analytical abifity to see just how to go about doing it, wouldn’t be so bad after all.
For six months the Ganymeans toured every nation of Earth learning its ways, absorbing its culture, meeting its peoples-the high, the low, the rich, the poor, the ordinary and the famous. After a while they were no longer the “aliens.” They became simply a new factor in an environment that the people of Earth were by now accustomed to accept as constantly changing. Hunt noticed again, this time on a global scale, the same thing he had noticed at Pithead in the week that the Ganymeans had gone to Pluto-they seemed to belong on Earth. Without them being constantly around or featured in the headlines, Earth would not, somehow, have seemed normal.
Then, one day, the news flashed around the globe that Garuth would shortly appear on the Earthnet to make an important announcement to all the people of Earth. No hint was given as to what this announcement would contain, but there was something about the mood of the moment that forewarned of some significant development. When the evening arrived on which Garuth was due to speak, the world was watching and waiting at a billion viewscreens.
Garuth spoke for a long time on the events that had taken place since the time of the Ganymeans’ arrival. He touched upon most of the sights that he and his companions had seen, the places they had been to and the things that they had learned. He expressed again the amazement that the Ganymeans had experienced at the restlessness, vivacity and impatient frenzy for living that they had found on every side in what he described as “this fantastic, undreamed-of world of yours.” And, speaking on behalf of all his kind, he repeated their gratitude to the governments and people of the planet that had shown them friendship, hospitality and generosity without limit, and offered their home to share.
But then his mood, which had been slightly solemn throughout, took on a distinctly somber note. “As most of you, my friends, know, for a long time now there has been speculation that long ago, sometime after our ship departed from Minerva, our race abandoned that planet forever to seek a new home elsewhere. There have been suggestions that the new home they found was a
planet of a distant star-the one that has become known as The Giants’ Star.
“Both these notions must remain mere speculation. Our sdeflfists and yours have been working together for many months nOW, studying the Lunarian records and following up every clue that might possibly add further credence to these notions. I have to tell you that these efforts have thus far proved fruitless. We cannot say for certain that The Giants’ Star is indeed the new home of our race. We cannot even say for certain that our race did in tact migrate to a new home at all.
“There is a chance, nevertheless, that these things could be true.”
The long face paused and stared hard at the camera for what seemed a long time, almost as if it knew that the watchers at the screens all over the world could sense suddenly what was coming next.
“I must now inform you that I and my senior officers ~~ve discussed and examined these questions at great length. We ~~ve decided that, slim though the chances of success appear to be, we must make the attempt to find these answers. The Solar System was once our home, but it is no longer our home. We must takg~ to the void again and seek our own kind.”
He paused again to allow time for his meaning to sink in.
“This decision did not come easily. My people have spen~t a large part of their natural lives wandering in the depths of sp~Ce. Our children have never known a home. A journey to The Giafits’ Star will, we know, take many years. In many ways we are s?ad, -naturally, but, like you, we must in the end obey our instin~CtS. Deep down we could never rest until the question of The Gia#ZIS’ Star has been finally answered.
“And so, my friends, I am bidding you farewell. We will ca,rry with us pleasant memories of the time that we knew here on ‘the sunny blue and green world of Earth. We will never forget ‘the warmth and hospitality of the people of this world, nor will we forget what they did for us. But, sadly, it must end.