Pathway to Japanese Literature

A Splendid Plan Yamaki Ken and Kawai Jirou were counting down the days until summer vacation on their fingers. When summer vacation arrived, they had planned to embark on a car trip around Colorado’s Grand Canyon. Of course, they would take turns driving. Five weeks had been allocated for the round trip. With this much time set aside, they should have been able to thoroughly enjoy camping at their long-awaited destination. The two had been so thrilled about this grand journey that they’d spread word of it to all their neighborhood friends well in advance. Every friend who heard grew envious. Then came the pleas to be taken along. But the pair kept refusing. This was due to certain circumstances regarding their intended vehicle. After all, both being boys living apart from their parents meant their allowances fell short. Thus having saved money earned through newspaper deliveries and firewood chopping during school breaks to buy a car left little room for quality. What they’d secured was a retired milk delivery truck from a ranch—a real clunker left untouched for a full year since its engine gave out. To them, just loading it with camping gear and provisions already seemed challenge enough.

However, they hadn't told their friends that this grand trip's automobile was such a terrible vehicle, instead having boasted about it being an enormous car—a splendid contraption where one could sleep, cook, and do everything right inside—which was exactly why their friends were now pleading to be taken along.

Among these friends, there were two particularly persistent pleaders. One was the Chinese boy Chou, and the other was the black youth Ned. Yamaki and Kawai would have liked to take Chou and Ned along, but considering the rattling state of their car, they had no choice but to steel themselves and refuse. Even so, Chou and Ned refused to give up and continued pestering Yamaki and Kawai in the schoolyard almost every day.

One day, when Yamaki and Kawai went to the ranch's auto shed for repairs, Ned followed them from behind and pleaded to be taken along. The two of them, thinking it would be disastrous if Ned saw their dilapidated car, had to go through great pains to send him back midway. "Yamaki! Kawai!" Ned stared at the two with an unusually formal demeanor. "What is it, Ned?" The two stood blocking the middle of the road and glared at Ned's stern face.

“Hey, Chou’s genuinely worried about something. When you two set off on your car trip, within two days you’ll end up shouldering some terrible hardship.” “Hmph, you’re just trying to scare us.” “It’s not a threat. Chou—for your travel safety—worshipped the crystal ball passed down from his ancestors and did a divination. Then just like I said earlier, he found out something bad will happen within two days. But that’s not all. The further you go on this trip, the more hardships will pile up—Chou’s saying you two might never make it back to this village!”

Yamaki and Kawai had long known that Chou practiced fortune-telling with his crystal ball, so when told this, they grew uneasy about their prospects, their faces darkened. Seeing this, Ned pressed forward decisively.

“Hey. Since it’s such a gloomy topic, why not take Chou and me along for safety? Then Chou can use his crystal ball to tell fortunes along the way and predict what dangers lie ahead. If you know that, can’t you avoid the danger?”

“No way—even if you spin such smooth talk… And first of all, even if we agreed to take Chou along, that doesn’t mean we’d have to bring you too!” “I’m absolutely essential! Because when Chou does his fortune-telling, if I don’t help him out, the Buddha won’t possess him, you know!”

“No way, no way! No matter what you say, we’re not taking either of you along—you’re just wasting your breath from here on out!” “...”

“So you’ll wait until next time then.” “It’s really no good this time, huh?”

“That’s right. Make sure you tell Chou properly too.” “...Then I won’t ask anymore.”

Ned looked so pitifully dejected as he began trudging back along the country road toward the village. Yamaki and Kawai, who were seeing him off, weren’t feeling very good. But given how extravagantly they’d boasted up to now, they couldn’t very well come clean about the rattling old car at this late stage.

The Merry Departure Ceremony

With the splendid departure of their car trip looming tomorrow, Yamaki and Kawai were on the verge of tears. The reason was simple - their repairs made no progress whatsoever. Far from advancing, the more they applied themselves to repairs, the worse things became - every time they fixed one part, several others started rattling. They couldn't tell whether they were fixing the car or breaking it.

“This is bad. With this, it doesn’t look like we’ll make it in time for tomorrow’s departure.” Yamaki finally gave in to despair and threw down the spanner. “But if we don’t depart tomorrow no matter what, the schedule will get thrown off. Moreover, since our friends are making such a big fuss as you can see, if our departure gets delayed, we’ll have to endure terrible criticism again.”

“I know that, but look at this mess…” “I should’ve never bought this car and found a better one instead.” “It can’t be helped. Come on—let’s cheer up and get these repairs done no matter what. We’ll have to pull an all-nighter tonight.”

“Yeah.”

Encouraged by Kawai, Yamaki picked up the spanner again. That night truly became one wholly consumed by repairs. Grease-covered, they stayed awake until dawn without a wink of sleep. Yet the repairs still remained unfinished. They needed to fix the fender and replace the igniter. Moreover, they had planned to repaint the entire car body with paint. The two rushed through the work without stopping for breakfast.

Unaware of the two’s state of mind, their noisy group of friends had gathered since early morning to witness the grand departure of their automobile trip and were making a huge racket.

“They said they’d pass through this intersection, but they still haven’t shown up!” “It’s still an hour and nineteen minutes away. They’re departing exactly at nine o’clock sharp.” “If we’ve got that much time to kill, wouldn’t it be more fun to go to their place?” “Yeah, that sounds good.”

The whole group, now fully assembled, trailed along to the back of the laundry shop where Yamaki and Kawai lived.

But they discovered that the two weren’t there. And they noisily made their way toward the ranch’s dilapidated shed, chattering all the while. The ones left flustered were Yamaki and Kawai. They pressed the shed door tightly shut from the inside, trying to prevent anyone from entering. “Show us already! We went to all the trouble of coming here to send you off, and yet…”

“No way! No way! When departure time comes, we’ll throw open the door and march out to show you!”

“Hmm，you're really stringing us along here.” “You're sure the departure time's accurate，right?” “It's absolutely accurate.” “Nine o'clock sharp.” “Okay，everyone.” “Just a little longer now—let's wait.”

Inside, relieved sighs from the two could be heard. By then they had finally fixed the fender and gotten the ignition working properly. What remained was repainting the car body.

“Hey—we’re still missing something! The headlight isn’t installed.” “Oh! Right!” Without headlights，the car wouldn’t look decent at all. Putting off painting the body for later，they began installing the oddly heavy headlight.

“Hey! Hey, it’s time now! Can we open the door?” “No no no, wait wait! Just wait a little longer!” “You’re probably building some coronation carriage in there. Don’t show us some too-impressive car and make us jealous now!”

“We know, we know.”

When the headlight was installed, only five minutes remained until departure time. “There’s no time to paint it now.” “This is a problem. There’s no way we can go out looking like this.” “The side’s plastered with cow paintings, you know.” “But we can’t delay the departure time.” “This is a problem...”

From outside came the sound of banging on the shed door. The pounding gradually grew more violent until the door seemed ready to give way.

“It can’t be helped.” “Let’s go with this.” “Huh, are we really doing that?” “At this point, we need guts! Come on, let’s hurry and gather the repair tools to load them onto the car.”

Finally, the long-awaited shed door was thrown open on both sides. The twenty-odd friends who had gathered in front all let out a cheer at once. The car emerged from the shed with a rattling noise. Kawai gripped the steering wheel, while Yamaki, in the seat next to him, charmed everyone with all his might and waved his hat in greeting. "What the... Isn't this the same milk delivery truck that was stranded by the roadside until just the other day?" "Whoa, that's insane! "You're really gonna drive all the way to the Grand Canyon with that huge cow painting on it? "It'll get barked at by every dog over there!"

“What an outrageous coronation carriage!”

Both Yamaki and Kawai turned as red as crabs, barely enduring their embarrassment. This was exactly what they meant by wanting to crawl into a hole.

The farewell crowd of good and mischievous children, after finishing their round of raucous shouts and high-pitched cheers, now gathered around the car. Each holding parting gifts in their hands, they presented them to Yamaki and Kawai. The two let their cheeks stream with tears of gratitude as they received an armload of gifts they could scarcely manage. “Hey, it’s time! Let’s go—off we go!”

Prompted by the send-off group’s reminder, the car finally set off on its journey. The road was bumpy, and when the vehicle entered it, it let out a strangled scream. As the truck rocked violently back and forth and side to side, the red-spotted cow painted on its flank—wide-eyed and tongue lolling mid-milking—looked ready to leap out of the artwork at any moment. Had the well-wishers not given the car a prolonged push from behind, it’s doubtful whether this rattletrap could have managed to complete its departure ceremony without incident.

In any case, the car safely entered the highway and, swaying unsteadily under the weight of the large box loaded on top, began heading toward Arizona. From behind, the friends' great cheers continued endlessly, startling the passersby nearby.

Disaster strikes.

The village vanished from sight, and the church spire disappeared into the shadow of the mountains. And the strange automobile carrying Yamaki and Kawai ran smoothly northward and northward along the yellow road surface.

