The Mind Creative
Dhar Ry sat alone in his room, meditating. From outside the door
he caught a thought wave equivalent to a knock, and, glancing at
the door, he willed it to slide open.
It opened. “Enter, my friend,” he said. He could have projected
the idea telepathically; but with only two persons present, speech
was more polite.
Ejon Khee entered. “You are up late tonight, my leader,” he said.
“Yes, Khee. Within an hour the Earth rocket is due to land, and I
wish to see it. Yes, I know, it will land a thousand miles away, if
their calculations are correct. Beyond the horizon. But if it lands
even twice that far the flash of the atomic explosion should be
visible. And I have waited long for first contact. For even though
no Earthman will be on that rocket, it will still be first contact —
for them. Of course our telepath teams have been reading their
thoughts for many centuries, but — this will be the
first physical contact between Mars and Earth.”
Khee made himself comfortable on one of the low chairs. “True,”
he said. “I have not followed recent reports too closely, though.
Why are they using an atomic warhead? I know they suppose our
planet is uninhabited, but still — ”
“They will watch the flash through their lunar telescopes and get
a — what do they call it? — a spectroscopic analysis. That will tell
them more than they know now (or think they know; much of it
is erroneous) about the atmosphere of our planet and the
composition of its surface. It is — call it a sighting shot, Khee.
They’ll be here in person within a few oppositions. And then — ”
Mars was holding out, waiting for Earth to come. What was left of
Mars, that is; this one small city of about nine hundred beings.
The civilization of Mars was older than that of Earth, but it was a
dying one. This was what remained of it: one city, nine hundred
people. They were waiting for Earth to make contact, for a selfish
reason and for an unselfish one.
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