"No, you are only thinking in American. You are now vocalizing in our
language as naturally as if you were speaking your tongue. Here, look
at this chart."
* * * * *
Hammond glanced at the chart she held before him. It seemed written in
English, though the ideas conveyed were somewhat startling and foreign,
having to do with intricate calculation of space travel. Yet Hammond
recalled that only a few moments before they had been in strange and
unintelligible symbols.
He nodded, slowly, a little awed. "You have advanced far on Mars.
And here on Earth we smugly pride ourselves on our knowledge, on a
civilization that even now is tearing itself to shreds. Surely, you of
Mars, with your advanced science, have succeeded in founding a better
and more peaceful world."
The girl's eyes clouded, and for a moment her thought control slipped.
Hammond had a wondering sensation of fear and anxiety.
"We have come far, Earthman," she nodded. "Evolution seems to have
started from the same base on Mars, and taken the same general course
as that of Earth. With variations, of course. We, the Metiphrons, the
mammals of Mars, have achieved to high civilization. Our cities are
united and at peace--among ourselves. Our science has wrought wondrous
changes. We have crossed space, and we have harnessed as well as
condensed the atom. On Mars we are of normal size, which is to say we
average about the size and weight of you Americans. This space ship,
those tanks, our weapons--all weigh and bulk accordingly. But for space
travel, and for certain doubtful ventures, we have condensed the atoms
of our bodies and that of this craft and all our weapons, without
changing their mass or qualitative characteristics. The electrical
particles are all there, and in precisely the same proportion. But in
each atom the particles are much closer together, moving in smaller
orbits."