"Anything! The whole universe will be open to us! Why, I understand from reading these books"--indicating the Venusian manuscripts--"that there is such a thing as an intelligent creature, so utterly unlike ourselves that--" He stopped short. "For the time being," said Smith quickly, "we'd better be content with something familiar. Is there some other planet in our solar system that would do, doc?" "No. According to the Venusians, the only others that are habitable besides Venus and the earth, are Mars and Jupiter. And it seems that the people on these two are so totally different--" "We couldn't get an answer?" "Very unlikely. Besides, I am having the cube refitted for a two-months' cruise. Rather thought I'd like to visit Mars and Jupiter in person. "But when it comes to leaving the solar system entirely the telepathic method is the only one that will work; even the nearest of the fixed stars is out of the question." "How far is that?" Smith inquired. "The nearest? About four and a half light-years." "Yes, but what's a light-year?" "It amounts to sixty-three thousand times the distance from here to the sun!" Smith whistled. "Nothing doing in the cube, that's sure. Besides, could we expect to find any people like us in the neighborhood of that star?" "Not Alpha Centauri." The doctor reached for one of the Venusian books, and pointed out certain pages. "It seems that the Class IIa stars--that is, suns--are the only ones which have planets in the right condition for the development of humans. The astronomers already suspected as much, by the way. But the Venusians have definitely named a few systems whose evolution has reached points almost identical with that of the earth. "Now, until we have acquired a certain amount of ability" --examining the books more closely--"our best chance will lie in the neighborhood of a giant star known to us as Capella." "Capella." Billie had drawn a star-chart to her side. "Where is that located?" "In Auriga, about half-way from Orion to the Pole Star. She's a big yellow sun. "At any rate, the Venusians say that this particular planet of Capella's has people almost exactly the same as those of the earth, except"--speaking very clearly--"except that they have had about one century more civilization!" Billie exclaimed with delight. "Say--this is going to be the best yet! To think of seeing what the earth is going to be like, a hundred years from now!" Instantly Van Emmon's interest became acute. "By George! Is that right, doc? Are we likely to learn what the next hundred years will do for us?" "Don't know exactly." The doctor spoke cautiously. "That's merely what I infer from these books." "If we do," ran on the geologist excitedly, "we'll see how a lot of our present day theories will be worked out! I'm curious to see what comes of them. Personally, I think most of them are plain nonsense!"