Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from If Worlds of Science Fiction June 1958. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed. A Mixture of Genius BY ARNOLD CASTLE _Illustrated by Paul Orban_ _Who, but the imaginative young, shall inherit the stars?_ * * * * * The sleek transcontinental airliner settled onto one of the maze of runways that was Stevenson Airport. With its turbojets fading into a dense roar, it taxied across the field toward the central building. Inside the plane a red light went off. Senator Vance Duran unhooked the seat belt, reached for his briefcase, and stepped into the crowded aisle. The other passengers were all strangers, which had meant that for nearly an hour he had been able to give his full attention to the several hundred pages of proposed legislation and reports presented to the Committee on Extraterrestrial Development, of which he was chairman. But now there would be reporters, local political pleaders, the dinner at the Governor's, and the inevitable unexpected interruptions which were a part of every trip home. As he strode through the door and onto the mobile escalator, he donned his smile of tempered confidence in the economic future of the nation. A television camera went into action at once and news-men formed a small circle at the bottom of the ramp. "That was a great little debate you put on with Ben Wickolm last week," one of the reporters said. "You really tied him up." "You can thank Senator Wickolm for arousing me," Duran answered, observing to himself that perhaps _all_ of his efforts on the Hill did not go unnoticed in his home state, if most of them seemed to. "What do you think, Senator, of the FCC's modified ruling on the integrated lunar relay station plan?" another asked. "I haven't had time to get fully acquainted with it," the senator evaded, stepping onto the ground and out of the way of the ramp. "Say, Senator, what about the Mars colony project?" a third put in. "How come it's bogged down?" "No comment at present," the senator said. But he gave them an ambiguous little grimace which was meant to suggest a minor but sticky snarl behind the scenes. He hoped it would satisfy them for the moment. Making his escape as quickly as possible, he climbed onto the shuttle car already loaded down with the other passengers. Finding an empty seat, he folded himself into it, and was immediately joined by someone else. "Well, Senator, how does it feel to be home?" his companion asked with sympathetic irony. Duran turned, grinned, and reached for the man's hand.