PLANET OF THE GODS
By Robert Moore Williams
[Transcriber Note: This etext was produced from Amazing Stories December1942. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S.copyright on this publication was renewed.]
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
CHAPTER II
CHAPTER III
CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER V
CHAPTER VI
CHAPTER I
"What do you make of it?" Commander Jed Hargraves asked huskily.
Ron Val, busy at the telescope, was too excited to look up from theeye-piece. "There are at least two planets circling Vega!" he saidquickly. "There may be other planets farther out, but I can see twoplainly. And Jed, the nearest planet, the one we are approaching, has anatmosphere. The telescope reveals a blur that could only be caused by anatmosphere. And—Jed, this may seem so impossible you won't believeit—but I can see several large spots on the surface that are almostcertainly lakes. They are not big enough to be called oceans or seas.But I am almost positive they are lakes!"
According to the preconceptions of astronomers, formed before they had achance to go see for themselves, solar systems were supposed to be rarebirds. Not every sun had a chance to give birth to planets. Not one sunin a thousand, maybe not one in a million; maybe, with the exception ofSol, not another one in the whole universe.
And here the first sun approached by the Third Interstellar Expeditionwas circled by planets!
The sight was enough to drive an astronomer insane.
Ron Val tore his eyes away from the telescope long enough to stare atCaptain Hargraves. "Air and water on this planet!" he gasped. "Jed, doyou realize what this may mean?"
Jed Hargraves grinned. His face was lean and brown, and the grin,spreading over it, relaxed a little from the tension that had beenpresent for months.
"Easy, old man," he said, clapping Ron Val on the shoulder. "There isnothing to get so excited about."
"But a solar system—"
"We came from one."
"I know we did. But just the same, finding another will put our names inall the books on astronomy. They aren't the commonest things in theuniverse, you know. And to find one of the planets of this new systemwith air and water—Jed, where there is air and water there may belife!"
"There probably is. Life, in some form, seems to be everywhere. Rememberwe found spores being kicked around by light waves in the deepest depthsof space. And Pluto, in our own system, has mosses and lichens that thebiologists insist are alive. It won't be surprising if we find life outthere." He gestured through the port at the world swimming through spacetoward them.
"I mean intelligent life," Ron Val corrected.
"Don't bet on it. The old boys had the idea they would find intelligentlife on Mars, until they got there. Then they discovered thatintelligent creatures had once lived on the Red Planet. Cities, canals,and stuff. But the people who had built the cities and canals had diedof starvation long before humans got to Mars