The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Terrible Answer, by Arthur G. Hill

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Title: The Terrible Answer

Author: Arthur G. Hill

Release Date: November 24, 2009 [EBook #30539]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TERRIBLE ANSWER ***

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_They came to Mars inquiring after the
stuff of Empire. They got--_

The
TERRIBLE
ANSWER

By Arthur G. Hill

They came down to Mars ahead of the rest because Larkin had bought an
unfair advantage--a copy of the Primary Report. There were seven of
them, all varying in appearance, but with one thing in common; in the
eyes of each glowed the greed for Empire. They came down in a flash of
orange tail-fire and they looked first at the Martians.

"Green," marveled Evans. "What a queer shade of green!"

"Not important," Cleve, the psychologist, replied. "Merely a matter of
pigmentation. White, yellow, black, green. It proves only that God loves
variety."

"And lord how they grin!"

Cleve peered learnedly. "Doesn't indicate a thing. They were born with
those grins. They'll die with them."

Of the seven strong men, Larkin exuded the most power. Thus, his role of
leader was a natural one. No man would ever stand in front of Larkin. He
said, "To hell with color or the shape of their mouths. What we're after
lies inside. Come on. Let's set up a camp."

"For the time being," Cleve cautioned, "we must ignore them. Later--we
know what to do. I'll give the nod."

They brought what they needed out of the ship. They brought the plastic
tents, broke the small, attached cylinders, and watched the tents bulge
up into living quarters. They set up the vapor condenser and it began
filling the water tank from the air about them. They plugged a line into
the ship and attached it to the tent-line. Immediately the gasses in the
plastic tents began to glow and give off both light and heat.

They did many things while the Martians stood silently by with their
arms hanging, their splay-feet flat on the ground, their slash-mouths
grinning.