Then Nance raised his six-three form from the soft grass and started with a careless gait toward the boarding house where he lived during infrequent visits to his home town. Usually he took Mimsy with him on his trips but he knew this trip would not be available for pets.
He stopped at the house and told his landlady to be sure and take care of the dog while he was gone. "I sure will," the landlady told him. She already had Mimsy's supper of liver and dog biscuits waiting on the hearth.
A day later, Oscar Nance became a part of man's grandest adventure....
The place where the first earth ship to Mars landed was very cold and very dead. The commander of the expedition was a gruff, retired Army general who had a smattering of science and a great deal of command. His crew, with the exception of two handy men, was composed of the leading persons in all branches of Terran science. None of them were women, and most of them were young.
Oscar Nance was 34. He had been around the world 10 times, with particular emphasis on Easter Island and the Antarctica.
The ship had taken two weeks to bridge the gap between Earth and Mars. The voyage had been smooth. Every man aboard knew his job, and they were following a plan that the U.N. had worked on for 20 years. Boone, the commander, had been a top general in World War III. He was efficient, stern, colorless to the point that he was almost colorful.
Immediately upon landing, Boone had dispatched two cats to take the first steps onto Mars. The cats suffered no ill effects, and now the Commander was preparing for the crew to explore the new world.
He pointed to Nance and Zoologist Braun. "You, Nance, and Braun, and myself, will form one group," he said. He quickly divided the remaining twelve men into three groups. One was to stay at the ship, the other two would be exploring units.
When the small group of Earthmen descended from the ship to alien soil, Commander Boone's businesslike manner seemed to take much of the glamour from the moment. "No heroics, Commander?" Physicist Allgood asked.
Boone was not a man for ceremony. "We're here," he said. "We must see what is here. We must get back."