shrieked, pointing behind them.
Ted turned, and his heart seemed to stop beating for a moment. Randy was stretched out flat. He was unmoving, still as death!
The Kentons dashed out into the open to the spot where their young friend lay. They bent over him. He was struggling feebly, and his mouth was open and gasping as though he could not get his breath. His suit was almost deflated. The meteorites had stopped falling, and there was no further danger from them.
Ted saw that his father seemed to know just what to do. He swiftly zipped open a pocket in the side of Randy’s suit and took out a small strip of sticky fabric. There was a tiny slit in the boy’s suit where a stone had grazed it. Dr. Kenton stuck the strip over the tear and pressed it firmly. Then he opened wider the air valve on Randy’s helmet, and the suit puffed out again.
Presently Randy’s eyes opened, and he pushed himself up into a sitting position.
“What happened?” he asked, almost in a whisper.
“A meteorite grazed your suit, deflating it,” the scientist replied. “For a few seconds you were like a fish out of water. We’ll have the doctor check you over when we get back, but I think we brought you around in time.”
They helped him to his feet. At first, he was wobbly, but he soon regained his full strength and was able to walk alone by the time they reached the car.
They climbed into the Moon vehicle and went whirling off in another swift-paced ride back toward the Wheel. When they arrived at the Moon colony, Dr. Kenton had a physician examine Randy to make sure he was all right, which proved to be the case.
Soon the broadcasting loud-speakers announced that theShooting Starhad been repaired and would fire off within the next hour. In the waiting room the Kentons held what they believed was their last meeting with their new friend Randy.
There was still much about the boy which puzzled Ted—there were loads of questions he would have liked to ask him. Although he did not talk much, Randy seemed to like to be with the Kentons. And now that the parting was nearly at hand, Ted thought he appeared very downcast.
“We’ll sure miss you, Randy,” Jill was saying.
“Yes, we will,” Mrs. Kenton said kindly. “Too bad you can’t go along with us.”
At this last remark, Randy looked up wistfully. Ted had an idea that Randy would like nothing better than to go with them.
“Have you ever been to Mars, Randy?” Ted asked.
“Of course,” he replied gently. “I was born there.”
All the Kentons straightened in surprise. No wonder Randy had said he was not homesick for Earth, Ted thought. He knew the boy did not mean that he was a native Martian, but that his father was an Earthman who had been on Mars when Randy had been born.
Ted knew that his father had decided to evade the mystery of Randy no longer when he asked the direct question: “Randy, do you mind telling us where your parents are?”
Randy’s eyes dropped, and his slender fingers began twisting.
“My mother is dead. My father is somewhere on Mars with an engineering expedition. That’s why Mr. Collins is taking care of me. He’s a close friend of Father’s.”
“Son, do you know which expedition your father is with?” Dr. Kenton asked.
“Yes, sir,” Randy answered. “It’s the Number Five Syrtis Major Expedition.”
Ted was watching his father as he asked the question. A cold, unexplainable feeling coursed through him. When Randy replied, Dr. Kenton’s face suddenly paled, and he turned away. Ted felt a stab of dread. Had something happened to the No. 5 Expedition? What a terrible tragedy for Randy if this were so.
“I sure miss Pops,” Randy said softly, a dreamy look on his face. “I haven’t seen him for two years. We had lots of fun together. He was teaching me to play baseball—helping me develop a curve.”
This was the most Randy had ever said at one time, and the Kentons listened raptly. Ted could see that his father was disturbed over Randy’s case. He took out his handkerchief and blew his nose hard.
“Randy, how would you like to go to Mars with us?” Dr. Kenton asked presently.
Ted saw the sunshine of joy flare up in the boy’s face. “C—could I?” he asked. “Really?”
“Of course,” the scientist said. “We’d be glad to have you, wouldn’t we, Mom?”
Mrs. Kenton smiled softly at the boy. “We certainly would, Randy.”
Randy needed no further urging. First he checked with his guardian, Mr. Collins, who came to see Dr. Kenton. Mr. Collins was a husky, friendly person. Randy was off packing as the men talked in the presence of the other Kentons.
“I think it would be the best thing in the world for the boy,” Mr. Collins said thoughtfully. “The Fifth Expedition was given up for lost about a week ago. I’ve kept it from Randy all this time, hoping that the lost explorers would turn up. But they never have.”
“I knew about the expedition,” Ted’s father said. “That’s why I want to take him. I thought we’d accept him into our family, so that when the news came to him, he might not take it so hard. I guess I’ve got a soft spot in my heart for the pioneers on Mars, being a scientist myself.”
