Science Fiction - Daily Short Stories

It's a Small Solar System - Allan Howard

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Duration:: 9m
Broadcast on:: 03 Jul 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

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So you and your warehouse can both keep your cool Call 1-800 Granger click ranger.com or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done It's a small solar system by Alan Howard Soon the three representatives of earth were walking shoulder-to-shoulder the captain first to touch soil Know him Well, you might say I practically grew up with him He was my hero in those days I thought few wiser or greater men ever lived in my eyes. He was greater than Babe Ruth Lindy or the president Of course time and my growing up caused me to bring him into a perspective that I felt to be more Consonant with his true position in his field of endeavor When he died his friends mourned for fond remembrance of things passed But privately many of them felt that he had outlived his best days Now with this glorious vindication. I wonder how many of them are still alive to feel the twinge of conscience. Oh We're delighted of course, but it seems incredible even today to us elated oldsters Although we were always his staunchest admirers in retrospect We can see now that no one believed more than we that he did it strictly for the dollar It is likely there was always a small core of starry-eyed adolescents who found the whole improbable saga entirely believable or at least half believed it might be partly true the attitude of the rest of us ranged from a patronizing disparagement that we thought was expected of us through grudging admiration to out-and-out enthusiasm Certainly if anybody had taken the trouble to consider it and why should they have the landing of the first manned ship on our Satellite seemed to render him as obsolete as a horde of other lesser and even greater lights at any rate It was inevitable that the conquest of the moon would be merely a stepping stone to more distant points Oh, no I had nothing to do with the selection of the red planet coming in as head of project P4 in its later stages as I did When dr. Frederick's died the selection had already been made Yes, it's quite likely I may have been plugging for Mars below the conscious level a combination of chance Expediency and popular demand made Mars the next target rather than Venus which was in some ways the more logical goal I would have given anything to have gone But the metaphorical stout heart that one reporter once credited me with is not the same as an old man's actual Fatty heart and there were heartbreak years ahead before the Goddard was finally ready During this time he slipped further into obscurity while big important things were happening all around us You're right that one really big creation of his is bigger than ever It has passed into the language and meant employment for thousands of people two few of them have even heard of him Of course, he was still known and welcomed by a small circle of acquaintances But to the world at large he was truly a forgotten man It is worthy of note that one of the oldest of these acquaintances was present at blast-off time He happened to be the grandfather of a certain competent young crewman The old man was a proud figure during the brief ceremonies and his eyes filled with tears as the mighty rocket climbed Straight up on its fiery tail. He remained there gazing up at the sky long after it had vanished He was heard to murmur. I am glad the kid could go, but it's just a lark to him He never had a sense of wonder. How could he nobody reads anymore? Afterward his senile emotions betraying him He broke down completely and had to be led from the field. It is rumored. He did not live long after that The Goddard drove on until Mars filled the viz screen It was planned to make at least a half a dozen breaking passes around the planet for observational purposes before the actual business of bringing the ship in for landfall began as Expected the atmosphere proved to be thin the speculated Dead Sea areas oddly enough turned out to be just that To the surprise of some it was soon evident that Mars possessed or had possessed a high civilization The canali of skia parelli were indeed broad waterways stretching from pole to pole to regular to be anything But the work of intelligence but most wonderful of all were the scattered but fairly numerous large walled cities that dotted the world Everybody was excited eager to land and start exercising their specialties One of the largest of these cities was selected more or less at random It was decided to set down just outside yet far enough from the walls to avoid any possibility of damage from the landing jets in the event the city was inhabited Even if deserted the entire scientific personnel would have raised a howl that would have been heard back on earth If just a section of wall was scorched when planet fall was completed the observers had time to scan the surroundings It was seen that the city was very much alive What keeps them up marveled cupchansky the aeronautics and rocketry authority the sky swarmed with ships of strange design The walls were crowded with inhabitants too far away for detailed observation Even as they looked an enormous gate opened and a procession of mounted figures emerged in the event The place was deserted that captain would have had the honor of being the first to touch Martian soil While atmospheric and other checks were being run he gave orders for the previously decided alternative Captain semanticist and anthropologist would make the first contact With all checks agreeing that it was safe to open locks soon the three representatives of earth were walking shoulder to shoulder down the ramp It was apparent that the two scientists purposely missed stride inches from the end so that it was the captain's foot that actually touched ground first The cavalcade though these beasties were certainly not horses was now near enough to the ship for details to be seen Surprise and wonderment filled the crew for while the multi-legged steeds were as alien as anyone might expect to find on an alien world The riders were very definitely humanoid Briefly brightly and barbarically trapped as they were by earthly standards They seemed to be little distinguishable from homegrown homo saps The approaching company appeared to be armed mainly with swords and lances But also in evidence were some tubular affairs that could very well be some sort of projectile discharging device The captain suddenly felt unaccountably warm. It was a heavy responsibility He hoped these Martians wouldn't be the type of madmen who believed in the shoot first enquirer later theory Even as he stood there outwardly calm, but jittering internally the Martian riders pulled up 10 feet from the earth men Their leader tall dark haired and subtly lighter in hue than his companions dismounted and approached the captain Without stretched hand he took the captains in a firm grip Let it be recorded here to the shame of earth where reading for pleasure is virtually a lost past time That not one man on the Goddard realized the significance of what followed How do you do he said in perfect English with an unmistakable trace of southern accent? Welcome to Basume my name is John Carter And of it's a small solar system by Alan Howard With the lucky land sluts you can get lucky just about anywhere This is your captain speaking. Yeah, we've got clear runway and the weather is fine But we're just gonna circle up here a while and get lucky. 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