Beyond the Worlds We Know

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The dusky purple sky of Mars was suddenly split asunder by an arc of dazzling white fire, which split the dark firmament from zenith to nadir. This streak of atomic flame sped towards a range of low, worn, incredibly ancient mountains in the southern hemisphere of the Red Planet, and the trim little speedster whose rocket drive was the cause of that fiery wake settled down to rest on the top of one of these eminences—Mount Mern, in the Ygnarth region of the Drylands of Cotaspar.

The airlock slid open and two men in protective suits, their faces shielded by airmasks, emerged into view. One was obviously an Earthling, tall, rangy, long-legged, with a fiery thatch of red hair and mischievous green eyes that sparkled with irrepressible humor in a handsome, tanned, clean-shaved face. The other was a Venusian, from his lithe and limber, almost boneless grace of movement, bald hairless pate, slanted albino-pink eyes, and dead-white skin.

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