The Project Gutenberg EBook of Second Landing, by Floyd Wallace

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

Title: Second Landing

Author: Floyd Wallace

Release Date: March 30, 2008 [EBook #24958]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SECOND LANDING ***

Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

SECOND LANDING

By FLOYD WALLACE

_A gentle fancy for the Christmas Season--an
oft-told tale with a wistful twistful of Something
that left the Earth with a wing and a prayer._

Earth was so far away that it wasn't visible. Even the sun was only a
twinkle. But this vast distance did not mean that isolation could endure
forever. Instruments within the ship intercepted radio broadcasts and,
within the hour, early TV signals. Machines compiled dictionaries and
grammars and began translating the major languages. The history of the
planet was tabulated as facts became available.

The course of the ship changed slightly; it was not much out of the way
to swing nearer Earth. For days the two within the ship listened and
watched with little comment. They had to decide soon.

"We've got to make or break," said the first alien.

"You know what I'm in favor of," said the second.

"I can guess," said Ethaniel, who had spoken first. "The place is a
complete mess. They've never done anything except fight each other--and
invent better weapons."

"It's not what they've done," said Bal, the second alien. "It's what
they're going to do, with that big bomb."

"The more reason for stopping," said Ethaniel. "The big bomb can destroy
them. Without our help they may do just that."

"I may remind you that in two months twenty-nine days we're due in
Willafours," said Bal. "Without looking at the charts I can tell you we
still have more than a hundred light-years to go."

"A week," said Ethaniel. "We can spare a week and still get there on
time."

"A week?" said Bal. "To settle their problems? They've had two world
wars in one generation and that the third and final one is coming up you
can't help feeling in everything they do."

"It won't take much," said Ethaniel. "The