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"Ispan," the gaunt man said faintly "Oh, Ispan, how did I not know thee? Guess I ht about this side of you" Then, old Ispan, the Imperial Planet"
"Ispan-Hispan," the Little Man said without e to type
"Charlie Fulby, you old liar," Rama Joan said almost tenderly, "why do you keep it up? You know you never set foot on another planet in your whole life"
The woreen-turbaned one holding him without rancor "Not in the body, no, that&039;s quite true, Rama," he said "But I&039;ve visited thehts I&039;m as sure of their reality as Plato was of universals or Euclid of infinity Ispan and Arietta and Brima have to exist, just like God I know But to e, I had to pretend I&039;d visited them in the flesh"
"Why do you drop the pretence now?" Rahtly, as if she already knew the answer
"Now no one needs to pretend anything," the Ramrod said quietly "Ispan is here"
The Little Man spun the sheet out of his typewriter, stuck it in a clipboard, stepped onto the platfor from the sheet, he said: "After the place, date, hour and ot: WE THE UNDERSIGNED SAW A CIRCULAR OBJECT IN THE SKY NEAR THE MOON ITS APPARENT DIAMETER WAS FOUR TIMES THAT OF THE MOON ITS TWO HALVES WERE PURPLE AND YELLOW AND RESEMBLED A YIN-YANG OR THE MIRROR IMAGE OF A SOLID SIXTY-NINE IT GAVE ENOUGH LIGHT TO READ NEWSPRINT BY AND IT MAINTAINED THE SAME APPEARANCE FOR AT LEAST 20 MINUTES Any enatures as read I&039;ll want your addresses, too"
Soroaned but Doc called froht, Doddsy, nail it down!" The Little Man presented his clipboard to the torabbed his pen and signed
Paul called down to Doc: "Are you getting anyI can be sure of," the latter said, standing up carefully so as not to disturb the deep-thrust u in a nearby orbit" He cliot a telescope or binoculars?" he asked loudly but not very hopefully "Opera glasses?" He waited a ed "That&039;s typical," he said to Paul, ree around his eyes "What a bunch of greenhorns!"
Hunter&039;s bearded face brightened "Anybody here got a radio?" he called out
"I have," said the thin woet us a news station," Hunter told her
She said, "I&039;ll get KFAC - that&039;s got classical ular traffic bulletins and news flashes"
He co it in New York or Buenos Aires, say, we&039;ll know it has to be high"
Margo was studying the Wanderer again when soed her elbow, the one away from the cat The Little Man said to her pleasantly: "My nao Gelhorn," she told hi, Mr Dodd?"
"Yes, he is," he said quickly, with a bright snature on this docuain at the Wanderer overhead
"You&039;ll be sorry," the Little Man assured her peaceably "The one tined statements from the four people in the car withelse"
Margo shrugged, then went to the edge of the platfor se of the yellow half that wasn&039;t there before"
"She&039;s right," several people said Doc fuet a word out Hunter said: "It&039;s rotating It must be a sphere!"
Suddenly the Wanderer, which Paul had been seeing as flat, rounded itself out There was soe about the hidden and utterly unknown other side crawling into view
Doc raised a hand "It&039;s rotating toward the east," he asserted "That is, this side of it is - which rade to Earth and most of the other planets of our solar systeet astronoray carped in a low, sardonic voice to the man beside her
The thin woman&039;s portable radio came on, quite weakly except for the static Therhythner&039;s "The Ride of the Valkyries," sounding, out here in the great open, as if it were being played by an orchestra of mice
Don Merria up dust as he hurried with care across the lightening plain, when Johannsen&039;s voice sounded crisply by his ear He stopped
Johannsen said: "Get this, Don You are not to re-enter the Hut You are to board Ship One and prepare for solo take-off"
Don suppressed the ily at his silence and continued: "I knoe&039;ve never flown them solo except in practice on the mock-up, but this is orders from the top Dufresne&039;s suited up He&039;ll join you in Ship Two I&039;ll be in Baba Yaga Three to relay back to Gompert at base, who&039;ll relay to HQ Earth On order you and Dufresne will take off You will reconnoiter the northern half, and he, the southern, of the object behind Luna that&039;s ht It&039;s hard to believe, but HQ Earth says it&039;s a - "
The voice was lost in a ponderous, alh Don&039;s boots and up his legs The moonhi his only active thought was to lift his are around his hel a little here and there like a thick rug ind under it, as inertia held it back while the solid moon moved beneath it
He crashed hollowly on his back The roaring h the underside of his suit Gouts of dust skimmed off around him in low parabolas His hel faded He said: "Yo!" and "Yo!" again, and then with his tongue he triggered the Hut whistle
The purple-and-yellow highlight glared down at hi Florida
There was no answer from the Hut