Robert Silverberg - Lost Race of Mars

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Lost Race of Mars

By Robert Silverberg

Illustrated by Leonard Kessler

SCHOLASTIC BOOK SERVICES

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a division of Scholastic Magazines, Inc., by arrangement with Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc.

7th Printing ........................................................................................................

April 1973

Printed in the U.S.A.

This one is for SCOTT

Chapter 1

"Do you think they've forgotten?" Jim Chambers whispered.

His sister Sally, who was almost eleven, shrugged and shook her red head. "They've never

forgotten before, have they?"

"There's always a first time," Jim said gloomily. He was twelve, old enough to know that

grownups sometimes forgot the most important things. But would they forget Surprise Day?

That was like forgetting Christmas. Still, here it was, eight o'clock, and soon it would be

bedtime, and Surprise Day would be over — without any surprise. It was hard to believe they

had forgotten.

Surprise Day was a private custom of the Chambers family. Dr. Roy Chambers, the father of

Sally and Jim, had always felt it was a pity Christmas came only once a year, so he had set up

a special day, exactly midway between one Christmas and the next, for the giving of gifts.

Surprise day fell on the twenty-fifth of June.

And that was what today was: the twenty-fifth of June, 2017. But the whole day had gone

by, and now it was long after dinner, and still no surprises had appeared. Jim and Sally had

their gifts all ready. Jim had bought a pair of magnetic cuff links for his father and a collapsing

purse-sized umbrella for his mother. Sally's gifts were a new billfold for Dr. Chambers and, for

her mother, a bottle of imported perfume to replace a bottle that had accidentally been

spilled. For weeks, Jim and Sally had gone snooping around the house to find out what gifts

would be most appreciated.

But the family custom said that Jim and Sally could not give their gifts until last. Also, it was

against the rules to remind anyone that it was Surprise Day. It had to be a complete surprise

all around.

"Maybe we ought to hint?" Sally suggested.

Jim wrinkled up his face. "Don't be silly. That's against the rules."

"It's against the rules for them to forget, you know."

"The day isn't over yet," Jim said. "Let's not talk about it any more." He walked over to the

video set and turned it on. The Chambers family had one of the new video sets that gave the

picture in three dimensions. The screen showed a girl playing an electronic piano and singing.

As her voice filled the room Chipper, the family cat, woke up and padded out of his corner to

sit down in front of the set. Chipper was a big black-and-white tomcat that spent most of his

time snoozing, but woke up every time the video was turned on. Jim insisted that Chipper

could understand the programs, but nobody else would believe that.

A moment later Dr. Chambers walked into the room. He was a very tall man, and Jim had

inherited his lean body, easy smile, and dark brown hair. Sally's red hair came entirely from her

mother.

Dr. Chambers was not smiling now. He looked very solemn, in fact. He glanced at the video

set and said, "I hope you two are finished with your homework. You know the rules around

here."

"Don't you remember, Dad?" Jim said. "The term is over in two days. We don't have any

homework to do!"

Dr. Chambers nodded. His mind seemed to be millions of miles away. "Uh-huh. I guess I forgot

about that."

"That isn't all he's forgotten," Sally murmured, just loud enough for Jim to hear.

Jim nudged her in the ribs. "You're not supposed to talk about it!"

Jim and Sally turned their attention to the screen. The singing had ended and the

commentator was covering the day's news. Congress votes . . . Debate at the United Nations

. . . video star returns from visit to Mars Colony . . . weather bureau prevents heat wave . .

They found their minds kept wandering away from the newscast. Jim and Sally told themselves

over and over again that it wasn't so. Surprise Day couldn't have been forgotten, couldn't!

When the newscast was over, Dr. Chambers said quietly, "Would you mind turning the set off?

Your mother and I want to talk to you."

Sally reached forward and switched the video off. Disappointed, Chipped ambled back to his

corner and curled up to go to sleep.

Their mother entered the room, taking a seat next to Dr. Chambers. Both of them looked very,

very serious. Sally and Jim leaned forward, wondering what was going to happen. Whatever it

was, it couldn't be good news.

Dr. Chambers said, "I waited until after dinner to tell you this, kids. I'm going to have to go

away for quite a long time."

"Go away, Dad?" Jim asked. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that I have to leave here and travel a great distance, and I won't be coming back

home for at least a year."

