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Title: Pioneers of space

A trip to the Moon, Mars, and Venus

Author: George Adamski

Release date: July 7, 2023 [eBook #71138]

Language: English

Original publication: United States: no publisher listed, 1949

Credits: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. (This book was produced from images made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PIONEERS OF SPACE ***

PIONEERS OF SPACE

A Trip to the Moon, Mars and Venus

By PROFESSOR GEORGE ADAMSKI

FIRST EDITION, AUGUST 1949

COPYRIGHT, 1949, BY PROFESSOR GEORGE ADAMSKI

All rights reserved including the right to reproduce

this book or parts thereof in any form

[Transcriber's Note: Extensive research did not uncover any

evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

BY

LEONARD-FREEFIELD CO.

Los Angeles 12, California

PRINTERS

Chas. R. Romero, Proprietor

The author

dedicates this book

to the Goodwill of Man

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword and Facts About Mount Palomar

Chapter I

From Earth to the Moon

Chapter II

Surprise

Chapter III

Visited

Chapter IV

Honored

Chapter V

The Big City

Chapter VI

The Terminal City

Chapter VII

Mars

Chapter VIII

Venus

Chapter IX

Return

FOREWORD

The purpose of this book is to clear, at least logically, some of the misconceptions which the people have been subjected to in various articles regarding our neighbors in space, using nothing but common sense analysis on the basis of constructive law. Up-to-date, everything that has been so far published has been based largely on the retarding or backward law and of a hostile nature.

Even in spite of himself in a lot of cases, man upon Earth is progressive. Being the product of nature, man could be taken as a good measuring stick for the vast universe within which he lives. Even though he makes many mistakes which are against himself, we still see nothing but steady progress by man on Earth, governed largely by a natural law. We must then assume that nature herself, and the whole infinite space, is on a march of progress.

It would be a folly to think, as many people do, that this small pebble called 'Earth' would be the only pebble on which human life exists, when there are trillions of planets and systems far greater in their size than this Earth of ours, and with vaster natural resources than we have. From the spiritual side of life it would be giving the Creator, whoever He may be by name, very little credit for His intelligence, by Him creating far vaster systems and planets than our own and not have them inhabited by His highest form of expression, called 'man'. There really would be no rhyme nor reason for such a creation.

So we are endeavoring here to reasonably speculate upon such inhabitation of other planets. To be right, as one possibly could be, we must use the laws known to man upon this Earth, which are the laws of growth or progression, to give us some basis for measuring the intelligence upon other planets and throughout other systems.

There is a common urge within every man that calls upon him from time to time to associate himself closer with his fellowman. Yet because his knowledge is not sufficient to permit a feeling of absolute assurance or security for himself and his family, man ignores this call that comes from within himself towards relationship with his fellow beings and founds himself upon the law of survival of the fittest. As a result his struggle for existence is thereby increased.

Using this analysis in line with the law of progress, it is natural to assume that in every field of human relationship progress towards such a relationship must be made somewhere whether it be spiritual or natural, for there is no standing still. So if we take our solar system and consider it as a sort of school system with our planet as the first grade classroom, we should find progression from this point on to infinity both in the material and the spiritual. And especially the spiritual, for the finer quality of intelligence could not do anything different than bring forth a finer quality of form. Since the spiritual has represented the finest from time immemorial, it would then naturally reproduce the finest in form and put its binder of mankind into the brotherhood society. We on Earth haven't yet realized this type of life but it is logical to assume that inhabitants of other planets may have done so.

We can take the Earth in general as a measuring stick for many things. Let us take for an example the well-known tree. A tree is a tree no matter where you find it. Yet trees vary in their form manifestation, differing in their size, height, and shape. These variations man classifies under different names. Still the form is a tree whether you find it at one end of the world or at another, and no matter under what climatic conditions, for the pattern is universal. A tree in one part of the world may be quite coarse and in another part of the world quite delicate, but still it is a tree.

What the writer is trying to bring out is this, the geometrical pattern of any form is universal. The effects upon such a form on other planets are brought about through the climatic conditions of each planet, as they are in this world. It is also true that the mentality of human beings would have a distinct effect upon the forms, either coarse or fine, depending upon the stage of development; yet the foundation of the geometrical pattern for its form would be universal. The mental would be a governor of whether that form is coarse or fine, pretty much the same as the climatic conditions or atmospheric pressure govern the form of a tree.

So the reader of this book may readily see how it is possible for a fine quality of human life to be on other planets beyond ours.

Now let us ask a few questions here before proceeding with the book.

It has been said many times that the craters upon the Moon have been made by meteoric bombardment. Is it really possible to have a meteor strike a spot on Earth, create a crater by doing so and leave not only one but in some cases many mountains standing within the center of that crater?

My answer is 'no'. For if a meteor made a crater it would have a flat bottom like the one in Arizona and other places.

Second: can we have extreme cold without moisture or moist air to make it so?

I question that. Yet we are told that there is no air on the Moon, while in the same breath we are told that the dark side of the Moon which we do not see is very cold and the side that we do see is very hot.

How could the dark side be very cold unless there was moisture to produce it?

If that be true, then it is absolutely true that the cold air from the dark side is not bottled up or fenced off from the heat of the light side. According to known law, the heat of the light side would penetrate the cold for a certain distance. If it does that, then there must be a temperate zone where the dark and the light meet, which would also make it possible for humans to live there.

Besides, the Moon is supposed to be of very rocky formation and it doesn't make any difference what sort of rock it is, be it hard, soft, or any kind, nothing can be held together in total absence of moisture. So anything that contains moisture or is held together by moisture will attract and give off moisture. Even metals will sweat. When total dehydration takes place there is no longer form. It is dust. This being true, it stands to reason that there must be air or moisture of some kind or other upon the Moon.

Is the ocean near the surface void of fish because it is light pressured?

No.

Is it void of fish because of a heavy pressure at the bottom of the ocean?

No.

And all between, does the pattern of the fish change due to the heavy pressure at the bottom or the light pressure at the surface of the ocean?

No. The pattern is the same. The only difference is in the structure of the form itself, complying with the various pressures.

In this vast universe space is like the ocean and the planets within it are comparable to the various stratas of pressure within the vast ocean. In each strata, human and all forms of life can be just as easily as the fish are in the ocean. Since other planets about this Earth planet are supposed to have rarefied air, then the human forms as well as all other forms would be of a finer structure, finer and more delicate as well as quicker in mentality. For we know that light pressures allow molecules to move about very fast, while heavy pressure slows them down.

So when we speak of a light pressure of air upon any planet and since it is logical that it be inhabited, then it would be farther in advancement than the people on the heavy pressure planet.

Scientists have analyzed numerous meteors and found them to be composed of rock and metal such as is found upon this Earth-plane. This has proven quite definitely that other planets are composed of the same minerals as our own planet. Of course, this has also been proven by means of the spectroscope which analyzes the light rays reflected from the planets, but the meteors alone are proof to even the most skeptical person.

Perhaps the most interesting discovery in regard to these meteors is that made by Dr. Charles B. Lipman, of the University of California. With the aid of modern scientific equipment Dr. Lipman analyzed the interior of many meteors and found them to contain life-germs which correspond perfectly with those found on our own planet. What a marvelous thought to consider is this, that the great universe with its billions of planets and millions of solar systems is sending from one planet to another a message of all-inclusive life. These meteors drop on other planets just as they do upon our own, and in their hearts they carry the story of relativity.

Upon these facts, known law and common-sense logic we base what you are about to read.

While this is at present in the field of fiction, the advance of science is so rapid that it will not be long before all of this will become a reality. Therefore we suggest to the owner of this book if he wishes to, to establish in his community a round table for discussion, using the book as a text. Should there be any questions in such a group that could not be solved during the time of discussion, the head of the group may send such a question to the author and he will endeavor to clear it if possible.

Such questions should be addressed to:

"Advanced Thinkers Club"

Box 346

Valley Center, California

FACTS ABOUT MOUNT PALOMAR OBSERVATORIES

$6-1/2 million endowment of General Education Fund of Rockefeller Institute.

2,040 acres.

5,500-foot altitude.

137-foot diameter revolving dome, weight 1,000 ton.

200-inch telescope tube, 60-foot long, weight 150 ton.

200-inch Pyrex mirror, weight 15 ton, 2-foot thick at edge.

500 ton weight of whole mounting.

20-foot diameter dome, housing 18-inch telescope.

45-foot diameter dome, housing 48-inch telescope.

Museum for display of astronomical views.

Cottages for maintenance families.

200-inch mirror brought up November 17, 1947.

First test picture taken December 23, 1947.

Light travels 186,000 miles per second.

About 6 trillion miles equals 1 light year.

200-inch telescope looks out 1 billion light years.

Chapter I

FROM EARTH TO THE MOON

Ever since man has been upon the Earth he has observed the stars in the heavens and wondered about them. As he watched their movement across the heavens night after night, his curiosity has been awakened and he has wondered just what these diamonds in the sky were made of and what they were like.

As his curiosity has grown, man has worked constantly seeking an answer to these questions of his mind. Thus he has developed the telescope from its first crude beginning to the present large two hundred inch in the Hale Observatory on Mount Palomar.

Hand in hand with the developing of the telescope for the past quarter of a century has gone the development of the airplane, and with it the ever mounting hope in man's heart that soon he will be able to make a trip to his nearest neighbor in the sky, the Moon.

This in spite of the fact that for centuries man on Earth has been taught that there is no atmosphere on the Moon. Yet as the telescopes had been developed to greater and greater size and perfection, storms had been observed around the Moon. Also from time to time a state of what scientists called atmospheric movements had been noted. Thus even when our plans for making this trip were first being worked out, we were of the firm conviction that the Moon did have atmosphere of some kind. What we did not know was; what is the consistency of the Moon's atmosphere?

We were sure that it contains a certain amount of oxygen, for as Dr. Johnston said, "even if the Moon is all rock, rock in itself contains and gives off oxygen."

Also we knew that there couldn't be any kind of atmosphere anywhere without it containing oxygen. Therefore, since the Moon had rock in it and since we had seen storms around it, there was no question in our minds as to whether oxygen was there. The question was concerning its quantity; was there a sufficient amount to supply the needs of Earth men like us?

Now after twenty odd years of work and constant improvements, the ship which we hope and believe will take us to the Moon on the first leg of an interplanetary space journey is ready. Included in her equipment are the latest improvements in radio, radar, television, photography and all types of instruments that the best minds of science, using the finest laboratories on Earth, have been able to develop for our safety in making such a trip. The ship herself has pressure equalizers built in her. These are so constructed that they automatically balance the pressure within the ship to conform with the various stratas of atmospheric pressure in space through which we will have to pass on this trip. Because of these equalizers, we have no fear of our ship exploding in air due to pressure differences within and without. Also there is an instrument with which we can measure the oxygen content of the Moon's atmosphere before even opening the doors of the ship to venture out upon the Moon.

For ourselves we have specially made suits that will support and protect our bodies through any type of pressure. By using our oxygen masks we expect to be able to keep alert during the entire trip and at the same time, by controlling our oxygen intake while carefully watching our pressure gauge, to acclimate our bodies so they can quickly become accustomed to activity in the lighter pressure we expect to find on the Moon. As a precaution, we are taking along an extra supply of oxygen, several large tanks full, to enable us to stay at least a short time upon the surface of the Moon after making this long and hazardous trip, should we find upon arrival there that our calculations have been wrong and the atmosphere is such that we are unable to breathe or move about without it.

An announcement has been made of our proposed trip and the interest of the people throughout the world is very high. The date for our takeoff has been set and all arrangements have been made for a round-the-world hookup for radio and television, thus enabling all who wish, to listen in and view our trip with us.

The big day has arrived and the atmosphere is filled with excitement as thousands have gathered at the airport to see us off. It seems as though Mother Nature herself is doing her very best to help us, for man could not desire more perfect weather conditions than we have.

Our ship stands waiting on the runway, glistening and beautiful in the morning sun as if she too is eager to be off on this new adventure. The last details have been completed and we bid our dear ones a fond farewell before going down the ramp and across the airstrip to the ship.

We check with the ground crew who are standing by. Everything is set. We climb in, take our places, close the doors, then start the motors. Their whirring is music to our ears.

The four of us making this trip are: Bob, the pilot; Johnny, the copilot and radio man; George, the navigator; and Dr. Johnston, the scientist.

This is the moment we have been working towards for more than twenty years and we are just as excited as any of those standing out there watching. They aren't sure that they will ever see us again; while we are confident of much accomplishment and a safe return.

The ground crew has given us the signal and we are on our way to the Moon! As we have climbed upward and ever upward, the speedometer has indicated our speed at three thousand miles per hour, then six thousand, then twelve thousand as we kept going up until we reached a steady speed of one hundred thousand miles per hour. Yet with all this speed we seem to be standing still, for the Earth has long since ceased to be anything more than a large disc of light behind us. We are travelling in space with nothing but space surrounding us, with the exception that every now and then a small meteoric ball of amber light whizzes past us as if shot from some invisible gun. These come out of nowhere and look as though they are just getting hot; nothing like the color they have after hitting the Earth's atmosphere. One big fellow would surely have wrecked us had it hit us and we impulsively ducked. But it too missed us.

Other than our instruments, the only thing that let us realize that we are moving at all is that the Moon, being our objective, keeps getting closer and closer. It alone stands out from all the stars in the heavens.

Our radio contact with the Earth has remained clear although it has grown weaker as we have climbed higher.

According to calculations by Dr. Johnston before leaving the Earth, we knew that the gap, or neutral zone, between the Earth and the Moon was not exactly halfway between these two bodies. He figured that it started at the approximate distance of one hundred thirty-eight thousand miles from the Earth and probably was about twenty thousand miles in width, leaving us around eighty thousand miles to travel before reaching the Moon.

As we approach this gap, Bob speeds up our ship in the hope of jumping it instead of being caught in it and thereby becoming suspended in space.

During our passage through the gap our instruments cease to operate and we have the feeling that we are in what might be called a perfect vacuum, yet it seems to be filled with a very mysterious substance or particles of various sizes, all apparently quite stationary. It might be described as going through a foamy or feathery condition of some sort of elements which we have never before experienced, but through which there is no resistance whatever.

Up until this time we had all been very excited but suddenly we become very calm with quite a feeling of exhilaration.

Dr. Johnston's calculations have been proven correct for we are on the Moon side and Bob is having to slow up the ship. Immediately after leaving the neutral zone we noticed that our instruments began working again, registering atmospheric conditions as well as a gravitational pull. Also our ship has begun to take on an increased speed as though being pulled by a tremendous force, which we realize is the Moon's gravitational pull. This pull seems to increase as we near the Moon so that Bob has to keep cutting down the speed of our ship; yet our instruments show that the Moon's gravitational force is weaker than the Earth's force, only about half of that of the Earth.

On this side we have also encountered a few meteorites of a fair size but they have a different glow of color, sort of a purplish glow instead of amber such as those shooting towards the Earth. They also seem to travel a little slower than those approaching the Earth. We are travelling towards the Moon so fast that we seem to miss, just by the speed of our ship, the meteors that we otherwise would be encountering. Our speed at this point is fifty thousand miles per hour.

We are approaching the Moon on the light side as seen from the Earth so that at ten miles distance from it we begin to get a very good perspective of the craters and mountainous area. Bob is having to continuously slow down the speed of the ship.

Within five miles of the Moon we encounter a terrific storm blowing from the north to the south. It is so strong that we don't know whether we can make it through or not. George has decided that our only chance of surviving is to go with the storm. He has instructed Bob accordingly. With this in mind, Bob is speeding up the ship to a point where he thinks he can enter this storm with a certain amount of safety. The idea is to cross through it in such a way that we will get continuously closer to the Moon and yet avoid being hit broadside.

We have made it safely and are only three miles from the Moon. We had to circle it twice in crossing through the storm before getting into the calmness again, but we were all so engrossed in getting safely through that we failed to make any observations of the Moon. Now we are breathing easier. Bob is slowing the ship down and we can get a good perspective of the Moon. We are flying at only one hundred miles per hour at an altitude of five thousand feet above the surface of the Moon in the area that people on Earth call the rim of the Moon, where the light side ceases and the dark side begins.

Of course this was all worked out months before when we were making our plans for this trip because Dr. Johnston had said that if there is anything at all favorable to human life on the Moon, it would be in this zone.

As we have been descending we find what we expected, a belt-like section extending as far as we can see around the Moon that has a natural growth of trees and vegetation. In this zone, just at the edge of the crater area, we see a small lake and not far distant up the valley is apparently a small city. Skirting the lake on the side away from the valley in which this city lies, extends a large forest of trees or heavy brush beyond which lies a broad plateau which we have chosen as our landing place.

Here on this plateau is plenty of room for many ships like ours to land. And here we set our ship down, the first Earth ship to reach the Moon.

Chapter II

SURPRISE

After landing we checked all of our instruments, noting carefully the oxygen content of the atmosphere that we might have a record of our findings for the scientific report we were to make to our government after returning to the Earth.

However had we had no instrument for testing the atmosphere we would have taken a chance and got out of the ship because of the territory we had just flown over and because even here in the sands of the plateau we can see a sparsely growing plant life clinging very closely to the ground.

When we first climbed out of the ship it was a little hard for us to breathe and move about, something like many people on Earth experience when they go from ocean level up some mountain to an altitude of ten to fifteen thousand feet. Since our instruments indicated an atmospheric pressure of slightly under eight pounds, compared to an approximate pressure of fifteen pounds on Earth, we understood this strangeness and weren't worried about it. We had partially succeeded in acclimatizing our bodies during the trip here, so it was only a matter of a few hours until we regained our physical balance, yet somewhat different than we have been accustomed to on Earth. We can walk around here without effort or tiredness. It feels as though we are walking on air; yet we know we are walking on the firm Moon earth.

From what we can see without closely studying it, the Moon seems to be made up very much like our Earth. This plateau we are on resembles our deserts in the summer.

The air is clean, fresh and dry but quite stimulating and we are getting hungry, just as was our experience whenever we went to the higher mountains on the Earth. All of us had been so interested as we neared the Moon that no thought of eating had entered our minds, but now we have decided to eat in picnic style; take our food outside the ship where we can sit on the ground while eating and see what goes on around us here on the Moon.

The sky is clear and cloudless with the sun shining brightly which makes it rather warm. The only shade we find is made by our ship since there are no trees growing here. A very gentle breeze is blowing but not enough to raise any dust. If there are insects they must be drowsing from the heat of the sun. So far we haven't seen any birds flying nor any kind of living creatures. In the distance we can see several mountains towering to different heights towards the sky but none of them have peaks as we are accustomed to on Earthly mountains. Instead, these look like rough-cut edges of huge bowls whose outer sides slope gradually towards us. We know they are the rims of the craters closest to this plateau on which we have landed, for we saw them while still in the air as we approached the Moon. We are eager to get on our way for a closer examination of these bursted Moon bubbles that have so long mystified the peoples of Earth but before starting there are a few things that must be done.

An hour or more has elapsed while we have sat here eating and observing our surroundings. We have eaten a great deal of food, as one most always does when out on a picnic, yet we don't have that heavy, stuffed feeling that we would have had after eating such a meal on Earth. Another fact we became aware of while sitting here eating, our minds seem to be getting thoughts faster and clearer than they did on Earth. Maybe this is due to the atmosphere, or maybe it is because of the peace and quiet here; for some people on Earth have similar experiences when they spend much time by themselves on the desert or on some mountain. Yet we have arrived here not too many hours ago and are getting these reactions.

After checking our fuel supply we are surprised at the small amount which we have used getting here. At this rate, we should have plenty of fuel to permit us to make quite a number of trips to various territories of the Moon too far distant for hiking, and still have a sufficiency for the return trip home.

Before setting out on our hike to the mountains, Johnny is contacting the Earth to tell the people there of our findings. He had maintained radio contact with the Earth during our entire trip and had broken it only after we had landed; so they knew that we had arrived safely.

Now the Earth is on the air waves and Johnny has a big grin upon his face. He is telling us that the people on Earth are all very much excited over our success and there is great rejoicing everywhere. Our landing on the Moon is the number one story in the newspapers of all the lands. It is like a serial story to them, with everyone waiting eagerly for our next report.

The scientists and the government are pleased with our safe arrival here but now they want to know if we will be able to get our ship into the air again from here.

While Johnny retains contact with the Earth, Bob starts the ship's motors and lifts her gracefully into the air.

With great glee Johnny gives this report to his inquirers. Then he goes on to tell them about our picnic on the ground in the shade of our ship, what we have seen so far, and of our proposed venture into the mountains with the hope of exploring some of the craters visible to Earth.

In response to questioning, he reports our fuel supply, adding that we have no idea how long we will remain up here since we have now become adjusted to the atmosphere and believe we can live here as easily as on the Earth; we have plenty of food with us to last for a long time; and there are many places we want to visit. He adds that we know there are some people living close by for we have seen their city and if they should be friendly with us, we might learn far more about their Moon home than we had ever hoped to learn. But he assures his listeners that in time, we shall return home to Earth.

This report finished, Johnny breaks contact with the Earth and we start on our hike towards the mountains, each of us taking a canteen of water for drinking and quite a supply of concentrated food for we have no idea how long we will be gone. In his pocket Dr. Johnston has a very small instrument with which he can analyze, to a certain extent, any formations we might find.

As we cross the plateau towards the nearest crater wall, we note that the surface of the ground consists of sand, glistening white and very hot. Even though we have on heavy hiking boots we can feel the heat right through their soles.

After a couple of hours hiking across these hot sands, with intermittent stops for rest, and without having done any noticeable climbing, we reach the first crater, a shallow one only about thirty feet in depth and approximately a half mile across, much like a huge earthen salad bowl cut in the ground. The structure and rocky formation surrounding as well as within this crater appear much like lava, as if it had been made through volcanic eruption. Dr. Johnston who is an ardent rock hound along with his scientific profession, exclaims in joyous astonishment that this section of rocky formation is composed largely of beautiful gems and lava stone. Testing the ground with his little pocket instrument, he informs us that there are also deposits of many kinds of rich mineral ore in the sides of this crater.

Climbing down into the crater, we notice a slight difference in the air but not enough to interfere with our explorers' enthusiasm.

This surely is a mountainous section with crest after crest towering towards the sky. The strange part is they all look barren of any growth. There are no trees, grasses or flowers, and no indication of water dropping over even the highest ledges. Although through our glasses we can detect a small amount of moss creeping along some of the crevices; nothing else.

Not far ahead of us lies another mountainous ridge that doesn't seem too high. We know it, too, is the wall of a crater, maybe larger than the one we have been in. These crater walls are rough and rocky with a great deal of lava but the climbing doesn't seem to be difficult. We scarcely realize that we are climbing. The heat is quite intense but with a little rest now and then we are able to keep going without much effort.

Reaching the top we find a narrow ledge beyond which lies another crater much larger and deeper than the one we left. On climbing down into this one, we note that the atmosphere here becomes noticeably stuffier, harder to breathe and very hot the lower we go; while the formation and consistency of the ground is the same as in the other crater we explored. In the center of this one is a small inverted cone formation rising many feet into the air but we are not going over to it; the air is too stifling to breathe comfortably.

As we examine the ledge surrounding this second crater and the walls within it, pondering over our findings, so different than we had expected, we all reach the same conclusion. This section of mountains and craters has been formed by violent volcanic upheavals instead of from a meteoric bombardment as we had always thought. It is hot, uncomfortably so, and dry, but not as hot as we had thought we might encounter before coming here. We could never have stood a temperature of two hundred forty degrees Fahrenheit as we had been taught prevailed on this side of the Moon. Of course we haven't gone very far in as yet and it may be continuously hotter as one goes into larger and deeper craters.

Making our way slowly around the ledge encircling this second crater, carefully examining it and the surrounding terrain as we go, we notice in the distance and off to our right, a fissure in the surface that excites our curiosity. After much more hiking, for in this clear air distances are deceiving, we reach the rim of a wide and deep chasm that could have been made centuries ago by water running here, or it could have been made by an earthquake opening wide the Moon surface, for the walls are sheer cliffs that drop several thousand feet. We make no attempt to lower ourselves over its sides but stand enraptured by the thoughts filling our minds as to the various causes for such a chasm here among these craters.

Much time, the equivalent of many Earthly days, has elapsed since we left our ship. We have covered a great deal of territory during our hiking explorations. From the stones and surface formations in the ground we have covered, we have learned much. Yet there is much more territory to be covered and closely observed before our conclusions can be stated as definite facts.

During this time many questions have arisen in our minds. At the same time our supplies of food and water have decreased continuously. For these reasons we have decided to return to our ship, rest for awhile, discuss our findings, and get more supplies before going farther in our exploring. As we return towards the ship, we notice that the sun is lowering, shadows are lengthening at the outer bases of the craters and even the sands seem cooler than when we first came over them. There is a noticeable cooling off of the air.

By the time we reach the ship the sun has sunk far down in the heavens, but due to the atmosphere surrounding the Moon, the temperature is still comfortably warm.

During the time so far that we have been on the Moon, we have hiked far and climbed a lot with comparatively little rest, yet we are not aware of much tiredness. Our meal here at the ship is prepared out of doors for we are interested in watching the sun as it finally dips below the horizon. We want to know whether this atmosphere bathes the Moon's surface with indescribable hues of loveliness even after the sun itself has sunk from view, as the Earth's atmosphere bathes the Earth. It does, which proves again that the Moon is not too different than her Earth sister.

As night comes on, darkness doesn't descend as we had somewhat expected. In fact, there isn't too much difference in the amount of light upon this section of the Moon than there was during the day. The most noticeable fact is that daylight is yellow while the night light is white. This is due to the Earth reflecting her sunlight upon the Moon as she oscillates on her journey across the Moon heavens. After so long a time, we roll up in our sleeping bags to see how much of the long Moon night we can spend sleeping. Although not aware of feeling tired, we quickly fall into sound sleep, but not for long.

After about six hours of sleep we awaken thoroughly rested and ready to be up and going again. For awhile though, we remain on the ground watching whether we can see any type of insect or reptile life hopping or crawling about in the sands. A few tiny insects are observed hopping about, but nothing of any size.

Remembering the heat of the previous day, we wonder if we would not be wise in returning to the crater district during the cool of the night, but decided against that in favor of investigating new territory. Several miles in the distance and to the left of us extends a long range of mountains, running from this light side into that section that is unseen from the Earth, known as the dark side of the Moon. In this direction our fancy leads us.

As we set out across the sands of the plateau, we take with us a flag that we have brought from the Earth. This flag is made up of all the flags of the nations of the Earth with a small American flag in the middle thereby indicating that Americans had placed it here.

After reaching the mountains and climbing about three thousand feet up the side, we decided to go no farther for this was indeed rough going. Then too, in the distance far up ahead of us we could hear strange noises as if wild animals might be up there. A feeling of apprehension filled us with caution. So here about five miles from our ship, at an elevation of three thousand feet on one of the Moon's mountains we planted the flag of the World.

As we descended towards the foot of the mountain, we remembered the forest we had seen from the air and the little lake beyond it. In this direction now we turned our steps; stopping now and then as we go that we may not miss a thing along the way. We travel another twelve miles along the foot of the mountain ridge.

Here we see a small animal jumping from rock to rock up the mountainside. It looks and jumps much like a kangaroo but it is very small, measuring only about eighteen inches in height. We watch it for some time wondering what it is and how it lives. It has seen us too, but seemed to have not the slightest fear of us as it continues its way on up the mountain.

From this point we turn again across the plateau towards the forest which we can plainly see through our glasses. As we have walked along we have become aware of the fact that the sands of the plateau have given way to a richer soil which is covered with a vegetation or plant life. Even across the tip of the plateau as we head towards the forest, this plant life continues. The atmosphere here too is different. A moisture similar to dew fills the air which seems to give this plant life all it needs to grow. And now we see the first fowl of the air that we have seen since landing on the Moon. What it is, we don't know. It is a lot larger than any bird we have on Earth and beautiful to watch as it glides leisurely through space.

Nearing the forest, we seem to be faced with a solid barrier. The undergrowth is so dense that we cannot even see any tree trunks. We search diligently for some indication of a path leading into this denseness, but find none. From the air this forest didn't seem too wide so we decide to make our own path by hacking our way through. However we quickly learn this isn't necessary for with very little pressure the branches break easily.

As we work our way through this brush, we receive somewhat of a surprise for there are no large trunks to the trees in this forest. Instead, these are immense bushes growing very high and thick. Yet as we penetrate deeper into it, the light of the Earth trickles through the branches, lighting our path as we make it. After about half a mile of this slow progress, we suddenly emerge into the bright clearness again and find ourselves almost upon the shore of the beautiful little lake we had been heading for.

Across the lake, which was about two and a half miles, we could see some dwellings. These we had not noticed from the air.

The shore of the lake is white sand whose grains sparkle like tiny jewels in the white night light. As we near the edge of the lake we suddenly become aware of being quite thirsty. Even though we have plenty of water in our canteens we wonder what this sparkling clear lake water tastes like.

As we stand here watching and wondering, a small bird flies down to the edge of the lake and drinks of its waters. At this sight, we too take a big drink which has a very odd effect upon us. It was wholly revitalizing for it actually made us feel completely refreshed, as if we hadn't walked at all.

After the surprise of this experience we sat down to enjoy for awhile the beautiful scenery surrounding the lake. While sitting here we carry on a discussion as to whether all of us or just one should go around the lake and over to the dwellings. Through our powerful binoculars we have been watching for some evidence of human life around them but so far we haven't seen any. All is very quiet with no movement of any kind anywhere that would indicate the presence of human beings.

However while sitting here enjoying the scenery and talking, we have seen some queer looking fish jump out of the water up into the air about two feet and flip back into the water. Judging from a glance, these fish are about twenty-four inches in length and very colorful. At this sight we figure that the dwellings on the other side of the lake might be fishermen's homes. Realizing it is night to them so they might all be asleep, we know why we haven't seen any life about the dwellings.

After much discussion Johnny has been chosen to go to investigate and see if he can rouse anyone. This decision was reached because the group as a whole felt that Dr. Johnston, Bob and George are all more important on this scientific expedition than the copilot and they should be saved should the inhabitants, if there are any over there, prove to be hostile.

So Johnny, taking with him a small weapon, starts on his trip around the lake towards the dwellings. All the time that he is walking towards his objective we keep watch through the binoculars, ready with our high powered rifles should he encounter any hostile situation, be it beast or man.

Before starting on this trip, we had told Johnny if there were any openings like doors in the dwellings facing the lake, he should try those so we could keep a close watch upon him. This he is doing. Through our binoculars we notice that the first dwelling he tried, he got no answer. We keep watching as he goes along trying each place that has an opening towards the lake. Finally, at about the twelfth try of the dwellings facing the lake, the door suddenly came open and behold our copilot falls to the ground. Seeing him fall, we did not know whether he had been hurt by the person opening the door or what had happened. As we keep watching, we notice a tall slender form of a man, apparently the person who had opened the door, bend over Johnny's still form and gently shake him as though he desired to revive him.

Immediately we decide that George should go to the scene as he has been well trained in first aid and so can help Johnny, should he have such need. As we have stated previously, walking upon the Moon is like walking on air, not much effort being necessary. So George starts out to the rescue at double time. He, too, is taking weapons with him in case of need.

When he got half way around the lake George is spotted by the Moon inhabitant. Leaving Johnny lying there, this Moon man runs part of the way to meet George. With the binoculars we can see that he has no kind of weapon with which he could harm our companion, but it looks as though he is excited more over the unexpected behavior of this strange person who had knocked upon his door. He seems to be happy that he is going to get help. We just keep watching but do nothing to disturb the situation. Finally George reaches the slender figure of the Moon man and there are some motions with hands as each man endeavors to convey a message to the other. The Moonalite, as we might name him at this time, grasped George by the hand and both run towards Johnny, still lying prone upon the ground where he had fallen.

The next thing we knew, when the two running figures reach Johnny, George runs to the lake and using his hat as a container, gets some water. With it he revives Johnny who had merely fainted at so unexpectedly having a human being open the door in response to his knocking.

Now we know that all is well again.

George turns and motions for us to come on around.

This we do. Upon reaching the others, we are surprised to have this tall slender Moonalite take us into his dwelling and give us some refreshments which are fish that were not boiled nor fried but were preserved. They had an odd taste to us, yet were very palatable. With this fish he gave us some liquid which was neither coffee nor water nor could it be called Bourbon, yet it has a stimulating effect upon us and is very refreshing. As we partake of these refreshments and talk among ourselves, our new friend keeps a steady watch over us, observing every move and act we perform.

Several hours had elapsed when finally he began to gesture with his hands, trying to tell us something or to ask us some question. We didn't know which for we didn't seem to succeed well at first in trying to convey messages to each other. Finally we thought of an idea by which we might make ourselves known to him.

We took him outside his home and pointed to the Earth riding just above the horizon as the long Moon night nears its end. By motions and pictures in the sand, we succeed in conveying to him that we have come here from the Earth in a big ship flying through the air. As this fact dawned upon him, he expressed great surprise.

Through signs which we are beginning to understand by this time, he indicates that all these other dwellings are at present empty. He alone is here as a keeper of all these places. We learn that these dwellings are all fishermen's shacks in which they live when they are fishing from the lake. They are all made from the same kind of brush which we had had to cut our way through before reaching the lake. Although we had found the brush brittle and easily broken, these shacks were all very neatly and solidly put together.

Our Moonalite friend, as we now all feel towards him, is about six feet eight inches in height, very slender yet not undernourished. The bony structure of his body seems to be delicate, yet strong. His arms are quite long, due to his slender form of body structure. His skin is clear white. A feeling of warm friendliness is expressed towards us through his deep blue eyes, as well as a quick sparkle of merriment, as he seemed to understand us much better than we are able to understand him. His eyeballs protrude a little more than ours but in no way detract from his general appearance. His mouth is firm but very sensitive and in it he has very good teeth, strong, firm, and white. Judging from our Earth experience, this man looks to us to be around seventy years of age, yet well preserved and with an intensely active mentality. Later we learn that he is one hundred and ninety years of age.

The Earth is sinking low on the horizon as we prepare to return to our ship. We have invited our friend to accompany us but he has made us understand by signs that he cannot leave at this time, but must stay here.

We tried to learn if there are many people in this part of the Moon but in this we were unsuccessful for we seem unable to make our signs clear enough for him to understand what we are asking.

On the other hand, we were able to indicate to him the location of our ship and the fact that we would like to have him come there whenever he could. We also made him understand that as we were leaving him now, we were returning to the ship.

In answer to our invitation to visit us, he pointed to himself, then in the direction of our ship and with a sign of the eyes, by opening up his lids with his fingers and pointing to the sky, that he would come when it was again daylight.

As a warning in response to the fact that we were now returning although it was still night-time, he gave us a shivering of his body sign by which we thought he meant that we had better be careful on the return for we may encounter some danger.

After shaking hands with our friend, we start on the way back to our ship, returning to the forest around the opposite end of the lake to what we had come. We easily find the path we had made through the brush but only a short way in, we do encounter danger. A very large size beast, quite wet, is standing upon the path blocking our passage and there is no way for us to get past him. Apparently he had come out of the lake just before we reached here. He challenges our right to pass as he stands there in the path growling, with his eyes blazing. He has four feet, no tail, an immense head and body and a pair of arms that seem to extend from his collar bones. He keeps swaying these arms back and forth just as if he wants to talk with his hands; yet we know that should one of us get caught in those arms, it would be the end.

There is but one thing for us to do if we are ever to get back to the ship and that is to get rid of him in some way.

We don't want to kill him, nor even to injure him, for we don't know with what regard the natives around here hold him, and we surely don't want to do anything to incite them against us. On the Earth we know there are some tribes who worship certain animals, like the Hindoo worships the cow. This could easily be the case also here on the Moon. So we decide on shooting a volley just over his head with the hope of frightening him. This idea worked; maybe because the animal heard a strange sound that he had never heard before. Instead of attacking us, he lumbered off through the brush and strange as it may seem, he made his way through without breaking the brush or leaving any path behind him.

