The Gentle Giants of Ganymede

were staring speechlessly at the image of three alien beings. Every pair of eyes on the bridge of Jupiter Five opened wide in stunned disbelief.

There was not a man present who had not seen that form before #151;the long, protruding lower face broadening into the elongated skull. . . the massive torsos and the incredible six-fingered hand with two thumbs. . . Danchekker himself had constructed the first eight-feet-tall, full-scale model of that same form, not long after Jupiter Four had sent back details of its finds. Everybody had seen the artist #146;s impressions of what the shapes that had contained those skeletons must have looked like.

The artists had done a fine job . . . as everybody could now see.

The aliens were Ganymeans!

Chapter Five

The evidence amassed to that time indicated that the Ganymean presence in the Solar System had ceased some twenty-five million years in the past. Their home planet no longer existed, except as an ice ball beyond Neptune and the debris that constituted the Asteroid Belt, and had not for fifty thousand years. So how could Ganymeans appear on the screen in the egg? The first possibility to flash through Hunt #146;s mind was that they were looking at an ancient recording that had been triggered when the egg was entered. This idea was quickly dispelled. Behind the three Ganymeans, they could see a large display screen not unlike the main display on J5 #146;s bridge; it held a view of Jupiter Five , seen from the angle at which the large alien ship was lying. The Ganymeans were out there, now, inside that ship. . . just five miles away. Then things began happening inside the egg that left no time for more philosophic speculation as to the meaning of it all.

Nobody could be sure what the changes of expression on the alien faces meant, but the general impression was that they were every bit as astonished as the Earthmen. The Ganymeans began gesticulating, and at the same time meaningless speech issued from the audio grille. There was no air inside the egg to carry sound. Evidently the Ganymeans had been monitoring the transmissions from the reception party and were now using the same frequencies and modulation.

The picture of the aliens focused on the middle one of the trio. Then an alien voice spoke again, pronouncing just two syllables. It said something that sounded like 'Gar-ruth.' The figure on the screen inclined its head slightly, in a way that unmistakably conveyed a combination of politeness and dignity rarely seen on Earth. 'Gar-ruth,' the alien voice repeated. Then again, 'Garuth.' A similar process took place to introduce the other two, at which point the view widened out to embrace all three. They remained unmoving, staring from the screen, as if waiting for something.

Catching on quickly, Storrel moved to stand directly in front of the screen. 'Stor-rel. Storrel.' Then, on impulse, he added:

'Good afternoon.' He admitted later that it sounded stupid, but claimed that his brain hadn #146;t been thinking too coherently at the time. The view on the egg #146;s screen changed momentarily to show Storrel looking back at himself.

'Storrel,' the alien voice stated. The pronunciation was perfect. A number of those watching had believed at the time that it was Storrel himself who had spoken.

Miralski and Oberman were introduced in turn, an exercise in shuffling and clambering that was not helped by the restricted confines of the cabin. Then a series of pictures was flashed on the screen, to each of which Storrel replied with an English noun:

Ganymean, Earthman, spaceship, star, arm, leg, hand, foot. That went on for a few minutes. Evidently the Ganymeans were accepting the onus of doing all the learning; it soon became apparent why #151;whoever was doing the talking showed an ability to absorb and remember information with astonishing speed. He never asked for a repeat of a definition and he never forgot a detail. His mistakes were frequent to begin with but once corrected they never recurred. The voice did not synchronize with the mouths of the three visible Ganymeans; presumably the speaker was one of the others aboard the alien ship who must have been monitoring the proceedings.

A small screen alongside the egg #146;s main display suddenly presented a diagram: a small circle adorned with a wreath of radial spikes, and around it a set of nine concentric circles.

'What the hell #146;s this?' Storrel #146;s voice murmured.

Shannon #146;s brow creased into a frown. He looked inquiringly at the faces around him.

'Solar System,' Hunt suggested. Shannon passed the information on to Storrel, who advised the Ganymean. The picture switched to that of just an empty circle.

'Who is this?' the Ganymean voice asked.

'Correction,' Storrel said, employing the convention that had already been adopted. 'What is this?'

'Where #145;who #146;? Where #145;what #146;?'

' #145;Who #146; for Ganymeans and Earthmen.'

'Ganymeans and Earthmen #151;collective?'

'People.'

'Ganymeans and Earthmen people?'

'Ganymeans and Earthmen are people.'

'Ganymeans and Earthmen are people.'

'Correct.'

' #145;What #146; for not-people?'

'Correct.'

'Not-people #151;general?'

'Things.'

' #145;Who #146; for people; #145;what #146; for things?'

'Correct.'

'What is this?'

'A circle.'

A dot then appeared in the middle of the circle.

'What is this?' the voice inquired.

'The center.'

' #145;The #146; for one; #145;a #146; for many?'

' #145;The #146; when one; #145;a #146; when many.'

The diagram of the Solar System reappeared as before, but with the symbol at the center flashing on and off.

'What is this?'

'The Sun.'

'A star?'

'Correct.'

Storrel proceeded to name the planets as their respective symbols were flashed in turn. The dialogue was still slow and clumsy but it was improving. During the exchange that followed, the Ganymeans managed to convey their bewilderment at the absence of any planet between Mars and Jupiter, a task that proved to be not too difficult since the Earthmen had been expecting it. It took a long time to get the message across that Minerva had been destroyed, and that all that remained of it was some rubble and Pluto, the latter already named and the source, understandably, of further mystery to the aliens.

When, after repeated questioning and double-checking, the Ganymeans at last accepted that they had not misunderstood, their mood became very quiet and subdued. Despite the fact that none of the gestures and facial expressions were familiar to them, the Earthmen watching were overcome by the sense of utter despair and infinite sadness apparent on the alien ship. They could feel the anguish that was written into every movement of those