Page Content (OCR)
The man who had taken the wheel seemed to know exactly where he was going and drove skillfully. | am not familiar with all the new highways leading out of Los Angeles, so | had no idea in which direction we were headed. We rode in silence and | remained entirely content to wait for my companions to identify themselves and explain the reason for our meeting. | realize that such a trusting attitude ordinarily would seem foolhardy in the light of the lawlessness rampant in our world today. But it was an attitude followed by men of other civilizations in the presence of men recognized to possess greater wisdom than they. This custom has also been practiced by the American Indians to show respect and humility, patience and faith. | understood this well and conducted myself accordingly, since in the presence of these men | sensed a power which made me feel like a child in the company of beings of vast wisdom anal and compassion. Lights and dwellings thinned as we left the outskirts of the city. The taller man spoke for the first time as he said, ?You have been very patient. We know how much you are wondering who we are and where we are taking you. | acknowledged that of course | had been wondering, but added that | was entirely content to wait for this information until they chose to give it to me. The speaker smiled and indicated the driver. ?He is from the planet you call Mars. | am from the one you call Saturn.? His voice was soft and pleasant and his English perfect. | had noticed that the younger man also spoke softly, although his voice was pitched higher. | found myself wondering how and where they had learned to speak our language so well. As the thought passed through my mind, it was immediately recognized. The Martian now spoke for the first time since our meeting in the hotel. ?)We are what you on Earth might call ?Contact men.? We live and work here, because, as you know, it is necessary on Earth to earn money with which to buy clothing, food, and the many things that people must have. We have lived on your planet now for several years. At first we did have a slight accent. But that has been al eee ee Re ee ee ee ee et 2 te th ee overcome and, as you can see, we are unrecognized as other than Earth men. ?At our work and in our leisure time we mingle with people here on Earth, never betraying the secret that we are inhabitants of other worlds. That would be ala ee ee be ee VAD ee ned ee [ee en 5 ee ee SS dangerous, as you well know. We understand you people better than most of you know yourselves and can plainly see the reasons for many of the unhappy conditions that surround you. OVID aoe eee ee tba sen. eee eh nee fe i 2 eet Lee as ?We are aware that you yourself have faced ridicule and criticism because of your persistence in proclaiming the reality of human life on other planets, which your scientists say are incapable of maintaining life. So you can well imagine what would happen to us if we so much as hinted that our homes are on other planets! If we stated the simple truth?that we have come to your Earth to work and to learn, just as some of you go to other nations to live and to study?we would be labeled insane. 2We are permitted to make brief visits to our home planets. Just as you long for a change of scene or to see old friends, so it is with us. It is necessary, of course,