Finally, just as the first golden streaks of sunlight appear above the horizon, we reach our ship. Shortly afterward we learn that on firing the shot back in the forest, we have alerted something we did not expect.

Chapter III

VISITED

The sun rose above the horizon in a burst of splendor and standing outside of our ship we enjoy this beauty to its fullest. We wonder if every day is like this. The air is sparkling clear as it still retains some of the coolness of the departing night, but from the appearance of that sun as it climbs higher into the sky, we know today will be just as hot as yesterday had been.

So far no plans have been made for this day but since days are long here, each day being equivalent to two weeks of time on Earth, we knew that something would be worked out. One thing we were sure of, today we would not return to the crater area. Further exploring in that district we would leave until some night, since nights are each as long as the days and very bright from the light of the Earth.

As we review the surprising events of the preceding night, we also scan the mountains through our binoculars. In so doing, we bring into focus the flag we had planted the night before. It is waving lightly in a gentle breeze that seems to be blowing up there, but to our amazement, gathered around the flag is a group of about a hundred and fifty men.

They are tall and slender with the same type body structure as the man we had met in the dwellings by the lake, only these men are dark brown in color while he was so clear white that he gave the appearance of being almost bloodless. Thereby we knew that they did not belong to the same tribe as the fisherman. Because of their color we decided these men gathered around our flag on the side of the mountain must be dwellers from the hot side. They seem to be armed, as we watch them closely through our glasses, and yet we cannot definitely tell.

They have observed our ship and see us moving around it, so leaving the flag untouched, they come towards us. When they get within five hundred yards of us, we see that their arms consist only of packs of small arrows and a small instrument which we do not recognize. Later we learn that these men were on a hunting trip, since they eat wild fowl. Hearing the volley we fired to frighten the beast in the brush-forest, they had come to investigate what it was, for the sound was as strange to them as it had been to the beast! They were surprised and very curious at seeing the ship and us there.

We were unable to use the same method with these men to let them know who we were and where we had come from that we had used with the fisherman, for now the Earth was gone from view. So we had to draw pictures in the sand, depicting the Moon where we are now, the Sun as it is just rising in the sky and the Earth as it dropped below the horizon not too long ago. Then by drawing another picture of a ship coming through space from the Earth to the Moon and pointing to our ship to indicate it was what we were picturing, we succeeded in making them understand what we were endeavoring to convey to them. Their amazement was equal to the fisherman's when he had learned where he had come from.

After their excitement had calmed somewhat, we took them close to our ship and let them look it over all around from the outside, then we invited them inside to see what was there. They were most jubilant because of this privilege of examining the ship inside as well as outside and not the least frightened by this thing that must indeed have looked like a strange big monster to them.

We are much impressed by their behavior, for even though they are filled with enthusiastic interest, noting every little thing carefully, they do not touch a single thing with their hands. However after noting everything carefully inside and out, they don't leave either. They just stick around.

They seem to be chewing on some kind of a long weed which looks similar to a stalk of celery. This they had brought with them and during the many hours they have been staying around with us, this seems to be all they have had to eat.

While this has been going on, we have been examining some of their arrows to see what they are made of. They are about four inches in length, not much bigger than the old time match stick, and are made of a twig with a feather-like leaf that acts like a balance. On one end of each of these twigs a little volcanic rock or lava stone is stuck in; something like the arrows on Earth are made. As for the instruments which we previously were unable to recognize, they are similar to an air gun. It is with these that the arrows are thrown. The person blows through the gun and an arrow is shot forth at the target. When an arrow blown through one of these instruments hits a fowl, it has a tendency to bring on a mild state of paralysis that will wear off in fifteen minutes, but they cannot kill it, as they show us by hitting a bird flying overhead. And they certainly are experts at this kind of shooting.

It hasn't been very long since we got through examining these weapons, and the natives are all still sitting around chatting among themselves, when we look up and see the white tribe from up the valley coming towards us. Our fisherman friend is leading them. There are about three hundred in all, young and old, men, women and children. As soon as the dark tribesmen saw these white tribespeople coming towards us, they rose to their feet to greet these newly arrived brothers, leaving their weapons on the ground.

Once the white tribe got close enough, the fisherman greeted us through signs, while to the dark natives he spoke in language. The reaction is very joyous. Then a man clad in beautiful raiment stepped out of the group. As he does, a very respectful silence falls over all gathered here. He speaks to the entire gathering for a couple of minutes. We don't understand his words but he must be saying something wonderful about us for both groups are beginning to cheer us.

Now the cheering is over and we are taking the white folks to show them our ship and all about it. These people, too, are very observant of every detail and like the men of the dark tribe, are careful not to touch anything with their hands.

The chieftain of the white folks, the one who had made the speech, is now sitting down in the pilot's seat to see how it feels. His reaction is one of great joy. Seeing this, we decide it would be a good idea to take the ship up and with us as passengers, this leader of the whites, the fisherman, and a few others including the leader of the dark people.

While in the air, we decide to fly above the mountain range dividing the dark and the light sides. About three miles along this range from the spot on the plateau where we had originally landed, we see what appears to be a village, about half way up the mountainside. The chieftain of the dark race points to himself and to the village, indicating that is his village. It is located on the light side of the mountain.

We have turned and are flying over the mountain range to the dark side of the Moon. Here again we see the fishing shacks and the little lake which we had visited earlier, during our ground exploring. From here the chieftain of the white race points the way for us to go. We fly over the lake and on for about five miles beyond, where we see another village, altogether different from the one on the mountainside. The first village we saw belonging to the dark race seemed to belong more to cliff dwellers, while this one belonging to the white race is in a valley between two ranges of mountains. The range on the far side of the valley, being farther away from the heat and dryness of the light side than the mountains we have recently flown over, has a much heavier growth of trees and brush, signifying to us that more moisture and cooler weather prevail here. Some of the mountains in this range have very high peaks and on these we see snow.

The houses in this village in the valley appear to be built square, box type. Some are taller than others and there are quite a number of them. They seem to be built around a central park or community square in quite a picturesque fashion. Behind these homes and along the foot of the mountains stretch small cultivated areas where the villagers grow their vegetables and grains.

The chieftain of the white race points to himself, indicating that this is his village.

We continue flying farther up the valley for a distance of about one hundred miles deeper into the dark side, but still within the fertile belt we had observed as we first approached the Moon, that seemed to stretch around the Moon between the light side filled with craters and deserts and the dark side that is never visible to the Earth. Through this valley we see several small ponds or small lakes. The entire area looks very fertile and there is some tall timber growing on the higher mountains. All of the lakes seem to have some dwellings around them. In one place there is quite a large settlement near a lake.

The chieftain of the white race isn't a bit surprised, so he must have known there were other people living in the valley. But all the passengers alike, including the two chieftains, are almost speechless with the thrill and wonder of thus flying over their homeland. We have been observing them very closely for their reactions. So we continue flying farther yet up the valley. In the distance we see a very large settlement, almost like a city. It might be one. When this came into view, the chieftain of the white ones was very much surprised as were all the others. It seems none of them knew it was there. We figure this city is about four hundred to five hundred miles up the valley from the village of our white native companions. We have crossed a few low ranges of mountains in finding this place.

Dr. Johnston has suggested that we fly over this place and see what it is. So we do. It appears to be a city of about twenty thousand population. We are directly over it and are lowering for a better view. We have lowered to within seven hundred feet of the city but we seem to be frightening everybody down there with our noise for we see the people clearing the open spaces for cover. We have circled the vicinity several times trying to find a place in which to land, for we would like to see more of this city and the people living here. But there is no possible landing place here in this narrow valley, so we are going back up.

We are turning towards our original landing field on the plateau instead of going any farther at this time, since we don't know how long we will stay on the Moon and we have a hunch to preserve the fuel.

Rather than return over the same territory we have come, George suggests that we take the light side to see what is there. To our surprise we find ourselves flying over quite a number of large settlements which are discernible from the air. Coming this way, Bob has had to rise to an altitude of forty thousand feet for we are encountering mountain peaks which are around thirty thousand to thirty-two thousand feet elevation. In each case the villages of the people living on the light side are of cliff dweller type, half way up the mountains from the floor of the valley. Through this entire area there is very little vegetation, while the mountains themselves seem to be of volcanic origin and bare of trees or brush.

We have reached our starting place and are landing again. As our passengers leave the ship they try to thank us by much chattering and many gestures with their hands, indicating a great deal of excitement and joyousness, as it appears to us. Both groups of people who had been left behind when we went for our trip were still there awaiting our return and they all gathered around the ship when it landed, looking upon it with amazement.

Our passengers have left the ship and we are following them out. As we do, the leaders of the two tribes grab us by the hands and start talking with excitement to their own people. From what we can get, they seem to be telling them all about the trip, with much enthusiasm and exuberance.

This has continued for several hours.

Now it is over. The two chieftains, the one of the dark race and the one of the light race, shake hands with each other and all the people of both tribes gather together. With one chieftain on each side of us, followed by all the tribespeople, we start walking in the direction of the little lake again. When we reach the brush-forest that we had previously broken a path through, we find they have their own path. It is a wide open thoroughfare which we would have seen when we were here first had not the opening to it been camouflaged, made to look as though it was solid with brush. The natives are removing this camouflage in order for the procession to get down to the lake.

After reaching the lake, the white boys go into the water taking with them little gadgets which we are permitted to examine. These are made of wood or the crotch of a limb with a very sharp point. With them they catch fish at an amazing speed. In a very short time they have caught a large quantity of fish. Then some of the people start to prepare a feast.

During these preparations messengers are dispatched somewhere but we don't know to where.

Realizing that these people are all friendly towards us, we are taking more liberty in openly observing them and what they are wearing.

During all the time we have been with them, we have noticed how very intelligent these Moon people really are in all their ways.

On examining the garments of the leaders we find the cloth they are made of is a surprisingly fine quality. In fact the clothing all the people are wearing is made of some very fine cloth, a sort of fiber yet finer than the silken cloth used by people of the Earth.

The ornaments which they are wearing, bracelets and trinkets of many types, are of a fine quality. They are all of very intricate designs. The ornaments are made of gold and platinum and on close examination they seem to have some iron in them for sturdiness, yet alloyed so well that it does not tarnish, rust, nor anything that iron might do. Inlaid in these ornaments or trinkets are quite a number of very large gems, a considerable amount of diamonds and still more precious than diamonds is a stone that is fully transparent, with a very, very moonlike cast. This stone gives off regular prism colors. We are made to understand this color radiation is the same at all times, in the brightest light or in the darkest of darkness.

We would like to have a stone like this for it seems to possess magic powers of some kind, but the white chieftain is the only one wearing them while everybody is wearing the diamonds and the other types of gems.

We wonder about this, why this chieftain alone is wearing these precious stones. Finally we are able to find out, for through motions and signs we have made them understand that we would like to know more about this particular stone.

The chieftain is indicating that we can have anything we want except this stone, and he is showing us the reason. He has taken off his outer garment which has these stones studded in it, and as he did this he seemed to change into an older man. He pointed to himself as this was taking place, also he fluttered with his arms and jumped into the air and hit back onto the ground, just like anybody would do. Now he is taking a stone about two inches in diameter which hangs from a gold chain and is putting the chain around his neck. In a matter of seconds as we watch he has turned to be as youthful as he was when we first met him. Then by putting his garment back on, which seems to be a royal-like robe, he can flutter with his arms again and jump up into the air, only now he stays there. He doesn't drop back to the ground. Instead he moves about above the ground something as a humming bird does, only he does not flutter his arms like a humming bird does his wings.

We are made to understand that this is only possible by possessing this gem.

After carefully examining and sincerely admiring many different types of these trinkets worn by the people and thoroughly enjoying the demonstration given by the chieftain, our attention is again drawn to the lake that we may examine it more closely. Along its shores the sand itself is radiant and possesses something that we cannot analyze, for all the grains seem to sparkle. After spending quite some time in the sand on the shore of the lake we went into the water to pick up some of the sand from the lake bottom. This we find is as clean and sparkling as that on the shore. It seems to have a different feel to it than sands which we have known on Earth, just as the waters of the lake were so refreshing when we drank from them.

Now these tribes' leaders are indicating that there is something else they want to show us. They are leading us again to the brush-forest. Here they pluck down some of the brush and split it with a flint-like instrument. To our surprise there is a fine silken thread in the center of each stalk. This thread is sometimes ten to twenty feet in length, depending upon the height of the brush from which it had been plucked. It really looks like silk, yet it is very strong. They show us that when this fiber thread is taken out from within the limb, or stalk, it can be woven into cloth immediately without any treatment of any kind. They are weaving some of these threads together making a small piece of cloth for us to see and feel.

One of the tribesmen is handing us a wrap which he says is made of this brush thread. He wants us to throw it over our shoulders. It is a far finer cloth than any we have ever known. This wrap is very warm and seems to be wind proof. Besides, garments made from it have some kind of a magic power as well, for when we put the wrap around us we felt as though we are charged with some sort of energy, almost as if we had had a good night's rest. This also accounts for them being able to lose a night's sleep and not feel it, for the dark ones who are still with us had been hunting during the entire preceding night. Knowing that we needed sleep, at least they got the idea, they have given us a jacket to wear while we are partaking of the feast, as it is now ready.

While all of this has been going on, the messengers have reached their destinations and returned to join us in the feasting, but we don't notice anything different happening since their return.

The feast is lake fish and some sort of a vegetable which the natives have gathered from around here somewhere. It is similar to lettuce except that it doesn't taste like lettuce. There is no bread but we don't miss it for there is plenty of what we have.

Now the feast is over. The white chieftain has indicated that we are to go with him and his people. He spoke to the black chieftain and this leader with his tribesmen have started back through the brush-forest, while we are accompanying the white chieftain and going in the opposite direction, up the valley. We have walked a good five miles, yet we don't feel tired, even though we have lost much sleep. It seems that the food and the jackets are doing their work.

Chapter IV

HONORED

We have reached the village on the dark side that we had seen from the air, the one belonging to the white tribe. We are being taken to the chieftain's own home which is a very large building, three stories high.

But as we entered the village everybody there turned out; there must have been around three thousand people. The messengers apparently had alerted the people about us and we really are being given a royal welcome. They have rolled out on four large wheels a sort of a large platform, beautifully decorated. The chieftain is going up onto the platform and indicating that we are to follow him.

Everyone in this vast throng of people is quiet as their leader stands before them. He is addressing them in their native tongue which we do not understand, but from what we can get out of it, it seems as though he is telling them about the flight we had taken him on and what he had just witnessed. At the conclusion of his speech they all cheered.

We knew that he was talking about the flight, for he was pointing with his hands in the directions over which we have flown. He no doubt told them also about the big city farther up, for we saw the amazement which the people took on in expression when they were told what could easily have been astounding information about other inhabitants farther up the valley about whom they knew nothing.

They seem to be quiet people, thinkers, quick in action proving their minds are very active. We see some beautiful children and women among them. All these people are well built in stature and they seem to respect one another very highly.

The homes of these Moonalites are exceptionally neat and the people all seem to be of an equality, that is possessing about the same amount of wealth, whatever the wealth might be. In other words, they are as one big family and each home seems to have plenty of everything alike. They all have gems and minerals of value as decorations for their homes. The natives in this village are very artistic, for there is much of what could be called fine art in their homes, and what clothing they have seems to be the best, with no distinction among any of them except the leader.

Their education is a community system, from what we have been able to learn. Both children and elders learn alike. It seems that learning never ceases, for their temples are also their schools. Out of the equivalent of every twenty-four hours of our day, they worship for one hour, then they give one hour to study and schooling, as we could make out, and they give three hours of service as a community, for the community, which includes agriculture and all service necessary to fill every need of all the inhabitants. After this is done, they do as they desire for themselves.

At what we would call sunset on Earth, they all gather in the community square and give thanks for the day. This is done every day. The individual whom we would call the spiritual leader appears in a very, very humble way, far more humble than anything we know on Earth in the way of humbleness. Their sincerity of worship or their thanksgiving every day can be felt even by the most skeptical person.

We have tried to find out who they were worshipping, if it was a God like we on Earth worship, or what. But the best we can learn is what we assume from their sign language with which they tried to answer us, that they are worshipping some sort of a Supreme Intelligence, but the name of It we cannot get, for the sound of their language is very hard to grasp as to what it might mean. At times it sounds like it could be a partial Sanskrit, yet Dr. Johnston knows Sanskrit and he says their speech isn't Sanskrit. Yet their sign language to us is as good as any we have ever known.

They seem to be getting our desires well. As we make statements they understand them as to meaning, so we figure that they must be getting it from an inner feeling from us. For when we speak they keep very quiet as though they are getting a vibration from our bodies, which would be a feeling as to what we are saying or what we want to know. If we had been schooled better in recognizing our feelings and going by them instead of the mind, I believe we would be able to understand better everything they want to tell us, and they do want to tell us a lot, from what we can see.

We have stayed in the village two full days with them. The chieftain made us understand that we did not have to worry about the ship, he had directed the dark ones to keep watch over it. With this assurance we have been able to thoroughly enjoy every minute of our visit and to learn much of the joyous freedom in which the Moonalites live.

During our second day here an elderly man passed away and when this happened the whole community turned out. The big platform on which we had stood the first day was rolled out again and they brought this body upon the platform and placed it on a structure that looked something like we have been picturing the Ark of the Covenant. They placed the body naturally, in a lying position. Then twelve men and twelve women stepped up and took positions along each side, standing one man and one woman, six men on one side and six women, the same on the other side. The spiritual leader stood at the foot of the corpse while the chieftain stood at the head and both of these mumbled something for about fifteen minutes. Then the twenty-four people, twelve on each side, raised the body with the Covenant into the air and then lowered it. They did this three times while all the people gathered about. Each time that the body with the Covenant was raised, the people gave out a shout, sort of song-like, very melodious. With each shout there was an expression of tremendous joy on the part of the people. After this they took the body off of the Covenant and wrapped it in a beautiful cloth that had been made of the fiber we have previously spoken of.

We have been made to understand that the whole ceremony was a very joyful one for one of their brothers was now going Home, and they rejoice over that. That rejoicing can really be felt for it is so intense that even a dead man would have to feel it. Yes, the chieftain made us understand the best he could, that this individual has been glorified by being allowed to return to the Home from which he came.

The body belonged to the Moon so it will be given back to the Moon, which we consider burial, and thanks for it will be given the next day. That is, thanks is given to the Moon for loaning material for the body for the time which this individual had the use of it, which has served him and the community well.

This part we will not see since we are leaving today.

On returning to our ship, we are accompanied by six guides, natives of this village who have been chosen by the chieftain to assist us in every way possible during our stay here on the Moon.

Sure enough, the darkies were at the ship watching over our things when we reached there, and mighty glad to see us. They made us understand they also would like to have us visit their village.

We promised them we would the following day.

In the meantime we want to do something for ourselves. When night came on the light side where our ship is, we thought we would like to investigate a little more in reference to our Earth from which we had come. So we focused the six inch telescope upon the Earth and to our amazement, what we saw made us ashamed of ourselves. For we were like most of the people on Earth, thinking our planet was the finest in the vastness of the heavens and the only one capable of maintaining human beings like us. But had we not come from there, and looked at the Earth through a telescope as we are now doing, we would never have believed that there could be even as much as a fly living upon it, for it looked so very bleak. It did not even have one percent of the markings which the Moon shows from the Earth. We could not believe our own eyes. But the old saying is that seeing is believing.

Some of the markings that we did see were very, very small dark patches here and there, which we figured must have been forests or vegetation. They were so small that they were hardly noticeable. For the most part, all that we could see was that it was rough in some spots. Mountains on Earth showed up like little pebbles do in the craters on the Moon, just enough to be rough. As for the oceans, we could not tell whether it was water or not. We assumed that it was the oceans, knowing just about where they were, but they looked more like a desert area.

"You know, fellows," commented Johnny, "if I didn't see it, I wouldn't believe it. Now I can understand the surprised expressions on the faces of these natives when we showed them where we had come from. It wasn't at all what I thought at the time."

And he was right, for really it was almost unbelievable to us that we could have come from any place like that to the Moon, or that there could be any people living there.

Right then and there we figured if that is all the showing of decent markings observable of the Earth from the Moon, we get better showings than that of Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn through the telescopes on Earth. At least there is something to look at and not just a ball of light.

As we sit through the long Moon night, observing the Earth pass through her phases as seen from here, an amazing fact reveals itself to us and unfolds as we think about it. Through our little telescope the appearance of the Earth is as distinct as the Moon appears when observed through telescopes on Earth.

Coming here we verified the fact that the Moon has an atmospheric belt of three hundred miles in width surrounding her. We know now that although this atmosphere is lighter than the Earth's, we can easily live here comfortably, with the most noticeable difference being that we do not tire so easily and our minds are quicker in receptivity.

The Earth has an atmospheric belt of five hundred miles width surrounding her, with the heaviest atmosphere being closest to the Earth.

Through telescopes on either orb, an observer can easily and clearly study the other without the surrounding atmosphere acting as an interference.

Astronomers on Earth have given the heavy atmosphere surrounding Venus as the reason that planet's markings have never been seen with even the finest telescopes. In this line of reasoning, the markings on Earth should be obscured by her heavy atmospheric belt. But they are not.

Taking all known facts into consideration, planets Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn must have atmosphere very similar to the Earth or the Moon, or maybe somewhat between these two, since from the Earth definite markings around and on these other planets are so plainly visible. Even through five hundred miles of atmosphere, with some of it as dense as it is close to the surface of the Earth, people there can easily see planets and other heavenly bodies with their naked eyes although markings cannot be observed without the aid of a telescope.

It has been said that if atmosphere surrounded the Moon and other planets, clouds would be seen from time to time floating above them, such as we see over the Earth when on the Earth. We have been watching for cloud formations around the Earth as we have been sitting here noting every little detail and discussing our observations. But we haven't seen any. Yet we know from experience that somewhere over the Earth there are clouds moving. At the same time we realize that a cloud large enough to cover the entire state of California would scarcely be visible even from here and certainly not from the great distance between other planets and the Earth. Earth observers have however noted dark patches on these planets which were not always there the next time they looked. These may have been cloud shadows.

On the other hand, since the Earth is visible from the Moon and the Moon and other planets, with the exception of Venus, are visible from the Earth, then all these must have a rarefied atmosphere in comparison to that surrounding Venus, yet similar to each other.

Continuing in this line of thought, there is an atmospheric condensation that takes place over different parts of the Earth from time to time which is impenetrable even with our finest telescopes. This we call 'fog'. Should a dense fog enfold the entire Earth at one time, she probably would be hidden from the view of other planets, unless they had telescopes better than those on Earth which would penetrate such denseness.

This must be the type of atmosphere constantly around Venus. If so, people on that planet would be unable to view the heavens as we do unless they have more penetrating eyes than we have. Also their scientists and astronomers must have finer instruments than we have on Earth to be able to study the vastness of the universe as our scientists are able to delve into it with the aid of their instruments.

"Wonder if I can find anything in the sky from here that I've never heard of on Earth," mused George as he played around with the telescope.

"Hey, Doc, what's this?" he suddenly exclaimed.

"Looks like a moon to me," remarked Dr. Johnston as he looked intently into the telescope. "Could be a moon to this one yet never be seen from Earth. I've heard of a dark moon to the Earth, but of course no one there has ever seen it. This must be it."

As he continued his observations from time to time, Dr. Johnston estimated this second moon was about five hundred thousand miles away from the Earth and traveling a lot faster than the one we are on. The sun seems to shine on it about the same time that it is shining upon the Earth. This is the reason we have never been able to see it from the Earth-plane, while at night it seems to be strongly luminous towards the Moon that we know, and not towards the Earth. In other words, as Dr. Johnston explained to us, what the light side of our Moon, as we know it, is to us at the time it is shining, the second moon would be shining on the opposite side, which to us would mean the dark side of our Moon. This is where our Moon on the dark side gets the twilight during their night-time.

Seeing this from here, we become more inquisitive than ever. We would like to try for the second moon, or for one of the planets for they look very close from here. Yet we know they are far. But we are now positively sure that with the markings on other planets better than those of Earth, as we see the Earth from here, and the Moon inhabited as we have already found it to be, all these other planets must be inhabited.

At the same time we realize that we have much of this Moon yet to explore, even though the desire of going to investigate the second moon is strong, or of going on to other planets. We still have a big job to do on the Moon, since that is the purpose for which we came here. Also we know that when we get through doing our work here and after returning back to the Earth, later we can make another trip, since we have made this first one successfully and then venture on for further exploration.

The Earth has now sunk from view and another day is breaking. This is the day we have promised the darkies to visit their village. The six white boys who escorted us from their village back to our ship have remained with us. With their help we believe we will be able to explore the Moon more thoroughly. As the first bright rays of the sun pierce the morning skies, we set out towards the mountains, led by our native friends. Just as we get started we are joined by a group of the dark ones who have come to meet us. Instead of going up the mountain as we had previously done on our first day here, we were taken along a regular path that ran along the foot of the mountain and gradually ascended it in circular fashion towards the village, halfway up. Hiking early in the morning as we are is most enjoyable. Later it will be hot and quite uncomfortable.

Before leaving for this trip we had radared to the Earth and given them some knowledge of our findings.

Their message of congratulations also contained a note of incredulity since our findings were so different than had been expected.

Although all our radar messages had been in code, Johnny had faithfully kept the people on Earth informed as to what we are doing and concerning our findings.

After two hours of walking along the side of the mountain, we reach the village of the darkies. Here too all the tribespeople welcome us and have a feast prepared in our honor. This feast consisted of dried vegetation and also dried meat which seemed to be that of some kind of a fowl whose name we have not learned.

The six white scouts acting as interpreters make it easier for us, for they understand our signs well. These boys are certainly quick in learning, for just three days with us and they are beginning to use some of our words correctly.

The village of the darkies is a cliff type village, as it had appeared to us from the air. The reason for this is because of the heat through the day. They have running water in their dwellings, and quite natural at that, for each time they cut out a cave in the mountain of rock for a dwelling, they seemed to have encountered water which they used. In some cases there is much, in other cases less, but they all have water. We notice the difference of air within the dwellings and outside. Within the dwellings the air is cool and easy to breathe. Outside it is hot and stifling.

Their mode of living is very much like that of the white villagers and they too possess much precious stones and minerals. Because of the nature of the mountains in which these people live they do not produce their own food but receive their vegetables and grain from the white tribespeople in the valley. Being explorers by nature, as they are, they provide many of the gems the white ones possess. Their exchange system is not based on value of articles exchanged but rather on the needs and desires of the people.

On some of their exploring expeditions they have gone far from home. In this way they have learned more of other places and other people than the whites.

Through the interpreters we tried to find out how much farther we would have to go to find a good sized city and in what direction.

The chieftain tells us there is a city about a thousand miles to the northeast from their village.

Bob asked if he was talking about the one we had seen from the air.

He answered, "No, that isn't the one." Then he added that if we wanted to fly there in our ship, he would be glad to go with us to show us the way. He seemed to enjoy flying. It was something different than he had ever done before.

We told him we would like to have him go with us and the date was set for two days later.

Now we have returned to our ship. The dark chieftain also sent six of his men back with us to serve us for the time we are staying on the Moon. After arriving at the ship, having this trip two days later to prepare for, we had these native boys help us remove some of the supplies we had brought with us from Earth and which we wouldn't need on the trip, thereby lessening the weight of the ship.

The two days of waiting were spent exploring more of the light side. The darkies acted as our guides while the whites remained at the ship. We went to some of the larger craters acting as valleys. Here there was no lack of material for building many homes, if anyone wanted to use that type of material, for there was an abundance of beautiful volcanic rock. It seemed that the whole Moon on the light side was of volcanic nature. Yet we have found some granite, like that on Earth, brown or red sand which could easily have been soil at one time, dehydrated now. Also we came across a large territory that on Earth we would call desert, which on examination showed that it could have been the bottom of a river or sea, with quite a lot of vegetation of moss-like nature like we saw first in the crevices, and a certain amount of moisture. At nightfall the moisture increased in surprising abundance. In places some of these flat spots looked a little like our Salton Sea territory. There was a variety of small creatures. One especially could easily have been related to our horned toad, except that its body was long instead of being broad.

All this time we had no need for oxygen masks. We could not walk as far without rest, due to the light air and the heat, but it was fairly comfortable at that. Of course we did strike out exploring in the early morning when it was not yet too hot. In fact, we believe that this desert region surrounded with volcanic craters and mountains could be very fertile, once water was brought to it. It seems that if trees and vegetation were planted here, they soon would cool off the desert. And there is plenty of water on the dark side. This could be piped here for irrigation purposes without too much trouble, we believe.

Chapter V

THE BIG CITY

Finally our day for the trip has arrived. The chieftain came from his village to go with us. He and two of the white boys will be our companions on this trip. The others are remaining in camp to await our return.

Our ship rose into the air with great ease. We are flying according to the directions being given by the dark chieftain and it isn't long, flying at an altitude of forty thousand feet in the direction of the city, when we spotted it.

"Is that the one?" Bob asked.

"Yes," replies our guide.

As we reach the city and circle it for our first view, we might say it was built half on the light side and half on the dark side of the Moon. That is, about half of the territory looks like desert, while the other half is fertile land lying at the foot of and extending quite a ways up the side of a range of mountains. There are some very large buildings in both sections while most of the homes seem to be built as a community in a flat area a short distance away from the base of the mountain, yet in the dark side. Dr. Johnston estimates that probably half a million people could be living here.

We want to land but we can't locate an airfield or any place to land, and the chieftain doesn't know whether there is one here. Since we haven't seen anything of the kind, we are not too surprised for as Johnny pointed out, "an airport would mean these people have airplanes. Maybe they don't even know what such things are; our native friends didn't seem to. Neither have we seen or heard any planes flying overhead during all the time we have been here."

"And those people in that city we flew over on the first trip we made, were all so frightened," cut in Bob. "So maybe we are out of luck as far as airfields are concerned."

Nevertheless we were disappointed for we had hoped to visit this city, meet the people living here and learn what we could of their way of living.

As Bob slowly circles in air, he and George discuss the advisability of landing out there somewhere on the sands of the desert, as close as possible to one of those buildings when Johnny suddenly spots a ship coming from a distance towards the city. Our native friends are as surprised as we.

It is coming in at a terrific speed, so Bob continues circling to see where it is going. This is a very large ship, larger than we have ever seen anywhere and without wings. It resembles somewhat a V2 type rocket. As it came directly towards us without apparently slowing its speed we didn't know what to expect, whether it was going to attack us or what was going to happen. It, too, made a circle, giving us the once over then turned and began to lower just a little ways outside the city in the desert area.

Now we know we are not going to be attacked.

Finally it landed and many men got out of it. Three of them are going to a large building close by while the others are staying by the ship and watching us. This ship is about seven hundred feet in length.

It is no wonder we did not recognize this for an airfield. The building towards which the men from the other ship are going is about three stories high but very large, covering much ground space. The field just looks like a flat desert area without landing strips, lights, or markers of any kind and not fenced around in any way.

Bob is circling over the field hoping for some sort of signal to land but he doesn't know just what. Suddenly our ship lighted up as if we had crossed a light beam, yet we didn't see any. As we circled again, the same thing happened, whereupon one of the white boys suggested that instead of crossing through the light, Bob should turn the ship into it to see if he could follow it to the ground. This worked splendidly and we landed safely a short ways from the building which must be their administration building for several native men are coming out of it towards us.

These Moonalites too are white and tall like our friends of the valley, only they are dressed somewhat differently.

It is fortunate for us that we have the two white boys with us, for these city people seem to talk the same language as they. The boys left the ship first to meet the airport officials as they approached our ship and told them who we were and where we had come from. After a few moments of conversation, the officials come up and shake our hands in a very firm manner.

The boys must have inquired about the large ship that had landed just before we did for these airport men are taking us over there now. They are introducing us to these men, all of whom appear to be scientists, and telling them that we have come from the Earth.

Besides the men, this ship had also brought in quite a lot of cargo of different types of materials. On learning where it came from we really did get a surprise, for this ship had just come in from planet Mars.

The crew members of this Martonian ship are wearing caps similar to those worn by pilots on Earth; but the insignia on their caps is outstandingly interesting for it is a heart and a handshake across the heart. On their uniforms is an insignia of a bullet-type ship.

All of these men are very intelligent looking and well mannered. They are around six feet seven inches in height. One in the group is probably about eight feet tall. They are well built in proportion to their height, eyes just sparkling, very fair-complexioned and have jet black hair.

Judging by the appearances and behavior of the pilot and crew of this ship from Mars, we felt like little children, kindergartners. Emanating from them towards us is no feeling of personal pride nor attainment, neither is there the slightest indication of hostility but rather a feeling of warm friendship and joy that we have made the trip here.

These Martonians speak the language of the Moonalites so one of our white native boys can fill in as interpreter whenever necessary, but we have been learning from him during all the time we have been here. By now we are beginning to understand pretty well what is being said. He too has learned our language even better than we have learned his, so he often has to ask our questions for us when we are talking with other people for the first time.

"The people on Mars are built slightly different than you," we are told in answer to our queries. Their pilot came up and felt our bodies then indicated with his hands that our lung capacity is again as large as theirs. He went on to explain, "the atmosphere on our planet is lighter than that of Earth, so we do not need as large a lung capacity as you have."

To our astonishment, we were next told that the Martonians knew that we were on the Moon and when we had landed. They also knew that we would be at this city at the very time we arrived, for they had instruments that were able to pick up our radar messages and decode them. And we have been in regular contact with the Earth.

More astounding information was given us by these men as they told us a little about the dark moon of our Earth. It is used as a stopping place for space ships and is much colder than the cold side of this Moon. After observing it through our little telescope, Dr. Johnston had estimated it to be about five hundred thousand miles from Earth, but the Martonians told us, for that is where they stopped on their way in, that it is seven hundred fifty thousand miles from Earth.

"We have other outposts in space for different purposes, where our ships stop," commented one of the scientists of the group.

After quite a long visit with these Martonians and when all necessary details at the airport were completed, we were taken to the other section of the city where the citizens had been notified of our presence here. A royal welcome was given us as the entire population turned out in greeting.

At sunset we joined the citizens in their hour of praise and thanksgiving for the day; not out of respect for them so much but because with our whole beings we are intensely grateful for the friendship and the knowledge that have been so freely and joyously given us this day.

Later in the evening we were given the greatest surprise of the many we had received here on the Moon, for we were taken to one of their many observatories. Within it was housed a telescope which would be equivalent on Earth to a five thousand inch. This telescope is equipped with mechanism similar to our radar. It catches the reflections of heavenly bodies and somehow throws them into this complicated machine that acts like a primal focus on our telescopes, then angles it off there onto a large screen in a vast room. The screen is something like a moving picture screen in the theaters on Earth except it is about one hundred feet square.

After all introductions were made, the scientists operating the telescope focused it on planet Mars first and showed us that that planet is densely inhabited and looks very progressive.

Here a most surprising occurrence was called to our attention for when he focused Mars on the screen through this big telescope, using a two-way action which this big fellow has, he also focused us towards Mars. This means that should we ever succeed in getting there, the people would know us for they now have a picture of us. This instrument which appears to be similar to our radar and operates in conjunction with the telescope also transmits messages and pictures that they would want to the next planet, especially anything new. And we were a new situation. Through this same system, we understand, they transmit information and pictures of the heavenly bodies from their observatories.

Besides, when any of their ships are in flight from Mars to the Moon, or vice-versa, they have a picture of the ship's whereabouts. There are many such ships that land on the Moon from Mars. We have been told on the average of five to ten a day.

There are also ships from other planets landing here on the Moon regularly, but thus far we haven't seen any of them.