The two's feelings finally settled down.

“Hey, Yamaki,” said Kawai, gripping the steering wheel. “What is it, Kawai?” “Even though all our friends came to see us off earlier, I don’t think I saw Chou or Ned among them. Did you notice that?” “Now that you mention it, I didn’t see Chou or Ned around.” “Isn’t it strange? Even close friends like Chou and Ned didn’t come to see us off.” “Yeah, they must both be angry—because we said such harsh things and didn’t listen to them.”

“Hmm… Do you really think they’re angry?”

Kawai tilted his head.

The two remained silent for a while, but then Yamaki spoke up. "Hey Kawai, do you think Chou's fortune-telling actually works?"

“Hmm, I wonder about that. Sometimes they hit, sometimes they miss.” “You remember, right? Ned mentioned it. Didn’t he say that when Chou consulted his crystal ball for a reading, he predicted we’d run into some disaster within two days of setting out?” “He did say that, but those kinds of predictions never pan out. How could anyone make such a specific forecast about something happening within two days?”

Kawai denounced Chou's fortune-telling. “And then there was another unpleasant thing he said, didn’t he? What was it he said again? ‘The further we go on this trip, the more hardships will pile up, and who knows when we’ll be able to return to the village.’ Didn’t he say that?”

“Yeah，they said that to make us anxious on purpose．” “If we got anxious，they thought we’d end up taking Chou and Ned along．” “Anyway，I don’t believe in things like fortune-telling．” “It’s utter nonsense．”

Yamaki didn’t seem particularly concerned, but Kawai didn’t trust Chou's fortune-telling one bit. Toss a silver coin up—when it falls, there are two possibilities: it will land heads or tails. So if you predict one or the other, you’ve got a fifty-fifty chance of being right. Kawai despised fortune-telling as being just that sort of thing.

That night, for the first time, the two of them set up camp in a roadside grove and began to dream. It was such a happy occasion that even after finishing their meal and preparing their beds, they found themselves unable to sleep. There they built a campfire to roast corn, then took out the many farewell gifts they had received from their friends, delighting in and laughing over them.

To introduce a few of the more peculiar items from among those farewell gifts: a boy named Tommy had presented them with a crude homemade camera he crafted using the lenses from his grandfather’s reading glasses. And he had requested that if there were any Indians in Arizona with bird feathers in their hair, they should be sure to take a photo of them and bring it back. Many of them came with requests: Sally had given them about ten sewing needles and asked that if any needles were left over, they should catch rare butterflies for specimens by piercing their backs with them and bring them back. Then there was John-kun, who had given them a door handle and written out a rather presumptuous request stating that if they encountered any gangsters along the way, they should press this against their backs and say "Hands up!" to make them surrender, and once they surrendered, they should take the gangster’s pistol and bring it back.

Now the next day came, and the two entered the second day of their enjoyable car trip. The weather remained clear and cloudless, hot since morning. Had they not been riding in the moving vehicle, the still air would have been unbearable.

Around four that afternoon, as the car carrying the two of them drove along a riverside country road, another vehicle came up behind them, blaring its horn insistently while gradually gaining ground.

Because the horn was being blared so insistently, Yamaki decided to edge their car toward the roadside and let the other vehicle overtake them. If only they could have checked behind them then, but being a bulky box-like vehicle without a convex mirror, there was no way to see rearward from the driver's seat.

However, not long after that, the other car overtook Yamaki and the others' boxy vehicle with tremendous speed. When they looked, it was a small two-seater racing car. But its body was oddly torn in places and dented all over, with paint peeling off in patches—an even worse state than Yamaki and the others' car.

“Ah! That’s Ned riding in it! Oh—Chou’s there too!” “Huh? Ned and Chou? Hah! They’ve finally overexerted themselves and come chasing after us. Those hopeless fools.” The two of them were both surprised and a little happy. Then they called out loudly to Chou and Ned from behind.

Chou and Ned, whether they couldn’t hear it or not, clung to the car without looking aside and were speeding along. And it was belching smoke recklessly from its rear exhaust.

“Ah! It’s dangerous!” “Even though it’s a curved road, they’re driving straight!” “Ah! They went over the cliff…” From below the cliff, white smoke billowed up thickly. However, neither Chou nor Ned climbed back up to the top of the cliff. Determined to quickly rescue their companions, the two of them threw open the rattling car’s engine valve and raced toward the scene of the mishap.

At that moment, Yamaki suddenly shouted.

“Oh! So that’s it.” “Chou’s fortune-telling was spot on.” “The hardship we were supposed to face within two days—this is it.” “What a mess we’ve gotten into.”

Kawai clicked his tongue.

Troublesome Injured

The two boys, Yamaki and Kawai, stopped the boxy vehicle at the curve and hurriedly jumped down from the driver’s seat. Then, gasping for breath, they peered down over the cliff edge where the racing car had fallen earlier.

“Oh no! This is terrible! Both of them are dead!”

“Ah! If we leave them like this, their corpses will burn up too! Let’s hurry down and put out the fire!” “This has turned into a real disaster.”

The area below the cliff was part of a river, but the dry riverbed, thick with green grass, was most fortunate. The racing car seemed to have tumbled over several times after falling from the cliff; it now lay belly-up just short of plunging into the stream. The two boys who had been riding in it were thrown out—one directly below the cliff, and the other a good ten meters ahead.

Yamaki and Kawai clung to the cliff and slid unsteadily down.

“Oh! I knew it! It’s Ned!”

Kawai picked up the collapsed boy and, upon seeing his face, cried out.

“What? Ned?” “Poor thing… Is he not breathing anymore?” “Ah, his breathing has stopped. “He’s already dead. Poor guy…”

Yamaki and Kawai, unable to bear it any longer, let their tears fall in big drops onto their black friend’s face. If they had known it would come to this, they regretted not having forced Ned and the others into the back of the boxy car or another vehicle to tow them along.

At that moment, Ned’s corpse let out a loud sneeze. Ned’s corpse shuddered violently in Yamaki and Kawai’s arms. Yamaki and Kawai, startled, flung Ned’s corpse away.

“Aaaaaah!” “Am I already dead?” “Aaaaaah! That’s so pitiful!”

Ned shouted in a strange, trembling voice. Then he blinked his eyes rapidly.

Yamaki and Kawai realized what was going on. Ned had not died.

“Ned, wake up! It’s okay, wake up!”

“Will you take me to the Grand Canyon with you? If you promise that, I can come back to life.”

Ned made a risky bargain. Yamaki and Kawai burst out laughing.

“If you don’t want to come back to life, you can just stay dead here forever.” “Instead of that, let’s check on Chou.”

“Isn’t Chou pretending to be dead too?”

Yamaki and Kawai ran over to Chou. Chou was lying on his back stretched out.

“Ah! There’s blood!” “This is really serious!”

“Hey, Chou! Stay with us!” “Oh Sage of Ryudodo! What a waste it’d be if you died now!”

Ned also approached unnoticed and called out to Chou. “Ugh…” “It hurts…” It seemed everyone’s calls had reached Chou, for he let out a groan and grimaced.

Chou had not died.

The three boys felt relieved and regained their spirits. When they examined Chou's injury, they found his left upper arm had been badly torn by something. The wound was unnervingly long; staring at it too long risked making them lightheaded. Kawai dashed back to the boxy car and retrieved the first-aid kit. They hastily bandaged Chou's arm to stem the bleeding, but their efforts proved ineffective—the freshly wrapped bandage immediately soaked through crimson.

“Ugh... It hurts... It hurts......”

Chou turned pale and complained of the pain.

The three looked troubled. There was no choice but to show him to a proper doctor. The three carried Chou up, scaled the cliff, opened the back of the boxy car, and laid him down on the folded canopy. Leaving Ned by his side, Yamaki and Kawai climbed back into the driver’s seat and raced down the road at full speed. They had to dash into some town quickly, get Chou to a doctor, and have him treated.

After traveling about four kilometers further, they found a small town with a clinic. They carried Chou inside and had him treated. From the wound came as many as seven glass fragments of varying sizes. Because they removed them, Chou felt relieved and stopped crying and screaming as if he were dying. “Well, that’s a relief,” the three exchanged glances. “Chou, what do you say? “Since this injury is serious, should we go back to the village?” “If we go back, we’ll take the bus with Ned then.”

Yamaki said that to Chou.

Chou did not reply right away. Chou plopped down in the clinic corridor, took out the crystal ball he cherished from the bag hanging at his waist, and began conducting a divination ritual. The old doctor who had treated Chou, seeing him slumped in the corridor, thought he had suffered a collapse and hurriedly rushed out from the back room. But upon taking in the scene, he made a face that seemed to say "How peculiar..." and shook his white-haired head from side to side.

“After all, the divine message says it’s better to continue the trip—” “Yamaki, Kawai.” “I’m coming with you.”

Chou said in a cheerful voice.

