At the thirty thousand-foot level they passed an inbound Oriental &
Western liner, bringing the night mail from China. She hung motionless
on her helicopters to let the _Viking_ pass, her siren giving a salute
of three long blasts while her passengers crowded the decks to cheer the
space-ship. After another ten thousand feet they were above ordinary
traffic lanes. The glass windows of the control room were beginning to
show a film of condensing moisture, and Steve Brent brought the heavy
duralite panes up into place.

"Stand by rocket motors!" Gerry commanded. "Stand by to fold
helicopters. Ready? _Contact!_"

There was a muffled roar. The _Viking's_ nose tilted sharply upward.
Momentarily the space-ship trembled like a living thing. Then she shot
ahead, while the helicopters dropped down into recesses within the hull
and duralite covers slid into place over them. Gerry climbed down from
the dome into the main control room. Momentarily he glanced at the huge
brass and steel speed indicators.

"Twelve hundred miles an hour," he said. "Fast enough for this density
of atmosphere. Hold her there. Summon heads of departments and all deck
officers to the chart room."

The call was quickly answered.

The assembled officers stood leaning against the walls, or perched on
the chart-lockers. Now that the trip had actually begun, uniform coats
were unbuttoned and caps laid aside. Angus McTavish had a battered brier
pipe clenched in his teeth. The stem was so short that the swirling
smoke seemed to filter upward through his whiskers.

"Better be careful, Mac," said Portok the Martian. "Maybe the air
filters won't be able to handle that smoke of yours."

"Never mind the air filters, sonny!" grunted the big Scot with
imperturbable good humor. "They'll handle the smoke of good 'baccy
better than the fumes of that filthy _grricqua_ weed you smoke on Mars."

A radio loud-speaker had been left on, and they heard the voice of an
announcer on some European station:

"We now bring you a brief sports resume. In Canton, China, the Shantung
Dragons played a double header with the Budapest Magyars. The score of
the first game was...."

"Wonder if they ever heard of baseball on Venus!" Steve Brent chuckled.

"Maybe they'll learn as fast as we of Mars," said Portok. "I seem to
remember that in the last Interplanetary Championship Series we...."

"Skip it!" Steve growled. "I lost a week's salary on that series."

McTavish and Por