Jim and Sally exchanged puzzled glances. Was it something bad? An operation, maybe? Or just

a teaching appointment? Their father was a professor of biology at Columbia University. Maybe

he had lost his job and had to go far away to teach. Whatever it was, it was probably serious.

Otherwise they wouldn't both look so grim. Otherwise they wouldn't have forgotten Surprise

Day.

"Is it — something you can tell us about, Dad?" Sally asked.

"What do you say, Ethel?" Dr. Chambers said to his wife. "Do you think we can tell them?"

Mrs Chambers shrugged. "You'll have to tell them sooner or later, Roy," she said with a somber

voice. "You might as well get it over with now."

Jim moistened his lips. "Tell us, Dad. We're old enough to take bad news."

For the first time, the shadow of a smile appeared on Dr. Chambers' face. "All right, I suppose

I ought to tell you. You know the research I've been carrying on, don't you? I've been making

biological studies of Mars. I've been examining the reports sent back by the colonists up

there, and I've been trying to draw some conclusions. Well, I won't be using secondhand

information any more. I'm being sent to Mars for a year to carry out some research up there."

There was a long silence in the Chambers' living room, broken only by the loud sleepy purring

of Chipper. The Jim said, "You're going to Mars, Dad? Why — that's swell, I guess."

"A whole year?" Sally asked. "We'll miss you!"

"But you'll send us letters," Jim put in. "With Mars Colony stamps on them."

"And a year isn't really so long, after all," Sally added. "It isn't forever, anyway--"

"Whoa! Hold it! Slow down!" Dr. Chambers cried. He was grinning, now. "Whatever gives you

the idea that I'm going to Mars all alone?"

Jim gasped. "But — you looked so serious."

"We thought --" Sally blurted.

"I know what you thought," their father said, chuckling. "I wanted you to think I was going by

myself. That way this qualifies as a genuine surprise. You see, we're all going to Mars for a

year — both of you, Mother, and me. The government gave me a family-sized research grant.

We'll be leaving next week."

Jim and Sally turned to look at each other. Jim saw that his sister's face was wide-eyed with

amazement, and knew that he probably looked just as astonished. Of all the possible surprises

there might have been, this was the most flabbergasting. A year on Mars!

It was one of those things too fantastic to even waste time daydreaming about. It cost a

great deal of money to go to Mars. The journey would take three weeks by the fastest

spaceship. There was a city up there, founded in 1991 — a city of three thousand people

living under an enormous plastic dome. When you went out of the dome, you had to wear a

breathing suit because the air on Mars was too thin for human beings to breathe. Jim and

Sally knew all about Mars; they had studied it in geography class, of course. But actually to

go there —

"And we thought you had forgotten," Jim said. "Because it was past eight o'clock and you

hadn't said anything about Surprise Day."

"We were saving it," Mrs. Chambers explained. "It was such a big surprise we wanted to hold it

off until nighttime"

"It's the only surprise we have, too," Dr. Chambers added. "It'll have to do — from both of us

to both of you."

"Have to do?" Jim echoed. "Why, it's worth five years of surprises!"

"Now we're forgetting," Sally reminded him quietly.

"Oh — gosh, yes. Excuse us a second," Jim said.

He and Sally scampered upstairs, took their gifts from hiding places, and ran downstairs.

Things like billfolds and cuff links and umbrellas and perfume were not in the same class with

trips to Mars, but they were surprises all the same.

There was a flurry of unpacking and examining, and thanking. Everyone laughed when the

collapsible umbrella was unpacked. "Here's one thing I won't be taking with me," Mrs.

Chambers said.

"I guess you won't, Mom," Jim admitted. It hasn't rained on Mars for thousands of years, and

it isn't likely to start now. But how was I supposed to know?"

"You weren't," his father said. "But the umbrella will come in handy when we come back to

Earth. We aren't going to be on Mars forever, you know."

"Only a year," Sally said wistfully. "That isn't much time at all."

"It is if it's a Martian year," Jim explained. "A Martian year is six hundred and eighty-seven

Earth days long!"

"So it is," Dr. Chambers agreed. "But I'm afraid my grant specifies one old-fashioned Earth

year, three hundred and sixty-five years of twenty-four hour days."

"What are we going to do about school?" Sally asked.

"It's all arranged," Mrs. Chambers said. "You'll be going to classes every day at the Mars

Colony school. You won't miss any time at all. And when you come back to Earth you'll go

right into the grade you're supposed to be in."