After discussing the matter, Yamaki and Kawai decided to take Chou and Ned to the Grand Canyon. In exchange, they weren't permitted to goof off for five weeks. With their numbers doubled, their food would only last half as long, and having paid the doctor's fee, their remaining money became scarce. In any case, unless they practiced mutual frugality from then on, they couldn't feel assured about actually reaching their destination, the Grand Canyon. Unconcerned by Yamaki and Kawai's worries, Ned and Chou remained in high spirits, fooling around. Those two were utterly mercenary. They had finally managed to secure their trip to the Grand Canyon.

Budget Meeting

That night, they set up their tent by the riverside and stayed there. The next morning, they finally extinguished the still-burning oil by covering it with sand, then attached a rope to the racing car, pulled it up the cliff, and placed it on the road. But this car's engine wouldn't start. Since there was no other way, they tied a rope to the back of the boxy car and towed it as they departed. The sight of a flattened racing car—towed by a rope behind the boxy vehicle painted with a large cow—swaying unsteadily as it moved along was truly bizarre, sowing seeds of uproarious laughter everywhere along the highway.

No matter how much they were laughed at, the four boys on the vehicle did not laugh. There were various things weighing on their minds, and they didn’t have the energy to laugh.

It turned out that the car Chou and Ned had arrived in was borrowed from the Laundry Club, but apparently the brakes had been acting up, and from the very start of their departure, it had been nothing but trouble. It was said that Ned’s stepbrother was a member of that Laundry Club, so they had managed to borrow it through that connection. However, with the car now flattened like this, even Ned—usually such an optimist—peered out from behind the boxy vehicle and let out a deep sigh of dismay.

Even so, their journey progressed steadily day by day, gradually drawing closer to Arizona. That said, they had only just barely passed the halfway point.

Around that time, their stored food supplies had dwindled to a disappointingly low amount. At this rate, they realized, the four of them risked starving to death in the Grand Canyon. Kawai, the food manager, widened his eyes like saucers and consulted the group on how to handle this matter. “It’s our fault for forcing our way in. Since the cause lies with us, we’ll figure something out ourselves.” Chou said without flinching. The sight was so pitiful that Yamaki spoke up.

“Hey, Chou. Why don’t you ask your precious crystal ball to manage about two cans of food for us?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Crystal-sama doesn’t have such convenient power.” Because Chou had spoken honestly, everyone laughed in unison. Then Ned said.

“Then why don’t we sell Crystal-sama to someone and use the money to buy canned food?” “Y-you idiot!”

Chou glared angrily at Ned, but the moment he did, strength surged into his body and his wound began to ache. He alone gritted his teeth amidst the laughter of the three.

“But if we don’t get our hands on food somehow, this trip won’t be able to continue any longer.” “In other words, we have to decide whether to turn back here or somehow get food and keep going.”

A major budget meeting was convened. “I won’t let us stop this trip! I won’t turn back until I see the Grand Canyon!”

Ned said whatever he wanted. “So how do we handle the food problem?” “We can just earn money and get food. Whether it’s vegetables or canned goods, as long as we can get them...” “Ned, wait a moment. You keep saying ‘earn money,’ but how could we possibly earn any? If we were back in Glutton Village where people know us, someone might give us work—but here in this unfamiliar place full of strangers, who’d hire us?”

Kawai laid bare his pessimistic view.

“Nuh-uh, that’s not it. We can do it if we try! In other words, there’s special ways to earn money in places like this—if you guys leave it to me, I’ll start bringing in cash proper from tomorrow.” “Well color me surprised. Is that for real?”

“You bet it is!”

“But if we have to earn money from morning till night every day like this, who knows when we’ll ever reach the Grand Canyon!”

Yamaki cautioned. “Don’t worry. We’ll only need about two or three hours each evening. We’ll definitely make money!”

Ned’s face gradually grew filled with confidence.

“Ned. “What on earth are you going to do?”

“Well, that’s something to keep under wraps until tomorrow. But we’ll need a bit of stage setup.”

“Huh? Wait, what? You said something about a stage...?” “Ah, right. We can use the cloth and tools inside this boxcar. I’ll team up with Chou and pull in some serious cash! So from evening onward, let me borrow this boxcar along with you guys for two or three hours, okay?” “I wonder if this is safe—we’re not going to end up falling off the cliff again like last time, are we? If that happens, the four of us will go bankrupt, you know. And we can’t even return to the village.”

“Alright then, just watch my skills!”

Ned was alone, thoroughly pleased with himself.

Peephole

Yamaki and Kawai discussed what method Ned would use to earn money, but they couldn't figure it out.

From morning through afternoon of the next day, Ned—together with Chou—remained inside the moving boxcar after entering it, hardly ever coming out, and seemed engrossed in some kind of work.

Before long, the promised time of 4:00 PM arrived.

Ned, from inside the box, knocked on the panel behind the driver's seat and signaled to stop the car.

The car stopped.

Ned came out of the box.

“I need to do a bit of construction, so give me a hand.” Just as they were wondering where he intended to do the construction, Ned placed a box beside the car, climbed onto it, and used a handball to punch a circular hole under the belly of the cow painting. After that, he hit the center with a hammer, punching out a gaping window. “What are you doing, Ned?”

Kawai asked in surprise. “Alright, now I’m going to set up my seat up high!”

Ned had Yamaki and Kawai help him attach something like a monkey’s perch sideways to the top of the box’s rear section. And then they tried fastening it on top,

“Step right up, step right up!” he shouted.

“What’s this—a sideshow? Ah—so you look inside through this hole.”

Yamaki pressed his eye to the hole and peered inside, but shuddered and jerked his body backward.

“Whoa, this is bad! A strange horned animal’s inside here! When did it get in?” “Huh… A weird horned animal, you say…”

Kawai, startled, took over from Yamaki and peered through the hole into the interior.

“Oh, it’s just Chou laughing in there, isn’t it?” “No way!”

“Come on, come on! We’re hanging this curtain, so everyone climb onto the boxcar roof and help!”

Ned’s voice came from above their heads. He held a curtain bearing large characters—where he’d gotten it from unclear. Looking closer revealed their own awning repurposed, though Ned appeared to have written the text. They stretched the curtain sideways across the boxcar roof exactly as Ned directed and gaped in disbelief. ～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～

"The mysterious world-renowned fortune-teller, the Ox-Head Sage, has come here. Let those who wish to know the future come hither and inquire of the Ox-Head Sage. Instantly illuminated by the crystal orb, a clear answer shall be granted. No fees are required whatsoever, but you must later bring some single food item and present it to the Great Sage."

～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～

This was an incredible promotional text; far too polished for something Ned had written. Perhaps Ned had remembered an astrologer’s advertisement he’d read somewhere and slightly altered it before presenting it.

“I can’t believe it—you’re making Chou into the Ox-Head Sage and having him do fortune-telling? So that’s why Chou was wearing that weird getup earlier.”

“It clearly says to bring some single food item.” “Hey, what are you all being impressed about? There’s still work left to do. We’ll make a hole underneath and attach this curved megaphone—that way, while peeking inside, you can hear Chou—no, the Ox-Head Sage’s voice through this megaphone.” Ned enthusiastically issued his commands. At first, Yamaki and Kawai were taken aback, but finding the whole thing oddly amusing, the two of them worked together to punch a hole at the udder of the painted cow and attached a curved horn (likely an old radio receiver horn—where on earth had they found such a thing?).

“Alright, that’s enough! Now take this thing and make a round through that town you can see over there, then come right back here!” Ned shouted from atop the monkey’s perch. When Yamaki and Kawai looked up in that direction, they found Ned—who had somehow changed clothes in the meantime—with a red turban wrapped tightly around his head and a curtain-like robe dragging long behind him. Though he wore an absurdly self-satisfied expression, Yamaki and the others kept staring so intently that Ned grew embarrassed and finally burst out laughing.

“Come on, quit dawdling! Get that mysterious boxcar moving, get it moving as fast as you can!”

“Hey, you okay?” Yamaki and Kawai leaped into the driver’s seat and promptly started the engine to set the vehicle in motion.

The ones who were surprised were the people of Ellis Town. Whether it had fallen from the sky or sprung from the earth, a bizarre boxcar came rattling in, and because a jet-black-faced attendant—indistinguishable whether child or old man—advertised the Ox-Head Sage’s fortune-telling from atop a high perch, everyone stared wide-eyed in astonishment. From Ned and the others’ perspective, it was 100% effective advertising. Thus, when this boxcar returned to the field on the outskirts of town, a procession of idlers from the town trailed behind it in a line.

“Hmph, perfect. With this setup, we should be able to scrape together enough food for tomorrow at least.” Perched on the monkey’s seat, Ned calculated their earnings and grinned slyly. At last, the fortune-telling began. Those who wished lined up in a row and waited for their turn. There were young men and women, and quite a few elderly people as well. Inside the boxcar, Chou endured the pain of his injury while continuing to project his voice with tremendous force.

“O Great Ox-Head Sage. Where could my hoe that’s been missing these past days be?”