Next the big telescope was focused on the Earth, and behold, it did not look like anything on the screen. It is an accepted fact with many people that we are over-populated in the Earth. The statement has sometimes been made, this is the reason for wars. Yet comparing the picture of Mars which we saw on the screen and that of the Earth, Mars is far more densely populated than we are.

Their buildings, according to the picture, are taller and more majestic than any we have on Earth.

If there ever were any scientists, all Martonians seem to be scientists, according to what we can get. And the evidence is outstanding for this big observatory in which we are observing all this was their project. It had been transported piece by piece from Mars to the Moon.

We asked if they ever have any wars or anything like that on Mars?

These men didn't know what the word 'war' was. They didn't understand the meaning of it for they asked us what it meant.

Dr. Johnston explained it to them.

"No! No!" they answered. "We don't believe in that. We are scientific people. We are all scientists."

Of course that was kind of a slap in the face to us Earth men, at least we took it that way. In retaliation Bob asked, "don't you ever get over-populated? How do you handle that problem?"

"The powers of the Infinite look after that," came the answer right back. "We don't have to worry about it. All we have to do is to live with one another for the good of each other."

At this we realized that on their ship or on their persons, we had not seen a thing that would give any indication or comprehension of a destructive weapon. Instead, when we were first introduced to these men at the airport we had noticed in their ship many types of scientific instruments and much literature of what we considered was on science because of the sketches and pictures we could see.

In our opinion, this telescope and the whole project is the most stupendous accomplishment in the field of engineering and science that a human could ever view. This has given us evidence of their advancement. In fact, the two hundred inch on Mount Palomar is a toy in comparison, for this instrument, as stated before, is the equivalent on Earth to five thousand inches. It measures automatically the distance of any planet or star, focuses its number on the screen, analyzes the mineral contents of a planet in quantity and in quality, gives the amount of water and the amount of land, its vegetation growth and its deserts, and makes no mistake whatever in regards to inhabitants, whether there be any or not, or life in any form. The astronomers here do not spend night after night taking pictures and then trying to figure them out. It is all done for them mechanically.

They even knew of the war we on Earth have just gone through. They got the picture of the Earth madness so well that they have a photograph of it here, showing airplanes flying above the Earth and blowing it up.

As this picture was shown to us one of the scientists said, "the people on Mars believe that the people on Earth have gone actually insane, destroying their own homes in that way. That is one of the reasons they really don't care whether they ever come to Earth with their ships or not. They feel that people with such destructive natures have nothing in advancement to teach them."

So that is the kind of an instrument they have here, known to us as a telescope.

This five thousand inch telescope is very, very powerful. It is not made of one piece as a reflector, but is made up of many mirrors and they are not glass. They seem to be metal. Each mirror is set slightly different, so when all of them are acting as one they focus to this one big machine which in our system we would call the prime focus, and in there it really takes on the intensity and the amplification of light; while at dead center there is an octagon shape mirror or prism that acts automatically as a spectrum. This seems to be the part that gives the answer to the contents of a planet simultaneously with the viewing of it. Around the edge of the mirror are prism type reflectors that don't reflect to what we would call the prime focus, but instead they reflect along the edge of the barrel to another instrument which seems to be wrapped around the barrel on the tube, and that is the part that measures the distance of any heavenly body. So when the telescope is focused on a heavenly body, not only does it produce that body in clean cut markings of it, but it also gives the distance and the contents of it simultaneously, without an error.

The greatest marvel of all, it penetrates the so-called fog around planet Venus for it brings any heavenly body so close to one's view that, regardless of fog, the body itself is clearly visible. And one thing is definite from what we have seen, Venus too is heavily inhabited and seems to have more water than any of the others.

It makes us feel as if we are in a dreamland to be seeing these heavenly bodies with this type of telescope.

After a most interesting and informative evening at the observatory, we had a few hours rest before morning arrived.

According to arrangements made yesterday, we have returned to the airport where we are greeted by the pilot and crew members of the big Martonian ship. In response to our many inquiries concerning the various instruments we had noticed in their ship, these men had promised to show us the ship inside and out and to explain the workings of these instruments.

The ship is some distance across the field from the place of our meeting but it doesn't take us long to reach it. It is really a giant. You might call it a floating village for it has everything, the finest of everything in it.

The ship itself is built of a very light material, yet sturdier than steel. This material is found on planet Mars and is alloyed with other material for strength and endurance. It resembles aluminum, as we know it on Earth.

All of the instruments in the ship are made mostly of silver alloyed with some other material, but we cannot understand what it is. They are willing to tell us but we cannot get it. The interior of the ship is exquisite, surpassing in beauty and comfort our luxury planes of Earth, yet it is a Martonian freighter bearing some passengers from Mars to the Moon.

One instrument being explained to us is what we might call an all-seeing eye which is part of the radar equipment as we know it. This 'eye' can see for five thousand miles ahead and can detect any kind of storm, any object, or any elemental condition that might be approaching in space, including heavy fog which it can also penetrate.

There are four engines each of which resembles a machine gun more than anything else. The jets which are the exhausts are large and these also resemble the barrel of a gun. The pilot touched a button on the instrument panel and started the motors. When these were in operation we could scarcely hear them, they were that quiet. The chamber, which resembles the chamber of a machine gun, is a large cylinder type, yet very small in comparison to the rest of the ship. This cylinder, we are told, contains pellets about half the size of a pea. Once getting into the main chamber of the engine these pellets explode and propel the ship. Each one of these cylinders carries enough fuel to propel the ship for three rounds trips from Mars to the Moon and back. Yet the weight of the fuel for all four engines, according to our weight, would not be more than five hundred pounds.

We were curious to know if these weren't some sort of atomic power pellets, telling them that on Earth we have just come into some knowledge of atomic power.

They understood our questioning and indicated in the affirmative endeavoring to give us a full explanation of the combustive action and its resultant power, but we were unable to completely understand the details. From what we could get, the action within this chamber is similar to the cyclotron, very small but powerful.

Then Bob wanted to know if they used all four engines all the time while travelling.

"Yes," answered the pilot.

Then he called our attention underneath the ship where there are what we would call stabilizers, six of them in all, that permit the ship to stand in space.

After thus looking over the ship, our friends asked if we would like to take a little flight in this giant.

George eagerly accepted the invitation for all of us including our Moonalite companions, for we have been wanting to do that very thing ever since we first saw the ship land in this city on the Moon.

We are in the air now and the takeoff was so smooth that we didn't realize we were leaving the ground. One outstanding fact we notice, there isn't any vibration like most ships have. It is just like gliding. There were some heavy clouds drifting over the airport and the pilot pulled right into them. We felt no effect within the ship whatever and we have come out of the clouds directly over the city.

We have lowered over the city to within five hundred feet, then we went back up to fifteen hundred feet. Turns were executed so easily that we did not realize they were being made. The pilot isn't wearing any headgear and he tells us that none of their pilots wear such things, explaining they observe and fly only by their instruments at all times.

At fifteen hundred feet altitude the ship was stopped. As she is hovering in space, these propellers or stabilizers underneath the ship are operating, but we can't hear them.

Now they have opened up a hatch, as we might call it, from within. This hatch is square and around it are four chairs on each side. We were all invited to be seated in these chairs. The hatch itself is a box-like affair containing a set of adjustable lenses operated on the same principle as that used in focusing binoculars. These are large enough so that all who may be seated in the chairs around the hatch can see through it equally well.

As the ship remains suspended in air, we are shown a panorama of the whole city. It has been brought right up to us, you might say. So clear is the view that one of the men spotted someone he knew coming out of a building and called him by name to us. We can see the people on the street as though we were looking at them out of a second story window.

Our Martonian friends tell us that all their ships have this apparatus, and should they come into a strange place, this is the way they would observe it first before landing. They would definitely know from this altitude whether the people they were about to meet would be friendly towards them or not. Beneath the ship is a little apparatus, with a receiver in the ship. This they now turn on and through it we can hear people talking and what they are saying.

For instance, there is a man on the street talking and pointing to the ship. We see this through the hatch, while through the receiver we hear what he is saying. We do not understand his words, but the pilot does.

"But," George wanted to know, "how about a place whose people you would not understand?"

One of the scientists answered, "that is easy. It matters not what the language, we would study the vibration of their sound. For the sound of everything carries its own vibration in different pitches for different meanings. Here we have another machine that does that work for us," and he turned on this other machine. Then he gave us a sort of lesson as to its workings and the interpretation of them.

It operates similar to the graph machines we have on Earth. To demonstrate, he selected an individual who was talking to another on the street. We saw the man through the hatch, heard his voice through the receiver and watched the machine registering the pitches of sound. One of the Moonalite boys with us understood the language so he chalked down in his own way the words heard through the receiver. We compared the written words with the graph made by this machine on the pitch basis and they were identical.

This machine is so fine in its performance that while they are travelling, should the ship produce in any part of it a strange vibration that is not supposed to be there, it also registers that and shows where it is. This makes the ships almost foolproof.

If there happens to be a meteor encountered in travelling, the machine warns them of its approach. It seems to be built to distinguish between various types of vibrations and to give the answer as to what they might be. When it warns them of meteors, the pilot immediately throws the repulsing power of the ship into operation, for the body of the ship is equipped with such a power, and since all meteors have a certain amount of metal in them, this power repulses them. According to our informer, the nearest a meteor has ever come to one of these ships was within two hundred fifty miles.

In case of trouble, a picture can be sent from the ship by means of another apparatus they are showing us, to the nearest stopping station or to the planet of the emergency. In other words, the intricate machinery within this big Martonian ship was more than our minds could fathom.

They even have an emergency water-maker. It seems that this water-maker catches the air or atmosphere, similar to a ventilator and then condenses the air into fresh water.

This ship has enough electrical power, when all its engines are going, to illuminate a city as large as New York and make it look like daylight.

They do not know its speed for they have never had it fully open. The highest speed they had ever reached was one million, nine hundred thousand miles per hour, and they said it could do better than that.

Such speed was unbelievable to us. Bob commented that he wondered how they or the ship could stand that speed.

They just laughed in a good natured way and closed the hatch. They were started upward. In less than no time, it seemed, we reached an altitude, according to their instruments, of five hundred miles. Then they opened her up for speed and we were travelling one and a half million miles per hour, according to their instruments, and it didn't even feel like we were moving. It was only when they started slowing up to come back for landing that we noticed a feeling of a little pressure, like something was pressing against us, but very lightly, just enough to feel it. It didn't seem to be the speed. It seemed that it was the reaction of coming into heavier pressure the nearer we got to the Moon. Yet the pilot said he felt nothing. So it must have been our imaginations, knowing that we were coming down.

After landing, the pilot told us that if we had a ship that gets to the Moon, we needn't worry about getting any farther, for they would take us in their ships to their own planet Mars, or to any other planet which we would be privileged to visit.

"How will you know when we will be here and wanting to go on from here," inquired Bob. "We have no way of contacting you and just now we have no idea when our next trip to the Moon will be." We didn't quite understand what he had meant when he said they could take us in their ships anywhere we 'would be privileged to visit', for we thought we could go anywhere we desired to go, if we had transportation to get us there. However, we didn't ask at this time because we figured that information would be given more fully on our next trip to the Moon, at which time we would be planning to visit others of our neighbors in space.

"You can bring your ship here and then go to the observatory," he suggested. "They will let us know."

"Will you men be our pilots?" George questioned. "You see we feel that we know you now while anyone else would be strangers."

"That makes no difference," came from our friend, "all the other crews are the same as we. You would not be strangers to them for they already know of you on Mars. Remember, they have your picture there."

Then they explained that for such a purpose they might have a special ship to carry us, which would be a passenger ship instead of a freighter as theirs is; especially if it was a scientific expedition, since they have special ships for that type of trip which are equipped with regular laboratories for testing anything and everything, regardless of where it is found.

Next we wanted to know what such an expedition would cost and how long it would take.

They didn't understand the word 'cost', so we explained it through our Moonalite interpreter.

"There is no cost. This service is rendered for the good of the Supreme Intelligence's children, in honor of the Supreme Intelligence," was the astounding reply. "As to the length of time necessary for such a trip, that depends upon how many places you would be permitted to visit and how long you want to stay, for we know no time but eternity within which is nothing but service."

During our conversation their ship was being loaded with materials of the Moon. This is now completed, so we shook hands with the pilot and members of the crew and they have departed. They were not a bit inquisitive in reference to our ship. Really it is very crude alongside of theirs.

From the airport we are being taken to the city. The vehicle in which we are riding has no wheels but glides just above the ground. It makes no noise and has no vibration whatever. What the power of motivation is, we have no idea, but it certainly is a pleasure to ride in. Today the top of the vehicle has been slipped back that we might enjoy our surroundings unobstructed and to the fullest.

All the buildings in this city are built of coral-like stone and of very artistic design.

We have left our vehicle and are strolling through a part of the trade center of the city. The people we have encountered here seem to have been well schooled, very much after the Martonian style, courteous, kind, ready to serve anywhere and everywhere. And they are very intelligent.

Their writing, as we have observed it on picturesque cards in their shop windows, resembles in a large degree our Oriental type of Earth.

Food seems to be very plentiful everywhere. We passed one bakery, we call it a bakery although it had other things, because we saw a person walk in to buy bread. It was baked for him right there while he waited. They didn't use fire to bake it. They seemed to utilize light as energy, for dough was placed in a case of glass before our eyes and we watched it bake. It took about three minutes. The bread was somewhat of a brown color.

When we had our feast during a reception which they had arranged for us, we ate some of this same kind of bread, yet it didn't taste like any bread we have known. The flavor was between an oatmeal and cornbread. We never did find out what grain it was made of. There was a considerable amount of different kinds of meat, yet nothing like we had on Earth. We have been told that some of this meat and part of the food as a whole came from planet Mars on freighters such as we have recently flown in and described; that the Moon produces enough food to take care of its own, but that the people here like to have different varieties than they can get on the Moon, so they get much from Mars.

Thus far on this trip we have seen nothing to indicate what medium of exchange is used for services rendered, so we ask.

They make us understand that they have none, except good will exchange.

The people in this city worship and have the same custom of living as the white tribespeople in the valley whom we met first.

During the evening we were taken to an amusement place. The entertainment was carried on in a manner of human talents of life which were not only amusing, but very educating. In this educational field of amusement was explained, as well as acted, the laws that govern all things in their relationship to form life and how they work, so often independent of the human mind. Their houses of amusement are like dream places, more of a fairytale type. Once in them we lost ourselves; we were completely taken up by the grandeur of the place and beauty of the play.

The following day we were taken to one of the manufacturing centers. The people come here, tell what they need and it is made for them in these places on the good will service basis.

There is no smoke anywhere. They do not seem to use fire that produces fumes of any kind.

As we have said previously, this city was built half on the light side and half on the dark side. The dark side is much cooler at all times than the light side. They seem to have harnessed up volcanic heat to keep the temperature comfortable, when necessary, since the volcanic rock which is so plentiful on the Moon, contains an energy or heat of some sort. They also use this energy in their manufacturing and for many other purposes.

We have not seen any horses or anything like a privately owned vehicle but they do have transportation that also seems to be operating by means of a volcanic power. This is a community affair. No charges of any kind are made. It is all based on service. The vehicles look a little bit in shape like rocket ships. They seem to glide in space about three feet above the surface of the ground. They can be lowered to the ground or go higher if necessary.

The lighting system is one vast light towering about five hundred feet above the city, which illuminates the city as daylight, acting as the sun. Homes and buildings have the same kind of a light, only small. It is all done by a mineral which they mine on the Moon. We didn't learn the name of this mineral.

For homes or office use a small piece of this mineral is mounted on a very exquisite form, like a lamp, and it glows in the dark producing a light equivalent to daylight. Its glow is not discernible in the daylight. Most of the people have one illuminating their homes all the time, also their places of business, for it seems to be perpetual. When darkness is desired during the nights, a shield is put over the light.

Most of their yardage is sent in from Mars, yet a lot of their clothing comes in made up ready to wear. Here again we must give credit to the Martonians for the fine texture of cloth, exquisite designs and their remarkable styling, for the clothes are not a burden to the people who wear them. They are light but warm, cover well yet are not clumsy. Men and women alike wear blouses or coats with collars that are not tight around the neck, loose yet very decorative. Dresses for women are styled to form, very artistically and fitted to each individuality. It really makes the people be people, not flashy. They are sensible, yet exquisite.

Everyone seems to know everyone else. There are no strangers. Even we were not strangers.

In this section the Moon is very rich in gems, so everybody is well supplied with beautiful gems, that on Earth would be priceless since men commercialize everything there.

We also learned that the span of life on the Moon is from seventy-five years to two hundred years. Age begins around one hundred fifty years. On Mars the span of life is from five hundred to one thousand years. Seven hundred fifty is the average aging period there but many Martonians don't even age at that time.

After completing this trip around the city, we start back to the airport. On the way we were taken to what on Earth would be called a power plant. On the roof of this power plant there are some gadgets that resemble parasols and others shaped like horseshoes. These are very large in size. Some of the parasols are inverted and we are told by one of the scientists of the Moon who is escorting us through the plant that these gadgets act as condensers, drawing out of space what we call static electricity. They call it energy. The power from this plant is used for no other purpose than alloying metals and research work, since they have plenty of power from the stones to supply all the needs of the city, as we have mentioned before. In fact they were experimenting at this very time with the idea of drawing more power out of space.

We were told that this experimental power plant was brought to the Moon from Mars. It is built in the wide open section on the light side. It seems the light area of this city is used mostly for the airfield, experimental stations, the big observatory and some of the large factories, while the dark area in the foothills and up the sides of the mountains is mostly the trade centers, residential section and outlying agriculture district.

While in the other half of the city we had looked about to see if there were any radio stations, but we saw nothing anywhere that looked like one. So now we asked if they didn't have radio in the city and where their stations were.

Our guide answered that they had no need for anything of that kind. They have a better system than radio, which is the same as the Martonian ship had, and each home was equipped with it.

Finally we arrived at the airport just in time to see the big ship take off for Mars. The crew shook hands with us again and made us understand that they would be looking for us at some future day. Then off they went.

Before we could get from the spot where their ship had taken off, to our ship, which was about one thousand yards distant, they were out of sight. While we were standing around our ship, getting ready to take off, one of the men from the observatory came to us and asked us to go with him to the observatory.

This we did.

About twenty minutes elapsed between the time the big ship had left the field and our arrival at the observatory. As we entered this vast structure, the scientist in charge of operating the big telescope focused this instrument on the dark moon and on the screen we saw the ship that we had just seen leave here, already landing there. The part it was landing on, as we could see, must have been very cold and it seemed that something was falling which looked to us as if it was snow.

Dr. Johnston asked if it was snow.

The answer was given in the affirmative.

Then Bob wanted to know, "why do they land there? Are there any inhabitants there or is it just a landing place for some reason," because during our flight in the Martonian ship we had been told that the ship could make it straight through to Mars without stopping.

In response to Bob's query, the scientist did something to the telescope that seemed to draw the Moon right in, for behold we saw people gather around the ship after it landed and start unloading parcels, as well as loading others. They were small people averaging about four feet in height and well built in proportion to their height. They were wearing heavy clothing, something like our Eskimos wear. These people seemed to be white. The scientist explained to us that these were sturdy people and very brilliant, with a life span of five hundred years. He said that these people raise hardly no food because of the intense cold of their Moon homeland; but that it is all delivered to them by Martonian ships from Mars and from this Moon. However, they do have plenty of wild life there, should they ever run short of other food.

Dr. Johnston wanted to know how people living in such a cold place manage to keep warm: what system of heating is used.

To answer this question another section of this dark moon is brought into view upon the screen and here is shown a heating unit for community service. This was located quite a distance from any settlement, yet as it was explained to us, heat was piped to each dwelling from this central unit.

We immediately thought of the atomic power, or as known on the Earth, the atomic pile, about which Dr. Johnston was well informed. So he inquired further in reference to it; if the power used for heating there is similar to what we have on Earth, but which so far we have never used in this manner.

Our scientist friend seemed to understand the information which Dr. Johnston was seeking, for his answer was, "what you Earth men have now is very dangerous to work with, for you really haven't got anything except wild, uncontrolled power. Your job is taming this power down so that it will not be injurious to anyone. You will have to get another element to do this with, as we have done. Then you will be able to use it so well that even a child can handle it without any harm. You have some of that element on Earth, but you have not yet found it. It is through the proper use of this power that the dwellings on the dark moon are being heated."

"Of course there is a light side to this dark moon, also. Had the ship taken off twelve hours earlier, you would have seen it land on the light side. There is a landing field on both sides of this Moon at which the Martonian freighters stop on each trip. Since this is the dark side we are viewing, you will not be able to see the ship land on the other side where it will go when it leaves from where you now see it."

While he was yet talking, we saw the ship take off and instead of going into space towards Mars, it looked as if he climbed from the bottom to the top of the circle and over it to the other side. As it went over the horizon, it was much like a sun setting, and it vanished.

"Now he is on the light side for he took supplies with him from here to the people there," was the comment.

As if in answer, the pilot of the ship spoke to us at the observatory telling us that he knew we had kept watching him, for he too had his screen on all the time beamed to this Moon. He said that the side he is on now has a temperature at present of about thirty degrees. The inhabitants there are just beginning their day's activities. These people are not as active as those living on the Moon they had just left. They are a slow moving people on that side of this other moon. His ship is nearly unloaded by now and they are about ready to take off again, since there is not much of interest at all on this moon. He adds that the people on the light side of that moon had been transported there some five hundred years before, while the people on the dark side are originals.

"Where did they come from," questioned Dr. Johnston, in surprise.

"From the light side of this Moon," was the reply. "You already know that the people there are adventurous and love to do anything or go anywhere to satisfy their explorers' nature. Whenever the Martonians plan to establish a new outpost in space, these tribes are always eager to go there to maintain the post. As you heard, the post on the Moon you have just seen was established five hundred years ago, at which time one whole tribe was moved there from here. By staying there steadily they have increased their population. Those on the light side have a life span of only about three hundred fifty years, so none of those originally taken there are still living. However, should any of those living there, either on the light side or the dark side, ever desire to come to this Moon or go to Mars, either to visit or to live, they may do so, for one of the Martonian ships would take them. This has always been the Martonian policy. Some have taken advantage of this privilege and come here to stay, but most of them have come now and then merely to visit. The same is true about going to Mars."

Here he turned smiling to our chieftain companion from the light side and said, "Right?"

Our friend smilingly nodded an assent.

His questions along that line answered, Dr. Johnston next wanted to know how far this telescope has penetrated into space.

Here the scientist marked on a blackboard in symbol drawing, indicating that its limits haven't yet been reached and that its power is being steadily increased by new instruments being added onto it.

"From what you have seen and explored, are all planets of all systems outside of our own system, as well as within it, inhabited?" broke in George.

"Yes," was the prompt reply, "of trillions upon trillions of planets known to us now, we know of no planet anywhere that is not partially, if not densely inhabited. In our own system, planet Venus is fifty thousand years ahead of Earth and twenty thousand years ahead of Mars in advancement. Your Earth, being the third nearest planet to the sun, is one of the oldest planets in our system."

"If that is true and the Earth is so old, why haven't we got the things that the Martonians have?" queried Bob, still fascinated by what he had seen of their space ships.

"You did have them at one time," was the amazing reply, "for there have been many civilizations on the Earth. The present civilization is beginning to realize the possibilities of a better life than they now have, and are striving to bring these possibilities into fulfillment, yet the people are going about it in the wrong way. There is no segment of society upon the Earth planet at present who lives according to the primal purpose of its Creator by which all inhabitants of other planets have learned to live thereby advancing towards greater perfection. No group of humanity can ever attain the heights through a destructive procedure, that it is possible to attain, for destruction finally leads to annihilation of all humanity."

"If the Earth planet could talk, it could tell an amazing story about the Atlanteans, the Lemurians, as you know them on Earth and other civilizations that preceded them. They all attained great heights of development, some greater than others. But in the end they wound up in annihilation. For after attaining certain heights they all resorted to using their knowledge and their wonderful machinery towards destroying one another. It seemed as though they could not keep from being selfish and greedy for power. When these traits once became rooted in the family life of the planet, that civilization was on the way to annihilation."

"This instrument will bring back the past of millions of years and show you what has been," he continued as he switched on an entirely different instrument.

Sure enough, he showed us for a fleeting minute what Lemuria looked like in her highest attainment, also Atlantea and the Roman Empire.

"There were others that preceded these, all with still higher attainments than these you have seen, but to be able to show you just what did take place we will have to go to another building where we have different instruments than we have here."

"This is known as 'The House of Records'," our guide remarked as we approached another building located just a short distance from the observatory. "It too belongs to planet Mars, and the purpose of its being on the Moon is, that in case the big telescope which we have just left, runs across something not known before, it could be checked to this building to get a correct answer. This is more like a branch building on the Moon, since the Martonians have a vaster building, of vaster records of a total system, as well as other systems, which they keep on their planet. The Earth men tried to do the same thing, but only in the field of literature. They did have a marvelous record at one time in the Library of Alexandria, but selfishness and dogmatic minds destroyed it. Even now, because of the force of such characteristics, the Earth man is walking the path of civilizations that have preceded him and have gone into oblivion."

Within the House of Records is a large machine that looks similar to a moving picture machine. Before starting the machine in operation our host explained, "through this machine you will be shown what man should do. On the screen you will see a picture of a race of civilization that preceded all these other civilizations on the Earth, but did not go through the channel of destruction as the others have. This race is known as the Triterian race. The only symbol that you have on Earth today of this civilization is a deity called Triton, worshipped by one of your tribes who picture the deity half man and half fish, symbolizing master men over all elements of nature. This race transported itself from Earth to other planets in space ships at a time when they knew the Earth would have to be evacuated, since the section of land which they dwelled upon would be flooded and that way put to rest, while other new lands would come up from beneath the waters. Being masters of nature's elements, and knowing what was about to happen, instead of staying and being destroyed on the Earth, they evacuated themselves to other planets."

"One of these days," he continued, "there will be a civilization who will witness the rise of those lands that are now under water and Triteria will be discovered, as far as her cities are concerned, like so many cities of recent civilizations are being discovered by Earth men in these days. Since the Triterian race left the Earth to the present day, there has been an added amount of growth to the Earth in the neighborhood of one hundred foot thickness. The Earth is much heavier now than it was then."

"Preceding the Triterians were races of greater achievement yet. There were twenty-four different civilizations prior to the Triton civilization that did not destroy themselves as Lemuria and Atlantea did."

"It is only since Lemuria and Atlantea that destruction on Earth by the hands of civilization itself has been taking place. That is the great reason why the Earth people are so far behind the others, even though their planet is the third oldest in the system. Mars, for example, is younger than the Earth and yet the people there are thirty thousand years ahead of you on Earth in development. This is because Mars has only had two such destructions which were caused by the hands of their civilizations."

"Now it looks like the Earth is going to have another destruction, for the present civilization is getting very smart, developing fast in the mechanical field but without wisdom in the way of living. Instead of having wisdom, egotistic exaltation has taken a lead, and it is that very thing that destroyed Atlantea."

"The people on Venus are still farther ahead of those on Mars for they have had no such destruction at any time. When civilizations come and then destroy themselves, the following civilization must start from nothing again. Whereby, if they do not destroy themselves but continue the progress in a balanced state, they can then do the same thing that the Triterians have done; for a man is not only a man of a particular planet, in reality he is a dweller in the Universe. He can go to any planet at will, providing he attains that which he inherited at birth."

Without pride of personality but more as a matter of fact, he added, "I am a member of the Triterian race. There is a universal law that a man can go on forever, as he is, providing he learns and lives as he was meant to."

"You have a book of guidance on Earth in which you are told that man was given dominion over all things, including his own planet. The only race that accepted that statement and lived it, was the Triton Race. As a result they never knew a mortal death, for death to us is nothing more than a wrong application of knowledge and the lack of much more knowledge through it, which brings on confusion, and confusion is destructive."

"Doesn't age have something to do with it?" inquired Johnny.

"No. That is a wrong concept. Your book of guidance tells you that as death came by man, so must life come by man, which means, if man has the right concept of life and its purpose, death would not be known to him, nor age. For man is nothing but a thought in action and thoughts are never old. They are constantly being replaced by new ones. This is progress. There is nothing in this universe that dies or ever did die, as you people know death. All there is, is a constant change, which is constant newness, and that knows neither age nor death. Its law is countless action, everlasting progress. You were given dominion over all things upon Earth, including Earth itself. This did not mean the Earth alone, but it meant all earths, which are planets, which then means that humanity is universal and not planetary or earthly."

Here he quoted the statements made by Jesus, 'I am in the world but not of it' also 'in my Father's house are many mansions' adding "when the Earthly man learns this well, and lives it, he will be like the Triterians. He will not be looking forth to death, but rather have everlasting life, and youth rather than age. That is what the people on these other planets have learned. They are not altogether perfect, but they have learned that much, and that is why they are so much further ahead of Earth's people. When the Earth's people learn this, they will not be destroyed nor annihilated from the Earth. But if they continue in the channel in which they are now moving, they will experience the same fate that others have."

And this seems to be the philosophy of the people on the Moon and on Mars, as we figured it out.

Now the machine has been switched on and on the screen we are viewing the picture of the Triton race. They were very tall, handsome people. We would judge the average was six feet tall or a little better and well built in proportion to their height; almost like one. Most of them were brunette but here and there we could see one who was more of a blonde. By their expressions we could see they were very intelligent.

They did very little work, what we would call labor of any kind. They had machines to do everything for them. We might say that all the work they did each day, which the machines could not do, at best was two hours. The machines did the rest of the work.

Their buildings, homes, and cities in general seemed to possess something that a man can dream of but seldom at any time realize.

They really were masters over nature, as we could easily see. We could almost write a volume telling what we have seen on the screen.

As we watched this picture and its full import dawned upon us, we wanted to know how they can reproduce these happenings of millions of years in the past.

The reply was, "past is present, and present is also past. Nothing that ever was, is, or will be, can ever be erased from the archives of eternity. It is always present and whenever the proper conditions prevail, reproduction can take place. This machine is a proper condition that can reproduce things as you are seeing them, so that by studying the reproduction we can know what happened in the past and why it happened. This way mistakes can be detected. Since all forms and all things are nothing but various rates of actions, which are sometimes called vibrations, they remain in the vastness of space forever."

"For an example," and here he switched to another scene, the Earth, the recent war which we have gone through and the conditions we are going through now, "this is picked right out of space. Once it is picked, an indelible picture is made of it by this machine. This can be done not only of the Earth, but by this same method we scan all interstellar space, which includes all actions within it, involving trillions upon trillions of systems of planets as well, and the activities upon them."

Again he referred to our book of guidance in which is the promise that the Book of Remembrance shall be opened unto everyone.

"Someday," he said, "a race will rise upon the Earth that will live as people should live, and in time they probably will get such a machine as this one, which reveals all the past; or, should they be worthy of it, they will be given one by the Martonians who already have them."

Engrossed in the workings and revelations given by this apparatus, George wanted to know if the other planets have machines like this one.

"No," was the answer, "we are the only ones who have it, for we are not as developed as the people on the other planets. Those living on Venus, Jupiter, and all the other planets in our system are still better developed than we are. They use their consciousness instead of a machine to accomplish the same things, and even better."

After all this we are becoming anxious to return to our ship, for while we grasped a lot of what we have seen, there were some things that were puzzling us and which we wanted to think out. Since all this was being given us with the aid of an interpreter, we could not very well expect to get them clearer than they already had been given us. Finally we suggested that we had better return to the airfield and get started back to where we had come from.

On the way to the airport, our host asked us to stop into the observatory once more.

To oblige him, we did.

There he flashed on the screen of the big telescope for us and here we saw the Martonian ship which was by this time approaching Mars at a terrific speed that registered in the observatory a speed of one million, nine hundred thousand miles per hour.

The pilot knew when this happened and he spoke to us, saying, "haven't you yet started back? You must like our school system."

Of course this was in a sort of joking manner, but there was more truth in his words than you realize. We have been in this city two full days, where with the friendship and cooperation of all, we have learned more here than we ever thought we would. By ourselves we could not have learned as much in years as has been given us in these two days.

Finally we started for our ship. On arriving at the airport, we find that the maintenance men of the field have our ship ready for us. We looked it over, checking on everything and saw that it was all in first class shape. Then we took off.

We circled the city twice and started back towards our landing place on the plateau. Once in the air, we contacted the Earth through our radar system and told them that we would have quite a message to send after landing back at our original place. In the meantime we would keep in contact with them steadily, giving them a bird's-eye view of what we are seeing.

The answer from the Earth came with great delight and we were told that all radio stations would be broadcasting our message direct from us as we were giving it.

Always desiring to fly over new territory, George asked the colored chieftain if he knew of any other section of the Moon over which we could return instead of the way we had come.

He said there were a large village he had heard about, located about five hundred miles south of the line we went over and we could fly back that way if we wanted to.

We decided that would be interesting since we wanted to cover as much of the Moon as possible. Sure enough, there was a village and the people living there spotted us coming in. When we got within one thousand feet of the ground our temperature graph indicated a heat of one hundred forty degrees. We figured that on the ground it must have been one hundred sixty degrees or over. Johnny spotted what could have been a landing field, but there was nothing to indicate that it was. Bob asked the chieftain and he didn't know.

With our glasses we are able to clearly see the people on the streets. They are dark, much darker than our chieftain friend, and very tall.

We would judge the population of this village to be about two thousand, or less.

The territory looks quite barren and rough. The valley in which this village is located is very hilly, surrounded by mountains.

The white boys told us that at one time they had heard of this village and that everybody living in it has what we would call a cave. For forty hours every day, when the heat is at its peak, the temperature here reached around one hundred eighty degrees Fahrenheit, and that is when the villagers go into their caves. This village really is located within a big crater, not exactly like other craters, for it isn't round. Instead, it is a valley crater.

Dr. Johnston asked, "how do these people live? What do they live on?"

"According to the story told to us, the Martonian ships bring their necessities in during the cool of the night. That is why the landing field is there. In exchange they take a certain kind of crystal that is mined in this territory and is used for many things on planet Mars, like glass to look through," answered our native friend.

From this explanation, Dr. Johnston figured he must have meant fine glass like lenses on machines of Martonian make, including the big telescope.

Still curious, George questioned him further, trying to get a better understanding as to what kind of crystal it was.

Here the chieftain interrupted and succeeded in conveying to us that it was very large in size, varying from twenty-four inches to fifty inches in diameter, according to indication he made with his hands.

Then George wanted to know how thick it was.

Here too there was a variation for it was in different thicknesses. The larger ones would be about five feet thick. By signs, he indicated that it was so pure, so clear, that if you were going toward one, you wouldn't know it was there until you hit it.

There still remained five hundred miles from this point to our landing place over a southern route, and it was all hot and rough country, very much of a desert right on through.

Believe me, we certainly were grateful for having planted that flag of all nations as we had when we first arrived on the Moon, for we spotted it first. Then we knew we were close to our landing place. The nearer we came to our landing field, the cooler the temperature registered. We knew then that we would not be venturing out to the south exploring it, on foot especially, for that heat was more than we cared to take on a hike, even if we did have plenty of oxygen to use for breathing.

All this time we have been in constant contact with the Earth giving them a word picture of our experiences and views of the Moon as we saw it.

After landing and being greeted by our native friends who had remained behind while we were gone on our trip, we radared a two hour message to the Earth in reference to what we have seen on the Moon, the people we have met and their friendliness towards us, their beautiful cities, the big telescope, the Martonian ship and the type of people who live on Mars, according to the crew members of the big ship and the scientists we have met from there.

We received an answer from the Earth saying that the people there had heard our report with a tremendous surprise. Thousands and thousands of people were rejoicing over this great news, while other thousands were wondering how much truth there was in it. Every radio station was jammed with calls from people who wanted to know when they could make a trip to the Moon, when the next ship is going there, and all sorts of things. All were wishing us happy returning, that nothing would happen to us on the way back. Now their big question on Earth is: how soon are we coming back?

