The Man From Beyond

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ONE of the greatest sights in Takon* these days was the exhi­bition of disco­veries made in the Valley of Dur. In the building erected especially to house them Takonians and visitors from other cities crowded through the corri­dors, peering into the barred or glass-fronted cages, observing the contents with awe, interest or amuse­ment according to their natures.

[* All Venusian terms are rendered in their closest English equivalents.]

The crowd was formed for the most part of those persons who flock to any unusual sight, provid­ing it is free or cheap. Their eyes dwelt upon the exhi­bits. Their minds were ready to marvel and be super­fi­cially impressed. But they had come to be amused and they faintly resented the efforts of the guides to stir their intelli­gent interest. One or two, perhaps, studied the cases with real appre­ciation.

But if the adults were super­ficial the same could not be said of the children. Every day saw teachers bringing their classes for a prac­tical demon­stration of the planet's pre­historic condi­tion. Even now Magon, a biology teacher in one of Takon's leading schools, was having difficulty restrain­ing his twenty pupils for the arrival of a guide. He had marshalled them beside the entrance and, to keep them from straying, was talking of the Valley of Dur.

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