“Return to thy house, enter through the rear gate, and search thoroughly within thirty paces thereof.” “Heh heh, thank ye kindly.”

Taking the place of the young man, an elderly man with bad legs peered in. "I'd like to inquire—this year, will my rheumatism strike my left leg or my right leg?" "This winter, it shall first afflict thy left leg, but when thunder roars, it shall shift to thy right leg."

“Heh heh heh heh, this is most impressive.”

It was an incredible success. Laughter and groans mingled together, creating an unbelievable commotion. Chou and Ned were both drenched in sweat. Yamaki and Kawai were both flushed, their faces as red as beets.

At that moment, an impressive car came speeding from the opposite direction and stopped abruptly, from which emerged an elderly gentleman. Judging from his attire and demeanor, he appeared to be a man of considerable learning. And no wonder—for this was none other than Dr. Denny, president of the Mars Expedition Society. Dr. Denny, for reasons unknown, strode briskly toward the crowd.

Rumors of the Doctor

Dr. Denny showed a weary countenance through his thick beard and whiskers. His tall frame hunched forward as he used a cane clutched in his right hand to support his gait. This was the visage of Dr. Denny, the celebrated president of the Mars Expedition Society.

“Oh, it’s Dr. Denny, the Mars Society president. Why would he come to a place like this?”

A middle-aged man from the town, who had been watching the gaudily decorated boxcar where the Ox-Head Sage held court from a slight distance away, raised his eyebrows and spoke.

Beside him stood Yamaki and Kawai. And they caught this remark.

“What? ‘Mars Society president’—what does that mean?” The man was called Jiggs and was the boss of a shoe store in Ellis Town, but he prided himself on knowing everything about such matters. “Don’t you know the Mars Society president? To be precise—the Mars Expedition Society president. Back when that shaky old man was still young like me—yes, thirty years ago now—that Dr.’s been obsessed with Mars ever since then, doing nothing but stoking his passion for Martian exploration.”

Jiggs, who had referred to himself as being "young like me," wasn’t actually that young—he had a bald spot on the top of his head. “Oh, really? So how many times has Dr. Denny been to Mars?”

Yamaki asked with a serious face.

“Don’t be ridiculous! Even if you’re just kids…” Jiggs said with a look of exasperation. “That shaky old doctor aside, there isn’t a single person on Earth—no matter how great—who’s ever traveled to Mars! Mars is farther away than the Moon, you know. And there isn’t a single person who’s been to the Moon either, is there?” “I see, that’s right.” Yamaki scratched his head. Then Kawai took over and asked Jiggs.

“So, is Dr. Denny still working as the president of the Mars Expedition Society?” “He’s still at it without learning his lesson,” Jiggs said, gazing at Kawai’s face. “Thirty years ago now, he built a tower in the neighboring village’s forest, turned it into a laboratory, and kept staring up at the sky. “The tower had a round roof—when you turned the machinery inside, a crack would open up and this huge telescope would slide right out.” “But that research institute stands empty now.”

“Huh? What happened?” “He moved. They say his new place is somewhere in Arizona, apparently.” “Anyway, it’s a relief we got him to move out. Having someone associating with a Mars-obsessed lunatic around here would’ve been nothing but trouble for the village.” Jiggs shrugged his shoulders. “Why did he move?” “Well, you see, it’s like this. “In other words, Arizona’s land is higher than here, so it has the advantage of being that much closer to Mars.”

“Hahaha!” “Who’s laughing? It’s the truth! That tower’s been used for thirty years—it’s gotten old and rattles like the Ox-Head Sage’s automobile. That’s why they built a new one in Arizona.” “Does he really have that much money to rebuild towers so extravagantly…?” “Oh, there’s plenty of it. Mars exploration’s an unusual line of work. For such odd jobs, there are always folks who’ll surprisingly fork over cash.”

“Does Dr. Denny really intend to embark on a Mars expedition?”

“It seems he does intend to go. But being such a shaky old man, he’d probably die before even reaching Mars. After all, it’d take ten or twenty years just to reach Mars, you know.” “I suppose that’s how it is. So, what exactly is he planning to ride there?” “That’s exactly what no one can figure out. Some say Dr. Denny’s Mars expedition is just an act—that he’ll die before ever going, and the society will disband—but I don’t think so. I think Dr. Denny’s deeply considered something and has secretly prepared a vehicle, you know. I think the reason he isn’t revealing it to everyone is that since it’s a vehicle meant to reach Mars, he’s kept its secret hidden to prevent anyone from finding out.”

“You’re quite the doctor’s supporter, aren’t you?”

“A Dr. Denny supporter?” “It’s not like that—but seeing that old man’s face with these two eyes for over thirty years now, even though I badmouth him all the time, there’s a touch of human warmth in him deep down.” “And what really gets me is how in recent years there’s been more and more people making these childish attacks against Dr. Denny.” “If it were within my power, I’d want to lend Dr. Denny a hand and send him off on a grand Mars expedition—but given that the doctor’s such a shaky old man, even if I pushed him forward, it’d be pointless.”

Judging by such behavior, Jiggs seemed quite like one of Dr. Denny’s sympathizers. “Oh, Dr. Denny is consulting Chou—no, the Ox-Head Sage—about something.” Just then, Yamaki exclaimed in surprise. That was exactly right. Dr. Denny had pressed his face tightly against the peephole of the boxcar and appeared to be engaged in a heated exchange with the Ox-Head Sage. And whenever Chou’s raspy, fabricated voice emerged from the trumpet as indistinct words, the townspeople gathered around would burst into uproarious laughter. Only Dr. Denny grew increasingly engrossed, looking as if he might thrust his unkempt bearded face into the boxcar’s hole.

What a calamity.

Eventually, Dr. Denny pulled his face away from the boxcar. A fresh wave of laughter erupted from the crowd around them.

“Dr. Denny! Didn’t they tell you, ‘You’ll get chased by coffee and suffer terrible burns!’ Hahaha!”

“Hahaha.” “And what’s more, weren’t you told that your future holds ‘even if you search to the ends of this world, you won’t possess a single bed, and not even a grave to bury your body will be prepared for you here’?” “Oh dear, how utterly tragic for you!” “Hahaha!”

“And what’s more! You’ve been told you’ll ‘have to stand frozen-hearted for five thousand years straight—and not once will you be able to sit down!’ Didn’t they tell you that? Oh dear, how utterly tragic for you! Ha ha ha ha!”

The cause of the laughter appeared to be the prophecy Dr. Denny had received from the Ox-Head Sage. Then Dr. Denny was informed that he would be chased by coffee, possess neither bed nor grave, and have to stand sentry for five thousand years.

Dr. Denny pushed his way through the crowd and emerged. Yamaki and Kawai were both able to see Dr. Denny’s face clearly. Dr. Denny was muttering something under his breath.

“Denny,sir.” “How’s the Arizona situation coming along?”

Jiggs called out.

“Oh, er, hrmph, Jiggs.”

“The folks around here are as sharp-tongued as ever, huh.”

Dr. Denny did not answer Jiggs’s question and instead let out an indignant remark.

“Sir.” “Their mouths may be unkind, but everyone means well inside.” “We’re all praying you’ll blast off for Mars as soon as possible, sir.” “It doesn’t seem that way to me…” “Sir—when’s the Mars departure?” “Is it soon?”

“I can’t discuss that.” “Please tell me, sir! I’ve got a bet going with my buddies, you see.” “What kind of bet is it? What side did you bet on?” “Me? Of course I put my money on Dr. Denny departing Earth for Mars by December this year. Now that I think about it, I’ve made a ridiculous bet.” “Heh heh heh. Well, that’s a fair position.” “What did you say? Would you kindly repeat that?”

“No, heh heh heh. You should just assume all bets are meant to be lost. Then unexpected profits might come tumbling your way.”

“Say，sir.” “What vehicle will you use for the Mars expedition?” “A rocket，I take it? Or perhaps a projectile?”

“Heh heh heh… An amateur wouldn’t understand—though to be honest, even I haven’t settled on a clear decision yet.”

“What? If the vehicle still hasn’t been decided, then my bet’s clearly lost.” “You mustn’t be so hasty. Whether it’s Mars exploration or anything else—one mustn’t rush. Keep your patience—’tis best to wait for good fortune to come rolling in. Now, you’d best wait patiently. If you wait, a splendid opportunity will surely come. Those who rush and those who lack zeal cannot grasp such splendid opportunities.”

“Sir. “Your Mars expedition seems to have been waiting thirty years for an opportunity, but that’s stretching your patience a bit too far, don’t you think?” “There are those who speak ill of you, saying things like, ‘Dr. Denny’s a swindler who waves around impossible plans like Mars expeditions to collect money,’ don’t you think?” “A swindler? How utterly base of them to say such a thing!” “Just you wait and see!” “Once that perfect opportunity arrives, I shall suddenly depart this Earth and swiftly soar into the distant heavens…”

“Ah! There he is!”

