"Let's hope so," Gwann said. "The mysteriousness of this whole thing is going to drive me crazy if they don't." "Well, sir," said Drog, consulting his charts, "if we're going to take advantage of juxtaposition of the two planets--" "Right," said Gwann, turning and making his way toward the pilot's compartment. "We'll depart from Earth in ten minutes. Secure all hatches and loose objects until we get into space." The crew hurried to their tasks. * * * * * Halfway to Venus, Volval, paging idly through one of the rotting books from Earth, gave a shout. "What is it?" said Gwann, coming into the light-beam operator's compartment, stretching to ease the muscle cramps from his long stint in the pilot's cabin. "I've found a picture of the carnivore, sir!" said Volval proudly. "Look, sir." "Hmm," said Gwann, studying the fading illustration. "I believe you're right. Jorik!" The biochemist popped into the compartment, his face curious. "Yes, sir? What is it?" "Isn't this one of your carnivores, Jorik?" asked Gwann, giving him the book. Jorik, reaching for the book, nudged one of the newspapers atop the stack near the cabin wall, and the front page fluttered unnoticed to the floor. Across its surface were spread the incomprehensible--to Venusian eyes--words: LITHIUM BOMB TEST COULD DESTROY WORLD Noted Scientist Declares Danger of Polar Experiment; Melted Polar Caps May Flood Entire Globe Jorik studied the picture carefully, his gills trickling a faint stream of bubbles as he concentrated on the image of the carnivore. "Yes, that's one of them, sure enough. I wish I could read Earth writing. I wonder just what a T-i-g-e-r-s-h-a-r-k is." Volval bobbed up from his place and floated to a port in the ceiling, through which he could see the tiny, glittering ball of Earth, its blue-green surface sparkling like a star against the black backdrop of empty space. "I can't understand what killed them," he said. "Living conditions were ideal." End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of To Each His Own, by Jack Sharkey