The head was not much larger than ours, but the high, straight forehead
seemed much larger on the small man. The brain was deeply creased, the
convolutions so complex that, without increasing the size greatly, the
surface had been multiplied many times. And it is the surface area that
counts. Their large eyes seemed to hold a gentle benignity that would
so transcend us as to leave us contented to watch only; still, there
was in them a fire of ambition, of hope and of adventure. But we can no
more hope to understand their personality than a child of a few days
can understand us.
But now the men in the car out in space were stirring; consciousness
was returning. The Commander approached the view plate now.
"Sir, I wish to report a successful trip. Betelguese is within one
billion miles. One man has died, but the ship's doctor will have him
around shortly, as his body temperature is still above 95. We will head
for the nearest planet, connecting you now with the outside view plate."
The screen went dark a moment later; the gray surface showed thousands
of gleaming points, distant stars, and here and there were a few tiny
discs. These, then, must be planets of this mighty sun. Rapidly one of
them was growing, expanding. Soon it was an inch across; then it grew
rapidly till the shining disc covered all the glowing screen. They had
been approaching at 2000 miles a second, but they slowed down to the
more moderate pace of 100 miles per second.
Now they saw a strangely glowing light coming up from the planet
below. It seemed to approach quickly--then the screen went blank, to
be lighted a moment later by the scene within the ship. There was a
rapid but efficient scene of action. The commander stepped up to the
view plate. Just as he began to speak, the screen went gray, the image
blurred, then cleared for a moment; there was an expression of sudden
astonishment and surprise on the face of the young commander--then
again the screen was dark.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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