A sudden thought occurred to Jim as the cat stirred in his corner and began washing his paws.

"Dad — does this grant of yours include cats?"

"I'm afraid not, son," Dr. Chambers said, his smile disappearing. "We'll have to leave Chipper

behind. Maybe the Robinsons will agree to take care of him while we're gone."

"But a cat doesn't take up much room," Sally protested.

"That spoiled cat of yours weighs fourteen pounds, Sally. You'd shudder if you knew how

much it costs to ship fourteen pounds of cute but useless cat all the way to Mars. And when

he's there, he'll have to eat, breathe, and drink, won't he? The Martian Colonists manufacture

their own food, air, and water. These are very precious, and they aren't going to like the idea

of sharing them with Chipper, no matter how important he may be to you."

Jim scratched the cat behind the ears. This attention usually produced a purr, but now

resulted only in a cold stare. "See? He's unhappy already. He knows what we're talking about,

Dad."

"It wouldn't matter even if he could read and write, too, Jim. He'll have to stay behind."

"I suppose you're right," Jim admitted. He stroked the tom's silken fur. "So long, old fellow.

We'll be back in a year. I guess we'll miss you as much as you miss us, but it can't be helped,

Chipper."

"Mrreow!"

"You know where we're going, Chipper? We're going to Mars. Do you know where that is?"

"Miuaouurk!"

"Come on," Jim said. "I'll give you a look at Mars." Scooping the cat up, Jim walked through the

front hall and stepped out on the front porch. He was aware that Sally and his parents were

coming, too.

Jim searched the skies for a moment, until he found what he wanted, high in the star-dotted

blackness. Mars stood out clearly, a gleaming, brick-red ball. Jim pointed to it. "See that up

there, Chipper? That red-dish thing? That's Mars. Mars! And we're going to be there soon —

all of us except you."

"Mmnmeerk," the cat said sadly.

Jim let the cat down. "Sorry, Chipper. There rules are the rules."

The Chamberses went back inside. It was still hard to believe. "Gee, Dad," Jim said, "this is the

biggest surprise there could have been. Imagine — we're going to Mars!"

Chapter 2

The next five days were the most hectic the Chambers family had ever known. Many of the

preparations for the trip had been made quietly in the past few weeks, ever since Dr.

Chambers had known definitely he was getting the grant, but there was still plenty of

last-minute work — packing to do, letters to write, bills to pay. Relatives kept coming in

person or calling by visiphone to wish the spacefarers a happy blast-off. Reporters came

calling. It was a good human-interest story, "Professor and family off to Mars," and every

paper wanted to run something about it.

Although the reporters were a nuisance, the newspaper stories came in handy on the final day

of school. Jim and Sally had told all their friends and classmates, of course. But not until the

papers came out with the headlines about their trip did everyone really believe it. Suddenly

Jim and Sally became the most important people in their school. Fore the first time in their

lives Jim and Sally learned what it meant to be a celebrity. They weren't sure they liked being

at the center of so much noisy fuss and attention.

Packing was a hard job – not because they had so much to pack, but because they were

allowed to take so little. The regulations allowed them only seventy pounds of baggage

apiece, which was not very much at all for a years stay. But it wasn't necessary to take

clothes for different seasons because the artificial air of the Mars Colony dome was kept at

the same temperature all year round, sixty-nine degrees. So spring clothes were all that they

needed. And nothing fancy, either, since the colonists didn't go in for frills and formalities.

Spaceships left for Mars only once a month. They carried mail for the colonists and supplies

that were not being produced on Mars, like mustard and grapefruit and other items that were

not strictly necessary but made the diet a little more interesting. The monthly spaceship also

carried new colonists, if there were any, as well as anyone visiting temporarily.

The trip would take three weeks. The first unmanned spaceship that had ever gone to Mars

had required almost nine months to get there, but that had been back in the 1960's.

Spaceships were much more efficient now, more than half a century later. They could attain a

much greater initial thrust, and the new fuels allowed a longer period of acceleration that

reduced flight time tremendously.

The night before they left, Jim and Sally took Chipper down the street to the home of their

friends, Ned and Edna Robinson. Ned and Edna were twins, a little younger than Jim. They

were in Jim's grade at school. They had a cat of their own, a fluffy Persian named Xerxes, and

also a noisy terrier called Jupiter. Ned and Edna knew how to take care of animals, and Jim

and Sally knew that Chipper would be in good hands.

