They’d found the origin. Animals of previously unknown type were responsible. And the creatures at the Big Rock Candy Mountain were making a final on-the-spot analysis of their discoveries.
The reaction was similar to a long-continued shudder. There was proof—not suspicion, and not evidence, but proof!—of horrifying acts of violence practiced by the previously unknown bipeds. The bipeds actually used violence against each other! They carried violence to the point of destroying each other! And this, of course, made it unthinkable that gooks could ever have any commerce with them. Gooks did not kill each other. The bipeds must be shunned. Fortunately, they seemed to be totally uninterested in the lovely gas-giant world on which gooks lived such peaceful and contented lives. The decision to send an expedition to find the cause of these novel-type radiations—it was very wise! Humans could be avoided, now. And they would be! It was very fortunate that they weren’t encountered by accident…
So the gook exploration-ship went back to Thothmes with enormous relief. The crew of the expedition shuddered whenever they thought of men killing things. But when men actually killed each other=—they and all their race must be avoided. Gooks will make very certain that’ they never come into contact with men again!
Notes
* Perhaps in a century or two, or perhaps not for a thousand years, a donkeyship will be found floating in the Rings of Thothmes and this mystery will be solved. One can guess that one of the partners in the murder of Joe Griffiths was, in turn, murdered by his partner. And one can also guess that the murdered partner had taken measures so that if he were left behind in the Mountain, that the ship would never reach port. This is only a guess, but it seems possible. M.L.
Miners in the Sky Page 14