Collector's Item

Being trapped in the steaming h—l of Venus is no excuse for forgetting one's manners—but anyone abducted, marooned, tricked, kept from tea might well crack under the strain!
What I should like to know, Professor Bernardi said, gazing pensively after the lizard-man as he bore the shrieking form of Miss Anspacher off in his scaly arms, is whether he is planning to eat her or make love to her. Because, in the latter instance, I'm not sure we should interfere. It may be her only chance.


Carl! his wife cried indignantly. That's a horrid thing to say! You must rescue her at once!
Oh, I suppose so, he said, then gave his wife a nasty little grin that he knew would irritate her. It isn't that she's unattractive, my dear, in case you hadn't noticed, though she's pretty well past the bloom of youth—
Will you stop making leering noises and go save her or not ?
I was coming to that. It's just that she persists in using her Ph.D. as a club to beat men into respectful pulps. Men don't like being beaten into respectful pulps, whether by a man or a woman. Now if she'd only learned that other people have feelings—
If you don't stop lecturing and go, I will! his wife threatened.
All right, all right, he said wearily. Come on, Mortland.
The two scientists slogged through the steamy, odorous jungle of Venus and soon reached the lizard-man, who, weighed down by his captive, had not been able to travel as fast.
You blast him, the professor told Mortland. Try not to hit Miss Anspacher, if you can manage it.