“It’s a grand thing you’re doing,” Mr. Collins said.
When Mr. Collins left, Mrs. Kenton said to her husband, “We’ll have to tell Randy about his father ourselves, won’t we?”
“In due time,” Dr. Kenton replied, “after he comes to know us better. It’ll be easier that way.”
“Randy will be able to tell us all about Mars, since he’s from there,” Jill said excitedly.
Ted agreed with his sister and decided then that Randy was going to make a very welcome addition to the Kenton household.
Less than an hour later, theShooting Starwas in the heavens again, powering toward the distant red beacon of Mars and leaving behind the rugged wastelands of the Moon.
He was going to Mars.
He was going to Mars.
Randy became a much more chipper person than the silent boy the Kentons had first met. New life seemed to have flowed into him. He was going to Mars, the land of his birth and the place where he believed his beloved father to be—alive. Ted felt sorry for the boy in the days that followed, whenever he talked about the good times he and his father had had together. When the time came to tell him about his father, it was not going to be an easy job for Ted’s dad.
In the eternal night of interplanetary space, time seemed to stand still. Ted knew that days and days, even weeks, had passed since leaving the Moon, but without the rising and setting of a sun to go by, it hardly seemed that any time had passed at all.
By now the Moon had lost its roundness and had become just another star in the sky. The red spark of Mars, however, was growing day after day, week after week. However, it could not yet be recognized as a disk.
One day Ted noticed what looked like a smudge across the blackness of the sky. It blotted out the stars behind it and appeared to be close. But its movement was scarcely noticeable. Ted called his father’s attention to the blur of light.
“It looks like a comet!” Dr. Kenton said. “I’ll check with the commander.”
The scientist tuned in a two-way speaker system and asked about Ted’s find.
“That’s Brooking’s Comet, discovered back in 1970,” Commander Grissom replied. “It circles the sun every eight years. You’re in for a treat. We’ll pass through some of its vapor. It’ll be a spectacular sight a few days from now.”
Watching the comet took up nearly all of the idle time of Ted, Jill, and Randy in the hours that followed. Under Dr. Kenton’s guidance they drew a chart of that part of the sky in which it was located, and plotted its motion in relation to that of the space ship.
“You don’t suppose it’ll crash into us, do you?” Mrs. Kenton asked worriedly, as the comet loomed menacingly outside their compartment window some time later.
Dr. Kenton soothed her with a smile. “Don’t worry,” he said. “If the skipper says we’ll graze it, that’s exactly what will happen. He knows every inch of this comet’s orbit and our own too!”
Dr. Kenton explained that the comet appeared to move slowly because it was coming practically head on. Steadily it blossomed wider, like an opening flower bud. In the center was a brilliant light, which was the head, or nucleus.
“Why won’t the gravitation of the comet pull us into it?” Ted asked.
“That’s because a comet has very little mass, or what we’d call real body, to it. It’s mostly a big lump of widely scattered gas particles.”
“How big is it?” Jill asked.
“The head is almost as big as Luna, and it has a tail many thousands of miles long,” her father answered. “It’ll pass us at hundreds of miles a second, but it will take a long time to get by and will hardly seem to be moving.”
When the day of the arrival of the comet’s nucleus came, every eye on theShooting Starwas peering intently out the windows of the rocket ship. The commander had ordered all windows covered with filter screens to cut out the blinding glare of the nucleus.
The comet arrived with the shocking brilliance of a gigantic fireball. All Ted could see was an over-all blinding whiteness that made the blackness of space like bright noonday. The stars were blotted out completely in the glare. For hours the brilliance continued without letup, and then it began to dim.
“The head is past,” Dr. Kenton said. “From now on, the light will grow weaker and weaker as the tail goes by.”
Ted still could make out no detail of any kind, and this was disappointing. As he and Jill and Randy kept their eyes glued to the window, all they could see was a slow dimming of the comet’s original brilliance. They grew weary of the sight and turned away from it. When they returned to it many hours later, the heavens had a strange bluish cast, and the stars began to burn through it weakly.
Still later, only the barest evidence of the celestial body remained. The heavens were only slightly grayed, showing that the tip of the tail alone had not passed.
“Will we see the comet after it swings around the sun, and heads out into space again?” Ted asked.
“Yes, from a greater distance,” his father answered. “Then it will look more like a comet to you.”
Several days later, Jill came running into their compartment, looking concerned. “Father, I saw some of the passengers going forward into the pilots’ roost. They stayed there a few minutes, then came out, and some more people went in. What do you suppose it’s all about?”
“I have an idea the commander has a treat for us,” her father replied with a knowing grin. “We’ll get our turn. Just wait.”