We can't answer that one for them because we don't know yet. There is still a lot more of the Moon we would like to explore before returning to Earth.

Sure enough, we no more than finished sending our message and had broken contact with the Earth when the white chieftain arrived on the scene with a group of his tribesmen and told us that if we were interested in exploring to the northeast, he would like to go with us on the trip.

Bob asked him why he would choose the northeast.

He replied that he knew there was something there, but he never had been able to get up there. Once in a great while someone wandered into his village saying that he had come from a long distance and from that direction.

So Bob told him we would fly over that way the next day and take him with us.

The villagers had prepared a large supply of food in native dishes which they had sent with their leader and his companions. So that evening we all feasted in picnic style on the ground alongside of our ship. Of course, among our supplies we still had much canned and dried food which we had brought with us from the Earth, but we have used comparatively very little of it since landing here on the Moon because all these natives have been so good to us. Also this native food is really good, and feasting with these people is a real delight for they are so enthusiastic and joyous in all that they do.

While eating and having such a wonderful time, we expressed the wish that we had some way by which we could send the voice of the chieftains, as well as pictures of them and their people to the Earth, for we would like to have all of our Earthly friends enjoy these experiences with us. But up till now all messages have been sent by code.

Johnny, a very brilliant young chap, suddenly got an idea and decided to see what he could do about it. Leaving us to continue our eating and merry-making, he went within the ship to work out his idea, which he said had come to him at the observatory. It was something in connection with the workings of the big telescope as he had seen it, but he didn't tell us more than that.

During the course of the evening, the white chieftain showed us some magic tricks, in the way of entertaining us. These were different from anything we had ever seen on Earth. We called them tricks, but he claimed they were genuine since he possessed powers which we Earth men did not understand. Afterward some of the natives danced a very cute little dance to the accompaniment of chanting.

Johnny missed all this entertainment because he was busy inside the ship. At this point he came out and informed us that he had hooked up the radio broadcasting set in a new way with the radar. He asked us to be quiet for a little while as he was going to try the test. First he sent a radar signal to the Earth indicating what he was about to do and asking them to give close attention for this experiment was something entirely different than anything he had ever heard of being tried before. Then he began to speak through the microphone.

Quickly the Earth radared back, saying they have heard his voice clearly and could understand his words.

That turned the trick.

At this, he told his listeners on Earth that he was going to put on the chieftain of the white tribe from the dark side of the Moon.

They radared back asking him to hold off the experiment for fifteen minutes. This would give them time to alert all radio stations of the world that they too might be on the beam and broadcast directly to the peoples of the world what we were sending from their Moon, which they had so long considered dead and uninhabitable.

When we realized what had just been done, what our brilliant companion and copilot had accomplished in this field, our rejoicing knew no bounds. But, being Earthmen, we wished for still more. Now that we were going to be able to send our Moon friends' voices through space and have them heard on Earth, we wanted to also send their pictures, but we doubted whether the small televising instruments we had with us would send pictures from here to the Earth.

After fifteen minutes were up, contact was again established with the Earth and the white chieftain was introduced. He spoke in his native tongue to the peoples of the world. When he got through talking, we asked him if his dancers would dance and chant as they had when entertaining us earlier in the evening.

This they did.

After they finished, the black chieftain who had accompanied us on our trip, was introduced and he, too, talked in his native tongue to the peoples of the Earth.

Then each one of us talked to our Earth friends in our language, which they understood. We told them of our plans for the next day when we were going to make a flight over the northeast territory, and we promised, since this was a success thus far, that we would try to broadcast on our flight and give a description of the territory.

The Earth station with which our contact was made wanted to know the exact time we were expecting to take off on this trip so they could have all connections completed and ready for a round-the-world broadcast of our trip direct from us.

They also told us that since the people on Earth have heard the natives on the Moon actually talking to them over their radios, they no longer doubt our findings. Further, they informed us that they tried the television screens in different ways while they were receiving our messages and they had succeeded partially in screening the white chieftain and the dancers, not enough to know what this chieftain looked like, but just a form which was descriptive, as we had given before of his gown which he was wearing, and what appeared to be the magic stone we had told them he had hanging on a gold chain from his neck. They said the picture wasn't anything to brag about but yet it was sufficient to prove our messages true. And they added that the people on Earth were really excited. They seemed to be living in another world right now.

After this was over and contact with the Earth had been broken, we continued visiting with our friends, telling them a little about living on the Earth and questioning them about many things concerning conditions upon the Moon. This lasted until most of the long Moon night was gone. Finally we went to sleep for the few remaining hours.

While the rest of us see to all the final preparations before leaving, Johnny contacts the Earth, alerting them to the fact that we will be taking off in about an hour. He tells them he will try to keep the same connection while flying that he had last night and will keep our televising set on also, in hopes they can see for themselves to at least a small degree what the Moon surface looks like.

All weather conditions are fine. In fact, the weather has been perfect for flying ever since we arrived here.

Chapter VI

THE TERMINAL CITY

After rising into the air, Bob circled our field while Johnny called the Earth. Contact has been made and Johnny is describing our trip to the people on Earth, giving them a bird's-eye view of the Moon as we fly over it.

"We are straightening out in the same direction we took on our first flight from here. We have crossed the brush-forest and are heading up the valley. The little fishing lake is like a large mirror reflecting skyward. Our friends in the village waved in greeting to us as we flew over their homes towards the mountain range lying a short distance beyond. Extending from about half way up these mountains into the snowclad peaks is a heavy growth of timber. It looks as if there could be rather large trees growing here instead of the brush growth of the forest in the warmer section."

"We have flown five hundred miles straight north from the light side into the dark side, flying over the top of the Moon, as it were. The mountains have grown constantly higher and more rugged the deeper we penetrated into the dark area, until Bob had to rise to forty thousand feet for safe flying."

"A deep valley lies below us, flanked on either side by ridges of snowcapped mountains towering to an elevation of thirty-two thousand feet. These peaks are bleak and uninviting, yet could easily be a challenge to the adventurous mountain climber, much like the Himalayan Mountains of Earth. We have been unable to sight villages or settlements of any kind for a long time now and the valley below gives us the feeling of unexplored territory, as though no man had yet penetrated its vastness."

"Bob has turned slightly East now for in the distance he has noticed something bright deep down below, as though a lake of water might be hidden somewhere there in that heavy growth of timber and chaparral. Through our glasses we make sure it is water but we will have to lower a little into the valley to learn more about it. It is a wide, roaring river flowing from the north and filled with many heavy rapids. It seems to disappear right into the Moon earth for we saw no trace of it farther down in the valley."

"A high mountain suddenly loomed up in front of us so we had to rise sharply. As we rose, we noticed a large waterfall pouring over the side of the mountain. These falls are really beautiful as the waters drop over a deep crescent ledge into the river below, rising again a hundred feet or more in a hazy mist. We are going to circle them once more to get a better look at them. They are far greater than the Niagara Falls."

"On the top of the mountain and feeding the falls is another wide and bubbling river racing over the rocks and boulders. This looks as though it could be the beginning of the river we saw back there in the valley."

"Wait awhile, there is something else ahead of us in the distance. It looks like a big lake that might be the source of this river. The closer we get to it, the bigger it gets. This might be an ocean for we can't see across it. There is water as far as we can see. Bob has had to change our course and turn to the north, flying above this ridge of mountains for we surely don't want to cross any ocean, not knowing how big it is, but we will stay right along the shore of the water."

"We have flown fifteen hundred miles and Bob is continuing to fly at an altitude of forty thousand feet. Way off in the distance and to the east is another high ridge of snowcapped mountains that seem to be bordering this water line, so this is not an ocean but it is a vast, vast lake we are flying around whose waters must come from the melting of the snow on these high encircling mountains."

"Bob is keeping to his northerly direction and we are flying over another high ridge of snowcapped mountains. Nestled on a plateau about ten thousand feet above the floor of the valley, we see what looks like a community or city. Bob is lowering into the valley to get a better look. We are down to twenty-five thousand feet, now fifteen thousand, now only a thousand feet above the town or village."

"There are no tall buildings here, nothing over one story. All have peak roofs with chimneys from which smoke is coming, so they must use something like coal for their heating. This is the first time we have seen smoke since we have been on the Moon. The roadways between the dwellings are wide, well worn and seem to be well cared for, but not paved. A narrower road winds out of the village and down the mountain. As we circle this village, people come out of their dwellings into the roadways and look up at us. These people appear to be somewhat shorter than other Moonalites we have met thus far, and very dark. I am afraid we won't be able to land and meet these people for there doesn't seem to be a level cleared spot anywhere in these mountains large enough for us to land on."

"The chieftain says this must be the place from which a stranger sometimes comes to his village, since we haven't seen any other settlement on the way here."

"We have risen again to forty thousand feet and as we cross the ridge of mountains beyond the valley in which we just found the village, we see another tall peak ahead of us glistening brilliantly but it doesn't seem to be snow. It may be ice, a glacier. Bob is heading that way and he has to keep rising to get above it. We are flying at fifty-two thousand feet altitude and are only three thousand feet above that peak. It is a glacier! That ice certainly looks cold. Just looking at it makes us cold here in the ship. The temperature graph gives a reading of eighty-eight degrees below zero. This district must correspond with our polar regions on Earth."

"Bob has swung slightly east but our compass indicates south by east now instead of north as it has been, although we have not made such a turn. We must have flown completely over the top of the Moon and are going down the other side. We are two thousand miles from our starting point and the graph has been showing gradually warming atmosphere as we have got farther away from that glacier peak."

"The territory on this side is very similar to that we flew over before reaching the glacier, only we haven't seen any other villages clinging to the sides of the mountains or lying on the floor of the valleys. We have seen a couple of rivers dropping over the sides of mountains on this side but they seem to have their source up in the snowcaps and branch off in various directions. There have been no other beautiful falls that we have seen on this side such as we found before reaching the glacier."

"Now at twenty-five hundred miles from our home base, the Moon surface beneath us has definitely changed. The mountains are much lower but still rugged, with fertile, rolling valleys lying between the ranges. The only snowcaps we can see are at a great distance behind us. The atmosphere is much warmer, the graph indicating a temperature of sixty degrees above zero and Bob has lowered so that we are flying at ten thousand feet."

"We see water ahead of us, a lot of it like another lake or maybe this might be an ocean. This body of water stretches out until it seems to drop right over the horizon. As we cross the last ridge of mountains before reaching the water, we see a wide sandy beach stretching along the water's edge. Bob is turning and flying above the beach for we don't want to start flying over this body of water either, at least not until we find out what it is and how large."

"Not far ahead of us and right on the beach are two rows of buildings, all in line and built in box-type design. This must be a resort or playground of some kind for we see people playing in the sands and some are swimming in the water. This is certainly a picturesque spot with the vast body of water sparkling in the sunlight, the people enjoying the relaxation of the beach and the swimming and in the background the low ridge of mountains over which we last flew, that seem to slope right down into the water."

"At George's suggestion, Bob has changed his course and we are again crossing the low ridge of mountains a short distance from this big body of water. We hope that somewhere in this area we will find more and larger cities in which we may land and visit. We are about fifty miles farther up the shore than where we first crossed the ridge."

"Our hopes were well founded for we find ourselves coming in directly over a large city built in the valley. We have lowered until we are now only one thousand feet above the city and circling it, looking for a landing field. All the buildings here are white and seem to be very tall. People are on the sidewalks and out in open spots looking up at us. This place looks large enough to have a population of half a million, or more. If we find an airport we are going to land, for this city looks interesting. It is much larger than the one we visited where the big telescope is and where we met the Martonians, so there should be an airport somewhere if we can only find it."

"We have circled the city twice already and haven't yet located a landing field. Wait awhile, George sees a large open area in the distance where we might land safely. Bob is heading that way to take a look. This must be their airport for we see five, six, twelve ships standing on the ground. There is a tower in the center of the field about a hundred and fifty feet high which is probably their signal tower. We are circling the field, hoping for a signal but what kind, we don't know just what to expect. Now a very brilliant light is being flashed from the tower but we don't understand what it means. There is no beam such as was given us at the other landing field and our chieftain friend suggests maybe it is being flashed to let us know they have seen us. Bob continues to circle in air until he gets something more definite. Oh, Oh, there now! They threw out a beam of light, first towards us then dropped it to the ground and centered it on one spot as though that is where we are to land. This field, like the one in the other city, has no landing strips but this entire area looks so smooth and well cared for that an airship could land on any spot safely. The light beam is being held steadily on the spot first indicated, so Bob is straightening out and lowering so that we can land there."

"We are on the ground. Bob made a beautiful landing and we have stopped right in the center of the light beam. The doors of our ship are opened and we are about to get out."

"Here comes a group of men running towards our ship, white, pretty much like our chieftain, all wearing gowns. They are jabbering something but we don't understand what it is. It sounds pretty much like we have heard before, though."

"The chieftain is getting out of the ship first and they are greeting him with much enthusiasm. He is shaking hands and talking with them. It seems their language is the same as his. He seems to be telling them who we are and where we came from, for our ship is very different from any on this field."

"We are going to break contact with the Earth for we are leaving the ship now."

Our chieftain and the group of men he has been talking with have finished their conversation and have turned to us. They grab our hands, shaking them vigorously, so I guess he must have told them about us. They are going to take us some place. We don't know where, but we are on our way.

We see a man here in a uniform, two of them. They are going to one of the ships here on the field.

We told the chieftain we would like to meet them and asked him if he could arrange an introduction.

He spoke to the airport officials, and they are taking us all over to this ship where the uniformed men are.

These ships don't look like the one we saw before, in the other city, which was the Martonian ship. They are different looking, different insignias. There are two types here. All of them measure around five hundred feet in length. Oh! there is one we see out there that is about a thousand feet long.

We have reached the ship for which we were headed and have been introduced to the pilots. Our curiosity about that big ship is consuming us so we are going to ask these men about it, if it is as large as it looks to us.

One of the pilots tells us that it is twelve hundred feet long and is capable of carrying seven hundred passengers besides the crew, with all provisions for three months cruising. He said he would like to take us into it to look it over, but it isn't his ship. The big ship belongs to the Venetians, while these pilots are from planet Jupiter.

We asked if the Martonian ships ever stopped here.

They replied, "Yes, but there are none present."

Now they are turning towards their ship and inviting us to enter. It is a lot smaller than any of the other ships on the field, with the exception of ours.

Inside it has a lot of instruments, very much like the Martonian ship which we have previously described. But in the cabin we see something outstandingly different. Here is a picture of a person who resembles male and female, very beautiful with a magnificent expression which we have no words to describe. It is a portrait of only the head and shoulders of a person around twenty-eight years of age. A crown of jewels rests upon its head and a key made of pearl is upon its chest.

We asked who this was, as we thought it might be the ruler of Jupiter.

In surprise, we were asked, "Why, don't you know?"

We answered, "no. Isn't it the ruler of Jupiter?"

Thoughtfully and with much love and reverence, yet with a feeling of inexpressible joy, they replied, "yes. But He is also the ruler of your Earth, and of infinite space. He is what you call God on Earth, and the Creator of all things, to us the Supreme All Intelligence."

And on their uniforms they had the same picture as an insignia, and on their caps they had a cupid with wings supported by clouds.

They told us that every home, everybody, and every ship has this insignia on Jupiter. There is not an act performed on Jupiter that the presence in mind is not the presence of the All Supreme Ruler.

Then they changed the subject and told us that this ship of theirs was capable of travelling from one million to two and a half million miles per hour. In it they had space for provisions and all that was necessary for the comfort of passengers for a twelve month cruise through space, if that was desired. But they didn't mention how many passengers they could thus accommodate.

In case of breakdown, they could repair their ships in space, having mechanics with them for that purpose. They told us that all ships of interstellar space travelling were built to hover in space indefinitely, if they wanted to.

Here we asked if any of them ever crashed through mechanical breakdowns.

Their response was, that so far as they knew, all such ships were foolproof. They continued that some sixty thousand years previously, when interstellar space travelling was first undertaken, there had been many crashes, but all that has long ago been overcome and now there is never a crash.

These pilots from Jupiter are around five feet, six inches tall and very alert.

We asked them if they were the general height of the people on Jupiter.

They replied that the majority of the people on their planet were around five feet, eleven inches to six feet tall, but for ships they had a uniform law of picking men of their height. Of course, all of this was given to us by the white chieftain through signs, for he could understand what these men from Jupiter were saying. He acted as our interpreter, and we must say right here and now that one thing we marvelled at, these native people, like the chieftain, were very capable in transferring information through the sign language. And we ourselves didn't do so bad at understanding it, either.

We are about to get a surprise, I see. All eyes are turned to four men coming our way. They are very tall, we would say they are about six feet, six inches.

These men have now reached our group and are shaking hands with the two Jupiter pilots with whom we have been visiting. Our Jupiter friends seem to be telling them about us.

These men also are wearing uniforms but their insignia is different than all the others we have seen. It is of three wings in the center of which is a body that looks like a large bird, yet represents a ship, while the insignia on their caps is of our solar system with the sun and all the planets with their satellites.

The new arrivals speak a different language than any we have previously heard, yet the pilots from Jupiter understand it, as also does our chieftain friend, who tells us that these men are Venetians, pilots of the big ship.

Being thus introduced, the Venetians shake our hands warmly. They are very friendly. In appearance they look more like men out of a dream than humans like ourselves. Their body structure is like ours, yet the texture of their skin is almost like that of a baby. Their hands are long and slender, rather delicate in structure, more like a woman's than a man's, yet their grasp is firm and strong. They are blondes with a very, very rosy complexion. Their eyes are blue with a cast of purple in them, very penetrating while at the same time expressing a sparkle of joyous enthusiasm. Their forms as a whole are exquisite for males. They really are more beautiful, if we may use this word, than the average beautiful woman on Earth. This is an out of the ordinary conception of a male. From what we can get of the conversation they are carrying on with the Jupiter pilots, they seem to be very alert and brilliant.

If all the men on Venus are like these, we find ourselves wondering what their women folks are like. So we ask them if they have any photographs of their women folks, for we would like to see what they are like.

They said, "no. We have nothing like that. But if you would like, we will take you to our ship and let you see what it looks like."

This was a rather surprising turnoff and we must admit to a certain amount of disappointment, for we surely would have liked to have seen what the women on Venus looked like, after meeting these men from there. But anyway, they are going to show us this giant ship of theirs, and that is something.

Here the pilots from Jupiter shake our hands again and leave, while the Venetians take us to their ship. It is really a marvel. It seems to have three skins, or bodies, a body upon a body, with a space of four inches between them, from what we would judge. All around the ship, they have what looks to us like little ventilators. We asked, what was the purpose of the three bodies and the ventilators?

One of the pilots tells us that these little ventilators can be opened or closed, as desired, according to the conditions encountered in travel. He said, that flying from the Moon to Venus, about half way on the journey they encounter very light air. Going through this light air at a speed better than three million miles per hour, they are able to draw in air through these ventilators and convert it into conditioning of the ship for proper breathing purposes. No matter how light the air is found to be, the movement of the ship and air being drawn through these ventilators, the ship is so equipped that they can adjust the air condition within the ship to any pressure suitable for breathing purposes. They carry no oxygen or anything of any kind with them for the purpose of breathing. The ship takes care of this through the ventilators.

We asked them if monoxide gas or something equivalent to it would enter more than the oxygen they required.

The reply was that the ship was so equipped that it took care of that, for it had what we would call a filter system in it.

The purpose of the three walls, casing over casing, as we would say, making the body of the ship, also enabled it to withstand heavier pressures, if they should encounter them, which might otherwise be dangerous to the ship, besides withstanding any intense heat, as well as intense cold.

Here another of the four pilots spoke up, telling us there are stratas they go through which are terrifically cold, yet don't affect the interior of the ship, and other stratas which are hot, terrifically hot, that don't affect the interior of the ship.

Now they are taking us inside the ship. We are really confronted with a myth. We have never seen so many instruments. We wonder how one man can ever handle all these instruments while piloting this big ship.

So we ask.

We are told that it takes four pilots to operate this ship. Each man has a set of instruments that he constantly watches. All four of these units, which takes four pilots, are so synchronized that in reality only one pilot operates the ship. Now one of the pilots is starting a motor in the tail end of the ship. All he did was press a button and the motor went into action.

Here in the front of the ship is a screen, something like a moving picture screen, twenty-four inches square. The pilot who started the motor tells us that the screen is focused to Venus and he is now smiling, as he tells the chieftain to tell us that since we asked about the ladies, he is going to show some of them to us now.

They picked this scene at random, and here on the screen we see a very beautiful city. The city fades out and just one little section is brought to the front on the screen. We see several children, some men and quite a few ladies in this group, and are they beauties! They are almost angelic in type, from what the screen shows. We are lost for words to describe them, for one couldn't even dream of such a beauty, let alone to see it, as we are now. We believe that there is no artist on Earth, no matter how great, that could paint these Venetian ladies as exquisite as they are. They really are breathtaking. We have seen pictures of an artist's conception of angels which are beautiful, but these women, and the folks in general, are far greater in beauty and expression than any artist has ever been able to paint. And what little we saw of the city before it was caused to disappear, it was something like dream castles in the sky.

Seeing these things really makes us want to travel and travel. Seeing these magnificent planets and the wondrous creations of the Creator, we are beginning to feel that we would like to stay up here and visit these places and never return to Earth, where we came from. Life is so different, so beautiful, harmonious, and joyous, and the individuals so kind, the word refinement doesn't do them justice. It makes us feel that we haven't yet begun to live. And if there is any heaven, it makes us feel this is it. We begin to question ourselves, "why haven't we been born here instead of where we were?"

We are now taken through the ship. This ship carries a crew of thirty, passenger load of seven hundred and a freight load of fifty tons. Our pilot guide tells us this ship is obsolete, that on the next trip he is coming in in a brand new ship of great improvements.

By the way, all the ships we have seen here on the Moon so far, are freighters, and this one is mostly a freighter. Yet outside and in the interior, they are built so fine that they excel any luxury ship that man has ever built on Earth. We wonder what their really passenger ships look like, since these are so beautiful and have so much comfort in them.

This ship is so equipped that seven hundred passengers and the entire crew can actually sleep in it as comfortably as if they were in a luxurious hotel.

There is a very beautiful diner here in which one hundred people, maybe more, can be seated at the same time. That is what we judge. Adjoining the diner is a kitchen fully equipped for handling all the needs of passengers and crew on any length trip they take.

Within this ship is everything that might be thought of by man in the way of safety, communication system and comfort, as well as certain types of recreation. It could easily be called a flying village.

The pilots are now calling the crew. They are using screens over the ship in calling them, and here comes the crew. The pilots are talking with them. Now they are all going into the ship and seem to be taking their positions. One of the pilots tells the chieftain they are going to take us all up for a short trip through space to show us how their ship operates, if we would like to go.

We are delighted.

Here we go! The run we made in starting up was more than four thousand feet. Remember, the ship is twelve hundred feet long. Now we are in the air! This ship has no wings. It is a bullet type and makes no noise of any kind. We are travelling through space like a streak of light. The ventilators have been opened and one of the pilots is manipulating an instrument board. We are beginning to feel a difference in the air. They are heading for upper stratosphere and here on the screen is shown a fine line ahead of the ship, just like a highway. One of the pilots tells us this is like the light they follow to Venus or to any other planet. The ship is actually operating by the energy of light, which is the only fuel it uses for propulsion.

We looked forward and saw no light ahead anywhere.

Quickly we were told, "naturally your physical eyes could not see this fine invisible light, but it is there, and only this screen shows it. This is the beam by which we are travelling. Since we are not heading for our homeland, this light beam is just one of the suns in space, so-called stars. Just now we are headed for nowhere. If we were going home, the screen would show the reflected light of our planet, by which we would travel. Now we are going to show you something."

And they did. They set the controls on the ship and left their pilot seats, then we all went back to the dining room where we were given a drink of a liquid that tasted like mulberry juice only it was white, and not intoxicating. All the time we were in the diner, the ship was speeding at one and a half million miles per hour through space, yet we were just as comfortable in it as if we were right at home. We were told that they could continue travelling just this way, forever. The only time they would stop would be when they reached the destination from which the light was focused, or reflecting, which would be the end of the light beam.

We asked them if they used any other fuel.

"Never. This is the only energy we use," was the answer.

Then we commented that they surely must be constructed slightly different in body build than we are from the Earth, since our pressures differ so much, our atmospheric conditions. How is it, that in this ship we are made so comfortable, as if we were on Earth, and yet they too are equally comfortable.

The reply was, "we have learned to adapt ourselves to atmospheric pressures ranging from six pounds per square inch to twenty pounds per square inch. Therefore, when the ventilators were adjusted to your comfort, we, too, are comfortable."

Ever since we first saw this highway of light on the screen and were told it was the light coming from a distant star, and the drawing power by which this ship is travelling through space at such a terrific speed, we have wondered what would happen when we had to turn around to go back to the Moon. Now we are about to find out. Remember, the ship is travelling forward at a speed of one and half million miles per hour. The pilots are about to turn it around, which means they will break the light beam which is straight ahead of us, that has been furnishing the energy for propelling the ship forward. We have made the turn now with the ship retaining its terrific speed, yet we felt no break in the movement of the ship, except that it seemed to lower just a little bit.

We watched the screen while the turn is being made and the fine line of light which was shown in it before, has vanished. We have made a complete turn now, and are heading back to the Moon. Now the light appears on the screen again, but this time we are being pulled by the Moon light, towards the Moon, instead of the star light we were riding on before.

We asked, "what made the ship operate during the turn? Was it the speed that made it continue on without being pulled by the light beam, or what was it?"

The explanation given us was, that light energy was still being used to propel the ship. During flight on a beam of light, excess energy is stored up within the ship by means of mechanical devices. This is an emergency supply and is sufficient to propel the ship for fifty million miles without coming onto any beam anywhere, if such a condition should ever arise. It is from this supply of light energy that their ships are able to be turned around in space, as well as take off into the air from a landing field, before they hook onto the light lane.

Now we have landed back on the Moon. This has really been a marvelous experience, one that we can never forget any more than any of the others.

Oh, Oh! We see a ship coming in, a monster, a lot bigger than the one we were in just now. She is circling for landing. They are giving her the signal light from the tower. Oh, we cannot mistake this one. We know what it is without asking for it has the picture of its planet right on it as an insignia. Yes, bet you have guessed by this time. It is Saturn. Man! she takes up plenty of room, nearly the whole field. At least it appears that way. Her design is quite different than any we have seen before. She has a chisel type nose and a fan shape tail. She has fins on her, something like fish, very close to the body. She has landed very gracefully, and she also makes no noise. She is almost alongside the Venetian ship and from what we can judge, is about five hundred feet longer.

There! The doors open and here come out the pilots. There are about forty men coming out of it, seems to be the whole crew. On their caps is the same insignia of their planet as is on their ship, while on their uniforms they have a sort of balances with wings, or what to us represented a scale in balance.

They are looking us over. Our ship is not very far from here. They are looking that way, too. Our ship looks like a baby in comparison to these others and looks like an antique. We are almost becoming ashamed of it.

These men are seven feet tall, or better. MMhmm, there is one who looks like a nine footer. If we are to judge them from the weight on Earth, they would weigh about two hundred fifty pounds each.

They are all going to this tower for some sort of a report, I believe.

The Venetian pilots are telling us that this is a cargo ship. It has brought in the cargo they have been waiting for. They are going to load their ship with it and take it to Venus. They also said they would introduce us to the pilots from Saturn as soon as they completed their reports.

So here come the Saturn men out of the tower and heading straight for our group. Our Venetian friends are greeting them, and now they are introducing us. The Saturn men give us a hearty laugh, saying that they knew who we were long before they landed. And they said it was about time for the Earth people to explore their solar system.

We immediately answered that they didn't do any too well either, since they haven't visited the Earth themselves.

They said right away, "we knew you were going to give us that reply. That is why we said what we did, so that we could give you a reason why we haven't. There is really nothing to learn by going to the Earth. We surely do not want to learn how to fight one another or to become greedy, as the Earth people are, and that is about all you have to offer. Do not forget, we know what is going on on your Earth planet all of the time, for we have so developed our Creator's given talents that we cannot be parted from any distance or any place. We can and do know what is going on in any part of the vastness of the Creator's system. We had an expedition at one time that wanted to come to Earth, but all the people of Saturn forbade them on these grounds, that they might accumulate some of the Earthly habits and then cause trouble among our people after they returned."

They told us that we are considered among our neighbors as savage people. We live off the miseries of each other. And it was a lot better for us to venture out and learn something than it was for them to come to Earth. Until the Earth's people could learn to live for each other, instead of off of one another, by having pure faith in their Creator, that no one of the other planets would care to come to visit them.

They said, "right now the Earth man is so insane that he is no longer the man the Creator meant him to be. He hasn't room enough to fight his own world, thereby destroying it bit by bit, along with the labors of its people, but he is even now trying to get high enough above the Earth to destroy it faster. In this he is not going to succeed, not at least to the degree he expects."

"And you ask us to visit such insane people! We ourselves would have to be insane to do that. We love our brothers wherever they may be and whoever they may be, but we cannot support criminals against the Creator, even though they have forgotten that they are all the children of one Creator."

Here we interrupted, saying, "we do realize we are children of a Creator. We know there is one God and we on the Earth are all born because of Him."

The answer came immediately, and sharp, "you may acknowledge it in words, but not in deeds. By your deeds you deny it, for you destroy your brothers. Whatever a man takes up against his fellow beings, he takes against his Creator, for the life that flows through any form is not the life of the form, but the life of the Creator Himself. So the present civilization of the Earth is hypocritical and blasphemers, for by words they glorify Him but by their deeds they deny Him."

With this they turned and left us. They did not even invite us to look through their ship as others have done.

One of the crew-men remained by the ship, and we asked him, "why did they leave us?"

He answered that they would not show us any of their ship because they knew the minds of Earthly men. That this ship could travel anywhere in space with great ease, and if Earthly men got any ideas from the ship's construction, he would use them for destruction, and might be even Satan turned loose through space. That all the people on planet Saturn knew this well, and they were guarding their secrets from such men as Earth men. But once the Earth men have righted themselves and become as their neighbors, they would be glad to reveal everything that might be to the advancement of civilization.

And with this the crew man left us.

Now we were stunned. For the first time on this Moon plane, rebuked, and we could not blame them when we realized what was what.

The Venetian pilots looked with sort of a smile upon us and said, "the Saturn people are very just. They do know the mind of total universe and do have the greatest advancement in such things as ships and utilities in our whole solar system. We on Venus are of a very artistic nature, while they are very mechanical, yet they use mechanics only for the purpose of good for all inhabitants. And they are great worshippers of Deity. While we are too, but we are from the art side. Everything with us, and with them, must comply with the Creator's purpose, and not against it. We here in this system have not one slightest thought of evil, as you Earth men have, towards anything nor anyone, nor have we any slightest thought towards anything or anyone of great good, but rather, we live in the mind of eternal nature where every day serves everyone, governed by the great Creator of all space. In Earthly expression, we live in the absolute state of confidence called faith, that we all will be taken care of at all time by Him who put us here, and that He, and He alone is the only judge, if there be a judge, that ever was or ever will be. Living this way, with that knowledge, we know nothing of any crime of any nature except what we see through the universal eyes upon Earth, which is criminal in all of its acts, because it usurps the Creator's powers by pretension that it knows better than the Creator, capable of judging when the Creator judges not; finding fault with creation, which is finding fault with the Creator who created that creation."

"There have been many great souls sent to Earth to teach the way of life we live here, but each one of these has been destroyed by the criminals which they came to save. You called them messiahs, masters, and all sorts of names, but they have come from higher planes of life to start the people of Earth on the right path of life. But they were slain."

"Many centuries ago, after the last of our messengers, whom you call Jesus, was crucified, we established this trade center here on your Moon, and as you see, planes from many planets in our solar system travel to and from here regularly. This was done with the hope that some day men on Earth would so develop that they could see these ships coming in and out from their own Moon and come here to investigate, out of curiosity. Your race of people have developed machines through which they have seen our ships flying, but they do not understand and for the most part do not even believe what they are seeing. Knowing all this, we can see no good that could be accomplished by one of our ships going there."

"You can understand, too," they told us, "why the Saturn pilots would not allow you to inspect their ship."

Before they left us, we asked, "how is it that you do not care to look our ship over?" for we have noticed that the Martonians did not inspect our ship either.

This is the answer we got.

"There is nothing of value or of great development about your ship that would be of any enlightenment to people of other planets besides, none of us care to enter the ship, since it has weapons of destruction in it."

This was true. We did have weapons in our ship, but we asked why that would make any difference for the weapons would not hurt them.

Their reply was that weapons of any kind belonged to a satanic power, and that satan might overpower their intelligence. They would rather stay away from him.

After telling us all this, they shook our hands in a very friendly manner and left us.

We are now being taken for a tour of the city. There are many buildings made of lava rock. The people here are of several races, but we cannot tell the difference between them as far as behaviorism is concerned, for there is no distinction. They are rather easygoing in all their ways and seem to have great respect for one another, also for us. There are towers in the city similar to our radar towers, yet they are not radar. We are told they are an interstellar communication system, when such communication is required.

Our reception here has been rather cool, we might say, in comparison with other places we have visited. It must be because of the ships of all of the planets meeting at this place. Or maybe it is our imagination, because of the rebuke we have so recently received from the Saturn pilots. Life here is different than in the city where we met the Martonian ship, for this city is the hub, or center, of interplanetary cargo exchange on the Moon.

But really we feel kind of let down and very small after the talks we have gotten from these different ones. So we have decided to return to our ship and start for our airfield where we first landed. This we did.

After we were in the air, the white chieftain said to us, "yes. All that those fellows gave was strange, wasn't it?"

We replied, "yes and no."

We didn't have much to say, but he seemed to read our minds. We decided on returning over a different route than we had come in on, more to the south. All of a sudden we remembered that on coming into the city we had wondered whether the big body of water on the other side of the mountain ridge was a large lake or an ocean. We were going to inquire about this while in the city, but due to our various experiences at the airfield we had forgotten all about it. So now the only thing left for us to do is to fly over it for a distance to get as good a view as possible and thus find out for ourselves.

This must be an ocean. It seems to take in a vast area of the Moon, extending beyond our vision and there are ships floating on the waters, different than any ocean vessels on Earth but they are ships and very large at that.

We decided not to try to cross it but to turn and fly along the shore for a ways, about five hundred miles farther before starting back. During this stretch we have seen quite a few settlements along the shoreline. In the distance, with the aid of glasses, we can see what appears to be another fair sized community. Bob has climbed to fifty thousand feet that we might get a good perspective of the Moon. From this altitude we can see quite a number of settlements. Some of them appear to be about the same size of those we have already visited. Everywhere on the dark side of the Moon there is plenty of water and fertile land. There are many large settlements in the temperate zone where the light side and the dark side meet, but few deep into the dark side.

Now we return to our course flying at an altitude of between thirty-five thousand and forty thousand feet. It is quite remarkable the number of beautiful settlements in this section that we are flying over, quite modernistic. In fact, in comparison, our modernism is behind times.

We have flown one thousand miles since leaving the city we last visited, but because of the circuitous route we have taken in sight-seeing, we are only two hundred miles south of it when George sights a very beautiful city. It looks more beautiful than any we have seen so far. So Bob has lowered to get a better view of it.

It is built in a very large valley with mountains all around it, snow covered mountains on one side and rocky jagged peaks on the other. Here, for the first time, we are feeling a suction force pulling the ship down towards the ground after we had lowered to fifteen hundred feet above the city. We notice there isn't any place in this entire valley that indicates a possible landing field for airships and immediately realize the reason might be that this suction makes aircraft landing dangerous. Bob has had to give our ship all she had to pull out of this force and avoid crashing. We knew then that we could not visit that city.