Chipper was suspicious at first. He sniffed at Xerxes and hissed warningly at Jupiter.

“I hope they're going to get along,” Sally said anxiously.

“Don't worry,” Ned told her. “Give them two days, and they'll be old friends.”

“We'll take good care of him,” Edna promised. “But it's too bad he can't go with you.”

“I wish he could,” Jim said.

“What time do you leave tomorrow?” Ned asked.

“Blast-off is at noon,” answered Jim.

“Nervous?” Edna wanted to know. “I'd be, if I were going to Mars!”

“That's because you're a girl,” her brother snorted. “I wouldn't be nervous. Not at all.”

Jim chuckled. He was very nervous, himself. But he didn't want to say that in from of Ned and

Edna. “Come on,” he said to Sally. “We're not supposed to stay out late tonight, remember?”

So they said good-by to Chipper, and were told for the fiftieth time by Ned and Edna how

lucky they were to be going to Mars, and then they hurried back home. When they came in

their father was on the phone, as usual. It seemed he was on the phone all the time, talking

to important people, making arrangements.

Everything was packed. The house looked as it did just before a vacation, with everything put

away and tidied up and the furniture covered. There was nothing more to do but wait until

morning.

Jim and Sally went into the living room. Their mother was there, checking a list. “Cancel

visiphone service . . . stop the milk delivery . . . turn off the electricity . . . that's about it, I

guess.” She looked up. “Oh, there you are! Is Chipper happy in his new home?”

“Not very,” Sally said. “But he'll get used to it.”

“I feel like a traitor, taking him down the block and just leaving him there,” Jim said.

Mrs. Chambers smiled. “But you told him we were coming back, didn't you? After all, you claim

he understands what you say to him!”

“I know, Mom, but still --” Jim shrugged. “Well, nothing to do but wait, now.”

“It's going to seem like ages till blast-off,” Sally put in. “And only seventeen hours from now

we'll be on our way!”

“And this is such a terribly important trip for your father,” Mrs. Chambers said quietly. “It can

mean so much to his career.”

“Nobody's really told us what he's going there to study, Mom,” Jim said.

“All we know is that he'll be studying Martian life,” Sally added.

“Well,” Mrs. Chambers explained, “he's been planning this trip for years. Naturally we couldn't

afford it ourselves, but Dad's been applying for research grants, seeing people, making

contacts. It took him almost a year of steady arguing before he was given enough money to

make the trip. You know that no native life bigger than a rabbit has ever been found on Mars.”

“That's right,” Jim agreed. “All that the colonists have discovered is small animals and plants

and bacteria and little things like that.”

Mrs. Chambers nodded. “Your father is officially going to study the biology of Mars – how life

can exist on a planet that has practically no water. But he'd rather study the was large

animals live in the Martian desert than the way small ones live.”

“There are all sorts of rumors that the Old Martians are still alive, hidden in the desert,” Sally

said.

“Sure,” said Jim, “but no one's ever seen one. All we have is their bones and their ruined

cities. The Old Martians have been extinct for thousands of years.”

“Maybe not!” Mrs. Chambers suggested. “What your father hopes, anyway, is that while he's

there the surviving Old Martians will be found. He has a theory about them, and how they

lived, but he needs to find them alive to prove it. And if he does, not only will we know a good

deal more than we do know about why Mars is so dry, but we may discover some clues on

how to change it's climate to make it more comfortable for humans.”

Jim frowned. “I don't get that. How --”

“Dad thinks that Mars was once a planet with as much water as Earth has today. But over the

centuries something happened to make it dry up, and the people adapted to the new

conditions. We don't know how. If we could only get hold of some Old Martians and examine

them – at least, that's what Dad hopes.”

“Suppose he doesn't find them?” Sally asked.

Mrs. Chambers shrugged her shoulders. “In that case he isn't going to have very interesting

results to show the government in return for all the money they've given him to make this trip.

The government science agency is going to be unhappy about that.”

“And the next time Dad wants a research grant,” Jim said, “they'll think twice before they give

it to him. Is that the story?”

“That's about the way it is.”

“So he's go a year to find what he's looking for, or else,” Sally said. “Golly! I hope he does!”

“So do I,” their mother answered softly. “So do I.”