Their chance came shortly later. The Kentons and Randy were summoned forward, and they entered the pilots’ roost.
“Want to see something?” the commander asked. “Look out the forward window.”
They spoke first to the pilots they had met before, then peered out the window. Ted’s breath came fast. Poised regally against the backdrop of stars was a gleaming red-orange globe. It was the planet Mars, their new home.
The Kentons studied the red planet in silent awe. Beneath the thin cotton of atmosphere, they saw the crisscross markings of the canals that had baffled Earthmen for many years. Two small globes hovered in the deeps beyond. They were the two moons, Phobos and Deimos.
Randy unconsciously shoved forward ahead of the Kentons. “Isn’t it beautiful!” he murmured.
“I wonder when we’ll be landing,” Jill said.
The commander, who had heard her, answered, “In fifty hours, young lady.”
“I guess we’d better get back to our suite so that some of the other passengers can come in,” Dr. Kenton said.
They thanked the commander and left the pilots’ roost. When they had returned to their compartment, Ted asked Randy, “Have you ever been to Earth?”
Randy shook his head. “It sounds like a terrific place, though. I’ve studied a lot about it in our Earth Geography course in school, and Pops has told me a lot about it. Imagine playing baseball outdoors without a space suit on!”
Ted realized he had always taken the wonders of Earth for granted. It was hard to understand that a boy such as Randy existed—a boy who had never experienced such a free life. He tried to imagine how it would be if he had lived all of his life on a world where all the breaths you took were from tanks of artificial air, and where you could never feel the cooling breezes of summer or the spicy winter winds in your lungs. Thinking about these things made Ted thankful that he was not in Randy’s shoes.
Suddenly an urgent voice came over the speaker in the Kentons’ suite: “Attention, everyone. Act quickly but do not be frightened. A leak has developed in our antiradiation shield. Everyone retire immediately to the rear store compartment at the extreme end of the ship.”
“My goodness!” exclaimed Mrs. Kenton. “What does that mean?”
“There’ll be time for explanations later,” replied Dr. Kenton. “The first thing is to do as he says.”
They hurried out of the compartment and down the corridor aft. There were crewmen stationed along the aisle at intervals to calm the people’s fears and keep them orderly. A warning bell signifying trouble was pealing throughout the ship.
The Kentons and Randy crowded into the farthest rear room of theShooting Starwith the other passengers, all of whom were chattering excitedly. When the last passenger was in, the transparent door was fastened shut.
“Why did we have to come way back here, Father?” Jill asked.
“Because rays are loose in the ship,” her father replied. “The farther we are from the atomic engines up front, the safer we are.”
“Are they dangerous?” his wife asked.
“They could be, in sufficient intensity. Right now, they’re closing all the doors along the corridors. The doors have built-in screens to resist the rays, if they are not too strong. Keep your eyes on the light bulb out in the corridor. If it turns red, it means the rays have penetrated that far!”
“Oh, dear!” groaned Mrs. Kenton. “I knew we shouldn’t have left Earth. Now it looks like we’ll never reach our new home, after getting so close, too!”
“Don’t worry,” Dr. Kenton said. “The ship’s crew knows how to handle this. They have electronic instruments they turn on that attract the rays like a magnet. They can clean out the entire ship in about half an hour. That bulb in the corridor will light if even the slightest bit of radiation is present. There’s another bulb in the corner of this room, but let’s certainly hope this one doesn’t light up.”
Ted heard a groan from one of the passengers. The light in the corridor was beginning to glow. That meant the radiation had penetrated all the way to the rear of the ship. The next thing to watch was the bulb inside the room, Ted thought. His father had not said so, but Ted guessed that they would probably be in serious trouble if this last one should light.
Presently figures clothed in weird metallic suits and carrying shiny instruments were seen in the corridor.
“The crew is protected by those suits,” Dr. Kenton explained. “The things they are carrying are the magnetic ray catchers I was telling you about.”
“Look!” Jill said suddenly. “The red light has gone out!”
“We’ve nothing to worry about, then.” The scientist spoke with relief. “I would say those men got to us just in time.”
One of the curiously garbed men unfastened the door of the storeroom and beckoned for the passengers to come out. Then he opened the front piece of his helmet to speak to them: “Don’t go through the next door until you hear the all-clear whistle,” he said. “It’ll be just a few minutes.”
Figures in weird metallic suits.
Figures in weird metallic suits.
When the whistle blew, the corridor doors were opened and the passengers returned to their sections. After the Kentons were back in their suite, Mrs. Kenton sighed deeply and slumped in an air-cushioned chair.
