Astounding Science Fiction (British Edition) — page 129: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

ME AND FLAPJACK AND THE MARTIANS © 127 “It would seem so,’ the loud- speaker said. “Now if this terrestrial has the type of mentality that we have deduced, we should be able to communicate.” All of the critters walked away from the device except one and he looked direct at Flapjack and said, “Greetings.” “Greetings, yourself,’ I said. “Flapjack’s a burro, so how’s about talking to me?” “Will one of you,” said the loud- speaker, “please attempt to stop that domesticated creature over there from making his fantastic noises?” Flapjack hadn’t been makin’ an noise that J could hear. But a flash- light got waved at me so I shut up to see what'd happen. “I assume,” said the loud-speaker, “that you are the dominant intelli- gence of this planet. Greetings from the inhabitants of Mars.” A funny thing about that there loud-speaker; something makes me remember every dang word it said, just like it said ’em, even when I still don’t rightly know what all the fancier words mean. While I was tryin’ to figure the an- swer to what they'd said, danged if Flapjack didn’t beat me to the draw. He opened his mouth, showed his teeth and brayed real hearty. “Thank you,” said the loud- speaker. “And in answer to your question, this is a sonic telepathor. It, in a manner of thinking, broad- casts my thoughts and they are repro- duced in the mind of the listener in the language which he speaks and understands. The sounds you seem to hear are not the exact sounds that come from the speaker; it emits an abstract sound pattern which your subconscious, with the aid of the carrier wave, hears as expression in your own language. It is not selective ; 4 many creatures speaking many tongues would all understand what I am thinking. Our adjustment con- sisted in tunmg the receiver part, which is selective, to the particular pattern of your individual intelli- gence.” “You're crazy,” I yelled. “Why don’t you fix that danged thing so it can understand what J say?” “Please keep that animal quiet, Yagarl,” said the loud-speaker. Flap- jack looked at me over his shoulder reproachfully. That didn’t worry me. But one of the critters with flash- lights waved it at me again and that did. And anyway the speaker was blaring again and I wanted to hear what it said so I listened. “We of Mars had the same diffi- culty,” it was saying. “Happily, we have been able to solve the problem by substituting robots for domesti- cated animals. Obviously, however, you have a different situation. Through the lack of suitable hands, or even tentacles, you have found it necessary to domesticate one of the lower orders which is so equipped.” Flapjack brayed briefly and the loud-speaker said, “Naturally you wish to know the purpose of our visit. We wish your advice in solving a problem that is vital to us. Mars is a dying planet. Its water, its at- mosphere, its mineral resources, are all practically exhausted. If we had been able to develop interstellar travel, we might seek an unoccupied planet somewhere in the galaxy. Un- fortunately we have not; our ships will take us only to other planets in the solar system and only the discoy- ery of an entirely new principle would enable us to reach the stars. We have not found even a clue to that prin- ciple. “In the solar system, yours is the only planet—besides Mars—that can Eomichooksnco im