"We are?"
"Why, surely! Just as all the true children of Venus are dark-skinned, and we of Mars amber-fleshed. Oh, there is a certain fundamental root-stock common to us all, I suppose. But any medical man can assure you our differences lie not only in the color of our skins. Our races show many physiological variations. Blood plasma, hair structure, distribution of sinews, skeletal articulation—"
Nora Powell asked, "Then the yellow races of Earth—the Chinese, Eskimos, Amerindians—were originally natives of your planet?"
Dr. Kang nodded.
"Just as the ebony hued natives of your Africa came originally from Venus; yes. On my planet are small colonies of white and black skinned humans, and on Venus are aboriginal tribes of yellow and white skinned men. It seems an inexorable law of nature that on every globe the native tribe should rise to supremacy, while the secondary groups should achieve to a lesser culture."
Gary said, "That is only partly true, Dr. Kang. Your Martian colonists on our Earth—or at least those who colonized the country known as China—have ever been a great and cultured people. Our forefathers called them 'backward,' but that was because they placed social culture above mechanistic advancement."
"But, Dr. Kang," broke in Muldoon, "you're implying that spaceflight existed God-knows-how-long-ago! Centuries ... eons ... before the launching of the Wentworth-Kroll experimental rocket in 1973!"[6]
Dr. Kang nodded. "And that is true. Spaceflight did exist countless centuries ago. It was achieved and perfected by a race now vanished. A race which persists today only in vestigial form. You will meet some of its members a few weeks hence."
"The Jovians?" demanded Gary. "You mean the Jovians once had a great civilization and visited all the worlds? From way out there in their far orbit?"