“My goodness!” she said. “I’m still quivery. If it’s not one thing it’s another on these space voyages! I’m surprised we’re still alive after all that’s happened!”
“At least you can’t say the trip is boring, Mother,” Jill piped up, and this brought a relaxing laugh from the others.
* * * * * * * *
Nearly two days later Mars was a giant world dead ahead. Ted looked out the window with Jill and Randy and saw a close-up view of the strange land that was to be their new home. A great network of deep, straight gorges split the boundless stretches of red desert. These were the fabulous canals built by the ancient Martians, now long dead.
“There’s the Prime Canal,” Randy said, pointing to the largest chasm of all. “It feeds all the little canals in this section.”
“Aren’t those trees growing along the canals?” Jill asked.
Randy nodded. “Evergreens,” he said.
“What’s that white stuff in the bottom of the canals and near the roots of the trees?” Ted wanted to know.
“That’s frost,” Randy answered. “The sun never melts it completely. It never even gets up to zero in this latitude.”
Dr. Kenton, whose interest was beyond Mars at the moment, said, “Look, kids, there’s our comet again!”
He pointed it out to them in the heavens. It was a long streak across the sky. The nucleus burned brightly, like a heavenly torch.
“Now it really looks like a comet!” Ted declared.
“It’s beautiful!” Jill murmured.
“We’ll be able to see it from Mars for several days,” Dr. Kenton told them. “Then it’ll gradually disappear from view.”
At this point theShooting Starbegan its turnabout for rearward landing. Then, still later, the order that all those aboard theShooting Starhad been waiting a long time to hear came over the loud-speakers. “Strap down on couches, everyone! Next stop—Lowell Harbor!”
The end of their journey was at hand.
The Kentons had experienced their last landing for a while. After a final gentle bump, Ted shook his head to clear it and waited for the side wall to move into proper position. Then he began unfastening the straps of his couch. He was the first to his feet. As the rest of his family were unbuckling, he did what everyone always did after a space-ship landing. He went over to the window and looked out.
Mars—their new home. At last they were here. From his height of several hundred feet above the ground, Ted had the best view he would ever have of Lowell Harbor, center of Earthmen’s activity on the ruddy planet. It had been named in honor of Percival Lowell, the great astronomer of the past century who had been so strongly interested in Martian geography.
Ted felt a breath on his cheek. He turned, and there was Randy right behind him. There were tears of joy in his eyes, and Ted knew that this must be one of the happiest days of Randy’s life.
“What a beautiful spaceport!” said Mrs. Kenton, who had come over to the window with the other members of the family.
A huge waterway cut the landscape in two at the edge of the spaceport. Beyond this stood two large square buildings of transparent plastic substance. Still farther out was a sprinkling of houses, one of which the Kentons would occupy. As far as Ted could see, the ground was rust-red.
“What makes Mars so red?” Jill asked her father.
“It’s believed that Mars once contained much more oxygen than it does now,” the scientist replied, “and the ground was nearer the color we’re used to seeing it at home. But over the centuries the oxygen was absorbed by the soil, forming iron oxide, which is the redness we see now.”
“Is there any oxygen left?” Ted asked.
“Very little,” replied Dr. Kenton. “That may be what caused the Martian races to disappear. This is the greatest mystery about Mars and is one of the main reasons I’m here—to discover why there are no Martians here now.”
“But there’re birds and animals and insects,” Ted said. “Why didn’t they suffocate too?”
Dr. Kenton shrugged helplessly. “Another mystery. Maybe they were able to adapt themselves to the change over the thousands of years by growing larger breathing apparatuses or something like that. Apparently, man was the one who lost out in the battle of survival.”
The command to disembark came over the speaker, and the Kentons gathered up what small luggage they had kept with them and retired to the dressing room. When they had suited up with the other passengers, they entered the air lock and waited for the escalator to roll into position.
As soon as Randy’s feet touched the soil moments later, Ted saw him stoop down and seize a handful of red dust and let it trickle slowly through his gloved fingers.
The commander addressed the group that was gathered around him. “It’s been a pleasure to have you people with us. This is where we part. A steward will take you over the bridge across the canal to one of the large buildings on the other side where you will register. A truck will bring your luggage over later.”
As the party walked buoyantly over the ground toward the bridge, Jill said, “I sure feel light-footed.”
“You should be,” her father said. “You weigh less than half of your Earth weight here. Wait until you go back to Earth after this low-gravity life. You’ll be tired for about six months.”
“I won’t mind that,” Jill answered earnestly. “I’ll be so glad to get back.” Ted could see that despite the excitement of their new surroundings, Jill’s thoughts were still on her distant home in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.
