＇＇26＇＇ 〃You okay？〃 Beth said。 〃You look pale。〃
〃I didn't know anybody was talking about going down there。〃
〃Just rumors；〃 Beth said。 〃Get some rest； Norman。 I think you need it。〃
THE BRIEFING
The ulf team met in the briefing room； just before eleven。 Norman was interested to see the group he had picked six years before； now assembled together for the first time。
Ted Fielding was pact； handsome； and still boyish at forty； at ease in shorts and a Polo sport shirt。 An astrophysicist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena； he had done important work on the planetary stratigraphy of Mercury and the moon； although he was best known for his studies of the Mangala Vallis and Valles Marineris channels on Mars。 Located at the Martian equator； these great canyons were as much as twenty…five hundred miles long and two and a half miles deep…ten times the length and twice the depth of the Grand Canyon。 And Fielding had been among the first to conclude that the planet most like the Earth in position was not Mars at all； as previously suspected； but tiny Mercury； with its Earth…like magnetic field。
Fielding's manner was open； cheerful； and pompous。 At JPL； he had appeared on television whenever there was a spacecraft flyby； and thus enjoyed a certain celebrity； he had recently been remarried； to a television weather reporter in Los Angeles； they had a young son。
Ted was a longstanding advocate for life on other worlds； and a supporter of SETI； the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence； which other scientists considered a waste of time and money。 He grinned happily at Norman now。
＇＇27＇＇ 〃I always knew this would happen…sooner or later； we'd get our proof of intelligent life on other worlds。 Now at last we have it； Norm