Amid Dr. Denny’s words, a scream rang out from the side. When they looked in that direction, a boy lay sprawled on the ground. The boy was clutching his face with both hands. Both his face and hands were smeared with blood. That boy was Yamaki.

“Oh! This is a blunder! I must have put too much force into it—it seems this cane struck his face.”

Dr. Denny lowered the raised cane and flushed red. Kawai and Jiggs immediately rushed over and picked up Yamaki, who was lying on the ground. They pressed a handkerchief to his nose. Yamaki had been struck in the nose by Dr. Denny’s cane and started bleeding. “Oh, young man from Japan, I’ve done you a disservice,” he said. “Pray forgive me. That must be terribly painful.”

Dr. Denny also cradled Yamaki and apologized for his own mistake. “It’s alright.” “I’m fine now.”

With that,Yamaki shook his head demonstratively. Then his nosebleed gushed out again staining his clothes. Around them townspeople began gathering like a black mountain and started clamoring noisily. Dr.Denny grew increasingly flustered and called out“Hey Jiggs. “I think I’ll take this boy in my car to see a doctor.What do you say?”

“No, I’m really fine now.” “Please don’t make a fuss.”

Yamaki said embarrassedly. Kawai rolled up some paper and plugged Yamaki’s nostril. After wiping all the blood from his face, Yamaki looked healthy again.

At that moment, Dr. Denny called Jiggs, took out an old-fashioned knife from his pocket, and handed it to him,

“I wish to present this knife to the boy I injured as a token of apology—I’d like you to deliver it on my behalf,” he said. And then Dr. Denny, leaving the crowd’s laughter and jeers behind him, hurried furtively toward the national highway where his car was parked.

Lavish Lunch

The fortune-telling scheme orchestrated by Chou and Ned as the Ox-Head Sage unexpectedly achieved resounding success. As proof, when they left the town of Ellis the next morning and proceeded north along the national highway, that boxy car was packed full with vegetables, fruits, canned goods, and bread. And from amidst all that, Chou and Ned continued laughing, their faces crumpled like cabbages. With this much food, it seemed they wouldn’t have to worry about provisions for the entire week. Both Chou and Ned could now eat boldly from here on out.

For the time being, that day’s lunch was splendid, unlike anything they’d had in recent days. Entering a pine grove by the roadside and sitting before a clear stream, the four boys stuffed their stomachs until they were about to burst. And after that came fragrant coffee and rich milk.

“If we can make this much money,” Ned said in high spirits as he poured white milk over his dark face while speaking, “maybe we shouldn’t go back to school even after summer vacation ends and just travel around selling across the whole country instead!”

“No, I must decline.”

Chou objected. “Hey now, you were the one jumping for joy when we made all this money, and yet…”

“But I can’t keep wearing this heavy ox-head and pretending to moan and groan for two or three hours without a break!” “But you were happy to do it earlier!” Ned refused to back down and glared at Chou.

“Earlier, I endured it because we were on the brink of starvation. If I were to do that act alone every day as you say, I’d surely get sick and die.”

“Don’t be such a wimp. “Chou— “Anyway, we’re raking in cash! You just suck it up and keep at it!”

“I’m fine with making money, but if it’s just me doing it alone, I’m the one getting shortchanged. If we take turns acting as the Ox-Head Sage every day, then I might agree to it.”

“Taking turns playing Ox-Head Sage every day?” “Huh? You think we can actually pull that off?” “But staring at the crystal ball—how’re we supposed to cook up fortune-telling answers? There’s no way we can do that!”

Yamaki interjected.

“Oh, if it’s about that fortune-telling thing, there’s no need to worry so much. It’s something anyone can do. When you stare at the crystal ball long enough, you suddenly feel like talking somehow. Then you just babble away.”

Chou maintained a composed expression. “But that’s the hard part. Even if we stare at the crystal ball, we won’t get inspired as smoothly as you do.” “It’s not like inspiration comes to me every time either.” “So what do you do then? If you stay silent, the customers’ll get angry.” “In that case, you just make up whatever comes to mind and say it. Then the customers interpret it in a way that suits them and leave gratefully. Not a single customer gets angry at the fortune-telling answers.”

Chou spoke in a tone brimming with confidence.

“Unbelievable. Then that’s just a phony fortune-telling act, isn’t it?” Yamaki protested.

“No, it’s different. We may spout whatever comes to mind, but the customers interpret it through their own mouths in a way that suits them and leave clutching their answers.” “And when you see them bringing in all those canned goods and vegetables like that, it’s clear our predictions are spot on!” “So yeah, even if what we say is just made up on the spot, the customers come up with something that fits.” “And through those words, they dispel their doubts and happily proceed in one direction.” “So isn’t that perfectly fine?” “There’s nothing wrong with making a profit.”

Sage Chou laid out his unique philosophy. To this, even Yamaki had no immediate retort. “So, Chou. About that fortune-telling you did earlier for Dr. Denny, the president of the Mars Expedition Society—was that one real, or was it just improvised on the spot?”

The one who asked this was Kawai, who until now had been silently sipping his hot coffee.

“Hahaha, oh, that one? That bushy-bearded doctor, right? That one’s similar to the fortune-telling I had Ned do before we departed—you don’t even need a crystal ball to figure that out.”

Chou continued to giggle quietly. “Hmm… ‘In two days, we’ll be saddled with trouble’—that one, huh.” “That’s terrible.”

Kawai glared at Chou. But recalling that incident, he found it so amusing that he burst out laughing.

“Hahaha, don’t get so angry. Anyway, that one didn’t even need divining—it was something that slid right out of my mouth without even consulting the dear Crystal. In those cases, they end up being strangely accurate.” “Of course it came true. You already knew trouble would catch up to us in two days. You’re absolutely terrible.”

“Hey, Chou. So what does that fortune-telling you gave Dr. Denny actually amount to? Did you know the doctor’s future would turn out this way and spoke like that after all?”

This time Yamaki asked. "Not exactly. At first, I had no idea that man was the president of the Mars Expedition Society. So there's no way I could've known anything. But when the doctor stuck his face out of the hole, all those answers were written right there on his face, I tell you. I just read what was there and recited it in order." "You're lying! How could such things be written on Dr. Denny's face? Just try thinking about it! Dr. Denny's face is so covered in beard that there's less than a third the writing space compared to an ordinary person's face. If you tried writing five characters on it, there'd be nowhere left!"

When Yamaki said that, Kawai and Ned burst out laughing. They had likely recalled Dr. Denny’s endearingly bearded face. “Can’t we just drop that already?” With that, Chou set down the empty can he’d been using as a coffee cup and plopped onto his back. “But, Chou. “That’s wrong. “Dr. Denny probably believes your fortune-telling was genuine and is still agonizing over it right now, I think. “Isn’t that pitiful?”

Yamaki said sympathetically.

That’s right—Dr. Denny, president of the Mars Expedition Society, had been deeply troubled lately, having lost confidence in his own judgment that he had once relied on so assuredly. Upon hearing rumors of the Ox-Head Sage’s crystal divination, he had likely gone out of his way to seek it out. So perhaps Dr. Denny now genuinely believed what Chou told him. It must be so. Thus, it would come to have some significant impact on Dr. Denny’s Mars expedition plans from that point onward. This was getting out of hand.

Red Triangle Research Group

The story now shifted, and we had to turn our attention to the Red Triangle Research Group.

The Red Triangle Research Group was a strange name. However， this was because its members wore red triangular insignias on their lab coat shoulders， hence they were called so. The group did have a proper official name， but since all local people customarily referred to them as Red Triangle Research Group， they were likewise recorded under that designation here for the time being.

Now, this Red Triangle Research Group was composed of spirited young men, and the group’s headquarters was located in the Arizona wasteland. From there, the strange spectacle of the Grand Canyon could be seen far in the distance.

A wasteland refers to a desolate tract of land; here, there was an abundance of sand, pebbles, and scattered rocks—even if one tried to cultivate it into farmland, it proved futile. Therefore, few people lived there, with only weeds growing thickly, and birds and beasts being the primary inhabitants. It was in such a place that the Red Triangle Research Group established their headquarters, but to anyone not from the area, the building’s location remained undetectable. The reason for this was that the real building lay deep underground and could not be seen from outside. Only the structure’s entrance and exit had been built as a small tower.

Though it was called a tower, it had only three stories, each floor’s rooms measuring roughly five meters square, with the rooftop serving as an observation deck where a flag bearing the Red Triangle insignia fluttered from a pillar. Amidst the rugged plains overgrown with weeds as far as the eye could see, the presence of this small tower with its fluttering flag made the surrounding landscape appear increasingly bizarre. For some reason, the members of the Red Triangle Research Group would usually don gas mask-like devices as they raced about this wasteland—conducting surveys, releasing smoke, flying small planes, and sometimes even lining up several automobiles that dug through soil like agricultural tractors as they advanced, holding competitions.