Reaching an altitude of forty thousand feet we continue on our way, still flying in a southernly direction. After another three hundred miles we find ourselves over the light side of the Moon. Continuing on into this area for about three hundred miles we see a few cliff dweller villages scattered here and there along the sides of the mountains, but the rest of it is very barren and desolate. Our temperature graph shows a heat of one hundred twenty degrees but George and Bob decided to venture still farther south hoping to find some of the larger craters seen from the Earth.

We have flown five hundred miles south of the temperate zone over the light side of the Moon and here we have come upon the big crater, the largest on the Moon. Here our graph registers a temperature of one hundred forty degrees. Dr. Johnston wants to get a good closeup view of this big crater, so Bob is lowering into it. A strange incident is taking place. While we are over the big crater and circling it, our instruments quit working. Bob has gained altitude and is crossing the ridge of the crater to see what has happened. Now the instruments are all working again. We tried this several times, each time with the same results. We also noticed a strange vibration which must have been caused by some sort of a radiation. It wasn't radioactivity for we have instruments for that purpose, but whatever it was, it was strong enough for us to distinctly feel. From our low elevation we can clearly see the mountains within the crater as well as the sides of the crater and they are purely volcanic, not meteoric. There is a lot of lava rock lying all around. Then too, if a meteor had hit here the bottom of the crater would be flat, at least partially flat. There wouldn't be any mountains standing up within it. This same condition exists in all the other craters we have seen.

According to the legends of the Moon which we have been told by the natives, it seems that this side of the Moon had violent volcanic eruptions in the long ago past, yet they weren't solely of lava either, for the formations in some of these craters show a resemblance to ground conditions in Yellowstone Park, which could have been hot water craters at one time.

Now we are approaching another crater among the mountains pretty well ahead. I don't believe it can be seen from the Earth with any telescope for there are too many high mountains around it. This one has vapor, like steam coming out of its center, yet we can see no water in it. Here the graph registers a temperature of one hundred sixty degrees and there is an indication of moisture in the atmosphere while up till now the air has been entirely dry. In spite of the intense heat we would land now, if we could, just to investigate this crater. There is a large plateau which looks as though it might be sand but it is dotted with jagged rocks six to ten feet high. Neither George nor Bob believe that we could successfully land. So we will have to let this one go by.

The chieftain tells us that water is there, very hot water, and that which we see is steam coming out of the crater. According to their history, there was water in all these craters at one time that was hot.

This bore out what we thought it was.

He says there still are occasional heavy eruptions upon this side of the Moon. That is why nobody ever settles here.

The only time it is possible to explore this side is during the night; in other words, when the sun is not shining here as it is right now. Making their trips afoot, Moonalite explorers have succeeded in exploring nearly this whole territory. This is the section where many beautiful gems have been found. An exploring party after travelling during a fairly cool night, knowing a hot day is breaking, dig themselves caves within which they stay during the heat of the day. Then they can continue on their way when night approaches again. In that way they have explored most of the desert sections, as they call this side of the Moon.

We have finally landed on our original field and are going to rest for awhile.

Before taking our rest, though, Jimmy contacted the Earth again and is telling them in a very few words of our experiences on this last trip including the sort of rebuke we were given by the men from Saturn. He also tells them that while we haven't fully made up our minds about returning, we have at least thought of doing so for it seems as though we have come to an end of a trail.

Of course we must check over our ship and our fuel supply as well, before deciding definitely whether it be a trip back to the Earth or some other place. After a thorough check, we decided it wouldn't be wise to make many more trips if we were to return safely to Earth. We didn't want to figure too close on our fuel. Instead, we felt that we should have some extra in case we needed it on our way home.

The white chieftain remained with us all the while we were inspecting our ship. Afterward a group of his members arrived and we all visited for awhile. During the course of this visiting we told them that we might be going home soon.

They didn't seem surprised and neither were they glad to have us leave. They accepted the fact and started bidding us farewell. But while these farewells were being said, the black chieftain with a group of his people came up. They joined the white ones in telling us how glad they all are that we have been with them as we have and they hope we will soon be returning for a longer stay. Then they all departed for their homes.

Each one of us felt the sincerity of their words and it made us feel good. These Moonalites have proved themselves to be real people and we like them.

After our friends had left and we were all alone, we went out to gather some formations, like rocks, as well as soil from both the light side and the dark side. We also returned to the brush-forest on the dark side to get some of that brush from which fiber is taken for making cloth, for we wanted to bring souvenirs from the Moon back to the Earth with us.

Upon returning to the ship Johnny radared to the Earth that we would be starting home the following day.

They radared back, saying, the sooner, the better since they were worried about us and wondering whether we will be able to make the trip back safely, reminding us that the major success of this trip was the returning back. They also told us that the whole world was eagerly awaiting our arrival home.

After breaking contact with the Earth and getting everything in readiness for our return trip early the next morning, we were preparing to take our delayed rest when our radio and radar sets went into operation automatically.

Chapter VII

MARS

Mars was calling to invite us to visit their planet. We were told they knew of our condition and that we would be in need of fuel if we used much more of what we now have. If we wished to accept their invitation at this time, they would instruct the Moonalites right in this vicinity to look after our ship while we were away and they would send a ship from their planet to our landing field here on the Moon to pick us up.

This was indeed a surprise beyond our greatest hopes and an invitation we certainly do want to accept.

Johnny replied that we would like, more than anything else, to come to planet Mars but he must first contact the Earth and tell them of this unexpected trip, since he had just told them we were starting Earthward in the morning.

This he did.

The Earth people were overjoyed about our making a trip to Mars and they told us such a visit at this time would make our trip a far greater success than had been anticipated.

After contact with the Earth had been broken, Mars came in again and Johnny told them he had notified the Earth of our change in plans and we would be awaiting arrival of their ship.

"That's good. Our ship will be there for you early in the morning," was the friendly reply. "And by the way, don't worry about your fuel supply. If you should need more than you have to make your trip home to Earth, we will give you all you need. We have plenty of it. Our chemical laboratories use the same type fuel as you use in your airships, but our ships haven't used anything of that kind for thousands of years."

"We would like to bring your ship to Mars to show the people here for no one living now has ever seen one like it. But it isn't built to make such a trip. This isn't a reflection upon your intelligence when we tell you that your ship would be an antiquated curiosity to present day Martonians, belonging to a long forgotten people who were just growing into a state of civilization. We are glad you reached the Moon safely in it and we will find some other way for our people to see your ship."

After having seen so many ships from other planets, we understood what they meant and our feelings weren't hurt in the least.

This contact with Mars had hardly been broken when a large group of natives from both villages arrived on the scene to look after our ship while we were away. What method of communication they had between themselves and Mars, we don't know unless it was mental telepathy.

After again greeting our Moonalite friends, we groomed ourselves and then took a good rest for the journey just ahead.

As the first rays of the rising sun pierced the morning sky we saw a giant airship streaking out of space towards us. We knew it was the Martonian ship. It circled overhead once and then landed alongside of our ship.

As they land and start coming out of their ship, we realize these are not the same men we met in the city. The first man to leave the ship comes directly to us and shakes our hands in warm friendly greeting as he introduces himself.

He is a Martonian scientist and has been chosen as our host and guide on this trip. This man is about five feet, ten inches in height, well built but not heavy, or stout. His face is quite round with such a happy expression he seems always to be smiling. He is olive complexioned, has sparkling brown eyes and jet black hair. There is a warmth about his being which seems to so enfold us that we have not the slightest awareness of strangeness between us and these men.

After introducing himself, he introduces us to all the others who have come with him from Mars to meet us. In the group there are twelve scientists, six pilots, forty crew-men, and fourteen servants, seventy-two men in all.

After all introductions had been made and greetings had been exchanged between the Martonians and the Moonalites, we were all invited to come into the diner of their ship for a meal which had already been prepared.

In the diner the tables are all set for just the number of people there are present.

The flavor of the food defies description. Most of it is entirely different than anything we have ever eaten on Earth, but there is some kind of fowl served that is similar to Earthly chicken both in taste and appearance. The drink is delicious in flavor and non-intoxicating but we have no idea what it is.

This ship is far larger than the one we had seen in the city. During the conversation at the table, the first pilot remarked that it was in readiness to come to the Moon to meet us as an official ship from Mars when the people there knew that everything was set on the Earth for us to leave the Moon.

In surprise Johnny asked how they knew when we were leaving.

"On Mars we have a big laboratory with all sorts of instruments with which we can pick up anything in our solar system, be it human activities or natural disturbances," explained our host. "We have tried innumerable times to contact the Earth using many means, but your scientists are not well enough developed. They have too many complications in their own minds and their method is not simplified. Every time we have succeeded in reaching the Earth and our messages picked up by your crude instruments, your scientists have always named it something else like cosmic rays and many other things."

"True. There are cosmic rays in space, for each planet radiates outwardly from its own body, intermingling with its neighboring planets, plus the sun radiates to them all. Between these rays are neutral lanes so fine that they are undetectable, and through these we send our messages to Earth and to other planets. Ofttimes our messages are impregnated with these cosmic rays, as you Earth men call it, but if the Earth men had the proper instruments whereby they could screen the cosmic ray out, they would get our messages. Your crude form of transmission which you call radio, crude but good for a beginning, gets interference as you call it, from time to time which is not due to sun interference, as you think it is. It is mostly due to us using tremendous power of transmission to alert the Earth men to our messages, but even then we do not seem to be successful. Yes, there have been some stray messages caught by some of your alert radio operators as they were experimenting just to see what they could get, which were sent from us to Earth, for we can send messages to you in your own language, in your own code, since we are far enough advanced that we can master any and all tongues in our solar system. But the few messages that you have caught have been given absolutely false interpretation. And speaking of sending messages, remember when you shot the Moon with radar? You alerted the inhabitants on the Moon as well as those on every planet in our system, and we all have answered you; but we have received no answer from you, proving that people beyond the Earth are more alert than people on the Earth. However we are daily awaiting that reply which should come in the very near future, for we know that your scientists are working towards that end.

"We even commune with what you call the lower forms of life, like animals and so forth. To us there is no high nor low for all forms are creations of the Creator and are respected alike."

At this, we suddenly awakened to the realization that all this talking which we have been telling of was told to us in our own language. There was no sign language employed. And we were surprised and relieved! For we know now that we will be able to get much information direct and correctly.

Right there and then we asked why the men of the other ship had not talked to us the same so that we could have understood their words, instead of using the sign language as they had done.

The reply was, "they were not authorized to do so, but what they did tell you in relation to the telescope and other things was just as they told you."

Now we wanted to know, "how long has the Moon been so inhabited?"

And this is the story as it was told to us:

"Twenty thousand years ago the people of Mars became curious about this moon after they had already thoroughly explored their own two moons. Their interest was purely scientific since they were a people with a wondering type of mind who wanted to know what the vastness beyond their own planet was composed of."

"Their first scouting expedition brought to this Moon a few men from all the various races then on planet Mars, and a lot of supplies for their well being. From experiences on their own moons they knew they would find atmospheric conditions in which they could live and build for future development, should they find no inhabitants dwelling here."

"The spot where that first expedition landed is the site of the present city where the telescope and The House of Records have been placed somewhat as a memorial."

"At that time they found no native inhabitants on this Moon so later expeditions brought more men and women, as well as supplies to care for them until they could produce some food here through cultivation. And from that start this Moon has become inhabited as you find it today. There are still some necessities of life which the Moon does not have, but we bring these to the people here from our planet Mars."

"This seems to be one way the Supreme Intelligence has of keeping our planet from becoming too densely populated, as you asked the men of the other ship about, for you see, we have many such outposts in space."

"In that long ago, the light side of the Moon to the Earth was a steaming side, all the craters were hot water pools. Since then the water has been evaporated through heat. That is the reason you find mountains within the craters that are solid rock, for the water washed away all dirt that clung around the rock, leaving the rock standing."

"You Earth men have a wrong conception of the Moon, thinking that the craters were made by meteors. When we take the ship up we will fly over some of these craters. We will not be able to land in any of them since they are all too rugged for safe landing, but we will lower the ship over two different types of craters and with instruments which we have to look through, you will be able to see just as well as if you were walking on the bottom of them or were handling the formations in your hands. You will see the difference between a meteoric crater and a hot water crater."

With this promise our enjoyable mealtime visit was drawn to a close as all left their places at the tables and went outside again for a final look around before our takeoff. Of course the natives have all been left with our ship before, so we have no last details to take care of in that respect.

However we notice that one of the Martonian scientists has brought a small instrument that looks like a microphone with a cord attached to it out of the ship with him. This cord he is attaching to our ship, while the instrument itself he is placing in front of it, a little to one side.

As we watched this procedure we wondered what it was all about, and as if in answer to our unspoken question our host explained to us that no harm would come to the ship through this instrument. Later on we would see for ourselves the purpose of its being attached as it was.

After this was done, the Martonians and the four of us from Earth re-entered their ship and we took up very gently into the air, almost straight up. There wasn't any noise to the ship.

First thing we knew, we were over one of the craters and lowering again. The hatch was opened, the same kind of a hatch that the first Martonian ship had. Through this hatch we are observing the bottom of the crater, just as though we were walking on it; in fact a lot better than we could have done had we been walking on the ground. For from this low altitude we can see the bottom and the sides all at the same time. The lenses magnified to a certain extent and sure enough, this was a hot water crater. We can definitely see the water line, especially when it began to vanish, for it left a ring around the crater like dirty water would in a tub.

Then the hatch was closed and the ship began to rise.

Within half a mile we started lowering again over another crater. Again the hatch was opened and the bottom of this crater was just as flat as anything could be, and the sides of it showed a definite upheaval had taken place here.

Our scientist friend explained, "this is where a meteor did fall, as you men call them. There are only a few such craters on the whole Moon, while there are hundreds of the others. Notice that the bottom of this crater is absolutely flat, while the bottom of the other craters are not. They have mountains within them towering thousands of feet. If a meteor had made those craters, there would not have been any mountains in the bottom of them. The water left them."

Then the hatch was closed and we started rising again. We flew over a ledge of rugged mountains and the hatch was opened again and the scientist speaker told us to now look at these jagged peaks and rugged mountains, these were volcanic upheavals. And sure enough they were, definitely so, yet in crevices we could see moss-like vegetation growing. In some places there would be a trickle of water we could see.

We flew over a large territory of the so-called light side of the Moon. The heat upon this side was terrific, yet the ship was of normal temperature, very comfortable.

There is one thing we have noticed about these Martonians. They are so friendly and so comfortable to be with that we feel we have known them all of our lives. Dr. Johnston has been taken in by these scientists as though he was an old classmate of theirs and their ship laboratory has been opened to his use in any way he desires it. The servants are treated with the same respect as every other man in the ship was given yet they were servants in every degree. They were very attentive concerning the comforts and wishes of all, asking every few minutes if we were thirsty or desired anything.

After one such inquiry we asked if it would be proper for us to smoke in the ship. No one understood what we meant by smoking, for cigarettes were unknown to them, but we were told that if that was our pleasure, it was proper. So we smoked. They were all very much interested in the procedure and asked us what was the reason of it, and does everybody on Earth smoke?

As is customary where we came from, we offered cigarettes to all of them but only one of their scientists accepted. He didn't want to smoke but he was interested because here was something new to him. Each one of us smoked a different make cigarette, so we gave one of each make to him. He went to the back of the ship and analyzed them in his laboratory.

When he came back he looked at us with a sort of surprised expression and said, "I can't understand how you men succeeded in getting to the Moon, but I do understand why you can't get our messages if all of your men on Earth smoke these things. This weed which is wrapped up in this paper, as well as the paper itself, has a paralyzing chemical in it which dulls the brain. That is why the brain of the Earth man is not more alert: it is in a sort of stupor. We scientists on Mars could never indulge in things like these, for if we did we could never make the discoveries we have made. If our people used this weed they would be going mad and we could not have the peace and harmony which we now have throughout our planet. Instead, confusion would take the place of understanding, for a stupor brain cannot conceive things clearly."

They were not criticizing us, only analyzing differences between our habits and theirs. If we wanted to smoke, it was still all right with them. So we felt no resentment.

During all this, we were heading straight for Mars at the speed of one and a half million miles per hour, flying on her light beam and the ship kept in contact with Mars steadily.

Noting our interest in their constant communication with planet Mars, our host suggested that we might like to try contacting the Earth with their instruments.

Both Johnny and George replied with an enthusiastic, "Yes."

One of the scientists handed each of us a small disc and told us to hold it in the palm of our hands while speaking through it as we would a microphone. He would operate the sending apparatus, beaming towards the Earth.

We followed his instructions carefully but received no reply to our call.

Johnny immediately asked what frequency they were using.

"Three billion kilocycles and five million watts," he was told.

In surprise he said, "they have nothing on Earth with which they can receive that power." Then he wanted to know why they used such high frequency.

"We have to in order to keep on the lane in between two cosmic rays," the operator explained. "Even that is not always high enough. Sometimes we have to step it up much more to get our messages through to other planets. Most of the planets communicate with each other through consciousness which is faster than anything else, but we Martonians have indulged largely in our abilities to be able to make things that would work for us. However we do also use the consciousness, or what you Earthmen know as mental telepathy."

All this time the pilots of this ship were talking back and forth to Mars just as though they were right there. They had no earphones, mouthpieces or any visible instrument through which they were speaking. They must have been using something installed in their panel board. We could hear them talking but we didn't hear any replies coming to them. We don't know how they were getting it but there was so much here that we didn't understand, we couldn't ask questions about everything.

By now we have gone forty million miles distant from the Moon and another of the scientists tells us we are about to enter the neutral zone which separates the two bodies, planet Mars and the Moon, from each other.

Dr. Johnston asked him, "how wide is this neutral zone?"

"It is five million miles wide."

Bob wanted to know if the pilots will have to speed the ship up to jump the gap, as we call it.

"No," he replied. "You had to do that because you used different fuel in your ship than we use in any of ours. Since we are now using light energy as a motivating power, our ship will go through it just as if it wasn't there. The only difference between going through a neutral zone and space between it and a planet, is that certain instruments in the ship don't work while crossing the gap, while all the rest of them do. The only ones that don't work are the pressure instruments or gravitational ones, also the ship glides somewhat easier through the neutral zone for there is no resistance. There is this kind of a gap between all bodies. The width of the neutral zone as well as its distance from any body depends upon the size of the bodies between which it extends. Smaller bodies do not reach out as far with their gravitational power as larger ones, so the gap isn't always half way."

Coming from the Moon to this point we have run into a regular shower of meteors as thick as snow falling. This was for several million miles. They appeared to us as a Fourth of July affair, like so many raindrops all illuminated with various shades or colors of illumination. Some of these meteors were big and some were small, but none of them have touched the ship. This was quite mysterious to us.

Our host sensed our questioning and explained that all interplanetary space ships are protected from damage through such meteoric showers by a repulsing power built within the walls of the ship. Then he showed us the instrument which registered this power radiating out from the ship. "If it wasn't for this," he added, "we would be bombarded within a split second. No one can build a ship to withstand a steady pounding of these meteors."

As we enter the gap, or the neutral zone, we realize that this one seems to have the same kind of substance in it as the one we encountered from the Earth to the Moon, except here it is heavier.

"What is the gap made of?" queried Dr. Johnston.

"We will let you see," was the prompt reply, as one of the assistants turned on an instrument which was as though we were looking through a window. To our surprise we saw there, minute particles of dust, barely moving. It looked like almost dead stillness.

"This," our friend explained, "is the incubator of planets, suns, moons, and comets. Nothing has ever come into form except through stillness. Once a birth is given, the stillness within that particle becomes action, which then ventures out of the stillness into the outer edge of it. In doing this, it grows very fast. Finally it is thrown out of this neutral zone, or pulled away from it and allowed to speed on through interstellar space where it takes on the relationship of gravity. As it does this, it thereby forms also a neutral zone between itself and other bodies as it whirls through space, growing now vaster in size than ever. No one can tell whether it be a planet, sun, moon, or a comet in the end, until it has reached its full growth. Moons, like the one we left are female aspects, while earths or planets are male aspects and the suns are supreme and ruling powers in each system. You see, everything is paired up with a male and a female, in turn governed by a supreme power that governs them with equality."

After passing through the gap and on entering the space beyond it, we encountered another very heavy meteoric shower like the one we had passed through before entering the gap. To our surprise, we witnessed what might be a planet in the making. It was a large sized ball flying through space and we could see a meteor hit it every now and then.

Johnny asked, "don't the meteors crack it up?"

"Not this kind, they are not big enough."

And in fact as we watched closely, we noted that they did look like only so many large sparks when they hit.

"They help the planet grow to its full size," he continued, "for every time they land and hit the planet, they become part of it."

This one, being in front of our ship, indicated on our instrument a gravitational force of one thousand miles, which it had already made around itself.

Immediately the speaker exclaimed, "see what we mean, it creates its own protective field. This force becomes larger and larger as the planet becomes bigger and bigger."

"How long does it take for a planet to become a full fledged planet?" inquired Dr. Johnston, "and does it remain within the system within which it was born?"

"Sometimes it does remain within the system within which it is born," was the answer, "but more often it is the beginning of a new system."

"It takes anywhere from five million to fifty million years for a planet to attain its full growth, depending upon its size. Then it takes another five million to thirty million years before it is in a fit state for human habitation. When a new system is born, it starts out with one of these planets like in the beginning. While this planet-like ball does not break up and divide itself, it does attract conditions unto itself, and small particles slightly larger than dust eventually become other planets. For while in the state of being larger than dust, they do break up and multiply, as cells do in the body. And the fine, so-called dust, forms a boundary or a system consisting of a boundary. The boundary in turn is nothing but an influence of a system into the outer space of a given distance between itself and another system, also forming a neutral gap between its system and another system, the same as there is between two planets which may be easily called a boundary of its influence, acting as a protector against colliding one system against another."

At this point we are nearing planet Mars and are told, "we will soon be where we can explain these things a lot better. As you were told while on the Moon, we have on Mars a large telescope and space library by which we can show you in great detail the exact law operating which brings these conditions into manifestation. Then you will understand more clearly what you have been seeing during this trip."

In what seemed to be a split second from the time he spoke, due to the great speed of the ship, we were circling over one of the large cities of planet Mars. Then we lowered and landed.

This landing field is enormous. It would have to be to accommodate ships the size of these and there are quite a number of them standing by on it, some larger than this one we are in.

As the doors of the ship were opened after landing, our host led the way out. To our amazement, there is a crowd of about two million people gathered to welcome us. It seems as though the whole city has turned out to greet us.

A small group of men whom our host introduced as the leader, or head of Mars, and some of his assistants, met us at the ship, greeting us enthusiastically. Then we were taken to a slightly elevated platform from which the leader spoke in his native tongue to the people gathered there. In his speech, according to our scientist host, the leader told the people that we were the first visitors from their sister planet, Earth, to ever come to planet Mars and that we have left our ship on the Moon.

When he got through speaking, the applauding and cheering was beyond description.

After this was over, a vehicle which resembled somewhat a beautiful yacht was brought alongside of the platform and we were invited to get in. The leader and his assistants as well as our host on this trip joined us. This vehicle has no wheels, yet it glides very smoothly over the Mars earth without making any sort of noise. It feels as though we are riding on the wings of a bird.

The atmospheric pressure here is lighter than that of Earth but heavier than the Moon's, but we don't realize any difference since we have been on the Moon so long and have become accustomed to the pressure there.

The general appearance of the ground here is very much like that of Earth. This particular spot reminds us of the flat lands of Kansas for the only hills we see are far in the distance. The surface of the ground, with the exception of this wide highway over which we are travelling, is covered with a fine covering of green grassy growth with large patches here and there of beautifully colored flowers.

The distance from the airport to the city proper is quite short but the beauty along the way has been sublime. Conversation was unnecessary, so there was none. The beauty of the surroundings filled us completely.

Now we have reached the city and are stopping in front of a magnificent building towering a thousand feet into the air. Incredible as it may sound, this building appears to be made of pearls. We are spellbound by its grandeur.

As we leave our vehicle and enter the building, our host informs us that this is what we would call a civic center or community social center. Banquets and ceremonies of all sorts are held here and entertainments of all types. There are no business offices of any kind within it, but there are several floors devoted entirely to interesting displays of educational value and art.

Inside we were taken into a room and onto what appeared to be a platform that elevated us to a higher floor. From here we were taken into a very large banquet hall in which, as we later learned, one hundred thousand people could be seated at the same time. The ceiling structure of this large banquet hall has a sort of an interlocking system, thus permitting the elimination of supporters throughout the room, which would otherwise have been necessary in a building of this size.

On the ceiling as well as on the walls were beautiful murals of other planets and their inhabitants, as well as of other systems. In the east end of the building on the wall was a mural of the same Deity as we have seen in the Jupiter ship in the city of the Moon. Only, instead of being a portrait as in the ship, this mural was a full length portrayal of the Deity seated on a throne with such a majestic beauty and state of expression beyond description, yet possessing some mysterious power which really made us feel that we were in the presence of the Almighty, as we already knew we were.

When the leader of the state of Mars took his place at the head of this magnificent banquet table and the room was filled with an overflowing capacity of the citizens of that city, the leader turned to the mural. As he did this, all heads bowed and these are the words he said:

"Almighty Father of us all, creator of Thy magnificent kingdom, we give thanks unto Thee for the privilege of being the first ones to admit unto us our long lost brothers, children of our Father. May this feast be one of holiness. And may the eternal message, 'that Thine love is greater than Thine kingdom' be so retained within the hearts of these brethren, that when they return to their home which Thou hast given them to dwell therein, they may give unto their brothers, who are also our brothers, the truth as they now have received it."

And then the head of the state bowed upon his knees to the mural upon the wall, the likeness of the all Supreme Intelligence, as known upon Earth, the God of the Universe.

After this blessing, we proceeded with the feast which included everything, we might say, that was eatable upon Mars. We have never seen anything like it. Out of nowhere, it seemed, smaller banquet tables had appeared in front of the spectators, as we may call them, and they too feasted with us.

During the progress of the feast our scientist host spoke, saying:

"These Earthly brothers have come a long way to reach our home land. They have succeeded while others have failed after many disastrous attempts. There have been many civilizations upon our sister planet known as Earth who have tried to come to our planet. Each time a disaster has overtaken them. Now the all loving Father has guided these brothers to arrive safely, where others have failed."

"We are grateful for the privilege and the honor of having them among us that we may impart to them the truth as it is. Our planet of Mars, as the Earthmen call it, has been called by them a planet of conflict. Instead, for the first time, they will learn from their own brothers who are here visiting us, that we are a people and a planet of absolute peace, and of love that surpasses all understanding. They will learn that the way of life which is eternally peaceful, is everlastingly revealing the secrets and the wonders of the Father, His divine wisdom and intelligence. Those who abide by His way can never perish but they do eternally rejoice, for the gifts of our Father and the revelations of His kingdom are forever being made unto such."

"So we, the scientists of Mars, have been endowed with the responsibility of maintaining the tranquility of eternity among our people and our brothers in other lands; to bring the good tidings of love unto the children of the great Father of the Heavenly Kingdom, that the children may forever rejoice through love of their fellow beings, as through love of their eternal Father. For it is by loving our brothers, wherever they may be and whoever they may be, that we express our love for our Father, since all are His children."

"As scientists, it is our duty as humble servants to forever keep our eyes and hearts open to the guidance of our Father and watch with humility over all His children that they may all have their daily needs as one. This is why the people on planet Mars have the wonders that we so enjoy. We have served our Creator faithfully without wavering, honoring all of His creations and beyond all, His image, which we are from the beginning."

"The Earth too may in time be blessed to know and enjoy these blessings of our Father, when our brothers in the Earthly home have learned this great lesson of brotherly state and the love of the Father that put them there. Then they also will possess the wonders that we have upon Mars."

"But as scientists, as servants of the Almighty, we never impose upon others that which they may not want. The minds of the Earthly brothers must be renewed if these wonders are to be known by them. At present their minds are not only on conquering one another, but even on conquering others like those of us and many within the kingdom of our Father, including His kingdom. Yet it is not these things that they must conquer. It is themselves individually. They must conquer there, in order to realize that each is his brother's keeper."

"As we have said in the earlier part, many have tried to invade us and have met with disaster, and whoever will try again, the same fate will befall them. But all can come here, as these Earthly ones have come now, if they come as brothers and are brought here by the will of the Father."

"Many have come to our brothers on Earth to show them the way the Father wanted them to live. Each time they, too, met with disaster by the hands of those whose burdens they had come to lessen."

"This time the Earthly ones have come to us to learn from us the way we have been taught to live, and they will take this eternal truth back to their brothers on Earth."

"I, as the one scientist representing the many, shall take these brothers on a journey after the feast and show them the marvels of our Creator as He has given unto us the understanding to bring them forth. So, again we say, 'glory be unto the Father of all creation. In the most humble way we do give thanks for the privilege of having these among us.'"

When this speech was ended the feasting continued, but after hearing that talk from a great scientist, we did not know whether we were eating or dreaming for it had caused something to happen within us which made us feel very humble. At the same time we felt quite small, for within ourselves we knew that we had come to the Moon with only one purpose in mind; to find out what we could about the Moon towards the possibility of future exploration. Now we realized that we as Earthly men understood but little in the channel of life and for the first time, we felt guilty of warring against the Infinite Creator by warring against His creations.

So when we were asked to get up and say something, the best we could do was to bow in a humble manner and thank the audience and the speakers for the great love they have shown us and ask forgiveness for our wrong thoughts. It seemed like something melted within us which is indescribable.

The head of the state and our scientist host have come around the table to us and have laid their hands upon our shoulders, making us feel like little children, comforted by a great understanding Father.

The feasting has now ended and we are told we are to be taken on a tour of the city. This is the capital and largest city of Mars, with a population of twenty-two million. The total population of the planet is one and a half billion.

With the head of the state, the officials of the city, and our host we have left the banquet hall and have re-entered the gliding vehicle that brought us here from the airfield.

We are riding through the business section of the city first. Here the streets are about five hundred feet wide, paved with white coral and very smooth. Down the center of the street is a six foot strip planted with beautiful flowers of delicate shades and quite fine in texture. These are planted in designs depicting various forms of nature found on planet Mars as well as many within the universal vastness. This strip acts as a dividing lane for traffic travelling in opposite directions.

Greyish blue coral curbings frame this flowering strip and similar ones two feet wide between the sidewalks and the street.

The sidewalks, like the streets, are made of white coral. They are ten feet wide.

The buildings are masterpieces of art and engineering. Designed with modern and Mosaic architecture combined, they tower twenty-two stories and up. Some of them have flat roofs while others have spear-like towers on them, acting as standards for huge flood lights which illumine this section of the city as sunlight, when necessary.

Amazing as it may sound, both the shopping rooms and factories are housed in these large buildings, yet no noise of machinery can be heard nor is there smoke or any kind of fumes. Workers here only put in three hours each day in business, and the different industries operate at different times of the day, thereby giving all workers an opportunity to shop and have their needs fulfilled, it was explained to us.

The shop windows are filled with beautiful displays of Martonian designed clothing for all occasions, household articles to fill every need, games and amusements of all sorts, and foods for every taste.

Admiring these exquisite displays and having already been told of the short working hours, Johnny was curious to know what method of exchange was used here on Mars to enable the people to obtain these articles.

We are told that all people on the planet are considered as children of the Father, that they are equally treated as such, and all equally produced for the wealth or good of all alike. Therefore, they have an access to goods as they need them. While the servant in one of the shops serves them, he too is in need of things which are not in the shop in which he serves. So all things that serve in channels in which he has a need, give unto him. In that way, the labor of the planet is done for the good of the planet without distinction of profession, for the necessity is all that is recognized. In this way, the man who brings forth the coral rock of which the streets, sidewalks and curbings are made is as important and great as the man who paints the mural of the Creator upon the walls within the buildings and temples or the scientist who brings forth the blessings of the planet or the one who teaches the way of life unto the people. Everybody has equally with plenty of everything, so envy or wants are unknown among the people. Instead, absolute certainty, on Earth known as security, is realized by all.

For the convenience of pedestrians desiring to cross from one side of the street to the other, there are underground tunnels with conveyor system which takes them across.

Traffic is heavy in this section of the city, yet there is no congestion nor confusion and the air is permeated with the sweet fragrance of the flowers growing down the center and on each side of the streets.

On the outskirts of the business district we are stopping before a beautiful, large building which our host tells us is known as a 'House of Knowledge'. On entering, we find ourselves in a magnificent hallway on the walls of which are all sorts of murals. Directly in front of us is portrayed in infinite detail the total constellation of the heavens. On the wall at the head of the hallway is a mural of the Creator. As we pass this, our hosts bow and we do likewise.

Leaving this entrance hallway, we enter a very large room in which we see all sorts of literature in very large volumes. Our guide tells us that some of these volumes contain the history of our solar system.

In the Venetian room are murals of planet Venus and life there, as well as volumes of literature containing the history of that planet.

Next is the room of Saturn. On the walls in this room are murals of that planet and life as lived by the people there, while the volumes of literature contain the complete history of Saturn and its purpose in the system.

The grandeur of all these rooms is indescribable, for even as the fullness of life as they live it and as portrayed by these murals is inconceivable to us, so the distinctive architecture of each planet as found in the various rooms is beyond our power of word expression. Our guide tells us that within this 'House of Knowledge' there is a room for every planet within our solar system and within each of these rooms are murals and the history of its planet with the architecture in each room varying from all others according to that of the planet it portrays.

But now we are being taken into the Earth room and the pictures here look very familiar. The volumes here contain the history of the Earth and all the civilizations who have lived there and vanished, of which we on Earth have no history.

"The people of Earth have always seemed to behave as little, unruly children, never knowing what they wanted, and not too stable, very aggressive or hostile against each other. The history within this room is nothing but full of blunders," explained the leader of Mars.

Leaving the Earth room, we come into a vast sized room called the 'House of Knowing' for it contains various developments in the field of science and all phases of it; things that have been, that are, and are yet to come. We would like to spend a great deal of time here for this room is fascinating and contains some things of which we have a little understanding. There is much we could learn in this room. Yet there is much to learn everywhere here and a great deal to see, and our visit here has just begun.

We are leaving the building now to re-enter our gliding vehicle and continue our sight-seeing tour of the city.

Travelling up the highway, we are passing slowly through a park, a sort of glorified playground in which hundreds of children are playing. Many grownups are in this park also. These people are joyous and free, friendly but not curious.

Here and there throughout the park are various sizes and types of statues of great immortals whom the children are taught to honor and imitate. The lawns, flower gardens and shrubbery are beautiful and well cared for. Here, too, are large towering trees with flexible limbs, looking very much like the weeping willows of Earth; yet they are not. They appear to be festooned with a moss-like or feathery lace, a natural growth. We really know we are in another world.

There are beautiful water lanes, or pools, where children play. These have a purple bluish cast to them and the water in them, we are told, never chills below sixty-five degrees for it is automatically heated by the utilization of light.

Light seems to be the power used for all purposes, illumination, heating, refrigeration, motivation, or energy of any sort, in the home and in business.

Their temples of worship are many and these also are beyond the imagination or description by men, at least Earthly men. Noticing the number and beauty of these temples, George asked about their spiritual beings, how many forms of religion and denominations they have.

The head of Mars answered, saying, "We have but one, the Father of all, whom we honor, obey and live purely to please by doing His will, not ours. Our spiritual quality is to respect each man as if he is the Deity Himself, knowing that no form can be a form without the support of the Deity. Thus doing against a form would be doing against Deity. This is our firm belief by which we live."

Remembering that the temples on the Moon are used also as their schools, Johnny asked if this same system is used here and what is their method of teaching.

"Yes, our temples are where the fundamental laws of living are taught to the little ones from the very time of their birth," our host replied. "All are taught our ways of living. But they also are given freedom to express their abilities with which they have been endowed by the great Infinite Father. Ofttimes a great soul brings forth great things in that way. Sometimes, that soul as a form is very young, yet all look up to it for the greatness and the guidance it may have for others, enabling them to rise still higher to greater beings. On one occasion there was a great soul in the form of a child of seven years of age who brought to our people such enlightenment that it transformed their way of thought and their way of living to a greater way of living. Not only do the people accept such as a leader, but even the leaders, like the head of the state, will bow to such an enlightened soul when bestowed upon them. Our belief is firm that it is not the age that counts, but the wisdom, the understanding that might even come through a new born babe who has been granted to us by the grace of the Great Creator."

