"We'd probably give 'em television contracts," I said.
"Not at first," said Axel. "We'd take pains to contain them somehow—prevent them from causing us any harm. We'd make sure they had come to the earth with peaceful intent. And we'd be pretty slow to trust them even if they came unarmed."
"Martians may be different," I said. "Why don't you tell Spartan? You know how he is. If he thought we held out anything on him, he might use his popgun on us."
"That's what I've been going to do," said Axel. "But I wanted to make sure these signals came from Mars. Now I'm positive." He touched the buzzer signal on the big globe in the center of the room where all the ship's controls were located.
Spartan's voice came over the intercom. "What's the matter now?"
"We've picked up signals from Mars, sir," said Axel.
"Nonsense." There was a click. A moment later Spartan came in through the bulkhead door. His eyes darted about suspiciously, as if expecting some trick.
"It's sort of a carrier wave," said Axel as Spartan anchored himself on the floor. "Seems to be a kind of radar—as if we're being watched." It was obvious that Axel was awed by the new phenomenon.
"It's utterly ridiculous," said Spartan. "Radar would indicate intelligent life. Mars is a dying world. The age of intelligent life ended there long ago." There was still that wary look about him and his lips curled into a sneer.
"Perhaps it's a different kind of intelligence," I suggested.