What on earth was the Red Triangle Research Group doing all this for?

Now, the Red Triangle Research Group recently began another strange endeavor. They built cages of various sizes across different parts of that wasteland. And they put various animals inside them. Not to mention horses, cows, and sheep, there were cages containing birds such as chickens and ducks, as well as netted cages holding unsettling creatures like snakes, crocodiles, and lizards among the reptiles. If someone were to jump to conclusions, they might have thought, "Aha, so they’re building a zoo here?" However, that wasn’t actually the case. The quickest way to verify this would be to listen to the conversations of the Red Triangle Research Group members clustered around the cages.

“How far along are we?” “Once we finish just one more cage, everything will be complete.” “That’ll bring the total to forty cages.” “What’s the remaining cage for?” “It’s Cage No. 19.” “A cage for chimpanzees (anthropoid apes).”

“Oh right. “Hey，is the gas prepped and ready?” “We’ve finished everything ahead of schedule—everyone’s bored out of their minds．They’re saying maybe we should start a baseball game this afternoon．” “Heh heh，you’ve been quite efficient．” “Of course，the gas tests are finished too，right?”

“It’s perfectly safe! In fact, they’re saying we could even encase just the baseball field in R-gas and play a game inside it.”

“No, we can’t release the R-gas yet. Since the gas release is scheduled for 3:00 PM today, you must strictly adhere to the designated time. If an unforeseen incident occurs because of that, we’d be held responsible.”

“But we’re all wearing masks, so isn’t that enough?” “Well, we’re protected, but there might still be villagers who haven’t evacuated yet.” “However, we’ve repeatedly warned them through broadcasts—‘This area will conduct hazardous gas experiments. Entry is prohibited from noon today until noon tomorrow.’ We’ve emphasized it countless times.” “So there’s nobody lingering around here.”

“But we must take every precaution.” “In any case, the R-gas release time is 3:00 PM.” “We won’t start any earlier than that, so keep that in mind…”

According to this conversation, it appeared R-gas would be dispersed across the entire area after 3:00 PM that day. R-gas—as had been mentioned in an academic journal—was originally nonexistent on Earth; its production as a research material here began after astronomers first reported the presence of this so-called R-gas on Mars. What effects would R-gas have on Earth's organisms? It was this that the Red Triangle Research Group had now begun investigating. This time, they limited their tests to ordinary animals and refrained from human trials. This was because the extent of danger posed to humans remained unknown. Once these animal experiments concluded, they planned to make thorough preparations next time before proceeding to use human test subjects. According to results from previous indoor studies, guinea pigs and similar animals were said to suffer severe effects—their faces contorting as they writhed in agony. They reportedly died within an hour. The gas had been weighted heavily that day, with strict warnings issued to prevent it from drifting beyond the test area.

And so time kept passing steadily until finally, it became 3:00 PM. By that time, it had been thoroughly confirmed that the vast test area was free of people. The only ones present were masked members and the animals contained within forty cages. The members were tasked with crucial duties once the gas was released—studying the animals' behavior, operating generators, starting engines, and running pumps within the gas—and they were to work in full force that day.

“We’ll be releasing the gas soon, but keep strict watch on the highway.” “If any vehicles approach, stop them at once and redirect to alternate routes.” “Understood.”

Soon, R-gas billowed out in thick clouds from tanks loaded onto fifteen vehicles. This heavy, yellow-tinged gas spread quietly across the grassland as if licking the earth. Soon it enveloped the cages, then the hill... Oh no! From behind that hill emerged a milk delivery truck swaying unsteadily. On its large box were painted a dairy cow being milked and bold characters reading "Ox-Head Sage." This was unmistakably their beat-up car—the one carrying Yamaki, Kawai, Chou, and Ned, the four boys. Why had their vehicle appeared from behind the hill now? Oblivious to danger, it kept plunging deeper into the yellow-tinged gaseous mass resembling a cloud. This was disastrous.

Gas poisoning

The fact that the radio receiver in the four boys' car wasn't functioning had caused this extraordinary incident. Had they been listening to the radio and heeding warnings, such a blunder would never have occurred. Though they had brought along one receiver, they had repurposed it for the Ox-Head Sage's fortune-telling act, rendering it unusable for radio reception.

Moreover, when the four boys could finally see the Grand Canyon in the distance around this area yesterday evening, they were overjoyed and drove their car into this roadless wilderness. Finding a large cave halfway up the hill, they drove their car into it and stayed there overnight. When morning came, they couldn’t set out right away. That was because the engine had started acting up. After all, it was an old junk car; repairing the engine was no simple task. It took so much time and effort that their departure ended up being at 3:00 PM.

During this time, the research group members did not come to inspect inside this cave. After all, no matter how curious they were, they never imagined that humans would be hiding in such a deep place. The boys' car crawled slowly through the unhurried yellow-tinged clouds of R-gas. With so many rocks strewn about, the vehicle simply couldn't move.

It took the research group members about fifteen minutes to find this milk delivery truck. Bill Marton from the research group froze in shock upon discovering it. He immediately notified headquarters and ordered five nearby colleagues to stop their work, then loaded everyone into a car that raced toward where the milk truck stood. When their vehicle reached the scene, the milk delivery truck sat motionless with its wheels lodged on a rock, tilted sharply leftward. While the car stayed perfectly still, its occupants did anything but. All four boys—Yamaki, Kawai, Chou, and Ned—rolled across the boulder-strewn wasteland, howling with laughter as they tumbled over the rocks—ha ha ha! hee hee hee!—their bodies convulsing uncontrollably. What could possibly warrant such hysterics?

As their car pulled up and Bill Marton along with six other members got out, they stared at the four boys rolling around laughing among the weeds and rocks, their expressions hardening simultaneously as they stood frozen in place.

Soon, Marton shouted.

“Ah, this was a major oversight. These people have inhaled the dangerous R-gas! And as you can see, they’re suffering like this.”

“They’re not suffering. They’re rolling around laughing like they can’t help how funny it is!”

“That’s not it,” he said. “They aren’t laughing because it’s funny. They’re laughing even though there’s nothing funny about it. It’s R-gas poisoning—this violent laughing and thrashing around… Alright, let’s get these people into our car and take them to the hospital. If we don’t hurry, these good yet unfortunate people will laugh themselves to exhaustion and die. Come on, give me a hand!”

“Alright.” “Then let’s hurry!”

“Oh, these are children.” “They’re Asian.”

Thus, Yamaki and the others were carried away from the scene by Marton and his young colleagues. Even in the vehicle, Yamaki and the others wheezed and squealed, laughing and thrashing about, while Marton and his team’s efforts to restrain them became a tremendous struggle.

The four were temporarily admitted to the infirmary in the headquarters' basement, but the medical staff present there, upon seeing the boys' condition,

"This is quite a serious condition." "If we leave them here, we can't administer proper treatment—they might lapse into critical condition." "We absolutely must send them to Dr. Sumner’s Main Hospital—otherwise, we can’t rest assured." With that, they made it clear that adequate treatment couldn’t be administered here. Therefore, Marton and the others loaded the four boys, who were still laughing uncontrollably, back into the car and transported them to Dr. Sumner’s Main Hospital.

The Main Hospital was located approximately twenty-five kilometers northwest, atop a hill that commanded a magnificent view of the Grand Canyon. It formed a single gigantic tower. Moreover, this tower leaned considerably westward—not quite ten degrees, but tilted at about eight or nine degrees. It looked exactly like a dud torpedo that had been thrust into the ground and remained unexploded. Small round windows dotted its surface, but considering the tower’s overall size, these windows were extremely tiny, somewhat reminiscent of a lamprey’s eyes.

The top of the tower was shaped like a hemisphere, resembling the roof of an observatory. In addition, there were about three yardarms suitable for hoisting flags and what appeared to be ultra-shortwave antennas, making the tower look as though it had been pierced by a hairpin.

Marton and his group’s car vanished as if being sucked into this tower. But at that moment, the vehicle looked minuscule compared to the tower. It was as if a bean had rolled toward a scarlet post. The structure was monstrously immense. Crimson from base to pinnacle, the leaning colossus stood upon the hill—simultaneously magnificent and unnerving; locals claimed newcomers couldn’t endure its gaze for long.

What was this tower? It was known that there was a hospital where Dr. Sumner resided, but it wasn’t merely a hospital. The members called it the "Main Hospital," but simply "Main Hospital" didn’t tell the whole story.

Now, let us proceed to describe these details in full.

The Gigantic Leaning Tower In the nick of time, the four boys had narrowly escaped death. Had they been left in the concentrated R-gas for two or three hours as they were, they would have died. Because Dr. Sumner was well-versed in this gas, he skillfully treated the four boys. Even so, it took a full six hours after they were admitted here for their laughter to subside.

The laughter had stopped, but the four boys’ health had not fully returned to normal. They were still having frequent spasms. They no longer laughed out loud, but when spasms struck—their faces contorting and limbs twitching—they couldn’t walk and had no choice but to remain bedridden.

