As they flashed sunward, the Sun grew greater, too. Its radiance, down-pouring upon them with devastating beneficence, was like the molten spuming of gaseous gold. Though the polarized quartzite of the ship's viewpane blacked out its brazen light, nothing could stay the increase of its heat. It grew warmer and ever more sultry in the Liberty despite the labors of the ship's air-conditioning system.
Flick Muldoon, shirt plastered wetly to his back, mopped his brow and groaned, "It takes a trip away from home to make you realize what a sweet little old gal Mama Earth is. Boy, I wouldn't live on Venus for all the bubbles in a beauty bath! If it's like this out here in space, what must it be like on the planet itself?"
From his seat at the control studs, Lieutenant Angus MacDonald grinned companionably.
"Not so bad as you'd think. You see, even though Venus is 25,000,000 miles nearer the sun than Earth, she's protected from the sun's glare by a cloud-layer almost three times as thick as the atmosphere layer of Terra. As a result, the planet has neither a burning hot summer season nor a frigid winter period, but a fairly pleasant and constant temperature all the year 'round."
Dr. Anjers said, "I have been fearing recently that we may find something else, too, not quite so pleasant."
"What's that?"
"The Space Patrol," said Anjers gravely, "waiting for us. We are traveling at the greatest rate of speed ever attained by a spacecraft, true, but the speed of light makes mockery of our efforts. And that is the rate at which a warning message must have winged its way before us. Is it not possible we are running directly into a trap? A Patrol fleet grimly awaiting our arrival?"
Skipper Warren shook his head. "A couple of years ago, yes, undoubtedly. But not now."
"No? Why not?"
"Because," explained Warren gravely, "the Solar Space Patrol is not an interplanetary patrol any longer. Few earthmen realize that, but it's true. The purpose for which it was formed, that of policing and providing judicial protection to all the civilized planets, has been overthrown. The militaristic ambitions of each world have heightened so greatly in the last couple of years that now every other planet in the system looks with disfavor upon the SSP, which was an invention of the Earth government.