"Not exactly. But from their former planet."
"Former—?"
"Yes. The one through whose shattered remnants we have but recently passed."
O'Day said dazedly, "The asteroid belt! That's right! Science does believe it once comprised a planet. It was destroyed mysteriously, some say by a gigantic tug of war waged between Jupiter and the sun; others say by internal explosion, millennia before civilization came to Earth. But—" His brows drew together thoughtfully—"but the Jovians are a blue-skinned race, Dr. Kang."
"Quite so," agreed Kang. "And as such they are bespoken in the legends of my people. And—if I am not mistaken—also in your ancient records.[7] We should pity them, my friends. They were once a great and valiant empire; now they are decadent. Those of them who escaped the holocaust which destroyed their former worlds have taken refuge on Jupiter, and there live quietly, concerning themselves no longer with matters of solar government.
"It is piteous," mourned the old man, "to see a once noble people brought so low. But that is, and ever has been, the history of man's strivings."
"Centuries," mused Gary Lane. "Thousands of years ago. I wonder—"
"Wonder what, my friend?"
"I wonder if their downfall has anything to do with the problem we're tackling now. But—" Gary shook himself, ridding his mind of the sudden, uneasy thought—"but of course that's nonsense! It couldn't possibly be...."