“Another thing,” he said, forgetting his tiredness for a moment. “It’s more than just simple lichen that we’ve discovered. Life doesn’t exist in one species alone; we know that from Earth. There’s got to be a Martian ecology here, a chain of living organisms. Certainly there must be organisms that are lower down on the chain of life than the lichen we’ve found. But the interesting question is, are there organisms higher on the chain? Or were there such higher organisms at one time in the past?”
He glanced down at Joanna, who was smiling encouragement at him. Connors patted his shoulder.
“Here in this Grand Canyon we discovered a rock formation that might not be natural. It’s a long shot, of course, but there may have once been intelligent Martians. We have the opportunity-the responsibility, really-to come back to Mars with expeditions that are equipped to stay for much longer so they can tackle some of these questions.”
Jamie enjoyed seeing Brumado’s eyes sparkle when his little speech finally reached Earth.
The next reporter threw away his prepared question and asked, “Do you mean that there might have been intelligent creatures on Mars?” His eyes were wide with incredulity.
“Yes,” answered Jamie firmly. “Might have been. We don’t know if there actually were. The chances against seem very high, but-we just don’t know enough about Mars to say, one way or the other.”
The display screen picture broke up momentarily as every one of the reporters tried to get in a question about intelligent Martians. Brumado restored calm only by shouting over their voices the name of the next reporter picked by the computer.
All of the following questions were about “real, live Martians.” Most of them were directed at Jamie, who felt that their questions were generally trivial and terribly repetitious. He remembered a friend of his, a lawyer, who always replied to questions he felt to be redundant with a curt, “Asked and answered.”
Joanna interrupted him once to say, “I want to make certain that everyone understands exactly what we have found here on Mars. We have discovered living organisms, somewhat the same as terrestrial lichens. We have not found any evidence at all for the existence of intelligent Martians, even intelligent Martians who might have become extinct ages ago.”
Jamie nodded agreement. “That’s right. My speculations about intelligent Martians are nothing more than speculations, based on a rock formation that we’ve seen from a distance.”
At last Brumado announced that each of the twelve chosen reporters had been heard from. “Now we must break away to the White House. The President and Vice-President of the United States have a few words to say to our explorers.”
The screen flickered, then showed the President smiling from a deep leather-covered wing chair by a marble fireplace and mantle. A portrait of Thomas Jefferson was visible behind him.
“I want to add my congratulations and best wishes to you on Mars,” said the President in his warmest manner. “You have made a magnificent accomplishment and everyone in the nation, everyone in the world, is thrilled by your discovery.”
The view on the screen widened to show the Vice-President, wearing a kelly green pants suit that offset her blonde coiffure nicely, sitting in a smaller armchair across the empty fireplace from the President. A bronze bust of Jefferson stood on the table to the right of her chair.
“I want to offer my personal congratulations to you all, and to assure you that this administration will do everything in its power to support the further exploration of Mars.” She lowered her eyes modestly for a moment, but her voice remained sharp and strong as she added, “And if the people of this great nation choose me to lead them in the next administration, we will support continued missions to Mars as well as the economic development of cislunar space.”
Connors huffed. “I wonder if she knows what cislunar means?”
“One of her aides does,” Jamie said. “That’s good enough for now.”
Brumado’s face came back on the screen, announcing that the President of the Soviet Federation would now say a few words.
The two-way radio buzzed. Jamie leaned between the two women, turned off the sound on the TV altogether, and flicked the answering switch.