"Our safety, my Lord?"
"You have probably already guessed that Ravana is no more of this earth than am I. As my people come from Gaanelia, that planet which you know as the morning or evening star, he and his giant underlings spring from the red desert planet of Videlia."
"Videlia?" repeated Dr. Aiken. "You mean—Mars?"
Sugriva searched his brain, nodded.
"Yes. That is its name in your language."
Lake O'Brien moaned.
"Sweet saints, 'what fools we mortals be'! And men think they are intelligent. Yet here, five thousand years before our time, the civilizations of our two neighboring worlds have simultaneously developed spaceflight—"
"No, my friend. It was we, and only we, who learned the secret of spaceflight. And like fools, we gave it away."
"Gave it to the Videlians?"
"Yes. We Gaanelians are a quiet, peaceloving people. For centuries our culture has been great. Our cities dwarf anything you humans know. Our commerce, agriculture and industry are great. We want for nothing. Thus we have turned our leisure hours to the pursuit of knowledge and the refinement of art.