sporadically until the 1950's, when revolutionary improvements in the design of our ships made possible more economical and faster trips.

It is an interesting coincidence, incidentally, that atomic power was discovered on Earth just as we on Venus had made atomic driven spacecraft obsolete by the introduction of the magnetico-gravitational drive. This fact is mentioned because it was the evidence of atomic explosions on Earth that increased our interest in your planet a century ago.

In all our observations of Earth, the most obvious fact we learned was that its dominant race was aggressive and war-like in nature. Having no desire to introduce this war-mindedness to our peaceful world, we avoided all contact with Earth.

We realized, however, that in time the Earth race would accomplish space travel and thus force a contact with us. Therefore, we devised highly potent weapons for our defense in the event that the people of Earth ever stopped quarreling among themselves and attempted an attack on our world.

High officials in our government were appalled at the thought of war with its chaotic and indiscriminate killing. There were those who deemed it an actual act of aggression on our part to arm ourselves in preparation for a war. The opposition to our defense program was strong. Yet, it was our preparedness which saved our civilization from destruction when your forces launched their invasion of our planet last year.

To understand the events which led to The War, it is best that we briefly review the history of space travel by Earthians. In the year 2002, the six remaining nations of the Earth formed the Federation to abolish war and to enable the people of your planet to put forth a united effort to discover the secret of interplanetary travel. This endeavour, in itself, was considered by our leaders to be most creditable. But the entire pattern of your development, observed for many centuries, instilled seeds of doubt in our minds. You were conditioned to war and the mere establishment of a Federation to monitor the future was not adequate insurance, we felt, against further conflict. In your concentration on conquering space, however, you did stop warring among yourselves.

Space travel from Earth began thirty-eight years ago. The first successful trip to Luna and back was made in 2011, and by 2020 the Lunar space port was opened. It was in 2020, also, that the space ship, Pioneer, left for Mars. It was never heard from again.

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