An Earthman on Venus (Originally titled "The Radio Man")Farley, Ralph Milne
Science
An Earthman on Venus (Originally titled "The Radio Man")
Farley, Ralph Milne
Life on other planets -- Fiction; Science fiction; Venus (Planet) -- Fiction
To my dying day nothing can ever wipe from my memory the deeply engraved
picture of the look of absolute horror and loathing which she gave me,
as she recoiled from the contamination of my presence. Then she fainted
dead away, and was carried out by the four professors.
Oh, how I longed for her, the one human-like creature that I had seen on
Poros, and yet what an impassable gulf separated us! The gulf between
the understandings and mentalities and means of communication of two
distinct worlds! I was determined, nevertheless, to see her again. But
how? That was the question!
_6_
radio plays its part
I have already told you how dismayed I was at the horror displayed by
the pretty Cupian when she was led into my presence. It is neither
flattering nor reassuring to have a lady register fear and disgust upon
seeing you for the first time. It is even worse if the lady happens to
be the most divinely beautiful creature you have ever seen; and still
more unbearable if she happens to furnish the one human touch on an
entire planet.
Yet, was she to be blamed?
I was heavily bearded, whereas male Cupians, so Doggo said, wore their
hair on the top half of their heads only. I had peculiar mushroomy
growths—my ears—on the sides of my face. I had one finger too few on
each hand, and one toe too few on each foot. And I was devoid of
antennae.
Altogether I must have looked like a strange and ferocious wild beast,
all the more repulsive because of its resemblance to a Cupian being. And
if I had then known what I do now as to the reason why she had been
brought to my quarters, I should have been even more sympathetic with
her viewpoint.
But, although her horror was entirely justified, this fact in no way
mitigated my chagrin. With great care I drafted a letter of apology
which I sent to her by Doggo, only to have her return it unopened, with
the statement that Cupian ladies had nothing to do with the lower
beasts.
Oh, if I could only talk, if she could only hear my words, I felt sure
that I could break down her hostility. How did these creatures
communicate, anyhow? They undoubtedly had some means, for had I not seen
Doggo halt Satan when the latter had been about to kill me? And had I
not seen Doggo place on paper the questions which the four professors
had wished to ask of me?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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