Two weeks later, on a certain day during his morning examination, Dr. Sumner examined the four boys in much greater detail than usual. Afterward, he said the following:

“Based on today’s examination, I believe you have mostly recovered from the poisoning.” “Starting today, you’re free to walk anywhere you like.” “However, even though I’m saying you can walk anywhere, you’re still not permitted to go outside the main building.” “The reason is that we still don’t fully understand the effects of that gas, so it’s impossible to know when you might experience those symptoms again or fall into critical condition.” “So as long as you stay here in the main building, in case of an emergency I can rush over immediately and provide treatment—that’s why I must insist that you remain in this main building.” “Fortunately, the Grand Canyon—your original destination—can be seen as clearly as if you could reach out and touch it from the rooftop of the main building. So for the time being, I’d like you to endure staying here in this building.”

Dr. Sumner explained things to the boys in a thorough and digestible manner, so they all understood well. And they agreed to live within this building until Dr. Sumner said they could leave.

From that day on, the four boys began tentatively venturing out of their hospital room. They walked through long corridors and winding staircases, entered recreation rooms and cafeterias, peeked into bustling laboratories hard at work, blinked in astonishment at the engine room far below—experiencing frequent moments of surprise and delight.

What delighted the four boys most was seeing the Grand Canyon's spectacular scenery from atop the tower. They say it looks like a painting, but the view surpassed even that. Throughout the day, the canyon revealed countless different faces. The crisp morning vistas, the midday spectacle of rocks blazing beneath the scorching sun, the evening views where slanting light cast sharp shadows on massive boulders fading into purple dusk—each moment unveiled a unique beauty. Struck speechless by this grandeur, the four boys stood frozen atop the tower, oblivious to time's passage.

A week passed like a dream. Eventually, even the four boys began growing bored with life inside the main building. They tried sounding out Dr. Sumner about it, but there seemed little chance he would let them leave anytime soon. This posed a problem.

When they said they wanted to return home since there were only a few days left of summer vacation, Dr. Sumner replied that he had already notified their school, so they could stay until they were completely recovered. There was nothing they could do about it.

One day, Ned returned to his companions with his face lit up. The milk delivery truck that the four boys had ridden in had been discovered properly stored away in a certain room of this main building.

“Oh! That’s something good you found.” “Let’s go see it right away.” “We’d completely forgotten about that, hadn’t we?”

The four boys suddenly perked up, had Ned lead the way, and went to check out that room. It was one of the warehouses on the basement seventh floor. Alongside their car were also passenger vehicles and trucks stored away. The boys barely glanced at those before clambering onto their nostalgic boxcar and crawling into one still packed with bottled goods. Playing around their beat-up car like this somehow never bored them. They consequently agreed to spend several hours daily playing there. However, since mentioning this to nurses might earn them scoldings, they resolved to keep their playtime secret.

The four boys had no inkling that such things would become the cause of the next major incident.

The Basement Window

Whenever the four boys gathered in this basement seventh-floor warehouse, it had become customary for them to debate two things: what would become of them going forward, and just what this giant tower was.

The mystery ran deep. Though they debated it daily, the riddle remained unsolved. Yamaki needled Chou. "Guess we’ve got no choice but to humbly accept the Ox-Head Sage’s prophecies now. "Hey Sagey-boy—how ’bout giving us a crystal ball reading?"

“No, no! I can’t do fortune-telling or anything like that!” Where had all that vigor gone from when he’d drawn crowds as the Ox-Head Sage? Chou blushed crimson and crouched in a corner. “There’s no reason you can’t. Well then, I’ll go get the crystal ball—you do the reading.”

Ned stood up and entered the dust-covered box of the milk delivery truck nearby.

“No, no! The truth is, I can’t do fortune-telling or anything like that.” “Heh heh heh! Chou’s come clean with the truth! Fortune-telling and prophecies—those things are obviously just nonsense. I knew that all along.”

“Heh heh heh! Chou’s come clean with the truth!” said the small technician Kawai.

“You can’t say that for sure,” Yamaki objected. “Fortune-telling is a function of the soul,” Kawai continued. “So someone who can condense their soul into something as firm as a ping-pong ball becomes capable of divination. Chou-kun—you can do that, right?” “Now that you mention it… I do recall moments when my soul condenses to about ping-pong ball size.” With a serious expression, Chou leaned forward.

“That’s right.” “That’s when your fortune-telling will actually work properly.” “Exactly! That’s what we call mental concentration.” “That’s a lie! It won’t work!” Kawai remained stubbornly opposed. “Then let’s test whether it works right here! Come on—I’ve brought the crystal ball!”

Ned placed the crystal ball in front of Chou.

“What exactly are you going to divine?”

“Try divining what’s going to happen to us from now on.” “Alright, let’s give it a shot!” Chou sat cross-legged before the crystal ball, then thrust both hands toward the orb and closed his eyes. Remaining in that position, he furrowed his brow for a while with a serious expression, but soon opened his eyes wide and stared at the crystal ball as if trying to bore holes through it. Kawai, who had been watching his exaggerated performance, started to laugh with a pfft, but Yamaki saw this and covered Kawai’s mouth with his hand.

“Quiet…”

At that moment, Chou let out a strange voice and began to speak.

“Oh dear... This is terrible! Large medals are dangling from the chests of us four…” “That’s nonsense! Quit your blathering!” Kawai called out from under Yamaki’s hand. “Can’t you stay quiet, you…”

Yamaki clamped his hand over Kawai’s mouth. Chou said, “Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear! The scenery has completely changed. The four of us are riding on a cow’s back, passing through New York City’s Broadway!”

“On a cow’s back…”

Ned widened his eyes.

“...Paper flower petals come falling down like a blizzard. Multicolored streamers fly over our heads. What a splendid welcome…” “That’s a lie! Nothing like that could happen! The four of us couldn’t possibly experience such a splendid thing. But we’re just kids who saved up our allowances to finally go on a car trip, aren’t we?” As Kawai brushed Yamaki’s hand away and spoke, Yamaki too,

“Hmm, this story’s sounding a bit like an otogibanashi.”

He seemed to have doubts now and tilted his head.

That was when it happened.

Somewhere, a bell began ringing ear-piercingly. Then came the shouts of people, followed by the sound of scattered footsteps racing down the hallway.

“What could that be…”

“Could it be a fire?” “It can’t be a fire—maybe the movie’s starting?”

“Alright, let’s get Chou to do a reading! Come on, Chou. Divine it! What happened with that bell sound?” “Hmm… this is tricky.” “Hurry up, hurry up!”

Ned thrust the crystal ball toward Chou. “Now wait—we need to stay calmer…” “Let’s put that aside for now, go out into the hallway, and ask someone…”

With that, Kawai stood up and tried to open the door. At that moment came an enormous thud—the room shook violently as if it might collapse at any second. Kawai was pressed flat against the floor, still gripping the door handle. The other three boys collapsed like squashed spiders. Then in the next instant, the entire room began spinning wildly like a top. The cars inside slammed violently into each other, drums overturned, and thick oil began oozing out. Drums clattered and rolled about; the boys scrambled to avoid being crushed beneath them—a terrible commotion erupted!

But that commotion lasted only about two minutes before things mostly settled down. Only the constant fine vibrations of the floor, the swaying of the stretched rope, and the occasional sensation of the floor being lifted upward—these alone were different from how this room usually was. But what on earth had that earlier noise and tremors been?

At that moment, Kawai finally succeeded in opening the door. He dashed out into the hallway. Following suit, the three boys also dashed out.

The hallway was empty of people. Nor were there any voices. It was quiet, yet something felt off. “Oh, there’s a window open here. But there wasn’t any window here until now…”

As he spoke, Kawai went to the mysterious window and peered outside. “Oh! This is bad! Everyone, come here quick…”

Kawai called out to his companions in a voice that threatened to split his throat. What on earth could have startled him, usually so composed? Through the window that had suddenly opened there, what had he seen outside?

Flying Tower

Four boys pressed their faces against the window glass, their complexions deathly pale, speechless and trembling uncontrollably. Eight eyes were fixed on the distant ground below. Below was the beautiful panorama of the Grand Canyon.

Strange. Was this a dream? There was no way you could look down on the full panorama of the Grand Canyon from a basement window. But in fact, they could see it clearly there. It wasn’t a painting. It wasn’t a movie. It wasn’t television. It was the actual view they were seeing. As proof, a village was visible. A train was visible, running and belching white smoke. Oh—they could even see a four-engine passenger plane flying right past the window—no, it had just passed by and disappeared from view.

Strange. They were flying through the air! That must be it.

As they looked out the window... But when had we switched to an airplane? That couldn’t be—ah, right. Yet there we were, clearly standing in the hallway—on the main building’s corridor…

However, when looking out the window, we couldn’t help but feel that we were now inside an airplane. The Grand Canyon's scenery had become much smaller when we thought about it. Instead, a vast landscape stretching far into the distance was now fully visible in a single sweeping view. It was utterly perplexing, but compared to earlier, the altitude seemed to have increased considerably.

