his closest available body opening and flowed as a group into his mouth and nostrils.

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

[

96

]  

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.

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