Bedtime came early that night, but neither Jim nor Sally got much rest. Jim tossed and turned

sleeplessly, his mid wide awake and active. He was thinking about what it was like to travel in

a spaceship, about what life in the Mars Colony was going to be like – and whether his father

was going to succeed in finding the Old Martians. Thoughts whirled half the night in Jim's

head. He got out of bed finally – the clock near his bed said it was past once in the morning –

and walked to his window, looking out into the night.

There was Mars, glowing dull red against the black velvet backdrop of the sky. Jim felt chills

run down his backbone. Tomorrow at this time he would be in a tiny metal cylinder, coursing

through the heavens toward that red planet.

He heard someone moving around across the hall in Sally's room. Tiptoeing over, Jim peered in.

Sally, too, was out of bed, staring at the sky.

“It's after one!” Jim whispered.

“I know. I can't fall asleep.”

“Neither can I. I'm too keyed-up about tomorrow.”

“We better get back into bed,” Sally said. “Otherwise we may fall asleep at the spaceport.”

There wasn't much chance of that, Jim thought. But he returned to his bedroom, climbed back

into bed, and screwed his eyes tight shut. Finally, sleep came.

The alarm went off very early the next morning. Although blast-off was at noon, they had to

be at the spaceport by nine, and that meant getting up before seven. All four of them were

strangely hushed and untalkative as they went through their morning routine. No one seemed

to have much of an appetite for breakfast, either. Mrs. Chambers made no complaint at all,

even though Jim left nearly half his bacon and eggs on the plate, and Sally ate even less.

The ride to Long Island Spaceport was made in virtual silence, too. They went by helicab,

which was the quickest way; the cab picked them up at the cabport a few blocks from their

house just after eight, and deposited them at the arrival-and-departure building of the

spaceport fifty minutes later after a smooth flight through light morning traffic.

The spaceport was more than a dozen years old, but it still had a raw, unfinished look to it.

There was not much commercial space traveling yet. One ship left every three days for

Moonport, and one ship every month for Mars. There was also the monthly excursion trip that

was very popular in the billionaire set – it traveled from Venus to Saturn, taking a whole year,

circling each planet and giving the passengers a look.

That was all – a total of twelve ships leaving the spaceport each month. Later on, of course,

the number would grow much greater. There were plans to build Mars-type colonies on Venus

and several of the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, such as Titan, Ganymede, and Callisto.

Although it was exactly sixty years since Sputnik had begun the Age of Space, space travel

was still very much in its infancy.

The passengers for the Mars ship were clustered together in the arrival-and-departure depot

when the Chambers family entered. A smiling man in the uniform of the Space Corps told them,

“Take your baggage over to the weighing counter to check in.”

At the weighing counter, the Chambers luggage was put in the scale to make sure the family

quota of two hundred and eighty pounds was not exceeded. When all of the baggage had

been weighed the man said, “All right. Now you get on the scales, one at a time.”

“Us?” Mrs. Chambers asked. “Is there a maximum weight limit for passengers as well as their

baggage?”

“No, but we have to know down to the ounce how much weight the ship is carrying at

blast-off.”

So they were weighed. Their baggage was ticketed and carted away. Then they finished

checking in. It was about twenty past nine.

At nine-thirty, a loudspeaker announcement was heard telling all passengers to report to Gate

One for boarding. A Space Corps man was there to lead them out onto the field.

As they passed through the gate Jim and Sally could see the spaceship standing in the middle

of a bare field. It stood upright, balanced on its tail, looking like a great gleaming fish as it

glittered in the morning sunlight. At its base technicians bustled around, checking the ship as

the countdown entered its final hours. Everything had to be just right before the ship would

be allowed to leave.

The passengers rode an elevator in a tower next to the ship to reach the entrance, which

was nearly twenty feet off the ground. Jim and Sally filed in slowly, following their parents.

Crewmen showed them to the quarters where they would spend the next few weeks. Then all

the passengers were called together in a large cabin near the nose of the ship for a briefing

session.

There were only twenty-eight passengers. Besides the Chambers family, there were twenty

new colonists, two site seers going to Mars for a look around, and two reporters.

For the next hour the crewmen explained what life on the ship was like – how long the trip

would take, where and what they would eat on board, and so on.

At eleven-thirty came the signal for all passengers to go to their quarters. The Chambers

family settled down in their small but fairly comfortable cabin. At another order from the

loudspeaker overhead, they lay down and fastened their safety belts. They were now securely

strapped down and padded against the strain of blast-off.

The countdown was proceeding on schedule. Every five minutes a new announcement came:

“Twenty minutes to blast-off ... fifteen ... ten ... five ...”