"As the children grow in age and understanding, there are other places of learning where more advanced laws of the universe are worked with. These will be shown to you later. At the same time, the temples are never outgrown for worship and study. They are never closed and people of all ages come to them whenever they desire.

"There are no nations on this planet for the people of Mars are citizens of Mars. They have no states nor divisions of any kind. The whole of Mars is just one state and the people of the planet are all governed from the central government."

"What do you mean 'central government'," asked Dr. Johnston. "What does it consist of; how is it operated; how does the head of state attain that position and does he keep it until he dies?"

Our host chuckled at such a number of questions as he answered, "the choice is made by the people regularly every year. They express themselves in favor of the one whom they feel they would want in office."

Here the head of the state spoke up, saying, "I have been chosen now three different times in succession, which is the greatest honor bestowed by the people upon anyone at any time."

His words were an explanation, completely devoid of any personal pride or boastfulness.

Our host continued, "the choosing is not made from a certain caste but from the people as a whole, for we have no castes nor divisions. At the same time a council is selected from various sections of the total planet to assist the chosen leader, as well as to serve the people. When one is chosen to be the head of the state or of a district, he is honored as you call it, in being given the right to execute the will of all the people and above all, the will of the Creator."

"In this way there is never duplication of effort nor wasted energy through friction. We have harmony and happiness throughout our planet. And it is the same with the other planets in our system. We are all unified as one in the service of our Father. Thus we have become so aware of His laws and alert to conditions throughout space, that should a hostile condition of any kind try to encroach upon our tranquility, with the united force of all, it would be repulsed, for we possess the power through the Divine Providence to reverse the law upon any intrusion so that the very things projected towards us with an idea of possession or destruction would react against the projector, instead of us. If it was a great evil it would devour him."

"We know conditions of hostility and division exist, like they do upon your Earth: yet we know them not upon our planets. Here we know no evil nor good but just to live as the Great Father of the Infinite Kingdom has meant us to live, according to the knowledge we possess, which has been given to us by our Father who is on high."

Today we are being taken to one of the many Houses of Science where more advanced laws of the universe are studied and worked with. These correspond a great deal to our universities. Learning here never ceases.

This House of Science is one of a group like one building of the many built on the campus grounds belonging to any large university. Entering it, we find ourselves in a vast room without windows. The light is equal to the out-of-doors but we are unable to detect its source. The air too, is fresh and clean but there is neither sound nor feel of any type of air conditioning with which we are familiar.

The floor is covered with a thick, soft covering and beautiful easy chairs are placed about for the comfort of those coming here.

On the wall directly in front of us is an immense screen.

After we were seated, our guide and host darkened the room. Then he pushed a button on the wall and to our amazement, our ship that we had left on the Moon was right there before us. This was done, we were told, by means of the little instrument which had been attached to our ship before we left the Moon for Mars. It is the same principle which we call 'television' but used with a far greater degree of advancement than we have yet learned on Earth.

"Here is something else," our friend remarked, as he pressed another button on the wall.

Our ship was gone and we were on Earth again, looking upon the airbase in the desert, a short distance out of Los Angeles, from where we had taken off on our trip to the Moon. The scene shifted and we were viewing downtown Los Angeles. The people walking along the sidewalks and crossing the streets were so clear and their individual expressions so distinct that we could easily have recognized anyone that we knew.

"You can now understand how we know so much about your Earth, what you do, how far you have progressed, and in what direction," explained our host.

"We know the people on Earth are hostile and to prove to you how well we know this, here is another part of the Earth you will recognize. Isn't this the part where the great law-giver was born, whom you call Jesus? See how hostile the people are around his birthplace, when he only gave love as the law by which men of the Earth were to live."

Another scene comes into view as he continues. "This is one of your large cities on Earth. Here you see two men arguing. One strikes the other. You call it 'fighting'. Isn't that hostile?"

"We give you another scene which you call a prison where you lock your brother up. Here you push a button and he is burned up. Isn't that hostile?"

"Here is still another scene of remembrance which goes into history against Earth's people. We see shattered bodies lying everywhere; children and older people are mangled. We see men destroying one another. And here is one way Earth man has used his scientific inventions for we see flying ships dropping destruction upon innocence. See how they all innocently have been blown into space. They had not even a chance, and you would say that is good? We call it hostile."

"That is why we do not desire to come to Earth or visit there, until the Earth becomes brotherly, where the Holy Father, the Creator of the Infinite Kingdom will be fully acknowledged; when the Earth man will do His will and not theirs."

Next he showed us the life of the Martonians as lived throughout their planet; then life upon the other planets in our solar system, and from here he brought before us life as lived upon other planets in systems beyond ours which was still greater.

As this comparison of life of man on other planets and other systems unfolded on the screen before us, our Martonian friend explained, "this is what we work for, to earn the right to go into other systems by the grace of our Infinite Father. This privilege can only be earned by serving the will of the Divine Father."

"It is just as in your educational system on Earth, a child cannot enter the higher grades or institutions until he has first learned the lessons of the lower classes. We are all children of the Infinite Father and a system of planets is really a big school with many grades in it. Planet Earth is not really a kindergarten, as we might call it according to the Earthly name, but it seems nothing higher than the first grade can be made of this classroom. The people on Earth have a very small amount of knowledge in relationship to the universe, and that little knowledge is a dangerous thing to the civilizations as they come and go; for with it their ego becomes inflated and they think they know it all. Ego really is only personality which tends towards hostility."

"When the people on Earth once realize that with the little knowledge they have, they really have none, since there is an eternal highway of learning and progression before them, and when they learn this fact well; they will eliminate the hostile expression within themselves and towards their fellow beings. Instead, they will become humble servants and willing subjects to be taught and guided by the Infinite Father that made their birth possible. After that, while most of them would be advanced unto greater rooms of knowledge, which is other planets, there would always be a certain number left on Earth to teach coming generations the same. In that way there will be a permanent inhabitation on Earth and no rising and falling of civilizations."

"That is why the Saturn pilots and the Jupiter pilots did not talk to you more than they did there in the airport on the Moon. You thought you were being rebuked. By the very thinking that you were rebuked you have displayed your hostile nature and your lack of proper understanding, for it was not meant that way by these men from the other planets who were merely trying to give you a word picture of yourselves as men on Earth are expressing. A higher understanding and intelligence could not be so easily touched as you have shown in this case. The fact is that there is a universal law operating in the solar system, as it is also operating throughout infinity, that one just cannot jump ahead of his time, and we Martonians, being the nearest like you Earth people, it is through us that you can be brought into relationship with those ahead of us."

"Let me give you an example. I will explain it this way for it is a lesson you must learn well before you can become an inhabitant of Mars, because the next step above your Earth planet is Mars for any of the Earthly ones. Yet we can take you on a tour to Venus, Jupiter or any of the other planets, were you permitted to enter these higher planes, and show you what the people there are like and their way of living; also what one would have to learn to be one of them; but to get all the secrets of their way of living or their knowledge is prohibitive. You must learn step by step starting with Earth evolvement in relationship with Mars. Then with Mars in relationship with Venus and so on."

"The Saturn pilots, as you have been told before, the Saturn planet itself with all its inhabitants is very just. Not more so than others, but she has been given the authority to be the balancer of the system that points out the wrongs for the rights. In other words, she enforces the law of compensation, 'as ye sow, so shall ye reap' in line with the Divine will. That is the reason those pilots spoke as they did. As to loving, they all love the lowest as well as the highest. There are no divisions shown, for they love all the creations of the Creator equally."

"This is one reason we have brought you to planet Mars, that you may be given a better understanding of the purpose of the solar system and your relationship to it. And this is to be given by you to all the inhabitants of Earth. There will be many through this explanation who will begin to really understand, as you say on Earth, what the score is."

Now the lights came on once more and we are leaving this building and going to another one nearby. It is an immense observatory, larger than we ever imagined could be built. Within it is housed a fifteen thousand inch telescope, very much like the one on the Moon except it is three times as large. It calculates distances and analyzes the bodies not only for their minerals and waters, but also for form-life upon the planets.

As many people as can get within the building can observe the revelations on its screen at one time. Here are held enlightening educational classes for the people of the planet.

Planets and systems, minute stars due to their distance were brought before us in all their glory as though they were in the immediate heavens.

Communication system? Yes, using the same instrument with which these stars were brought into view, they can also communicate with human beings upon any of them, if there should be any there.

Then, to our amazement, within a short time we were shown hundreds of thousands of planets outside of our own system, all inhabited. We noticed in this that the geometrical pattern is universal. The bodies as forms differ, some taller, some shorter, but in each case more exquisite, more beautiful than any upon Earth. One planet in particular in one of the solar systems which they called the twenty-second unit, the appearance and expressions of the people indicated great intelligence. They were very beautiful, yet only about two feet in size and looked like many dolls.

Dr. Johnston asked, "why are they so small? Is it due to heavy pressure?"

"No," our companion replied, "the pressure on this planet is fairly light but the gap, the space between planets is very small in comparison with other systems. However, neither of these have anything to do with the size of the people. This seems to be the pattern of the people here, yet they possess greater intelligence than our system has."

An adjustment is being made and focused on the screen in what we would call a vacuum spot, one of the many neutral zones in space. In it we could see particules, very minute particles of dust without any action, at least action could not be detected. It seemed that all particles were suspended in dead stillness. This vacuum-like space seemed to have an agitator enter it every now and then which looked to us like an electrical lightning shock. Our host explained that this came from a sphere, as an influence from out of one body to another, trying to close the gap. As this happened, it would agitate the seeming stillness and every now and then it would cause two or more particles to adhere to each other; then it would start them on a journey towards a form growth that later could become a planet or a sun or a moon or a comet.

As his explanation continued, he showed us upon another screen the difference between particles. This second screen was made of something like glass, yet it isn't glass. It is partially opaque, yet reflected in such a way that we could see the particles all the way around. In other words, all the sides of them showed at the same time.

As he was showing this to us, he explained the action in this way, "some of these particles have two masculine cells, while others have two feminine cells, and still others have two masculine cells and one feminine. If the ball which began to take place was made up of more of the masculine cells, it would become a sun, while if it was made up of two masculine cells and a feminine cell it would become a planet, whereas if it was made up of feminine cells, it would be a moon."

This seems to be the law by which all systems throughout the vastness are made and governed.

Although much of our time here has been spent in their 'houses of learning' where natural laws of infinity have been revealed to us by pictures and word explanations, we also have met many people and learned a great deal about them through observation.

They are all naturally of a fine character.

Their body structure is very much like ours except of a finer quality; while the clothing they wear is light in weight and exquisite in styling, attractive to each individual form.

The people are slow in speaking so that every thought seems to be well premeditated as well as pleasing. Their voices are soft and musical.

Everyone we have met is very easy going, one might say of a happy-go-lucky nature, thoroughly enjoying every moment of living. What labor they do seems to be in the form of recreation since they enjoy it so much. We call it labor for that is the way it would be known on Earth since our mode of living and working for the reward of money or honor makes a burden or labor of work to be done. Here, however, with their mode of living, doing all unto the Father with no thought of reward, their joyous enthusiasm makes easy the doing of that which to us would be labor. No one is in any hurry. Impatience is absolutely lacking upon planet Mars. They do for others as they would do for themselves and their reason for this has already been explained.

Their morals are very high and the word 'modesty' is not known, for as stated before, they don't know the word 'evil' or the word 'good', but just do the will of the Infinite.

The women are more of the madonna type that we have pictured on Earth. The mothers of the families are respected or looked upon as the Father's channels for His children to be born on the planet. Their life seems to consist of nothing but pleasure, for everything they do is pleasure to them.

All the people are very supple with bodies that seem to be what we would call double-jointed, for they can put them through any and every kind of maneuvering that can be thought of. Sickness or pain, we learn, are unknown to them.

The people here, with their joy and their way of living and working together all seem very wonderful to us, yet they remind us that as we have been shown on the screen, people on the other planets are still farther ahead in all these things than they are, for here they use machines for different purposes, while people on the other planets don't; there they have no need for machines to accomplish the same results. They say they are related to us closer than other planets are for they are just a step ahead of us. Yet, as we see it, that step consists of thousands of years in advancement. In other words, it is something like this, when we evolve as we should have done long ago, we will take their place in living as they do, while they will go still farther, living as the people on the next planet do. In fact, they are doing that even now, for those who have served the planet well and are finally called from it in what the Earth man calls death, are always called to the next planet which they have earned through service. In the absolute truth, we have been told, there is no stilling of any brother but rather increased action and steady progression as he develops or evolves.

Their span of life on Mars is from five hundred to one thousand years.

There are several residential districts in this city to fill the needs and satisfy the individual tastes of the people. Here, as on Earth, some families are large in number, some few, while other people enjoy living alone or with only one other person. Some needs are for large homes with lawns, others need only small homes and yards, while still others prefer living in apartments without any yards whatever to care for. So each person and each family has living quarters which he most enjoys.

The apartment or community houses vary too. Some have kitchen arrangements so the occupants may do their own cooking as they enjoy. Others do not. However there are community dining rooms conveniently located where the citizens may enjoy their meals, if they wish to have them prepared for them.

The furnishings within each home and apartment are according to the tastes and desires of the occupants, with everything up to the latest development in convenience and comfort.

All lawns are beautifully kept up and they all have marvelous color displays of growing flowers that seem to have personality to them, a definite drawing power which certainly does attract us. There is a variation of colors all blending with each other in a way that reminds us of a regular rainbow. Speaking of colors, these flowers are almost as delicate in color as the rainbow when we see it on Earth.

The dwelling places are all constructed of rock, some of which has a bluish cast and some of it has a pink cast. The rock trimming on some of the dwellings is light brown in color, while on others it has a greenish cast, having an appearance similar to an agate. The entrance of each home, but not the whole building, is made of the material that looked like pearls, the same as that used in the construction of the community social center building which so astounded us when we first saw it on our arrival here on Mars.

Now Johnny asks what that material is?

We are told it is a pearl-like rock formation which they have here and which is mined for building purposes. It comes in slab form from one inch to six inches in thickness and is broken up in various sizes according to the purpose for which it is to be used. It is not only beautiful but also very durable and nondeteriorating.

On the whole of planet Mars there are no slums nor congested areas. Neither are there any run-down or neglected places. Beauty, cleanliness and order are expressed in everything everywhere.

It could not be otherwise, considering their way of thinking and living.

All the streets are very wide. We have not measured nor asked, but we judge that in the residential districts they are about two hundred feet wide as compared to the business district where they are five hundred feet in width. Here, however, there is no flowering lane down the center. It is not necessary.

There is a considerable amount of timber growing in the mountain regions which they use in their building structures, we are told. Some of it is very hard and resembles mahogany. This is highly polished in every case. Then there is another kind of wood they have here which looks much like Earthly gum and is very hard. The grains within it are of various colors looking like marble. The trees from which this wood comes grow about one hundred fifty feet high, while the others grow to a height of seventy-five to one hundred feet.

The light of the day is not the yellowish sort of white-yellow color that we have on Earth, but rather, it has a bluish cast to it.

They have a big power plant here, too, that furnishes illumination and heat for the whole of the planet and the whole planet is well populated. The rural districts, they tell us, are just as well taken care of with all the conveniences as any city could be.

All power is developed by the planetary government and is freely distributed to all places for all needs. It is generated from light, the same as that used by the airships. Here in the power plant, we notice, there is also a stand-by and Bob asked what it was for?

The reason given was, that, should something happen to the apparatus generating their power from the light, they could resort to this sort of power, which was utilizing static electricity out of space.

Attending a concert under the stars was a most enjoyable experience. Several thousands of the citizens of all ages gathered for an evening in a large open spot just outside the city. Many brought musical instruments with them. Some of these were similar to those on Earth, while a few were entirely different than any we have ever seen before. There were no guests of honor at this concert. The instruments were played solely as accompaniment for the singers and everybody sang. The harmony and beauty of the melodies were so exquisite and the joy of the singers so unified in a smooth outpouring of feeling that we were carried completely out of ourselves in a state of joyous ecstasy. There are no words to describe such a concert. It can only be realized through feeling.

Their art excels anything on Earth.

For meat, they eat mostly various kinds of fowl, yet they are more vegetarians than meat eaters. Their vegetation has within it the richest minerals known to our scientists. Just to learn what he could about their mineral content, Dr. Johnston has tested some of the vegetables, using one of the laboratories here which he has been invited to use at any time he desires. After the test, he expressed the thought that if we could get as much out of our vegetation as they do here, we too could live a thousand years. At this, they told us the other planets are still richer in their minerals than Mars is, that the higher one goes, the greater richness they have.

For a telephone communication system they have more of a radio type than the kind we have on Earth. Each home has a receiver and a transmitter and the same instrument is also used for their amusement, very much the same way as we get amusement from our radio sets, as well as all news of the planet or from outside their planet which is of interest to the people. Everybody is well informed about all activities for there are no secrets from anyone on this planet.

There are four large oceans and many rivers and lakes on this planet as well as a considerable amount of natural desert-land. Water is brought from the oceans to the desert areas through vast canals, thus making them useable for vegetation growth.

At the entrance to these canals there is a big plant operated by which minerals are extracted from the water. The minerals, we are told, are used for manufacturing and many other purposes, while the water continues on through the canals to the deserts. Much gold is extracted from the water, which they use for ornamentation, especially in their temples. There are various other places in manufacturing where this gold is also used.

The waterways, which we call canals, are actually of vast size and have big ships floating upon them, mostly freighters, hauling vegetables to the inhabited settlements. The system is one of a unique nature. There is no lost motion nor lost energy anywhere.

Nowhere have we found confusion of any kind. Organization is perfect.

These people actually are a very, very happy lot. The whole of the population that we have seen so far seem to be interested in the other and doing for each other as for themselves. In that way, it seems that service is the predominate thought in all, with a conscious state of awareness. Living this way they have so developed their feeling that they are really experts in what we would call the science of mental telepathy, for they can read our very thoughts before we have a chance to express them in words. To them all that is done for their fellow being, is done unto the Creator, and as a result of this manner of living, only the best within each one is brought forth. Fear of any nature is wholly non-existent with their love and the foundation upon which the humanity is founded.

Do not misunderstand the word 'love' here. It is not the kind we on Earth know, which is possessiveness and passion. The love on Mars is expressed through each individual towards all others regardless how distant they may be in human relation, though as one would love an only begotten child. In other words it is a Divine love which knows no possessions but bathes all alike in its waters of loveliness. It is warm and gentle and kind, enveloping all alike and without any bindings whatever of personality. If a sacrifice was called for to help even one of us, total strangers, they would make it. Theirs is a love that is not easy to explain but is easy to feel and understand and wondrous to enjoy, for it is like the air we breathe that is given to all alike without differences. Children of one family are loved the same as of another, for as our remarkable host, the great scientist, had it in his little speech, they believe loving the Creator's creations is loving the Creator.

If I can be given the privilege of expressing my opinion, I would right here say that what the great Messiah tried to teach mankind on Earth is really being practiced here on Mars.

Our trip this evening is a visit to a large building just a little outside of the city which our host tells us is the main Temple of Divine Inspiration. It is a magnificent building towering about twelve hundred feet into space and covering around ten acres of ground, with a large dome, larger than anything we have ever seen occupying the middle part of it.

As we come into the portion of the building under the dome, we see another telescope just like the two we have seen previously, the one on the Moon and the fifteen thousand inch here on Mars, only this one is still larger. We are told it measures twenty-five thousand inches in diameter. The only difference between this one and the others, that we can see, is that the screen on which reflections are focused is proportionately larger.

The telescope is now being focused on the Moon and here on this large screen we see our ship and all around it in such fine detail that we can even recognize different ones of the natives who were left to care for our things during our absence.

An adjustment is made on the telescope and here we see the Earth focused upon the screen. This is a section of America. We see the towers of different broadcasting stations and their letters. We see cities just as clearly as if we were flying low over them. Now Los Angeles comes into view. We see the city hall and the entire Civic Center as though we were just above them. Moving on up into the shipping district we see people clearly enough to be able to observe their facial expressions as they walk along the sidewalks and in and out of the stores.

It is no wonder they know so much about the Earth. They can see nearly everything that goes on with the aid of this instrument. In fact, they really know more about us than we know about ourselves.

Now the European section of the Earth is brought into view and here is where our friend speaks up, saying, "see what you people on the Earth do. You build and then you destroy. That is why there isn't any true progress in your civilization. You have much to learn. You behave at present as though you were just little children, not knowing the value of each other."

The telescope is being moved again and this time we are told they are going to focus on Pluto, the farthest planet away from the Earth. Here comes Pluto into reflection on the screen. It is a large planet, half again as large as our Earth planet, or planet Venus and almost two and a half times as large as planet Mars, and they show us the whole of Pluto at one time.

This planet, too, is inhabited, we can see, for they are bringing portions of it into magnification showing us its inhabitation. The people seems to be a dwarf type of people, around three and a half feet to four feet tall at the most. They are built rather slender for their height, but well formed.

The cities are built in what we would call miniature but corresponding proportionately with the size of the people. These cities are beautifully laid out, what we see of them, and very artistic, reminding us of a fairyland.

Our host tells us that the inhabitants on planet Pluto really are ahead of those on all the immediate planets in advancement, that they are sort of masters of natural laws. Through being farthest out in our system, they get much knowledge in regards to other solar systems beyond ours and are more in relationship and contact with the near solar systems to them than they are with their own.

"And," he continues, "there is another planet almost on the border line of our system, about three hundred million miles away from Pluto, on the same line to the north of Pluto, where the people are still farther advanced than those on Pluto. It is nearly out of our system. The people on this planet are slightly taller than those on Pluto and in both cases they are almost of an angelic type."

We asked if the people on either of these planets ever come to visit any of our planets.

"No, but they do go to visit other solar systems from their own and transmit the information on to our planets," is the answer.

Johnny asked, "How is the transmission accomplished?"

"It is done through what you on Earth call mental telepathy."

So he wanted to know, "Do the Martonians communicate through the powers of mental telepathy?"

"We have a few who do, but for the most part we depend on instruments just like you people on Earth do, but Saturn, Venus and Jupiter are on constant communication with them, for most of their people use that power. As we in turn are moving between these planets with our ships, we get the information from them, then we check for records with our instruments."

Surrounding this observatory section of the building in which this gigantic telescope is housed are many large rooms of science. In each of these rooms is worked out mechanically to the minutest degree some phase of science. The people of Mars who come to this Temple of Divine Inspiration for greater learning are privileged to come to these rooms as they desire, to use and to study these mechanical developments.

Now we are to be taken through some of these rooms to see for ourselves how these things are worked out that their people might study them.

Our host and guide who is conducting us on this tour explains that in this first room we are entering there is the history, as well as a mechanical conception of the mystery of life as to how an invisible intelligence builds a form in which it later lives.

Here we are shown what we call ideas or thoughts passing through space. They are minute in size and have no special purpose. In form they are similar to dust particles or snowflakes, of perfect geometrical patterns. Separately they are almost like pieces of a jig-saw puzzle, but when they get together they form a complete picture of an idea. Each particle fits into the proper place to form a complete idea as thought, similar to so many pieces put together form a definite picture in a jig-saw puzzle. Or better, like so many vibrations unseen and unheard, condensed in a mechanical device known as radio, producing music or words. The invisible manifestations are prior to form expression.

In the beginning, form is preceded by what might be called an imaginary complete picture of what the form is to be. Once this is gathered in completion, slow-up action of all these minute units making up the imaginary picture starts taking place. As this slow-up action continues, the form gradually begins to come into visibility as a manifestation, for the difference between the visible and invisible is speed, or lower and higher vibrations.

For an example, when an electric fan is standing idle, its blades are an obstruction to things standing behind them, as far as vision is concerned. But when the fan is in high speed, the obstruction ceases to be. An invisibility of the blades takes place to almost such a perfect state that one is inclined to pick up the article that is behind the fan. Yet to do that, his hands would be struck with the blades.

So the invisible thought or picture may be called imaginary but it is real and can be brought into materialistic or solidified manifestation. Of course back of this life force manifestation is its perception and birth. Back of all forms lies the Fatherly intelligence of the Infinite Kingdom, called God. Beyond this, man cannot go.

The next room is of a vast size with a series of operations to be worked through, showing the birth and development of a planet.

Here we see a process taking place where clouds upon clouds of dust particles are floating freely in space. Now through the law of affinity, we see two different particles uniting as one. In doing so they take on a new sphere of action by becoming slightly heavier than they were singularly. Due to this uniting of the two as one, they become sort of masters over all other particles by now having a stronger influence than they had as single particles. It is almost the same as if you made a snowball and kept rolling it in snow until it became of a mammoth size.

So these united particles speeding on through clouds of dust draw more particles of dust unto themselves, thereby becoming a bigger and bigger ball. As it grows larger in size and heavier in weight, its speed also increases. At the same time the increasing speed compresses the particles tighter and tighter to adherence unto each other into more solidification.

During this process of growth and rapid whirling through space, the ball has made its own orbit within the system in which it is moving. Its orbit is a sphere of influence surrounding it, as well as a path that it will travel from now on, governed by the size and the speed of the ball. The larger the ball, the greater distance its influence will be felt.

It is similar to experiences most of us have had, when standing in dead calmness of atmospheric movement to let a car or a train pass by. If we stood too close to the moving object, there was a suction formed by its speed which had a tendency to draw us toward it; while at a certain given distance from it, there was a tendency to blow us away.

So it is with this ever-growing ball, this planet-in-the-making; its speed and size create what we know as gravitational force that pulls things unto itself out of space, while at a certain given distance away from it the force reverses or so-called gravity ceases.

Once the ball becomes a certain size and compression reaches a definite state, combustion within the center takes place. Since each particle of dust contains within itself in minute form, all elements known to man, the different minerals begin to melt and run into separate channels or lanes as the heat from the internal combustion grows in intensity. For instance, gold and silver melt into liquids through this terrific heat and flow within the ball into the channels of least resistance, lodging there in the form of veins. Other minerals do the same. If they happen to be of silica, they will not adhere tightly to each other when they meet, as rougher type minerals do, especially if the consistency of these glassy elements, like quartz, differ slightly from each other. Yet they meet. Because of their differences they do adhere to each other fair enough, but being very smooth, the union is not as firm as other minerals. This makes a weak spot in the ball which can easily slip through any sort of a jolt of sufficient intensity. Such a unification is known to man on Earth as a fault.

After the different ores are melted and flow together, the remaining portion of each tiny particle in the huge fast-whirling ball is tightly compressed into apparently solid or rocky formations, composing by far the greater part of this planet-to-be.

However there is nothing so solid but what is is porous. The gasses which have been freed by the heat of combustion within the center of this planet-in-the-making must escape someplace, so they begin to work through the ball to the surface, forced by a terrific pressure from within.

On their way to the surface a certain amount of the gasses unite while the rest continue outward. During the constant movement going on within the growing ball due to the heat, the melting and separating of the ores, the movement of the freed gasses and so on, pockets or cavities are formed inside the ball. Into these some of the united and condensed gasses flow, forming the underground rivers and lakes, as well as the pockets of oil made by the fatty residue of the particles that have been compressed, heated, and separated.

On reaching the surface of the ball, the gasses expand as they are warmed by the rays of the sun of the system and they also contract due to the cold created by the whirling speed of the ball itself when portions of the ball are shadowed from the sun's rays as it speeds on its path through space. Due to this process, the first moisture, like sweat, is formed upon the surface of the ball. At the same time, the expansion of these various gasses around the ball form what is known as an atmospheric belt, the width of which depends upon the size of the ball.

Within the atmospheric belt from time to time, due to the heat and cold and other disturbances, moisture is formed so that now and then rain falls upon the surface of the growing ball, filling the lower levels and cavities and thereby making the lakes, rivers, and oceans. From time to time these waters spill over other territories of the planet by its tilting one way or another.

As moisture from within and without the new planet dampens its surface and the enfolding atmosphere, the life germ within the dust particles is moved to activity. In the beginning a moss-like vegetation takes form in the creases and crevices of the surface where moisture is most prevalent. As time goes on and activity continues, larger and sturdier forms of vegetation grow forth from the life germ contained within the planet itself, also dependent somewhat on the temperature and moisture as well as the pressure of the enveloping atmosphere.

After food and water have thus been brought forth, insect life appears upon the planet, then fowl life, next the animal, with the human form being the last and finest expression to inhabit this new planet.

Here too is shown that during the growth and development of the planet as well as after inhabitation has taken place, upheavals known as volcanic action or earthquakes come from time to time. These are shown to be nothing but congestion of gasses accumulated in a period of time that eventually must escape in volume to the surface of the planet, for which man should be thankful. For if this wasn't possible, the planet would blow up into billions of parts like a balloon.

As we approach the end of this immense room, we observe the beginning of retrogression towards disintegration of life upon the planet, as well as for the planet itself.

In an adjoining room is a mechanical conception of the solar system complete, showing the sun as the central force and the radiation going out from its body in a terrific bombardment. It shows here that the sun is so cold that it is really hot. We can see how an invisible ray emanating from the body of the sun penetrated a sixty foot thickness of what we would call the hardest type of steel and its penetration turned the other side of that steel red.

Dr. Johnston asked, "what is this power really?"

"It is what men on Earth call atomic for convenience of expression," explained our host. "It is as good a name as any, but one thing we can say about it is, that it is electrical where it is repulsive as well as attractive, composed totally of a positive force; but to name it, we haven't been able to do that as yet. The only thing we know is that it is composed of seven different major elements that govern the solar system, and each tiny atom is made up of these seven elements."

"Would it be possible for people to live on the sun?" asked Bob.

"No," our host replied, "the force of its radiation is too terrific for any kind of form to be upon it. Yet it is possible that a form could be born to be in line with its radiation, for nothing is impossible."

"We have another telescope here," he continued as he pointed to it in the distance, "which analyzes the sun to the minutest part of it. There are thirty-three different types of rays emanating from it that permeate the total solar system. But as far as the sun is concerned, that is one part of our system we still have much to learn about."

From here we are taken into another room in which is a mechanical conception showing the pulsation system of the solar system as well as of each of the planets within it. While in the next room is very much the same kind of a pulsation system which makes up a human being, his brain acting as a receiver.

In the adjoining room is a working out of how ideas that come to men from nowhere are really made up, also how ideas that come from men themselves influence other men.

Now we are leaving this main building of Divine Inspiration and are going into an adjoining section or annex where we are asked to be seated in some beautiful armed chairs before a screen. Here a large picture is being taken of us as a group, including our host. We see ourselves as a picture reflected on the screen. The operator of this picture making machine tells us that by pressing a button on the wall, as he is about to do, our picture as we are will be transmitted to Saturn, Venus, and Jupiter all at one time and that in thirty seconds we will get the acknowledgment from Venus and the other planets back upon the screen. And here it is.

A highly distinguished individual is holding the picture in his hand just as we saw it on the screen a few seconds ago. We are told this man is on Venus and that this is their acknowledgment of receiving the picture.

Now another man appears on the screen, this one is from Saturn.

And here is the third, he is from Jupiter.

At this point our scientist guide steps out of our group, walks over to the screen, pushes two buttons and talks in a language we do not understand, to the individual from Venus who is holding the picture in his hand. This individual is answering. We can hear him but we do not understand what he is saying.

The conversation has finally ended and our guide is telling us that we have a standing invitation to visit Venus. We can accept it and go now from here or we can return some future day and go.

We tell him that we will decide within a short time and let him know.

He asks us why wait?

We answer him that our minds have been so occupied with the beauties and the marvels of the universe as he has been showing them to us, and this invitation has been so unexpected that we don't know just what to answer. We most certainly would enjoy a trip to Venus at this time, but there has been a wondering thought as to whether there might be an evaporation of the fuel for our ship, making us short on our return trip to Earth.

He replied, "you shouldn't worry about that. When the time comes for you to return to Earth we will see that your ship has all the fuel needed. We can make up on short notice, all the fuel you want of the kind you are using."

So without further hesitation we told him we would go to Venus now instead of waiting.

The date was made for two days later because he said, "we are going to groom a ship for that purpose, get it all in readiness for the trip, for we have different types of ships to go to different planets. And," he added, "I am going with you."

After these arrangements had all been made, we are taken to a beach resort along one of the ocean fronts where we will spend the next two days before leaving on our trip to Venus.

There is a beautiful building here, reminding us of some of our most exclusive club buildings in America, yet much more magnificent. In here we are given a suite of rooms containing elegance and comfort beyond our ability to describe. Here, as elsewhere, service is supreme and we are given anything and everything that our hearts can desire. Truly, we are being served as though we are kings of Earth.

After a good rest we venture to the beach along the water front. Many people are bathing in the waters of this ocean, while many others are lying around in the sands of the beach. They are of all ages, pretty much as we see them on Earth, only here we see people of different colors all playing together and having a wonderful time as we can see by their expressions and actions. They are all very carefree. The beauty part of it is that we cannot detect any distinction between the groups, all seem to be one. It is so different than on Earth where you see the poor on one part of a beach, then those a little better off, and very much segregating themselves are the wealthy.

The only distinction that seems to be on this beach is us, for we are of a slightly different structure and they know we are from the Earth planet, but at that we are taken in as though we are one of them, not through curiosity but with a warm feeling of friendliness. No differences in feeling or actions is shown between us and the inhabitants of their own planet.

Their friendliness is so encompassing that we are now talking to a group of citizens who are basking on this beach. To our surprise they too, can speak as well as understand our language, even as their scientists and others have. They are asking us about our Earth and telling us about theirs. All these people are scientifically well learned. Even the little children ask us questions that our scientists on Earth would not think of. Being among such people is beginning to make us feel kind of carefree ourselves, and we like it.

We have been here now one day and one night. During last evening we had a most exhilarating time. We will never forget it as long as we live. In this magnificent building in which we are staying there were many types of entertainment going on. The place was filled with people and all were thoroughly enjoying themselves. Some danced while others only watched. In one large room a drama was being staged to a large and enthusiastic audience. In another section games were being played. Some of them seemed similar to various sports enjoyed on Earth, but others were entirely different than any we had ever seen before. One thing we noticed about those participating in the games. There seemed not the slightest feeling of competition on the part of any of the players, but instead, a whole hearted expression of joy by all. Here, as everywhere else on this planet, we saw some people who were fairly dark, others were white, while still others had an olive color complexion, yet all the body structure is pretty much the same. This showed us that there are at least three races of people here, but the way they mingle together in work and in play, we have been unable to detect the slightest difference of feeling anywhere. And of course all speak the same language which we do not understand. Only when they talk with us they use our language and we can understand them.

Now it is morning of our last day here. We are told that we will be leaving for the airfield during the afternoon in preparation for the trip to Venus.

Chapter VIII

VENUS

As evening approaches we reach the airport where the last final details of checking the ship before taking off have been completed. From all appearances this is a new ship and much larger than the one which brought us here from the Moon. In response to our admiration, our host tells us this is to be its maiden voyage. Upon entering, we find it to be a luxurious palace within which is also a fully equipped scientific laboratory.

This ship has been built in line with the latest Martonian developments. It too is of the triple body structure, has a spear-type nose and is equipped with an air system which automatically maintains the air within the ship at a pressure and temperature most comfortable to the occupants.

Two other scientists besides our host are accompanying us on this trip to Venus. The ship's personnel numbers sixty, including these two scientists.

The prospects of this trip fill us with thrilling excitement for on it we are venturing still farther into space, to a planet that Earth men had proclaimed as probably uninhabitable since they had never been able to penetrate its surrounding atmosphere.

Many dignitaries are at the airport to wish us good luck on the trip.

