Old Thak watched fondly as the new telescope was being put into its place. He had been a long time persuading the elders to build this instrument, a duplicate of the one destroyed in the latest great war. It was as fine a telescope as Mars could produce, and only Thak's assurances that the work was of the greatest importance had secured him this luxury. His project must succeed, he felt, glancing at his students. Like him, they were almost spherical in shape, with fine arm-like appendages ringin