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And so it caman Jones, born and bred on Mars, [4] traveled beyond the asteroid belt and into the outer reaches of the solar system And it was for this reason also that a native of Venus, not aanimal, accompanied them

They hovered, now, a thousand miles above Jupiter Nine and waited as a flexible conveyer tube wasStarr and the commander&039;s ship The tube linked air lock to air lock and for fro to put on a space suit The air of both ships e of the absence of gravity, could shoot along the tube after a single initial push and guide hientle adjusting force of a well-placed elbow

The commander&039;s hands were the first part of hiripped the lip of the opening and pushed in such a way that the co Starr&039;s localized artificial gravity field (or pseudo-grav field, as it was usually terh standards indeed for all forms of spacemen&039;s techniques, nodded in approval

"Good day, Councilruffly It was always a ood afternoon," or "good evening" in space, where, strictly speaking, there was neither"Good day" was the neutral term usually adopted by spacemen

"Good day, Co our landing on Jupiter Nine that account for this delay?"

"Difficulties? Well, that&039;s as you look at it" He looked about and sat down on one of the small pilot&039;s stools &039;Tve been in touch with Council headquarters but they say I must treat with you directly, so I&039;m here"

Commander Donahue was a wiry man, with an air of tension about hins of having once been brown His hands had pro their backs, and he spoke in an explosive fashion, rapping out his phrases in a quick succession of words

"Treat with me about what, sir?" asked Lucky

"Just this, Councilman I want you to return to Earth"

"Why, sir?"

The commander did not look directly at Lucky as he spoke "We have a ated and investigated They&039;ve all coation is started They don&039;t like it and neither would you They don&039;t like being under continual suspicion And I&039;rav ship is almost ready and this is not the ti on strike"

Lucky said cale of infored "Then it must come froruous note of friendliness entered his voice "What&039;s that?"

Bigman followed his eyes and said at once, "That&039;s our V-frog, Coe the introduction He approached the V-frog instead, staring into the enclosed water-filled cage "That&039;s a Venus creature, isn&039;t it?"

"That&039;s right," said Bigman

"I&039;ve heard of theer, isn&039;t it?"

Lucky felt a grie that in the midst of a most serious discussion the commander should veer off into an absorbed ad itself made that inevitable

The s back at Donahue now out of its black eyes, swaying on its extensible legs and clicking its parrot beak gently In all the known universe its means of survival was unique It had no defensive weapons, no armor of any sort It had no claws or teeth or horns Its beak ht bite, but even that bite could do no harer than itself

Yet itthe weed-covered surface of the Venusian ocean, and none of the fierce predators of the ocean&039;s deeps disturbed it, si could control emotion They instinctively caused all other forms of life to like them, to feel friendly toward them, to have no hatever to hurt them So they survived They did more than that They flourished

Now this particular V-frog was filling Donahue, quite obviously, with a feeling of friendliness, so that the are and laughed to see it cock its head and sink down along its collapsing legs, as Donahue er doard

"You don&039;t suppose we could get a few of these for Jupiter Nine, do you, Starr?" he asked "We&039;re great ones for pets here An animal here and there makes for a breath of home"

"It&039;s not very practical," said Lucky "V-frogs are difficult to keep They have to be maintained in a carbon-dioxide-saturated systeen is s complicated"

"You mean they can&039;t be kept in an open fish-bowl?"

"They can be at tunes They&039;re kept so on Venus, where carbon dioxide is dirt cheap and where they can always be turned loose in the ocean if they seeh, or on an airless world, you don&039;t want to bleed carbon dioxide continuously into the air, so a closed system is best"

"Oh" The commander looked a bit wistful

"To return to our original subject of discussion," said Lucky briskly, "I nh"

It seee fro His face darkened "I&039;m sure you don&039;t understand the entire situation" He turned suddenly, looking down at Big-man "Consider your associate, for instance"

The san to redden "I&039;man," he said "I told you that before"