commenced uniting with each other then splitting away, each such union resulting in another unit of Rell, naturally. The interpretive bank again seized control.

“Stop it! Stop it this instant!” it snapped. “Reproduction must be kept to the former minimum for now. That is a firm order.”

Reluctantly the process was halted. The interpretive bank explained, “It would not take long for us to use up the entire supply of water if we indulged in uncontrolled reproduction. That might endanger the whole trip.”

“What do we do now?” the speculative bank finally asked.

“There is no way of knowing positively whether the man uses this same atmosphere until he returns to his world or not. For our own safety it would seem best, since Rell-like creatures already inhabit him, that we join them. If any place is safe it will be his interior. And there is plenty of moisture within to sustain us. But we must be good parasites,” the interpretive bank warned. “Remember, no undue reproduction no matter how many quarts of moisture seem to be going to waste inside this ‘man’. He may need it himself and if he does not survive the ship might not complete its trip.”

Brown was just emerging from his space suit so the Rell chose his closest available body opening and flowed as a group into his mouth and nostrils.

“Ahchoo!” sneezed Brown, [96] violently evicting half the Rell.

They re-entered a bit more cautiously in order not to irritate the sensitive membrane again.

“Dammit,” said Brown, “don’t tell me I’ve caught a cold clear out here on Mars. Hope I didn’t pick up any Martian germs.”

But he needn’t have worried. By the time he reached Earth he was far less germ-ridden, even if considerably more itchy on the exterior, than when he’d left. The Rell were good at self defense and a surprising number of mindless but voracious creatures in Brown’s interior had been eliminated.

Brown dreaded having to give the news he carried but he needn’t have. He was a conquering hero.

So much fuss was made over the first flight to Mars that Congress promptly voted twice the appropriation for the second ship that the Air Force had requested, despite strong opposition from the Navy and headlines which read:

NO LIFE ON MARS

Actually, as it happened, the headlines were one hundred percent correct, but they neglected to mention, chiefly because the headline writers didn’t know it, that there were now two races of intelligent life on Earth.