“Ah,” he said, “that raises a point that was of great interest to Julian 5th. After he regained _The Barsoom_, naturally one of the first questions he asked was as to the condition of the ship and their intentions, and when he learned that they had, in reality, been intending to pass through the crater toward the Earth he questioned them further and discovered that it was the young ensign, Norton, who had repaired the engine, having been able to do it by information that he had gleaned from Orthis, after winning the latter’s friendship. Thus was explained the intimacy between the two, which Julian 5th had so deplored, but which he now saw that young Norton had encouraged for a patriotic purpose.” “We are docked now and I must be going. Thank you for your hospitality and for your generous interest,” and he held out his hand toward me. “But the story of Julian 9th,” I insisted, “am I never to hear that?” “If we meet again, yes,” he promised, with a smile. “I shall hold you to it,” I told him. “If we meet again,” he repeated, and departed, closing the stateroom door after him. PART II THE MOON MEN _Being the Story of Julian 9th_ PROLOGUE THE CONQUEST It was two years after I had first met him aboard the liner _Harding_ that I came across him again. I had just been appointed Secretary of Commerce. He came to my office in Washington on official business during March, 1969. I invited him to my home for dinner and it was later in the evening that I importuned him for the promised story of Julian 9th. He laughed good naturedly. “Very well,” he exclaimed, “here goes!” * * * * * Let me preface this story, as I did the other that I told you on board the liner _Harding_ two years ago, with the urgent request that you attempt to keep constantly in mind the theory that there is no such thing as time—that there is no past and no future—that there is only _now_, there never has been anything but _now_, and there never will be anything but _now_. It is a theory analogous to that which stipulates that there is no such thing as space. I have told you of the attempt made to reach Mars in _The Barsoom_ and of how it was thwarted by Lieutenant Commander Orthis. That was in the year 2026. The son that was born to Julian 5th and the Princess Nah-ee-lah in 2036 was the great-grandfather of Julian 9th for whose story you have asked me, and in whom I lived again in the twenty-second century.