Next we wanted to know what such an expedition would cost and how long it would take.
They didn't understand the word 'cost', so we explained it through our Moonalite interpreter.
"There is no cost. This service is rendered for the good of the Supreme Intelligence's children, in honor of the Supreme Intelligence," was the astounding reply. "As to the length of time necessary for such a trip, that depends upon how many places you would be permitted to visit and how long you want to stay, for we know no time but eternity within which is nothing but service."
During our conversation their ship was being loaded with materials of the Moon. This is now completed, so we shook hands with the pilot and members of the crew and they have departed. They were not a bit inquisitive in reference to our ship. Really it is very crude alongside of theirs.
From the airport we are being taken to the city. The vehicle in which we are riding has no wheels but glides just above the ground. It makes no noise and has no vibration whatever. What the power of motivation is, we have no idea, but it certainly is a pleasure to ride in. Today the top of the vehicle has been slipped back that we might enjoy our surroundings unobstructed and to the fullest.
All the buildings in this city are built of coral-like stone and of very artistic design.
We have left our vehicle and are strolling through a part of the trade center of the city. The people we have encountered here seem to have been well schooled, very much after the Martonian style, courteous, kind, ready to serve anywhere and everywhere. And they are very intelligent.
Their writing, as we have observed it on picturesque cards in their shop windows, resembles in a large degree our Oriental type of Earth.
Food seems to be very plentiful everywhere. We passed one bakery, we call it a bakery although it had other things, because we saw a person walk in to buy bread. It was baked for him right there while he waited. They didn't use fire to bake it. They seemed to utilize light as energy, for dough was placed in a case of glass before our eyes and we watched it bake. It took about three minutes. The bread was somewhat of a brown color.
When we had our feast during a reception which they had arranged for us, we ate some of this same kind of bread, yet it didn't taste like any bread we have known. The flavor was between an oatmeal and cornbread. We never did find out what grain it was made of. There was a considerable amount of different kinds of meat, yet nothing like we had on Earth. We have been told that some of this meat and part of the food as a whole came from planet Mars on freighters such as we have recently flown in and described; that the Moon produces enough food to take care of its own, but that the people here like to have different varieties than they can get on the Moon, so they get much from Mars.