The chieftain of the white race isn't a bit surprised, so he must
have known there were other people living in the valley. But all the
passengers alike, including the two chieftains, are almost speechless
with the thrill and wonder of thus flying over their homeland. We have
been observing them very closely for their reactions. So we continue
flying farther yet up the valley. In the distance we see a very large
settlement, almost like a city. It might be one. When this came into
view, the chieftain of the white ones was very much surprised as were
all the others. It seems none of them knew it was there. We figure this
city is about four hundred to five hundred miles up the valley from
the village of our white native companions. We have crossed a few low
ranges of mountains in finding this place.
Dr. Johnston has suggested that we fly over this place and see what
it is. So we do. It appears to be a city of about twenty thousand
population. We are directly over it and are lowering for a better view.
We have lowered to within seven hundred feet of the city but we seem
to be frightening everybody down there with our noise for we see the
people clearing the open spaces for cover. We have circled the vicinity
several times trying to find a place in which to land, for we would
like to see more of this city and the people living here. But there is
no possible landing place here in this narrow valley, so we are going
back up.
We are turning towards our original landing field on the plateau
instead of going any farther at this time, since we don't know how long
we will stay on the Moon and we have a hunch to preserve the fuel.
Rather than return over the same territory we have come, George
suggests that we take the light side to see what is there. To our
surprise we find ourselves flying over quite a number of large
settlements which are discernible from the air. Coming this way,
Bob has had to rise to an altitude of forty thousand feet for we
are encountering mountain peaks which are around thirty thousand to
thirty-two thousand feet elevation. In each case the villages of the
people living on the light side are of cliff dweller type, half way up
the mountains from the floor of the valley. Through this entire area
there is very little vegetation, while the mountains themselves seem to
be of volcanic origin and bare of trees or brush.
We have reached our starting place and are landing again. As our
passengers leave the ship they try to thank us by much chattering and
many gestures with their hands, indicating a great deal of excitement
and joyousness, as it appears to us. Both groups of people who had been
left behind when we went for our trip were still there awaiting our
return and they all gathered around the ship when it landed, looking
upon it with amazement.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account