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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59556 ***
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+                             communication
+
+                          BY CHARLES FONTENAY
+
+                     _Everyone knows that Earth's
+                    the third planet from the sun.
+                      But how about looking at it
+                     from an alien point of view?_
+
+           [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
+              Worlds of If Science Fiction, October 1956.
+         Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
+         the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
+
+
+The first terrestrial expedition to Mars didn't find any Martians.
+Neither did the second. Since there are so few Martians left, those
+facts are less surprising than that the third did.
+
+For many years before space flight was accomplished, there had been
+discussions and theories about how to communicate with Martians, if any
+existed. But, of course, nobody was ready when the time came.
+
+They fell back on that antiquated gimmick.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Von Frisch, Riley and Smith watched the half dozen Martians approach,
+and their watching was not without some trepidation. Except that they
+were about twenty miles away from their G-boat--the planetary landing
+craft--they probably would have fled. Except that they had their
+orders, they probably would have shot first and asked questions later.
+
+"Sir, this is Von Frisch," said the engineer into the microphone of his
+helmet. He was a little breathless about it. "We're being approached by
+Martians!"
+
+"How do they act?" asked Captains Powers back at the G-boat,
+immediately.
+
+"They don't act hostile, sir."
+
+"Stand by, then, but don't take any chances. What do they look like?"
+
+"They're quite a bit taller than we are, but their bodies are round
+and not much bigger than a child's. They've got real long legs and
+arms, and big heads with big eyes and ears."
+
+"Are they intelligent? Are they civilized? How do they breathe?"
+
+"Wait a minute, Captain," protested Von Frisch. "You're going a little
+too fast, sir. They've just come up to us. I don't know whether that's
+fur on them or whether they're wearing clothes."
+
+"Well, try to communicate with them, man!" exclaimed Powers excitedly.
+
+Von Frisch did his best. The Martians appeared friendly enough, and
+interested. Von Frisch tried to communicate in the only method he had
+heard about.
+
+While his companions watched curiously, he shut his ears to the running
+fire of questions from Powers, squatted and drew a right angled
+triangle in the red desert sand. By one of the sides he drew three
+marks, by another four.
+
+Then he stepped back and looked questioningly at the Martians.
+
+One of the Martians squatted in a tangle of pipestem arms and legs, and
+with a long finger drew five lines beside the triangle's hypotenuse.
+
+"They understand the Pythagorean theorem, sir!" exclaimed Von Frisch.
+
+"Good! They undoubtedly know some astronomy, then. Go on."
+
+Von Frisch hesitated a moment, then erased the triangle. He drew a
+small circle with rays from it, for the sun. He drew four larger
+concentric circles around it, with small circles for planets on the
+rim of each one.
+
+He pointed to the third planet, then at himself, then at his
+companions, one by one. Then he pointed at the fourth planet and at the
+Martians, one by one. To complete the matter, he pointed at the sky.
+
+"We are Earthmen," he said. "You are Martians."
+
+The trouble was that the Earthmen didn't realize the things the
+Martians had were weapons until they used them. They didn't realize it
+then, as a matter of fact, because the Earthmen were dead, all three of
+them.
+
+_The Martian hunting party came back from the desert with word of the
+strange creatures who came, apparently, from another world._
+
+_"Whether they have weapons, we do not know," said the leader of the
+hunting party. "But they wished to harm our people, so we killed them
+all."_
+
+_"That is desperate action," said the patriarch of the village. "In
+what way were they dangerous to us?"_
+
+_"Foolishly they disclosed their intention to us," replied the leader
+of the hunting party. "They informed us they planned to take over our
+world and to drive our people farther from the sun, to the great planet
+Jupiter."_
+
+_"Then you did right," said the patriarch, blinking his big eyes._
+
+Biggs and Golden were working near the G-boat. Their helmet radios were
+set to a different channel from that used by the exploring party, so
+they were unable to hear Captain Powers shouting frantically into his
+microphone and getting no answer. It was just after sunset, and Biggs
+was looking into the west.
+
+"We ought to see it now, but it ain't there," commented Biggs.
+
+"What ain't there?" demanded Golden.
+
+"Mercury," said Biggs, who prided himself on being an amateur
+astronomer. "I reckon you can't see it from Mars without a telescope.
+Too close to the sun."
+
+He chuckled.
+
+"If there are any Martians," he added, "I reckon they think _they_ live
+on the third planet. That's funny, ain't it?"
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Communication, by Charles Fontenay
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59556 ***