Crossing the bridge, Ted looked over the side at the calm waters of the canal.
“This bridge is five hundred feet across and took quite a bit of engineering work,” Dr. Kenton said, “but it still wasn’t as big a job as the Martians did on this canal and the others all over the planet. How they built these giant waterways is another great mystery we may never know.”
“Look! Aren’t those the little boats you were telling us about?” Jill asked, pointing.
There were a number of tributaries extending out from the canal. It was along these that the individual houses were located.
“That’s right,” her father said. “We’ll have a boat of our own, too.”
Before leaving Earth, Dr. Kenton had explained to his family about the transportation system that connected the people with the main headquarters building of Lowell Harbor. When the colony had first been built, it was figured that the cost of fuel and cars for each individual family could be saved by making use of the natural waterways. A simple aluminum boat could run on cheaper fuel.
The new arrivals entered the nearer of the two largest buildings in the colony, and because of the compressed air inside, dared remove their helmets. In here were housed all facilities that had to do with the running of the settlement.
As they walked down the corridor to the registration room, Dr. Kenton said, “You see, the building is made entirely of panes of heavy plastic so that a hundred per cent sunlight gets in.”
After registering, the Kentons were assigned their new home.
“I’m afraid you’ve got the house farthest out, Dr. Kenton,” the clerk said. “You’re the last family to arrive, and they’re not building any more until more materials are sent from Earth.”
“That’s all right,” Dr. Kenton replied. “I knew about that.”
“Your boat is waiting for you outside the building at Air Lock Forty-seven,” the clerk went on. “One of our men will show you how it operates and take you home. Your baggage and certain equipment for your home will be sent out later.”
The Kentons walked down a long corridor to the air lock. On their way they had time to see just how many kinds of service were carried on in this most important center on Mars. If anything should happen to the functions of this building, none of the homes could survive for very long.
Outside the air lock, the Kentons found their boat awaiting them beyond a narrow strip of ground. The space-suited man inside the boat introduced himself as Martin Cooper. The Kentons climbed in and took their seats in the bottom of the boat, which was long and deep.
Ted was anxious to see how the boat was operated. He saw Mr. Cooper take a marble-sized tablet out of a box and drop it into a small tube at the rear of the boat. Then the man turned some switches. In a moment a steady popping was heard underwater, and the boat glided off.
“Is that all there is to it?” Ted asked in amazement.
“That’s all,” Mr. Cooper answered.
“But how does it work?” Ted wanted to know.
“The pill dissolves in the tank of water, generating a lot of pressure,” Mr. Cooper replied. “It’s the jet pressure that moves us along.”
There was a steering wheel to guide the boat and a “gas pedal” to control the release of pressure and their speed. Mr. Cooper turned the boat into Main Canal, which was filled with other craft like their own coming and going. Presently the pilot turned out of Main Canal into a narrow waterway scarcely wider than the boat.
“This is like the ‘Old Mill’ run at the carnival!” Jill said, as the craft wound in and out along the irregular course.
“This boat is great fun!” Ted said. “May Jill and I run it some time, Dad?”
“I guess you’ll have to when I’ve gone off on my expedition,” Dr. Kenton answered.
“Why doesn’t this water freeze?” Ted asked.
“It contains a kind of antifreeze mineral supplied by nature herself,” his father said. “It never freezes, no matter how cold it gets. It’s another one of the marvels of this planet.”
As they rode along, Ted was intrigued by the strange glow of the Martian sky. The thin, purplish atmosphere permitted the more brilliant stars to burn through even in the bright daylight. But then, Ted decided, it wasn’t such bright daylight after all, because the faraway sun looked incredibly tiny to him, and there was a sort of twilight glow to the whole scene.
Mr. Cooper guided the boat the last few feet of its journey into a little dock beside the sprawling bungalow which was to be their new home.
“End of the line!” Mr. Cooper sang out gaily. “Everyone out!”
As Mrs. Kenton was helped out by her husband, she exclaimed in a shocked tone, “Goodness! The house is made of glass! We won’t have any privacy!”
“It’s not glass—it’s strong plastic like that in the main buildings,” Dr. Kenton explained.
“And as for privacy, Mrs. Kenton, you’ll have that,” Mr. Cooper said. “There’s a diffusing light inside the walls that makes them solid-looking when you turn on certain lights.”
“I’m glad to hear that!” Mrs. Kenton said with relief.
As Mr. Cooper led them over a few feet of ground from the waterway to the house, Ted, who had been noticing the queer fixtures atop the building, asked, “What are those things up there, Mr. Cooper?”