orant of life
upon any other.

"As I have said, the hexans of Jupiter were, and are, diabolically
intelligent. Driven probably by their desire to see what lay beyond
their atmosphere of eternal cloud, to the penetration of which their
eyesight was attuned, they developed the space-ship; and effected a
safe landing, first upon the barren, airless moonlet nearest them, and
then upon fruitful Io. There they made common cause with the hexans
against the humans, and in space of time Ionian humanity ceased to exist.
Much traffic and interbreeding followed between the hexans of Jupiter
and those of Io, resulting in time in a race intermediate in size
between the parent stocks and equally at home in the widely variant air
pressures and gravities of planet and satellite. Soon their astronomical
instruments revealed the cities of Europa to their gaze, and as soon
as they discovered that the civilization of Europa was human, they
destroyed it utterly, with the insatiable blood lust that is their
heritage.

"In the meantime the human civilizations of Ganymede and Callisto had
also developed instruments of power. Observing the cities upon the other
satellites, many scientists studied intensively the problem of space
navigation, and finally there was some commerce between the two outer
satellites at favorable times. Finally, vessels were also sent to Io
and to Europa, but none of them returned. Knowing then what to expect,
Ganymede and Callisto joined forces and prepared for war. But our
science, so long attuned to the arts of peace, had fallen behind
lamentably in the devising of more and ever more deadly instruments
of destruction. Ganymede fell, and in her fall we read our own doom.
Abandoning our cities, we built anew underground. Profiting from lessons
learned full bloodily upon Ganymede, we resolved to prolong the
existence of the human race as long as possible.

"The hexans were, and are masters of the physical science. They
command the spectrum in a way undreamed of. Their detectors reveal
etheric disturbances at unbelievable distances, and they have at their
beck and call forces of staggering magnitude. Therefore in our cities
is no electricity save that which is wired, shielded, and grounded;
no broadcast radio; no source whatever of etheric disturbances save
light--and our walls are fields of force which we believe to be
impenetrable to any searching frequency capable of being generated.
Now I am able to picture to you