Our takeoff was so smooth and noiseless that we were unaware of leaving the ground. At an altitude of two thousand feet, the pilots level off and glide for awhile that we may see more of planet Mars, her cities and her countryside.

The surface appearance of Mars is very similar to that of Earth. There are many large mountain ranges with very fertile valleys lying between them. We also saw a flat area corresponding to our plains and many rivers. We have passed over a few fair-sized cities and many hamlets. Now we can see one of the polar caps in the distance. It looks like a very large glacier, but we are not going closer to it for here is where we get on the beam to Venus.

It is odd how they do this. On the instrument panel of the ship is a small screen upon which the light of the planet to which they are going is focused. The details of this instrument we don't know, but the principle is the same as that used by an astronomer when he gets an image in the dead center of the mirror of his telescope. Once the planet is perfectly focused upon the screen, one of the pilots pushes a button and the ship is definitely on the light lane towards its desired destination.

Our host explains that once this is accomplished, no outside interference can cause the ship to change its course for it is actually being pulled forward by the light.

This explanation seemed to us to be in reverse, for we had been taught that planets reflect light, having no light of their own; then the light should be going away from them. Yet he tells us that we are being pulled towards the planet by her light.

Noting our confusion, he continued, "the light does not go away from the planet into space, but rather it comes from out of space towards the planet. It is travelling towards the planet instead of from it. For you see, the sun is in the center of a system and all planets revolve around it in their respective orbits. That which you call light is radiation from the sun and is actually travelling from the sun to the planet. The reflection from the planet is short lived. It doesn't penetrate into space very far. It really becomes dead within the atmosphere of the planet."

"Why does the telescope seem to get the light direct from the planet?" questioned Dr. Johnston.

"That is nothing but an illusion," replied our friend. "All that a telescope does is reflect an image. A planet itself has no source of light, so it cannot give out light; but it is illumined by the sun's radiation which we call light. For this reason the same instrument cannot be used in studying the sun that we use on the planets and stars. The reflected image is a cold or negative light, while the direct radiation is a hot or positive light. However, all light is an electrical force or energy."

"Thus you can understand how the ship is actually being pulled as well as pushed by the light or radiation which is steadily flowing from the sun towards the planet, travelling with the speed of light, as Earth men call it, while we say at the speed of the sun's radiation."

One thousand miles out from Mars we entered a shower of meteors of various sizes. This we have been able to enjoy thoroughly, without fear, for we know the ship is equipped with a repulsing power which extends five hundred miles into space, thus protecting us from a dangerous bombardment.

But five hundred miles is a long way, so Bob wanted to know why it was necessary for the power to extend that far from the ship.

One of the ship's scientists answered Bob's question. "Meteors travel so fast that were they not deflected so far from the ship, they would be upon us before we knew it. Even so, there are some very large meteors which are able to penetrate this outer wall of protection. During the entire time of passing through these showers we observe our screen closely so when we see a meteor continuing towards us, we have time to throw our heavier power of protection into operation, which is the middle wall of the ship. Its influence extends only two hundred fifty miles into space but is so strong that no meteor yet has ever been able to penetrate it. When we first attempted interplanetary travelling our ships were built with only a single wall, but then we lost many of them due to the heavy meteoric bombardment. Even then the ships of other planets were constructed with three bodies and used the law of repulsion for safe travelling. Since we learned this and built our ships accordingly, we too have enjoyed safe travelling to Venus, Saturn, and Jupiter. There are rather heavy meteoric showers between the Earth and the Moon, and the Moon and Mars, but between Mars and the other planets they are much heavier, with far larger meteors."

"Speaking of meteors, in our House of Records we have an account of a meteor falling through space and getting caught in the magnetic field of an almost neutral zone where it went whirling in a circle just outside the borderline of the gravitational powers. Becoming so hot through continuous action, it became a sun and is still serving as a sun in one of our present solar systems. The records shows that this took place three hundred million years ago. During this time, around this particular meteor known today as a sun, a solar system has been built upon which human life is just beginning."

"Since this has become known, scientists on other planets are beginning to wonder if others of our suns have not come into being just that way."

"With the type of telescope your men on Earth have, they cannot see this system, but with our telescope we can see it. Its distance is one billion sextillion light years from Mars."

We are now half way to Venus and encountering so many meteors that they almost illuminate our path. These are of various colors and look much like different types of fireworks. Some appear to be cold as we see them by the light of others. On this screen which we have been watching, we can see meteors of different sizes, some would easily weigh twenty to fifty tons. These large ones must call for a tremendous repulsing power to turn them away from the ship. We wonder how strong it really is.

Sensing the question in our minds, the scientist explains that it doesn't take much power since it operates on what we would call a down force. Once a meteor hits the repulsing wall it begins to fall, so to speak, instead of continuing on its forward path. But we noticed that when the fifty ton meteor was sighted they threw in the second repulsing wall, probably just as a precaution. It really looked just like a big ball of fire.

He is telling us that, "some meteors have fallen on Mars weighing around fifteen million tons. Since all meteors are largely composed of iron as well as other minerals, we Martonians have an electro-magnet so powerful that we can pull them right out of the ground and then cut them open to study their composition. Some of these meteors have contained crystals so hard within their centers that we had nothing which could cut them. One time an exceptionally large meteor hit our planet which, because of its immense size and the force with which it hit, we did not try to remove from the ground for twenty years. Even after that length of time, when we pulled it out and cut it open, it was still tremendously hot in the center. In cutting this one we were lucky for we missed the pocket of crystals, otherwise we would never have been able to cut it in half."

We have passed through the gap between Mars and Venus which was nine million miles in width, but riding in this ship is so very smooth that we didn't know we had entered it until we were told.

"Now we are within twenty million miles of Venus and are about to enter the heavy atmosphere surrounding this planet. This is a sort of cloud bank made up mostly of particles of dust. We have to use the repulsing power on this too because travelling at the speed we are, those particles would really sandblast our ship," explains the scientist. "This cloud is produced mostly by satellites of Venus which are not like the Earth's moon. They have terrific dust storms blowing over them constantly which produce a dust belt around the planet half a million miles in width. It is not a belt in the sense you use this word, meaning a band which girds only a certain portion. We speak of it as a belt because of its thickness, but it entirely envelopes the planet, acting as a protective casing and shielding her from the intense heat of the sun's bombardment, since she is so close to the sun."

We are now through the cloud and can see Venus as a planet perfectly. The air from here it seems to be very clear but quite moist. The instruments indicate an appreciable amount of moisture. They also had indicated the presence of much moisture through the entire width of the dust cloud. It seemed to us more like fog than dust. We thought the presence of fog or moisture that far from a planet was quite a distance, but the scientist says it is not, that planets in other solar systems have similar conditions out that far and farther, but planet Venus and planet Mercury are the only ones in our system having such protective shields, but these two are of different consistency.

We are nearing Venus and the instruments continue to show the presence of a great deal of moisture. The countryside has a lush green covering, proving there is a lot of water on this planet, while the city we are circling a thousand feet above seems more of a fantasy than a reality. Our Martonian host tells us this is the capital of Venus and the largest city on the planet, but to us it looks more like castles built on clouds. The pilots have been circling to enable us to enjoy this beauty to the utmost. Just as they were preparing to land, rain began falling, a regular downpour, and we received a signal from the ground to delay landing for a short time. Such rains seem to be a regular occurrence for we are told by the scientist that they get these downpours here about three times a day during certain seasons of the year, but they are of very short duration.

Now the rain has stopped and we are signalled to land. Many large ships are on the ground here at the airfield, all Venetian with the exception of two: one of these has the insignia of planet Jupiter, while the other has planet Saturn pictured on it.

There are many people at the airport to welcome us, the first Earth men to set foot upon Venus in many centuries. They are cheering as the doors of the ship are opened. Our Martonian host is leading us out. At the door of the ship he is met by a Venetian scientist with whom he shakes hands in greeting and then introduces us.

When Dr. Johnston is introduced as an Earth scientist, he is handed a large bouquet of flowers, a gift from the scientists of Venus. Their fragrance is exhilarating and their texture is as fragile as iridescent webs.

Breathing at first was somewhat difficult since the air is so light but we were able to quickly adjust ourselves so that we can now breathe easily.

Our attention is turned to the people about us who are as beautiful and fine in their form as the flowers in their kingdom. We feel as though they are looking right through us and can actually read our minds. We have been told they are experts in the field of mental telepathy, so we will have to watch our thoughts carefully.

The women are so ethereal that there are not words to describe their beauty and the men seem radiant with mental and physical alertness. The children are joyous and free and remind us of cherubs. We seem to be engulfed with a feeling of kindness and relaxation that comes from these people.

The whole atmosphere is permeated with a prismatic radiation of color that even the buildings reflect.

A magnificent conveyance is coming towards us and as it stops three men step out to greet us. Our Martonian host introduces them to us as the leaders of Venus, Saturn and Jupiter, adding, "Each of these planets, as on Mars, knows no divisions as states or nations. Each planet has one chosen leader who is assisted by a council of representatives of the people. And here too, the leader recognizes his position as an honor and a privilege to serve the people according to the will of the Creator."

The cordial welcome of these men makes us feel that we are not strangers but more as though we have always known them.

Upon invitation, we enter the vehicle and find it luxurious and comfortable. It seems to operate much the same as the ones on Mars. An attendant opens a back compartment and serves us each a drink. Dr. Johnston proposes a toast "to the health of the Earth." It is appropriate, for if Earth men could experience the wonderful things that we have witnessed, it would seem very worth while.

The aroma of this drink is like fragrant roses, the taste like mint. It is as clear as water and we are told that it is exhilarating but not intoxicating.

When our drinks are finished, the head of Venus says they have come to take us to their Council Building.

It is warm, for the recent rain combined with the heat which is about eighty, makes the atmosphere stifling; but we are the only ones who seem to notice it. As we ride through the streets towards our destination, the buildings and the layout of the city resemble a fairyland description of beauty and perfection. Everything is so spotlessly clean that it seems to sparkle.

The foliage of the trees and shrubs is of lacy pattern, while those that have blossoms are draped with garlands of flowers. There are different varieties but they are all of lace-like structure.

The buildings glow with a soft iridescence. Along the wide boulevards are statues of exquisite workmanship which act as illuminating standards.

Our conveyance has stopped and we are in front of the Council Building. It is dazzling to our sight for its rails and doors seem to be made of gold.

Immediately in answer to our thought came the reply, "It is gold, what you men of Earth call gold. Here on Venus gold and silver are more abundant than any other metal. Since gold does not tarnish it is used for ornamentation and many purposes. Because of their abundance, these metals are used for pipe lines to carry water and utilities to homes and buildings. They are alloyed with more scarce metals for hardening. Should these ever become scarce in natural resources, we can easily manufacture them."

To enter the building we ascend four wide stone terraces. On the first is the symbol of the Earth; the Moon is on the second terrace; the third symbolizes Mars, while the top terrace is of Venus. We now stand upon a large veranda that seems to be made of Mother-of-Pearl, but it is cushioned when we stop upon it. On either side of the massive gold doors are pillars of alabaster while above the doors are symbols of Saturn and Jupiter. Above these and to either side are symbols which we cannot read.

Entering the building, we find ourselves in a round room of vast size. There must be about ten thousand people seated in this room. In the center of the room is a large round table at which we are seated. From the center of this table extends a torch-like pedestal from which brilliant lights go forth in four directions, focused upon statues of the Deity like we saw on Mars. One is to the north, another to the south, a third is to the east and the other to the west. In the center of the torch is a ray shooting directly upward to a portrait of the Deity beautifully painted at the top of the immense dome of gold and silver inlay. About this figure are murals representing the vastness of the universe with its many solar systems, with each solar system having a mural of one of its planet's inhabitants.

The tables are set with gold service trimmed in intricately designed silver. The napkins are embroidered with silver on cloth finer than linen. A steaming hot fish on a large golden platter is placed in front of each one. Chalices filled with a liquid that looks like wine, yet doesn't smell like it, are being served. A fluffy bread of a rich yellow color is placed upon the table, also a green vegetable. It looks like there is more here than we will be able to eat.

The head spiritual leader has arisen to say grace. He is saying, "the fish in front of each one represents symbolically the eternal quality of purity, for its birth is given by the life-giving fluids known as water, of which eighty percent or more, of all form-life is composed. It is the purest of all liquids and without it no form could be."

"We give thanks unto the Great Creator of all creations for the privilege and the honor bestowed upon us, the people of Venus, to come face to face with our brothers from another Mansion of Thy planetary House, known as Earth. This is the first time this privilege has been granted since the race of wisdom known as the Triton race was on Earth. The liquids which flow through the veins of every form in each Mansion of the many within Thy House is the same in all, for it flows out of the heart of the Creator into its creations. We are now gathered to feast as one, to partake of the good things which the Creator has given unto us, that our bodies and our minds shall be quickened to the wisdom and the guidance that is yet to come."

We feel so still that we are hardly aware that those about us have started to eat. As we regain our senses, we partake of the food as though in a dream.

The fish is very tasty, white in color, light and fluffy in texture and quite different from any that we have ever eaten. The bread is more like cake, not sweet but not dull as Earth bread. The greens and fruit are excellent. The drink that we thought might be wine, really is not but it takes the place of tea or coffee. It is made from a bean that grows on a tree and has the quality of replenishing the blood corpuscles, keeping them up to a standard at all times. It tastes more like an apple than anything else.

The feasting is finished and quiet fills the room as the head of Venus rises to his feet to speak. On each side of him are seated the other two leaders, the one from Saturn and the other from Jupiter. We are seated opposite to them.

And this is what the speaker is saying:

"My brothers, you have journeyed a long way to visit our beloved homeland which has been given unto us by the same Creator that has given yours unto you. We, within our hearts and within every fiber of our beings, rejoice in the name of the Universal Father for making it possible to bring our distant brothers so near to us, that as forms we may touch each other. For we are forbidden to venture out into lower realms, while thou art privileged to rise from planet to planet, as thou hast been given the birthright of thy Father's total Kingdom. For each step that thou hast taken in the vast expanse of thy Father's Kingdom are of strength and wisdom, growing as the lily in the field, and thou, if thou continue, shall become as beautiful as the many beautiful things in the Creator's allness. But thine people of Earth, to know the greatness of their Father as we do here, must mend their ways before they be given the right to venture into the eternal palace. For when thou cast the precious fluid of thine brother upon the earth upon which thou trod, thou then walketh upon the fluid that has flowed unto thine brother from the heart of thine Father. When thou despiseth thine brother, thou too despiseth thine Father, for it is thine Father's breath that thine brother eateth daily. But when thou learneth the ways of our Father, when once thou proceedeth to dwell with all thine brothers that thou hast met on the way, as thou dost dwell with thineself, thou shalt not be long journeying to His Palace, as it did not take thee long to come unto us."

"We all have gathered here at this time, have gathered in the greatest humbleness, and yet with a joy unexpressible, because of the journey which thou have made. May thine brothers of Earth, when thou hast returned to them, open their minds and their hearts that the knowledge that thou will give unto them of the things that thou hast been privileged to see and to know, may be a feast of strength and faith, and beyond all, love unto all as unto thineself, of a pure heart and a pure mind, as thou thineself hast partaken upon this table."

Now the Saturn man has risen.

"My brothers, I cannot express the joy within my being for your presence here. As you by now do know, I have made the journey to the planet of Councils, the planet of love for all creations, only to be with you. For as you know, I am from the planet known to you as Saturn, largely misunderstood by the Earth men, for some upon your Earth say that we are, because of the name, satanic. Yes, to some we may be so, for we are as just as justice could ever be. We mete out influence of justice to all of the system, and since the Earth men have been disobeying all laws of thine Infinite Father, we have according to justice, given them what they asked for, which has not been pleasant, once they have received it. But when they have awakened through these unpleasant conditions, they will realize the justice of ours. Then the greater blessings from the Central Throne of the Creator will begin to flow unto them and their advancement unto us will become steady. For that reason I came to this planet to speak unto you, for you are forbidden to enter ours until you have proven yourselves to be like all the rest of us. For the advancement in many things is far beyond the dream of Earthly men, which we on planet Saturn have. And should they once learn of these things from us by viewing them, Earth men, in their present state of mind would use it for no good purpose. That is the reason you brothers have not been allowed to enter our ship when it reached the Moon, for there are many things that you could have used for no good purpose. But when you become ready, by living as the Father intended you to live, all these things and more shall be revealed unto you. May the knowledge and the wisdom that you learn on this journey be of writing for the people of Earth. And we shall be waiting for all the Earth people to visit us at some future day, as we have always waited for that time to come."

Now the Jupiter leader gets up.

"I, too, have come to see you, for distance to us is none, for totality is our home in our system in which thine home lies too. We are the Creator's interpreters of law, for from His Throne flows the knowledge and the wisdom unto us that we may in turn give unto those who hunger for it. We are ready at all times to become servants unto the Earthly ones, guiding them if they but let us, to joys and happiness undreamt of by men on Earth. But the unification of thine household must come first. Thine right for servants must be earned. We too have much to give, but what we have, through lack of knowledge and wisdom, can be to the detriment of the children of Earth. But when they have proven themselves worthy, all of the golden gates of thy Father's Heavenly Kingdom shall be opened unto them and the blessings which they shall not be able to count shall be bestowed upon them. But until such a time, we shall wait until man of Earth is ready to be served. May the wisdom and the knowledge that thou hast learned to know in this House of many Mansions be of renewal of the spirit of the Earthly man. For nine times now he has been, through his own conditions, an outcast of the House."

And with this the three of them came around the table and placed their hands upon us and blessed us. We could feel the power go right through each one of us.

Then the whole of the people within the building rise to their feet as one and in unison say, "Brothers of Earth, awaken unto thyself, awaken unto thy Father that thou may come and make His House as one. For up till now the House is complete for all the Mansions within it, with the exception of one, are united unto the Father's will, except thine Mansion of Earth."

And they seat themselves again.

Now the head of Venus has risen once again and says:

"My brothers, we have gathered in the Temple of Councils, which is the House of all thine Houses within which Mansions brothers dwell. For here we have gathered for ages to consult one another in the knowledge received from our Father of His Infinite Kingdom and this is the first time whereby we have sat at the Council Table with a representative of one of the Mansions known as Earth planet. And so therefore, we will open the Book of Secrets within this Planet of Councils to the degree of the understanding nature that ye brethren are endowed with. We, as a House of many Mansions are but just one House of the vast Kingdom within which are countless Houses, each greater than the other. And as the knowledge has been given unto us by the great messenger from thy Father's Throne, that the Kingdom within which are many Houses and within them the many Mansions, is one for His children to know continuous happiness by advancing from one unto the other, which is done by the guidance of His Will and not the will of the form. The will of the form was given unto the form, only to will its will unto the Will that gives it breath, and by so doing become a channel for the Father's expression throughout His vast Kingdom. And the rewards for becoming such a channel, no form can conceive, for they surpass all that a form-will can imagine, for they bring forth the absolute certainty of eternity and the needs for such a manifestation as each moment of eternal time passes. A form that serveth the Will of the Father never knows any sorrows or any wants of any nature, for it is glorified every moment of its being by the Father Himself. This is the purpose of the form-life known as man and the purpose of all form life known in lesser names. What a foolish form they be, acknowledging the Father that gives them birth and eyes to see, and yet provisions for it to be He did not make, as men on Earth today do say. And because all this absolute truth not within him be, he strives for self and supports himself by the law he so made, the survival of the fittest, the only law he can see. And because of this, darkness is where light should be. When asked if he believes in Divinity, by all means, he says, I do. Yet this is not true, for if it was so, he long ago one with us would have been. For we throughout this House do His Will and as one we have come to be, with the exception of the Earth's humanity, where we wish he, the truth did see, that the Will of Divinity was his way. The House would have been complete with lasting happiness among them, instead of conquest and defeat. And this, my brethren, we reveal unto thee in the Temple of Councils, that the whole Infinite Kingdom may someday rejoice when our long lost brothers will mend their ways and forever be allowed to council with us as now."

After finishing this saying he opens a large book lying before him and as he opens it he says, "here is the record of the Earthly men from which they must repent."

And as he said that, the man of Saturn read the page that he turned and he said, "when he does, this is what he will earn," and there on that page promises so great that our human minds could not conceive.

But one thing we did realize that on Earth sorrow would be no more, but happiness everlasting born upon the human kind, coming forth directly from the Hands of the Divine. But this must be earned by faith so firm in the giver Divine that no longer would man say 'this is mine, but what is mine is also thine'.

And with this another page is turned and the Jupiter one speaks.

"This vast Kingdom of our Father Divine is for all and not yours and mine, for great you may say we here at present be, but we just have begun to serve Divinity. For billions of Earthly years are just but a fleeting moment in the eternal span, which realization awaits the Earthly man. And his mind at the present date, is nothing but in a slumbering state, which accounts for no faith in the Giver of life for all his needs each day. And when the Earthly brethren have learned this well, and serve as all the rest within the House do serve, they will no longer be the two, but all as one, for one is all there is. For we as forms could not be, without His Holy Breath be given unto you and me."

And with this the book was closed.

We ask if we can say something. We really didn't ask. We thought we would like to ask and the privilege has been granted without us saying a word, for the answer from them came as the question was in our own minds.

"How come in the gatherings so far we have been given the philosophy of life, some more deep than others?"

The Jupiter man is answering our question, saying that unless we learn these ways and do them as they are done throughout the Kingdom of the Infinite Father, we too are doomed to go as other civilizations that preceded us have gone. That the "advancement in mechanical instruments which are mostly used for destructive purposes on Earth is no advancement toward eternity but rather the satisfaction of egotistical men who are trying, and in some cases have done so, exalting themselves even above the Creator's consciousness. They are living by the law of conquest rather than the law of faith, not trusting to the Divine Father who gives them birth for their daily needs, but rather providing for themselves, making that way sure that they would have, while not sure that the Father would provide. Having the inherited birthright within their being of the Infinite Father which is above all things, yet not understanding what the feeling actually is, they are trying to exalt themselves above their fellow man, one over another, and thereby enslaving one another unto their will."

"That is the reason for us giving you the philosophy of the House of our Father by which all its inhabitants do live. If thou art to become one of us, thou too must live this philosophy."

There is no clapping nor noise making here at the completion of these speeches, but rather an intense feeling of joy and reverence and oneness.

Now all at our table have risen and we are leaving this Temple of Councils. We have stopped just outside the building to admire the beauties we are able to see from here.

We must say that we have seen some beautiful and magnificent things up to this point and we have used the word indescribable before, but how we can describe what we are seeing here is puzzling us right now, for the beauty of this city and its inhabitants excels anything and everything we have thus far seen.

The people here seem to know what we are about to say before we say it. If one doesn't want them to know what he is thinking, he had better quit thinking, that is if he can do it. That is all we can say. They not only know the human mind, but they are able to commune with all other forms as well. They seem to be living by a feeling. That is correct, for in response to our thought one of the men explains that feeling is the universal language. This we have acknowledged before.

"This is the way it works," he tells us, which we can easily understand. "Before you can express a thought, you must feel it first. And let me explain this word 'feeling' just a little better, what it might be like. It is sort of an alertness of what the thought represents. For an example: you conceive a thought. That thought is actually felt by you in the full representation of what it might be. Then you give utterance to it, which is thought expressed of your own language. And that is the way our people here are schooled. We feel your thought as you feel it, the moment that you conceive it. In that way we can commune with any and all forms, and distance as space is not a barrier to it. For you see, a conscious thought travels fifty times faster than light travels. In this way we don't have to do much sound talking since we get each other's thought in the virgin state when it is first conceived. This is why our city and everything about it, including all of our people are beyond your power of word description. For these are all a representation, more, they are all a virgin thought, and since thought is felt, our expressing through the feeling channel of which you men from Earth have such little understanding, makes you feel that the buildings, the statues, in fact all of man's creations on this planet are endowed with a feeling, almost as if they were humans. In other words they are endowed with life that seems to be emanating from them to you. This is easily understood since the thought was a feeling and created as a feeling in creating that thought into form."

Here we are shown by one of the ladies, we would say around nineteen years of age, how this form of communication works, for she walked up to a beautiful flower growing here in front of this building and had the flower, through thought feeling, turn completely around in a circle and then made it bow and even went so far as to command its petals to close for us. On Earth we would call this magic. Here it is a natural field of expression, a communion with all forms of creation.

She tells us that, "if you on Earth would develop that inherent quality within you and had full faith in it, you could have a communication with us or with others in any part of the universe at will. People here use this method of communication throughout the system as well as among ourselves. If we want to meet someone someplace or tell him something, where you Earthly people use telephones, we use our minds and it never fails. We even use this same channel of feeling to the extent that we listen to the beautiful symphonies on other planets in any part of the universe and there are many other powers that we exercise which are a natural inheritance of man, of which you Earth men as yet have no knowledge."

These people on Venus are very remarkable people. They seem to look right through us. They know us from the very minute part of us and no matter how bad they find us to be, due to our method of bringing up, they still look upon us in a very loving manner. They don't seem to hold anything against us regardless of our lower thoughts, and we know that they know what we are thinking by this time. Also we know that once in a while a thought creeps into our minds that is not of their standard. And realizing what they know makes us kind of feel ashamed of ourselves, but they don't show any recognition of it.

We learn that the unity of living and serving among all inhabitants is pretty much the same as we found on Mars and even on the Moon.

The life span here is one thousand to fifteen hundred years and they tell us that some have lived longer than that. Aging begins around eight hundred years yet their aging would be our youth on Earth.

The mothers look no different regardless of the size of their families, than a young lady does. They always maintain their beautiful forms.

There is no kind of sickness nor unhappiness on this planet any more than on any of the others. They really don't know the words 'bad health'. Neither do they know anything of such words as 'envy', 'jealousy', 'hate' or 'greed'.

Now we are getting into the vehicle of transportation in which we were brought to this building and we are going for a tour of the city.

The city, homes, playgrounds and even their amusements are beyond imagination of men on Earth. You will have to see it to believe it, but they really do appear like a fairyland in the clouds.

The whole utility system of the planet is operated by light energy, we are told.

In the city and in the homes they dress with gorgeous, gown-like effects but very light, almost transparent. The people themselves are almost that.

They are all remarkable singers, voices like we have never heard anywhere and they sing a lot. The most beautiful part of it is that when they sing the whole nature seems to join them, for here in the park right now there must be five thousand voices singing for us and all the birds are in on it too, just as if they were trained.

There seems to be about six different races of people on this planet but we are told that there are twelve. No race predominates over the other. The forms, you might say, are a perfect geometrical pattern. The complexion of the white people is not the kind of dirty white we have on Earth, but pure white with a rose cast to it, like on their cheeks, just as if they were painted. Most of the white people have light sandy hair, very fine at that and all seem to be wavy.

One of the other races is somewhat like our complexion, a little darker than the real whites are. On Earth we would call it a ruddy complexion.

Then there is a brown race. This brown race is slightly shorter in height than the whites and their coloring is almost of a bronze color.

There is another race we see around here. These people are reddish color, almost copper, tall, firmly built.

And we are told that up in the southern part there are some whites but mostly they are darker people, almost black, and that their eyes slant a little, while the eyes of the people here are very much like our own.

From what we have seen thus far on Mars and here, as well as on the Moon, it seems that the geometrical pattern of the human form is universal, the only variations is in height, taller or shorter. Birds and animals too are pretty much of a universal pattern. These vary in color and size sometimes quite a bit from those on Earth.

Right here on Venus they seem to have more singing birds than we have on Earth or than we have seen anywhere else so far.

We asked if there are any wild beasts of any kind?

They ask, "what do you mean, primitive animals?" And then replied that there were many of them.

So we asked if they ever harm anybody?

They said, "no, there has never been anyone harmed by anything yet." They added that a Divine creation harms nothing if it is not ignored.

Then we asked if they ever do any hunting or anything like that?

They didn't know what that was even, that is they didn't know what the word meant, but they did get our thought and said, "by hunting you mean killing. We don't do such things here. What we must eat we get and no more, but every time we do, we thank the Creator for the gift in the form it gives itself unto us."

We haven't seen any large manufacturing plants of any kind or anything that would suggest it, but they tell us there are many, but the manufacturing places, we would call them factories, are built just as beautiful as homes or business buildings, so we couldn't tell them apart.

They tell us they have nine oceans, many lakes and rivers, majestic, towering mountains and very beautiful woodlands. On their oceans they have very large ships. For overland transportation they have a system similar to our railways but since they use light for energy, they need no rails for their cars as we do. The power engine pulls thirty to forty cars, what we would call cars, yet they don't look like any that we have. They seem to be gliding right over the surface of the ground. In other words they have all the modern conveniences so far ahead of us that we haven't even begun.

The atmosphere here is very, very pleasant. This day, according to our own thermometer which we have with us, the temperature registers ninety-seven degrees. At first, as we mentioned, it was a little stuffy because of the heat and the rain that had come just before we landed here. The humidity is around ten on the average but at times it goes up to eighty. That is when it is really stifling, yet they don't mind at all.

In other words, everything is so beautiful here that we begin to think this might be heaven.

But again our thoughts are read for they tell us that there are billions of solar system beyond this one, and each solar system is greater than the one preceding it, so that when man goes through all the phases of our system and learns what he is supposed to learn in our system, he goes on to the next one and forever keeps on going that way eternally, from system to system.

They tell us that many great souls of Earth have been reborn on one or the other planets, depending on what they have learned while they were on Earth in reference to the universal life.

We are now taken to one of their art galleries. In an outer room quite a number of artists are at work but they are so engrossed in their creations that they don't even know we are present. And the art seems to be something out of any world, for remember planet Mars is also a world. A sculptor or a painter seems to put his whole life into whatever he is doing. Art seems to be their favorite occupation. There is no honorship given in any field of endeavor whether it be art or anything else. The main object of art seems to be the service that is rendered unto the people in a steady advancement.

The structural pattern of their pictures and statues do not vary from those of Earth or any other planet within our system. The difference lies in their method of living, for they feel and portray living feeling in all that they create. Their unit life of service to all is the reason for their great advancement beyond that of the Earth's inhabitants.

We enter a large domed gallery. Around the walls are paintings so real that we think we must be looking through windows to vast panoramas beyond. In the center of the room are statues that appear to be made of marble, but they are radiant with life animation. Here is a young mother holding an infant child in her arms. At one knee stands a small child and upon her lap is an open book. Across the top of the pages is embossed "The Universal Life." Her lips are parted and her eyes cast upon the book. The young child portrays the simplicity of love and adoration.

Now we stand before a statue of a young male child. It resembles in features the portrayals of the Deity that we have seen; here is innocence and purity combined with wisdom.

There is a figure made of gold, of a workman fashioning tools. Even this form seems alive and gives the feeling of moulding the foundation structure of the Universe.

Every phase of human expression is represented here, dancing, music, literature and drama. This is not a gallery of statues: it is an exposition of life's natural functioning.

Even their worshipping is superior to all worshipping by man on Earth.

The slight difference of atmospheric conditions which we have found here would not be a barrier to any of the Earth's people, should they be allowed to enter and stay. It might call for a little time of adjustment, but that could be made quite easily.

As we have stated before, the form pattern seems to be universal. And that is not only in the human form, but we speak of all forms, except that as we view these planets finding each one ahead of the other in advancement, so each is ahead of the other in the quality of form structure, which seems to have a tendency towards perfection, making towards its ultimate beauty, which is incomprehensible.

We are now returning to the airport where we are to be taken up in one of their ships to fly over some of their territory. We have reached the airport and are going to the ship we are to fly in. It is much smaller than the Martonian ship we came here in. This Venetian ship is a cruiser type and built purposely for this kind of cruising. We are entering it now and find in here the most luxuriously comfortable seats. This is more of an observation type ship since it is all glass, or some material like glass, where we can see below us and to the sides and above us.

The takeoff of this ship too was so smooth that we didn't know we were moving except as we saw the ground moving away from beneath us, and as with all these ships, there was absolutely no noise. We are now cruising very slowly, viewing the city from five hundred feet above it and let us say again that it actually appears as though it was so many castles floating on a cloud, very neat and clean, actually spotless.

We have turned and are now heading for one of the oceans. We have reached it and are flying along its shore. There are many people on the beach enjoying their outing. This beach seems to be of very white sand which looks like salt and is very beautiful. Accommodations for bathers and outers, or what we might call picnickers are all along the shore. These are beautifully crowned with a magnificent display of flowers of different colors as well as different kinds of shrubs.

"We will now show you some of our planet's majestic mountains. That which you see in the distance is snow and the temperature gets as low as eighty degrees below zero in that region." There are many beautiful valleys between these mountains, all very fertile.

The rural life, like that of their farmers is a settlement of a hamlet-like nature where schools and everything are within this settlement. Here they have all the conveniences of any large city, yet they are not crowded. The pattern of the land in layout is a circle formation and in each section like this, we are told, there are from fifty to one hundred families. Each family possesses its own parcel of land and home. The back yard, as we may say here, is the beginning of their acreage. The acreage is uniform, consisting of what would be twenty-five Earthly acres. By this method, the inhabitants are just as well off as anyone in the city could be. In fact better in some cases since they have a lot more territory on which to live.

The farm houses, as we might call them, are built around the hub of business or where the stores and shops are that carry all their needs. Also here are schools and places of worship as well as scientific laboratories, plus their exchange warehouses, parks and places of amusement. Let us give you some idea how it is built. You picture a wagon wheel. The hub represents the business section. A short distance from the hub is a circling row of homes of the so-called farmers. Back of their homes toward the rim of the wheel is their land, equivalent to twenty-five acres each. The spokes in the wheel represents a division of land.

During the season of sowing or harvesting they work as a unit helping one another. This sort of a layout, we are told, keeps their producing community close together enabling the people of the community to enjoy the things of life as the people in the city do. At the same time this plan makes the maintenance of utilities practically nil, due to its concentration at one point, whereas in scattered farming communities the utilities such as these are impossible to have, and yet if had, much time and material are wasted. On Earth it is costly.

In this little valley over which we are flying there are eight such communities. In other valleys there are communities much larger than these. They are all closely concentrated yet not crowded. The purpose is that they may all enjoy life equally. And we learn that not only on Venus but pretty much the same system operates on Mars and other planets, some a little more in advancement than others as they are each ahead of the other.

We are now flying over a section of very level land not far out from the city. Here there are twenty-five such units operating.

We have asked the question now in reference to the population of planet Venus. There are two and a half billion people, including all races, while Saturn has four and a half billion and Jupiter has five billion.

Now we are swinging out a little farther over the mountains. This is in the southern part of Venus. Here are some majestic mountains covered with beautiful foliage and much timber. We see a large waterfall coming out of one of the crevices where two mountains join in a V-like shape. At the widest part of the V is a very nice settlement. We are told it is an outing place, what we would call on Earth, a resort. It seems to be made up of materials gathered from these mountains, very artistic. In the distance not far from this resort, we would say about half a mile, there is a beautiful blue lake. There seem to be some people around, a good many of them and they seem to be fishing.

As we swing back towards the city, from this height we see another settlement. It looks like a city but we are told it is what we would call a small town in the Earth language, and there is a river close by.

We are now over the city again travelling over a very large and beautiful park. We are returning to the airport and are about to come in for a landing. We have landed.

We haven't spoken all this time in reference to the time we have been in Venus. We have been so taken up with the beautiful things here that we forgot to mention this. We have been here three days and three nights but now it is the morning of the fourth day and we are leaving soon on our return trip to Mars.

The first night we rested very peacefully.

The second night we were entertained at a big banquet with a dance afterward. Here all such entertainment is open to the citizenry as a whole, so many of the citizens were enjoying themselves at what we would call a dance, except the dancing on this planet is of an art nature. Each movement of the dance has a meaning of life in it and it is very graceful. If such were to take place on Earth it could be seen only in amusement houses like theatres.