After that, the count was by minutes, and when it got down to “One minute to blast-off” it

continued by seconds. The calm voice counted down the final seconds. “Five... four... three...

two... one... mark!”

Jim felt as if someone had punched him in the stomach. He was flattened back against his

seat. The whole cabin seemed to be shaking. He wrenched his head to the left so he could

look out the porthole. There was nothing but darkness out there. They had already made the

leap into space. The journey was under way.

Chapter 3

Minutes after blast-off the ship cut off its engines. The sudden silence was strange after the

steady roar of the rockets. The ship had now reached escape velocity and had broken free of

the grasp of Earth's gravity. For the rest of the trip it would simply coast through space,

“falling” in a wide curve toward the place where Mars would be three weeks from now.

The first few days of life in space were fascinating. Outside the ports was the marvelous

darkness, broken by the bright, hard dots of light which were the stars. Earth was far behind

already, a dwindling blue-green globe. The seas and continents could still be made out,

though not very clearly. The moon loomed up, pockmarked with crater and enormous

mountains. Then the moon, too, was left far behind. Only the immense glory of the Milky Way,

spread out along the sky like a torrent of blazing jewels, was visible – and also the sun, too

brilliant to be looked at directly, and the planets.

When Jim and Sally finally grew tired of staring at the stars and planets outside, they were

allowed to explore the ship. With half a dozen other children they were taken on a tour of the

rocket engine room at the rear, and of the control room in the nose. The spaceship carried a

crew of seven, and they were all friendly and willing to answer questions, even the captain.

But by the fourth day out Jim and Sally had explored just about every inch of the ship. They

had stared at the stars until their eyes tingled and ached. They had played games in the

ship's lounge until they were tired of games. The ship carried a big library of books and video

tapes, and for a few more days Jim and Sally amused themselves with those. But even that

grew boring after a while.

“Who would have believed it?” Jim asked. “Here we are, traveling in space, and we're bored!”

“It's almost like being in a prison,” Sally said glumly.

It was. The ship was only two hundred feet long, and once you had explored it from end to

end there was nothing else to see. Outside, of course, the was the beauty of space, but that

never changed much from one hour to the next. Although the ship was moving Marsward at a

terrific speed, it seemed as though it were standing still, just hanging against the backdrop of

the skies. Jim wondered how the early space explorers had managed to stand the boredom of

being cooped up for seven and eight months at a stretch.

Then one day there came a break in the routine. It was Midpoint Day – the day that the ship

reached the point where the gravitational pulls of the Earth and Mars exactly balanced each

other. Once the ship had passed this point, it would be held in Mars' gravitational grip, with no

chance whatever of dropping back to Earth. The initial speed of seven miles a second had

guaranteed that Midpoint would be reached. If the ship had started out at a lower velocity,

Earth would have been able to pull her back.

All passengers were ordered to their cabins while the ship made turnover. The engines were

turned on briefly and the ship turned end over end, so its tail now faced Mars instead of

Earth. Then the engines were cut off again and the ship resumed its drop through space

toward the red planet.

A gong was sounded. “All passengers report to lounge,” came the announcement. The crew

waited there, all of them wearing breathing suits. It was time for all greenhorns to be inducted

into the Order of Pluto. The ship's artificial gravity was shut off. As the passengers drifted

about, floating in mid-air, the crewmen went among them. The crewmen had magnetic soles

on their boots, and so did not float. One by one the floundering passengers were dragged

down by their feet and tossed around the lounge. It took only the slightest push to send

someone drifting halfway across the cabin.

When the horseplay was over the gravity was turned on again. The new members of the Order

of Pluto were given a drink of Spaceman's Punch, and a membership card that proved the had

passed Midpoint and so had escaped from Earth's gravitational field.

Jim and Sally were allowed to have only one cup each of the Spaceman's Punch, but some of

the grownups had a good deal, and began to get silly and frisky. The party went on for most

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LostRaceofMarsByRobertSilverbergIllustratedbyLeonardKesslerSCHOLASTICBOOKSERVICESNewYork–Toronto–London–Auckland–Sydney–TokyoThisbookissoldsubjecttotheconditionthatitshallnotberesold,lentorotherwisecirculatedinanybindingorcoverotherthanthatinwhichitwaspublished—unlesspriorwrittenpermissionhasbeenobt...

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Robert Silverberg - Lost Race of Mars

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