"But with space travel four thousand years ago," Nance stammered, "it seems the first planet you would have visited would have been ours—Earth."
Staang laughed again. "Perhaps it was," he said. "But let me finish my story."
"As I said, my people were fat and lazy, as I am now. Thus, open fighting as a means of bringing another race to be our slaves was out of the question. They had to find another way. And they did.
"Our first troops were sent to Agar, and they reported very satisfactory results. Soon, practically the whole population migrated to Agar and the Agarians became our slaves. A few Martians, such as my ancestors, remained here. They kept the record of this invasion and also recorded all correspondence between this planet and Agar. Ah, would they had gone also, so that today I would have nothing to do but eat and sleep, as most of my race does—on Agar." He yawned at the thought. "Do not think badly of my race," he implored suddenly. "Some day your people also will grow old and tired."
Boone grabbed Staang by the arm and shook him firmly. "But where does Earth come in?" he demanded.
Staang gazed at the stern old General and then once again burst into peals of laughter. "You see," he giggled. "We Martians have another name for your Earth. We call it Agar. Your world is the one my ancestors invaded thousands of years ago. Your people are my people's slaves until today."
"Wh ... what is he saying?" Nance stammered.
"You're crazy," Boone bellowed. "Now I know that you are crazy."
"That was the nice thing about our invasion." Staang explained patiently. "The Earthmen did not even realize that they were being invaded—do not even realize today that they are slaves. My people, in their long stay on Earth, have grown even lazier, and particularly their brains have become sluggish during the long years of inaction. Also there have been slight handicaps incurred because of conditions on your world.
"For thousands of years there was regular communication between this planet and our invaders on Earth. The records were kept faithfully by the few Martians remaining here, and in my long years of almost complete solitude I learned your language and the history of my people on your world. I knew that perhaps in my lifetime Earthmen would reach this planet. One of my people predicted in 1396 that your world would attain space travel in the latter part of the 20th century."