Martian!" He grabbed CaptainMiles by the arm. "Come on, Jeff; let's go. I want to call the others--"He was still babbling as he hurried from the room.
Sachi looked at the inscription. "Is it true?" she asked, and then,before Martha could more than begin to explain, flung her arms aroundher. "Oh, it really is! You are reading it! I'm so happy!"
She had to start explaining again when Selim von Ohlmhorst entered. Thistime, she was able to finish.
"But, Martha, can you be really sure? You know, by now, that learning toread this language is as important to me as it is to you, but how canyou be so sure that those words really mean things like hydrogen andhelium and boron and oxygen? How do you know that their table ofelements was anything like ours?"
Tranter and Penrose and Sachiko all looked at him in amazement.
"That isn't just the Martian table of elements; that's _the_ table ofelements. It's the only one there is." Mort Tranter almost exploded."Look, hydrogen has one proton and one electron. If it had more ofeither, it wouldn't be hydrogen, it'd be something else. And the samewith all the rest of the elements. And hydrogen on Mars is the same ashydrogen on Terra, or on Alpha Centauri, or in the next galaxy--"
"You just set up those numbers, in that order, and any first-yearchemistry student could tell you what elements they represented."Penrose said. "Could if he expected to make a passing grade, that is."
The old man shook his head slowly, smiling. "I'm afraid I wouldn't makea passing grade. I didn't know, or at least didn't realize, that. One ofthe things I'm going to place an order for, to be brought on the_Schiaparelli_, will be a set of primers in chemistry and physics, ofthe sort intended for a bright child of ten or twelve. It seems that aMartiologist has to learn a lot of things the Hittites and the Assyriansnever heard about."
Tony Lattimer, coming in, caught the last part of the explanation. Helooked quickly at the walls and, having found out just what hadhappened, advanced and caught Martha by the hand.
"You really did it, Martha! You found your bilingual! I never believedthat it would be possible; let me congratulate you!"
He probably expected that to erase all the jibes and sneers of the past.If he did, he could have it that way. His friendship would mean aslittle to her as his derision--except that his friends had to watchtheir backs and his knife. But he was going home on the _Cyrano_, to bea big shot. Or had this changed his mind for him again?
"This is something we can show the world, to justify any expenditure oftime and money on Martian archaeological work. When I get back to Terra,I'll see that you're given full credit for this achievement--"
On Terra, her back and his knife would be out of her watchfulness.
"We won't need to wait that long," Hubert Penrose told him dryly. "I'msending off an official report, tomorrow; you can be sure Dr. Dane willbe given full credit, not only for this but for her previous work,which made it possible to exploit this discovery."
"And you might add, work done in spite of the doubts and discouragementsof her colleagues," Selim von Ohlmhorst said. "To which I am ashamed tohave to confess my own share."
"You said we had to find a bilingual," she said. "You were right, too."
"This is better than a bilingual, Martha," Hubert Penrose said."Physical science expresses universal facts; necessarily it is auniversal language. Heretofore archaeologists have dealt only withpre-scientific cultures."
THE END
[Transcriber's Note: The following errors in the original have beencorrected in this version.
Page 11: fixitive to fixativecrushed. to crushed."
Page 13: photostated to photostatted
Page 21: jeapordizing to jeopardizing
Page 22: ricochetted to ricocheted
Page 26: aquaducts to aqueducts
Page 27: testtube to test tube
Page 28: evaportation to evaporation
Page 33: aquaducts to aqueducts
Page 35: And you've never to "And you've never
Page 36: Finchly to Finchley
Page 37: eights to eighths
Page 39: Egyptiology to Egyptology
Page 42: There's an uncorrected error here: the third element is"Sarfalddavas" above but "tirfalddavas" below. This wasn't changed inlater versions of the text, so it's not clear which is correct. Thecapitalized one would be consistent with the other names, and the "Sar-"implies a relationship with the first element, which _is_ in the samegroup. Or maybe the character misspoke, in her excitement?
Page 45: big-shot to big shot
Page 46: archeologists to archaeologists
]
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