The afternoon of the third day we spent with a gathering of Venetian scientists where many things have been talked about, and especially the purpose of life, like that of human and the billions upon billions of systems through which the humans now on the different planets in our system will pass. And that each system varies slightly from all the others, just as each planet in each system varies from all other planets, in that system. It was brought out that no where in the vast universe that they have thus far penetrated have they found an exact duplication. There is much similarity but infinite variety. It seems that the whole thing sums up into one, and that is like a vast university of endless numbers of grades.

And they really did give us a laugh in a good natured way of course, when they told us that we are so far back and that we have become so egotistical through that unenlightened mind of ours that we believe our planet to be the only one inhabited by human form in the whole unlimited universe which is made up of an eternal number of systems.

One of the scientists spoke up and said, "if you knew your Creator as well at heart as you speak of Him with your lips, you would not belittle Him such as that, that He would create such a vast kingdom and yet place His children in the darkest corner of it, leaving the greatest and most beautiful part of it vacant. It is just as if an Earthly man would build a castle of one thousand rooms only to keep it standing empty while his children would be kept living in a deteriorating dwelling. No, my brothers, the Creator is wiser than the Earthly man gives Him credit for being."

This discussion with these wise men had lasted for many hours and much was talked about that gave us increasingly greater revelations of ourselves and all forms as merely channels of service through which the Creator is able to express Himself to the degree in which we, the keepers of our forms, keep the channel open for His expressing. So much of this was given through feeling, somewhat like an awakening, that we are unable to put it down in words, but our hosts informed us that as we thought along these lines, words would be given us that we may pass our revelations on to our brothers on Earth after we had returned to them. Also that as our brothers thought along these lines, with a sincere desire in their hearts to know and to serve their Father, revelations of beauty beyond words would be given to each that he too might grow and travel throughout the Father's vast kingdom.

Finally the meeting with the scientists came to an end. From this meeting we were taken to our dwelling to rest up a little and then to be the guests of the head of Venus for the evening. He was giving an open banquet in our honor as in the morning we were departing for Mars.

So here is early morning. We are taking what little luggage we had with us and are being taken to the airport.

The head of Venus, the man from Saturn and the one from Jupiter, along with two of the leading scientists of Venus are escorting us to the ship. We have now arrived at the ship and are being wished the best of journeys back to Earth by all of these men. They tell us that as one, they sincerely hope we will be able to do some good with the little philosophy of our neighbors that we have been given throughout our trip and that the people of Earth will apply it so that they can become one with the rest of the system as a harmonious unit of the House, towards progress. For the fulfilling of the purpose of life cannot be made without this philosophy, even though there be progress made in the opposite direction.

They all bid us well and said that they will be in contact with us, though we may not know it, and watching the best they know how over us to see that we will successfully return to Earth.

"The only token that you will take from us is what you have learned of us. But the most outstanding of all, which shall make your return journey still a greater success, is that which you have learned of the kind of ship that it will take to bring you here without the help of the Martonians or anyone else. And we do hope that you alter your ways and come here as one of us, for any planet in the House is as much yours as it is ours, without conquest, for it is all the Divine Father's and we are all His children."

Then they shook our hands and we entered the ship. The doors of the ship are closed and we are taking off on the start of our return trip to planet Mars.

Chapter IX

RETURN

We are circling this beautiful city at one thousand feet. Our visit here has been so wonderful and everywhere there has been so much beauty that we surely do hope to be able to return here sometime in the future. In the meantime we are taking as much of it all with us as our memories can contain, so we are feasting our eyes on this beauty as our ship circles in air.

Now the ship is hooking onto Mars' light beam and the pilots have set the controls for full speed ahead.

We are now approaching the previous so-called dust cloud. On entering it we notice it is not as dense this time as it was when we were coming in. We are through it.

Again we are encountering a heavy meteoric shower, only now they seem to be much heavier than the shower we saw coming in on the way to Venus. It is amazing to sit here and watch them passing through space and especially now since we have seen them before and have a little more understanding of them than we previously had. We watch a little closer in relation to our ship, as by this time you no doubt know that the ship has its repulsing power in operation for protection.

When we watch them closely we notice what has been explained to us on our way in, that a meteor which is about to cross our path and would strike us, when it makes contact with this repulsing power at the five hundred mile distance, does take on a sudden drop effect instead of continuing in a straight line. It is quite exciting to watch this.

As we sit here watching the flight of the meteors and reviewing in mind the many things that have been told us, among which was the statement that the secret of the law using this repulsing power had not been revealed to us, we realized that neither have we been told about the air mixture which they can make suitable for any purpose instead of carrying oxygen tanks and so forth. As you know, previously we have been told a little about it, but not in detail of its technique.

Now one of the scientists has turned on a screen which has not been turned on before and he tells us to watch it. This screen is capable of being moved to any angle. Upon it, he tells us, he is going to focus other solar systems like ours which he will explain a little for our better understanding.

The first one we see coming into clear focus upon the screen he calls the 'Granitonia System'. And he continues, "This one is fifty trillion light years ahead of our solar system in advancement. It is far larger in size than our system for it has twelve planets within it, the smallest of which is far larger than any planet we have, and its sun is vast in size."

Now Granitonia is fading out of the picture and we see another one coming into view on the opposite side of the ship. This system is still larger in size than the Granitonia System but not larger in planetary number for it has within its orbit only eleven planets and its sun. This system's name is 'Sanafia'. All these systems are inhabited. The Sanafia solar system is the one that the inhabitants of our solar system enter next through progression.

Here we commented, "since all these other systems are named, what is the name of our system for it too must surely have one."

"Our system is known as the 'Antinoma System'. As for your planet which you call Earth, its name is 'Chinsia', planet Chinsia. To you men from there we have spoken of it as the Earth planet for that is what you call it, but in reality all planets are earth planets. Therefore for convenience of identity all are specifically named, as you know."

Then he tells us that, "You have been amazed with the advancement of life within our system upon these planets which you have been permitted to visit on this trip, but this advancement which you have seen is but a beginning and it is very crude. It might even be said to be very poor in the structure of its inhabitants. You have exclaimed that this is all so exquisite and beautiful in contrast with your planet. That is about the difference between this system of ours and the Sanafia System. To tell you some things about these systems, you could not begin to grasp what we were talking about for you have to live it before you can perceive it."

"These are only two of our great systems nearest to us among the trillions of them and this is all for the children of the Creator, which you and I and all inhabitants of space are. When they serve the Father by doing His will, this is their reward. A monotony by those serving unto the Father is unknown. The great Father of all creation knew that if there was not constant newness and constant everlasting growth towards the ultimate, which is the Father Himself, monotony would set in which would be the destroyer of men, who are His children. So this vastness has been created that His children may forever be going forward, each step toward greater realization, greater joy, and greater beauty without end. But they must become obedient unto His will and use their will only as a channel of obedience. For their will alone carries a monotonous nature which is unnatural to the Father and your Earthly brethren have not learned yet to do His Will. Instead, all are serving their own will. You call it your 'free will'. By doing so you have created much monotony of living that causes you to be dissatisfied, impatient. As a result you perpetrate more destruction than construction, all by trying to offset the monotonous conditions by which you are bound. In the end that monotony destroys you.

"But you, being a child of the Creator, as all the rest are, you are endowed with the birthright of our Father's Kingdom and that birthright is His Will, while your will is but an open channel of service unto Him acting as a passport, as you men would call it on the Earth, unto eternity and a life that has yet not been perceived by the greatest for its greatness."

Now he is turning the screen off, telling us that this was done only to prove to us that the Kingdom of the Infinite is vast and that we are someday to view it as a whole. He says he could show us many more through the same screen but by this time we are nearing Mars.

We are now circling over Mars. Here we are coming in for a landing to the same airport we have left. We have landed and are greeted by many people including the leaders of the planet who tells us that, "at the same time you were leaving Venus, a ship also left here for the Moon. The crew of this ship was instructed to see that your ship was as it should be for your return trip to the Earth, and they took a load of fuel with them to refuel your ship. Also they have installed a small instrument in the ship by which we will be able to keep track more distinctly of you as you travel towards the Earth."

He did not say what part of the ship this instrument was installed in or what kind of an instrument it was.

He did tell us, "the moment it enters the Earth atmosphere it will disintegrate. Do not look for it as you might find it and interfere with it. Its perfect operation might mean life or death to you. Should you encounter any trouble between the Moon and the Earth, by means of this instrument we can help you and pull you safely through any danger you might encounter."

From the airport we are now taken to the Temple of Science for dinner and an evening with the Martonian scientists.

During the dinner which was given in our honor by a group of Martonian scientists, one of them spoke up, telling us "your Earth planet is slightly off balance. It has been thrown off its natural axis by the exploding of powerful explosives and due to this there are going to be some atmospheric changes take place on the Earth within the next ten years definitely. These changes are now beginning to take place. You on Earth should be cautious in handling the new power called atomic power, since you have not yet found the element which goes into it which makes it serviceable but not dangerous, while if you harness the power of the cosmic ray and use it for transmission on your broadcasting stations you can reach us but you never will be able to contact us with the power you are using at present. We have reached you many times with this same power, but as we have told you before your scientists need much development. They have at present too many complications and too little simplicity, and as a result every time they encounter strange waves or noises as they call them, they try to class them everything but what they are. As a result they do not receive our communications as they should be receiving them by this time. We have explained that before."

"You have one man who promoted a strange thought which has not been understood by many of your people. This thought is that there is another dimension, known as the fourth dimension. Scientists called astronomers have taken some thought of this, but all forms of science should take it and should also coordinate with each other as they are not now coordinated. Then and then only will they succeed in getting the exact key to nature's laws, because only men of science can know what the fourth dimension actually is. They will then have another problem on their hands. For you see, you have been dealing all these ages in a three dimensional life or world. These three dimensions are effective dimensions. So you have been dealing with effects and not taking cause very much into consideration. As a result your sciences have become complicated and what you have found was by a chance and not by knowledge. The fourth dimension we have spoken of on your Earth now is really one cause dimension of one of the three effective dimensions. So to have all dimensions and live within them, as you understand the fourth, you will have the fifth and sixth to learn, for at present you say number one but you really have only half a number. Your number one is but an effect. You haven't got the cause in that one. Thus the one may be said is only half of one. In this way you only express half the life that you should be expressing upon the Earth, or within the effective field. And here again we may say that is why man's will is operating, the other is not, which is the Divine Will. The Divine Will is the cause will while man's will is the effective will. Once men of science have learned all of this, more than half of their present knowledge will have to be cast aside. That part will be the complicated part and it must be replaced by simplicity. Another thing that all men of science must do on Earth, and that is to become science, by living science and not merely for honors and rewards. All sciences should be coordinated to be as one, not divided as they are."

"Let me show you how foolish your present scientists are all because of divisions among the various types of sciences."

"Chemists in a chemical laboratory tell their pupils that a rock can only be a rock because of the elements which compose it and these elements are mostly moisture of one form or another, especially oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen. In some rocks these may be more abundant than in others but in each case these elements are present, for to dehydrate rocks of these elements they would become dust. That is what a pupil is told in his chemistry classroom."

"The same pupil now goes to an astronomy classroom. Here he is told that the Moon is a great mass of rocks, created mostly of rock formation and it is absolutely void of oxygen or air. Can you figure that one out?"

"In the chemistry department the pupil is told that a rock cannot be a rock without these elements, that when it is dehydrated it becomes dust, yet here in the next classroom he is told that here on the Moon the rocks are abundant yet the Moon is devoid of air or oxygen. Does that make any sense?"

"It is all due to the lack of coordination of sciences. Just like this one. In this one classroom you are told both of these things. You are told that the Moon is hot on the side exposed to the Earth, then you are told that the side that the Earth never sees is awfully cold. But they didn't tell you that where the cold and the hot meet there is more than likely to be a temperate zone, which you know since you have landed there. And who in the world has ever heard of a side that is cold, as they say it is in this schoolroom, and not have oxygen and nitrogen? Is it not the moisture of these elements that makes for the coldness of anything? And would there not be some leakage, as you Earth men would say, from the hot side to the cold side, or are there barriers or walls that keep it from passing from the hot side unto the cold side? It doesn't make sense."

"Here on our own planet Mars your instruments show the polar caps. These polar caps are far larger than any you have on Earth. Yet these men of knowledge tell your people that inhabitation here would be impossible due to the rarity of atmospheric conditions. Yet you know better now that you have been here. Then another thing they tell you, that this planet has been inhabited at one time but now it is not, due to the lack of water. And if it was true that there was a lack of water on this planet, do you suppose that the intelligence that the Great Father has given to us would not have guided us from the dry section to the polar section where water would be available? Even a lower animal would do that. And yet the way they give the news to the people, these learned men would make you believe that we had not sufficient intelligence to move towards the water, where water was, but stayed and perished when the water evaporated. It doesn't make sense, or at least doesn't give a human any credit for having any intelligence. Too, the way you picture the inhabitants of the various planets your imagination is badly distorted."

"Here is one more. You tell your people that there is no oxygen in space and in the same breath you tell them that the sun spots are active and throw flames half a million miles in space. You even have pictures of the sun with two widely separated craters shooting flames so far that they finally arched in space. Yet you tell your people that you can't have a fire in the absence of oxygen. Then what makes the flames shoot out half a million miles in space and keep burning if there is no oxygen there?"

"This is what we mean when we say your sciences need revising, coordinating and intelligently expressed, while at present they contradict themselves through their own complications."

"As for your astronomers who teach of the heavenly bodies, they need better, finer instruments to get correct answers to their findings. For at times there are what we call interference between the Earth planet and Mars or any other planet, of a gaseous formation which is so fine that it cannot be detected by any instrument you have at present, yet will give you distorted readings or distorted knowledge of your findings, and especially in your distance calculations and your color definitions, be it through the sight or be it through the spectrum. There is much to be altered in these findings before the absolute truth is known by your people on Earth."

Here Dr. Johnston interrupted saying, "but we have done well with what we have to work."

The acknowledgment came and the Martonian speaker said, "yes, but you also became egotistical over your findings, which are half truths, thinking you got it all. To have a complete success the law of relativity must be the foundation upon which any society or any truth be founded. And this is where the coordinating comes in of all branches of endeavor. No findings, it matters not how great, should be exalted over any other which might be much lesser, for it is one helping the other, and through a relative understanding a unit is realized. This is where the men of science on Earth are lacking."

"Again I repeat, you have done very well with what you have, but you could do much better if you depended a little more on your feelings, as we do, at least as much as you do on your mechanical devices. In that way you would be able to detect errors much quicker. It would also lessen the time on research which now you spend going into years in computation, looking for error. To be a full fledged scientist one must acknowledge all phases of manifestations, be they labeled spiritual or material, so long as they are natural. Therefore natural laws must be studied and understood before one can become a good scientist, because natural laws are causes of effects since natural laws are stable. And this means all the phases that can be realized by men, which includes all forms of science. For when one form of science operates independent of another and does not exchange its information with all others, many errors are made. We have found by working together as one, our findings are almost absolute, for when any one branch of science discovers something or comes upon a problem, he consults all other branches to solve it, while scientists on the Earth, astronomers as they are named, seldom consult other branches which are considered lower than theirs. Do not forget that this vastness is one system and takes in all branches of science."

"For example the sciences that study the variation of light and its manner of behaviorism is different from the sciences that study light from the stars through a spectrum. Yet both of these are dealing in light and should be consulting each other. For light in its variations does not always have the same behaviorism. It will vary a billion times in one hour at times, for it penetrates various layers, as you could call it, of atmospheric density from its source to its effects. And these densities vary from moment to moment. Also to be taken into consideration are the dust particles which give different effects by their anglings from moment to moment to the light that passes through them. So it is impossible to get definite readings of an absolute nature unless better mechanical devices capable of detecting the variations are used. We on Mars have such devices and yet they are not absolute. We have found through our instruments that the light under normal circumstances, when examined by the type of instruments that you have on Earth would show us that there is iron represented in this light. Yet it may not be iron at all. It can be any other mineral but iron, but a mass of dust particles angling at the moment, and sometimes remaining so for long periods of time depending upon the movement of atmosphere, would reflect the presence of iron, since each dust particle carries iron in a minute form, as well as all other minerals. When a magnetic pull is in a certain direction, and it does vary in its orbit, it will cause the sides of all particles to face the magnetic attraction, and iron is attracted by magnetism. Therefore the whole side would reflect the representation of iron while at other times it would be reflecting something else. It is impossible to get a correct reading of a planet on its mineral contents unless a different instrument is used by Earth man than he is now using, since space, it might be said, is solid with particles, more in some spots than in others but they are everywhere and they will carry great influence upon the researcher or the observer. This is why planet Mars, or any other planet, never had a true reading of its status by the Earth man. To the present day fifty percent of science on Earth is theory. This accounts for the sudden changes, that do happen often, of denial of one by the admission of another. You call this advancement, but it is only an error of past by a slightly better of present."

"In other words we want to say that if Earth man is to progress to catch up partially, if not totally, with other planets, he will have to adopt this system."

"Another instance, your scientists have in their mind that to have a reflector which reflects the images of the heavenly bodies, as they call it, the reflector has to be of one piece. Yet we have a reflector here on Mars that is made of hundreds of pieces, so synchronized that they reflect as one towards the one central point. Yet the Earthly scientists would say 'look at the mirrors or reflectors we would have to make to make up the one of the many. It would take lots of time.'

"In the first place, time is eternal. In the second place, it is much easier and quicker to make many small ones than one big one, for you are limited in the size of the big one, unlimited in the many small ones. This is one example of your thinking scientists in the Earth planet. They seem to focus their minds in one channel and by doing so they limit themselves. Yet you have the finest group of men which Earth is to know at the present time which are scientists and they are striving for the greater good, too, of all its people. If unity, happiness, greatness of civilization is ever to come, it will come through these men. For it is through these types of men that other sister planets have so far advanced. The only thing needed is a unification or coordination where division and differences of various branches will become non-existent, and instead all working towards a common center in behalf of one another and in turn for the good of its people."

Now we are given a toast by all the scientists that are gathered here in this magnificent Temple of Science in our honor. The toast is:

"May their sight, their vision, their hearts and their minds unite as one on the highway of eternal expectation of an endless expedition, that by their way all men shall be lifted up to see the light which shall reveal the wonders unto all men."

This meeting with the scientists has lasted far into the night but every moment has been filled with interest. Now we are going to our rooms for a few hours rest before being taken back to the airport.

We had a wonderful rest and it is already midday. We are at the airport and ready to start our journey in the Martonian ship back to the Moon where our ship is.

This ship is not the same one that brought us here. It is different in many ways. We are entering it, the doors have been closed and we are taking off. We are now circling the capital city of Mars. Looking back towards the ground we can see the scientists, the head of Mars and many others still looking up and waving.

Now we are hooking onto the Moon light and are flying at full speed towards the Moon.

We are not riding this ship in the so-called front, but rather we are in a compartment in mid-ship, a room by itself, yet we have a good view to the outside.

There are five scientists of Mars making this trip with us and they too are in this compartment. They are turning on a screen, different than any we have ever seen before, for the purpose of letting us see what invisible dust particles in space actually look like. These are highly magnified on this screen and we notice that they have a pattern to them similar to the snowflake type, each one slightly different but all in constant motion and reflecting light.

Now a spectrum screen is turned on and the scientists tell us that here we have true color definitions of the many minerals within each one of these tiny dust particles.

On another screen next to it is shown the magnetic currents of space. We see on this screen the intensity of the magnetic force as these dust particles are moved and rolled, much like waves in the ocean. The scientists tell us that in another three seconds the magnetic pull will be strong enough, so to speak, to turn this mass of particles over to such a degree that they will reflect the iron part of them, which is in a minute form in all dust particles, and this movement is constantly going on without end throughout all space. Through the vastness of infinity there is never absolute stillness.

We doubted this and we said so.

"Why do you doubt?" we were asked.

We said the speed of the ship itself would probably create such activity.

So the ship's pilot was instructed to hover in space, without moving either way. This he did. We have stood still in space for practically half an hour while the particles keep moving on, passing the screen, and the magnetic field on the magnetic screen does show an increase and a decrease in its influence. It turns the particles as the increase in its influence is strong enough to do so, and when it is not as strong, the particles change to some other reflection. There have been reflections of nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen, minute in particle form as the dust particles are minute themselves. But a mass of them would reflect a large quantity. And so they have reflected all other minerals known to science, all contained in each particle of dust.

This is very much like standing within a room and looking through a window, watching snow fall outside. While all is apparently still the snowflakes fall straight down but let a current of air enter and their course changes. Should a whirling breeze start blowing, the flakes roll in a circling mass but when a strong wind blows, even some of those which have touched the ground are lifted again and blown around with those that are still falling.

This is what we are seeing take place among the invisible dust particles of space with the strength of the magnetic force acting much as the breeze or wind.

We have seen such a manifestation, as most people have, at one time or another in our own homes, when after we have given our rooms a thorough cleaning, dust would be impossible to detect yet a ray of sunshine coming in through some opening would illumine dust particles flying by the billions through space within the room. That is how the screen operates here. And if you watch these dust particles floating in the light of the sun in your own room, you would see that there is a law operating there as well, for one minute they seem to turn to one side and another minute to another side, and if you watch them closely, you can see the differences in reflections. One would be brighter, another duller and another would be shadowed, and so on, depending on which way your particles would be turning in unison and the way the light would strike them.

This is exactly what the screen is showing us here now except it is giving us the mineral contents in a color reflection.

And the scientist says here, "unless we had a filter system to filter out this effect between us and another body we could not get a correct reading of the other body's minerals, since space is just filled with these particles of dust, some in cloud formations others just travelling around through space.

"This is the major obstacle to be overcome by scientists of astronomy on Earth, for there is much now being said in reference to many bodies and the various other formations in space that is less than half true because of this type of interference that is being attracted by the various instruments that Earth men have. And since the magnifying system is largely used, it also magnifies the interference."

We asked them how this could be eliminated?

"Through instruments that serve more than one purpose," was the reply. And he continued, "when Earth man grows to the true purpose of his service, this will then be given unto him, to know the truth."

Dr. Johnston said this would take much time, probably, why could we not be given this by the Martonians now since they already have it?

He answered, "you must earn it as we have, and when you do alter your ways it will be given unto you, but we do want you to know that you are not getting the true understanding of the bodies that you daily observe through your instruments. By including all branches of science in any one branch, you can learn all these things quickly."

One thing we have learned is that these screens operate by the power known to us as atomic, plus something else that we have not been told. The mysterious part of all of this, in our total adventure from the Earth to Venus we have found that space is dark and the only light that can be seen is the dust that catches the days and reflects them as light for a split second. One moment they are light, the next moment they are dark. When the flat side of a particle is towards either reflected light or the direct light of the sun, it reflects light, but when the edge is towards either one, no light is reflected. You can imagine just how this really operates.

"Yet there are dust clouds which are pretty dense that reflect light quite steadily, you might say, due to their closer concentration, but if you watch it closely, especially with the aid of a good instrument, there will be times that you will see this reflection very bright while at other times quite dull," continued our friend. "The reason for this is that the particles keep moving, rolling, so to speak, sometimes a larger mass of them comes into a position to catch the light and reflect it, while at other times a lesser amount of them reflects it. The Milky Way is composed largely of such."

"Now again let us emphasize, each particle of dust either independent or composing a cloud, is composed of all minerals known to man on Earth and some minerals not known to him, in a very minute form. And they do reflect their own mineral contents, especially when they are quite well condensed in a massive formation, as we have said before. Being in space between two bodies, if these were to be ignored, they would cause much misunderstanding when it came to analyzing the contents of a planet, even so far as to it being inhabited."

"Right here we should try to prove something else as we are travelling towards the Moon. Now we will focus a screen towards the Earth. This is being done without the filtering system. Here is your Earth. It contains all minerals. We will read for you the various minerals which are showing here on the screen."

This they did.

"Yet here are five minerals showing that are not found on your Earth. Now we are going to put the filter system in to filter out the dust particles and get a pure reading of the Earth. Here is your exact number of minerals."

And that was true, less the five minerals that showed before. That reading was correct as far as Dr. Johnston was concerned.

"We shall show you something more. By a special device operated in conjunction with this screen we can detect and differentiate between all form-life, be it mineral, vegetable, animal, fowl, or human and even tell its degree of development."

"This is the way we measure intelligence of the inhabitants of the Earth or any of the planets. We will try to pick a non-intelligent spot on your Earth, as you would call it, without humans. Notice the color reflection upon the screen. See, this section is made up of all the various colors as you can see them in their bands, yet they are all very dull."

"Now we will switch from this to a group of scientists in one of your very large laboratories. You notice the colors are still there but they are very distinct and rich."

"This is the way we have, besides other delicate instruments, of finding out how far the inhabitants of any planet are advanced, as well as the type of other forms of life which may be on that planet. For everything, regardless how minute, has its own rate of life activity and throws off its own radiations or vibrations which include color. They differ in quantity and quality depending upon the purpose of the form and its development."

We will soon be landing on the Moon so our little lesson in the field of science is over and we have thanked the scientists for these marvelous revelations they have given us. While we have not understood everything as we should have, we nevertheless follow its relationship to one another and the logic upon which it is founded, if no more. We must say here and now that these boys really have something on the ball, as we would say on Earth. It makes us feel quite small to think that we have given them so little credit before this adventure, thinking they knew nothing, if there even were any human beings on these other planets and pictured them in ugly forms when they excel anything and everything that we know anything about on Earth.

We are now coming into view of the Moon and can almost see where our ship is. We are circling, ready to come down. The pilot has landed his ship alongside of ours and our Moonalite friends who were left in camp during our absence are running up to greet us. As we leave this ship to go to ours the natives are eager to show us what the other Martonian ship brought to them, various kinds of food and supplies.

Our host who has returned with us to the Moon is telling us that the head of Mars has decided to establish an airport here, that whenever and whoever comes to the Moon from the Earth again will find better facilities in every way to greet them than we had when we landed here, but it will always remain under the flag signifying our first experience of landing on this spot.

The flag which we brought has been replaced with a new flag and placed higher on the mountain. This new flag is the same as ours was except the Martonian insignia of a heart and a handshake across the heart, the same as the pilots have on their caps, is in it too. It is made of material that will not deteriorate as easily or quickly as our material would have done, and when it does deteriorate they will replace it.

We ask our host how long they are going to stay on this spot we are on right now?

He replies, "we will stay here about twenty-four hours before returning to Mars. During some of this time we all, including all the natives of both tribes, are going to enjoy a big feast. We have brought all the provisions for the feast with us in the ship."

The Moonalites who were here when we landed are unloading the ship and getting things ready for the feast. It is about midafternoon and we are told that the tribespeople of both groups have been notified in their villages that we will be here most any time.

While this is going on Johnny is trying to contact the Earth. He has succeeded and is now talking to a radar station in the northern part of California, telling them that we have just returned from Venus and Mars to the Moon on a Martonian ship. He tells them that all of us including the settlements of natives close by here are about to have a big feast given by the Martonians who brought us here.

From the Earth they are asking him what we have seen on both Venus and Mars.

He begins to tell them when they interrupt, asking him to wait and call them back in twenty minutes. During that time they would alert different stations so that all the people could listen in on what we have to say, as they did before.

We are now on the beam to Earth. Johnny is telling them just the highlights, no more, for it would take too long to tell in detail what we have seen on Venus and Mars and throughout the whole journey.

They are all rejoicing on Earth for the success of this adventure and tell us that they are awaiting our return, the quicker, the better.

Johnny tells them that probably the next day we will be taking off on our trip back to Earth.

They ask if we have enough fuel to return safely?

He assures them that we have plenty for the Martonians have furnished us with a full supply of fuel for our ship.

We asked our host who had accompanied us on our entire trip, if he would care to say a few words to the Earth people.

He was glad to.

So Johnny told the people on Earth that he is about to introduce the leading scientist of Mars who came from Mars with us and has been with us on the whole journey.

He spoke first in his native tongue, then he spoke the English tongue that his listeners might understand his words. This is what he is saying:

"We have been honored here on the Moon, on Mars, on Venus, in fact through the whole solar system by the presence of your Earth brethren who have so successfully made this journey to the nearest interstellar space body, known to you as the Moon. And more than that, that you have sent ablebodied men on such a journey. By ablebody, we mean that their mentalities were capable of perceiving our way of life and realizing the many advances which they found here on the Moon, Mars, my planet, and Venus. And especially the manner in which they have conducted themselves in relationship to the various groups of people they have met on this journey. They will never be erased from the records of Infinity, for as brothers we are one wherever we may be. For the vastness of our Divine Father is inconceivable by His children everywhere. May the day come when all of you Earth men will do as these who are about to return back to you. For if all men of Earth were as these are at present, in the state of mind which has somewhat been changed to what it was when they left the Earth for this journey, your struggles and heartaches which you have been enduring through your mistakes in the planet Earth would cease to be, replaced with joys, happiness in a brotherly state and doing the will of Him, the Father who has placed you in one of His Mansions, the planet Earth. Beyond all, let it now be firmly known that we will look forward to the day when such brethren as these from the Earth will come again. As your desire of Earth brothers is great for the return of these, so is ours for their safe return unto you. So we shall watch over them steadily until they have returned safely."

"Again I may say I have been honored by having this privilege to speak unto the brothers of my present brothers which are now before me, while the others I speak unto through space of our Eternal Father."

And with this the feeling of the people of the Earth reached to an almost paralyzed state for they have never dreamed that anything like this could happen in their day. But it did, where the head scientist of Mars spoke to all the people of Earth. They felt as though they were paralyzed for it was like a voice from Heaven.

The contact with the Earth has been cut. The tribespeople from both villages have arrived and the feast is on. It is very much the same kind that we had when we first landed on Mars.

Twenty hours have elapsed since we returned to the Moon and now after several hours of good rest we are starting the motors on our ship, giving it the once over, seeing that everything is in shape.

The two chieftains and all their people as well as the Martonians are gathered about the ship.

Everything is in order, the motors are warmed up and we are making a radar contact with the Earth telling them we are about ready to take off on our way home. The Martonians, the two chieftains, and all the people gathered here bid us farewell. These people are our friends and we are going to miss them with their joy and their way of living.

At last we are moving for the air. As we gain altitude and look down towards our friends on the ground we see that the Martonian ship is rising too. It is faster than we are. We are circling over this territory and straightening out to be headed for the Earth. The Martonian ship is alongside of us. At three thousand feet up the Martonian ship is still with us travelling towards the Earth. We are ten thousand miles from the Moon towards the Earth. The Martonian ship has escorted us thus far but it is now turning around and going back.

We are encountering some storm but not as bad as it was when we came in. We are now thirty thousand miles out. Things are no different than they were when coming in. We are fifty thousand miles out, now seventy thousand miles, just ten thousand miles away from the gap.

At seventy-two thousand miles we are encountering trouble, a very heavy meteoric shower. Our ship is out of control, at least we think it is for it seems to be zig-zagging between these meteors. There is one awfully big one headed towards us, if it hits us we are done for. We just missed it by going up over it and Bob said he had nothing to do with throwing the ship up and nothing to do with the zig-zagging. We can't figure it out and yet the ship is not in danger, as we can detect it.

We are now entering the gap. It may save us. We got through that shower all right, but how, we don't know. Something strange has taken place which we can't figure out.

After twenty thousand miles of the gap, we are leaving it. Through this neutral zone we have encountered pretty much the same conditions as we did coming to the Moon.

Now we are one hundred ten thousand miles away from the Moon and encountering more meteors. Our ship is missing them or they are missing us but there are more meteors now than we had seen on the way to the Moon. Also our ship is beginning to feel the gravitational pull towards the Earth. Our instruments are functioning perfectly. Here is a shower of big meteors coming right for us. If they strike us we are done for. Bob doesn't know what to do, but the ship is taking a dip, a four thousand foot dip and just passed beneath the meteors. The ship is now rising to where we were. That was really a close call that time. We are travelling smoothly now, very few meteors and they are at a great distance.

We are one hundred eighty thousand miles out from the Moon. Our contact with the Earth's radar has been broken each time we zig-zagged past, over or under the meteors, so the Earth lost track of us. Right now we are unable to contact them again. They surely realize we are having trouble.

Forty thousand miles above the Earth we are running into another heavy meteoric shower. The heat right in this spot is terrific. We did not experience this on the way going to the Moon. Our ship is being zig-zagged. It could easily be said it is out of control, yet the instruments are all functioning perfectly.

Now throughout our ship we hear a voice from a Martonian ship saying just to keep right on going, not to worry about our strange course and explaining that we are being protected by the little gadget they have placed in the ship. So now we know that our ship is being controlled by the Martonians through these perilous spots.

At twenty-eight thousand miles from Earth we have again established contact with the Earth through radar. We are beginning to feel the Earth's gravitational pull terrifically. The ship seems to want to plunge now, being pulled. The radar tells us that all the radio stations throughout the Earth are beamed to it and getting the information from them as they get it from us. They also tell us there are tens of thousands of people gathered at the base in the southern part of the state to see us come in.

Within ten thousand miles of the Earth we hit a very heavy cold wave and then we hit a hot one again, but not as hot as the previous one.

We are within three thousand miles of the Earth. Here is another cold wave and quite a number of meteors too, but they do not bother us this time. Our ship zig-zagged only once. The Earth's radio stations are coming in on our receiver quite definitely at this point.

At fifty miles from Earth the stations are coming stronger, more distinct.

We are fifteen thousand feet above our landing field in California from where we took off. Now we have lowered to one thousand feet and we see people like flies below us. We are coming in for a landing.

We have landed.

Everybody is trying to crowd towards the ship but are being kept away by soldiers. We are staying in the ship for a few minutes to get ourselves organized. While we are still here, before leaving the ship we want to say that whatever the fuel was that the Martonians supplied us with, it was more powerful than that which we had used when going to the Moon.

We have opened the door and are leaving the ship. A guard has been thrown around the ship to protect it until we return for we want to inspect it thoroughly as soon as we can.

Everyone is gathering around us trying to shake our hands and some of them are tearing our clothes off of us for souvenirs. We were almost blinded with the flash light bulbs from the different pictures they have taken. They are asking us to give a speech, to say something.

All we can say is that we are thankful for having landed safely.

A few government experts are accompanying us as we return to inspect our ship before leaving the field. A thorough inspection proves it to be in a first class condition and we also find that we have used less than half the amount of fuel on our return trip than we had used on our way to the Moon, proving that this Martonian fuel had the right punch in it. We have found, too, the spot where we believe was the strange instrument that the Martonians attached to our ship and by which they guided us through the perilous experiences which we have had on the way coming back to Earth. It must have been a repulsor or something of that kind which caused the ship to act as it did when coming in contact with the meteors. Because of the construction of our ship, through this instrument we were able to dodge the meteors but not able to divert their course as the ships of other planets are able to do. But whatever this instrument was, there is not a sign of it now. It really did disintegrate as they said it would. However, if it had not been for the instrument we would never have reached the Earth as we did. We had zig-zagged and the dips downward and up were done with great ease. We never knew that our ship could perform like that. Regardless what it was, we are thankful for it, for it brought us through safely.

Now the inspection is completed. The heavy guard is remaining around the ship to keep everybody away from it and we are being taken in two cars to the Administration Building while the people are cheering at the top of their voices. At the Administration Building we are giving details of our trip for government records, as well as what improvements could be made on the ship, if any. We will not be able to make a complete report at this time since it will take days for us to give all of this knowledge but it will be given.

Our instruments have been checked by government experts and everything checked out perfectly.

The government has requested us to give a world-wide broadcast in the next few days and tell the world what we have actually seen and done.

This will be done.

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Table of Contents

PIONEERS OF SPACE

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FOREWORD

FACTS ABOUT MOUNT PALOMAR OBSERVATORIES

Chapter I

FROM EARTH TO THE MOON

Chapter II

SURPRISE

Chapter III

VISITED

Chapter IV

HONORED

Chapter V

THE BIG CITY

Chapter VI

THE TERMINAL CITY

Chapter VII

MARS

Chapter VIII

VENUS

Chapter IX

RETURN

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE