Frank Barker moved toward the radi-light, slipped the cover over its eternal brightness with a gloved hand. Then he joined the other two at the port. For a long second the three of them stood shoulder to shoulder.
"Professor Kent," Kurt Overland said softly, "please go first. It is your right that you should be the first to step onto a world made accessible only by your genius."
Professor Albert Kent's shoulders shook silently for a moment in great emotion, then straightened with pride. He nodded, swung shut his visor plate, dogged it securely.
Barker and Overland followed suit, clicked on their radio receivers. They waited patiently for their leader, knowing the feelings that must have been his at the moment.
And then, unsealing the port, clutching the American flag gently in his left hand ready for its planting on Venus, Professor Kent stepped through the port, the first human to land on the veiled planet. Behind him, following with a clumsy speed, came Frank Barker and Kurt Overland.
"We three—" Professor Albert Kent began.
Klon dropped from the side of the ship.