“Hey, what’s going on?” “What’s going on here?”

“Have we gone crazy?” “Could all four of us really have lost our minds together?”

“This is strange, strange—absolutely strange!” “This isn’t just strange—it’s a catastrophe! We’ve been thrown into the air!”

It was Kawai who had declared this. True to form, he possessed the ability to organize a coherent thought from this commotion.

“We’ve been thrown into the air?!”

Yamaki, Chou, and Ned all shouted in unison.

“Look down there.” “That’s what you see over there—the actual ground.” “It keeps getting smaller and farther away…”

“You’re right. And why were we thrown into the air?”

Yamaki asked Kawai hurriedly.

“Well, I don’t know about that…” “Isn’t it strange for an entire house to get thrown into the air? Airplanes fly through the sky, but I’ve never heard of houses flying.” “Could it be a volcanic eruption?”

Ned said, his lips trembling. “Volcanic eruption. So what if there’s an eruption?” “There’s a volcanic fault line beneath this tower,” Kawai explained. “It must’ve suddenly erupted. That’s why we got hurled into the air.” “Might be right,” Yamaki muttered. “Either way—we’re screwed. If that’s true, we’ll soon be plummeting down at insane speed.” His lanky frame shuddered. “Slammed into the ground and flattened paper-thin. Ugh...”

And with that, the lanky Yamaki started panicking.

“I don’t like it either!” Ned shouted. “If humans get flattened as thin as paper, we won’t be able to eat anything three-dimensional like corn, apples, or walnuts anymore!” “Not only that, but the moment we’re slammed into the ground—splat! We’ll die!” “Are we going to die? You’re right. We’re going to die. Tch! Chou’s fortune-telling hasn’t come true at all, has it? Earlier you said the four of us would march down Broadway on an ox with medals dangling from our chests, that paper wreaths and streamers would rain down—but if we crash and die now, we’ll never get to experience any of those wonderful things!”

“That’s why I told you my fortune-telling doesn’t come true, didn’t I?” “Ugh, this is bad.”

Kawai alone had remained silent all this time, intently observing the state of the world below them and listening to the mechanical sounds that seemed to come from nowhere, when he suddenly let out a loud shout.

“That’s it! “That must be it!”

The other three boys were startled.

“Hey, Kawai-kun. What’s going on?” “I get it. We’re on a rocket right now. We’re traveling through the air on a rocket.”

“On a rocket?” “But that’s strange.” “We don’t remember switching to a rocket.” “But this is the main building though.”

“Yeah, this is the main building—that giant leaning tower. It’s flying through the air right now.”

“Th-that’s… such nonsense…”

“No, that must be it. That giant tower was actually a rocket—half of it had been hidden underground, and now it’s flying through the air like this. So that’s why we could see outside from the basement windows.” Kawai added a bold interpretation. “Huh? The building we were living in is a rocket?” “I didn’t notice that.” They all stared in dumbfounded disbelief.

Unexpected Liftoff

Kawai’s bold interpretation had been mostly accurate. About an hour after that incident, the four boys encountered Bill Marton—the young man now identified as Engineer Marton—in a corridor and learned an unexpected truth. They happened to pass by where Marton lay on a second-floor corridor bench, his body smeared with oil. When they called out to him, Marton laboriously raised his upper body. He looked utterly spent.

“What’s wrong, Mr. Marton?”

And with that, the boys surrounded him. “Ah, so you’re another group that got left behind too.” Marton said sympathetically.

“Huh? We were left behind…”

“Oh? You didn’t know…? This spaceship wasn’t supposed to depart yet. Due to an error that occurred in the engine room, it was accidentally launched like this.”

“Wait, so the mistake happened in the engine room?” “Yeah.” “Didn’t you hear the alarm bell earlier?” “All personnel evacuate!” The alarm blared incessantly. “When they heard that, many rushed out and survived.”

Now that he mentioned it, the alarm bell had indeed been blaring loudly. Following that, they heard clamorous voices and the sound of running feet—those had been the "All personnel evacuate" alarm. Now that they had noticed, it was already too late. "So… Mr. Marton and we are the only ones who got left behind?"

Kawai asked.

“No, there are still over a dozen people remaining. I could have escaped if I tried, but I couldn’t bear to leave the spaceship we worked so hard to build. Even if this spaceship were to disintegrate mid-air wherever it may be…” “A spaceship, you say?”

“Mid-air disintegration! Will it really disintegrate mid-air?”

In response to the boys’ rapid-fire questions, Engineer Marton spoke as follows.

This giant tower was a spaceship. A spaceship refers to a vessel that travels through the vast cosmos. And this spaceship was indeed designed to fly via rocket, just as Kawai had stated. However, unlike ordinary rockets, it was said to be a rocket powered by a remarkable atomic energy engine capable of easily reaching speeds of around 100,000 kilometers per hour. Moreover, that tower was a rocket tower, and it was now actually flying through the sky like this. They’d really gotten themselves into a tough spot. As they wondered what would become of them now, a heavy lump of anxiety formed in the four boys' chests.

“You’ve suspected for a long time that we’re members of the Mars Expedition Society, haven’t you?”

“No,” they replied. “That’s not true at all.” “Is that so?” Engineer Marton surveyed the four boys’ faces. “Yet you all seem remarkably composed considering everything. After all, you passed out completely when you inhaled that R-gas last time. I thought that incident would’ve clued you in.” “Ah, R-gas,” they said. “So that experiment really was connected to the Mars expedition after all?”

“Exactly—it’s deeply connected.” “At that time, we confined various animals in cages we’d built in the open field and exposed them to R-gas.” “As a result, nearly all the animals that inhaled that gas perished.”

“Even we humans would collapse from it, you see.”

“That’s right. However, among them, there were some that remained relatively unaffected. They were crocodiles, lizards, and frogs.” “Reptiles and amphibians, then.” “Yeah, one more—the ox tolerated it relatively well. In the next experiment, we put a mask on the ox. Then we found it could endure even better.” “What kind of gas is R-gas?”

“R-gas is one of the gases settling on Mars’ surface—a gas unknown on Earth until now.” “So it’s poisonous gas then.” “For Earth’s organisms, it’s quite toxic. “However, for Martian organisms, R-gas is harmless. “No—for them, it’s a gas essential for survival, just as we need oxygen...”

While Engineer Marton was speaking those words, the door to another room opened, and a different young man came bursting in. As soon as he saw Marton, he let out a desperate cry.

“We’ve failed at last! This spaceship has had no choice but to abandon its plan to return to Earth!”

They had no choice but to abandon their return to Earth! So what would become of them all now? Would they wander aimlessly through the void, or hurtle toward Mars or the moon? Even so, space travel required a tremendous amount of time. Would the crew’s lives last long enough to see it through? What about food supplies? What about fuel?

Farewell, Earth!

“This is terrible! They say we can’t return to Earth anymore!” “This is problematic. What in the world will become of us now?”

“What’ll happen… Well, what do you think will happen?”

The people left behind in the giant tower flying through the sky looked down at the world below from the windows and had turned completely pale. Even as they spoke, the houses, forests, and rivers kept growing smaller and smaller. The giant tower flying through the sky—no, the colossal spaceship—was now rapidly increasing its speed and gaining altitude.

“Well, regardless—if things stay like this, we’ll just keep moving farther and farther away from Earth. Before long, we’ll end up as cosmic orphans.” “What? We’ll become cosmic orphans? I’d hate that. If only there were police officers in space we could ask—‘We’re lost, please show us the way home’—but…”

“You can’t count on that. We’ll become cosmic orphans, and when our food runs out in the end, we’ll starve to death!”

“Starve to death? No way… This really isn’t good at all.” “I’ve always been a glutton, so if we starve, I’ll be the first to die.” “Isn’t there anything we can do?” “The thing is, the engine’s turned bright red and is working all on its own—they say there’s nothing they can do to stop it.” “At least we should be able to adjust the rudder, though.” “No, that won’t work either. Even if we try to adjust the rudder, they say it doesn’t respond at all.”

“Whoa, then we’re completely doomed!”

No matter how much they clamored, the spaceship showed no sign of turning back toward the ground. Not only that, but the atomic engine grew increasingly unruly, spewing gas from the ship’s stern with tremendous force as the spaceship’s speed steadily rose. The velocity climbed from 2,000 kilometers per hour to 3,000, then to 4,000—now verging on surpassing the 4,500 kilometer-per-hour mark.

Driven solely by their desire to return to Earth, three people had even escaped outside the ship with parachutes, despite knowing the danger. The four boys were not as panicked as the adults. At first, they were a bit startled, but soon the boys became engrossed in the novel scenery of the world below visible outside the window, appearing to feel neither fear nor anxiety. “This is fun. Oh, that blue thing’s the Pacific Ocean, huh? The coastline of California looks so beautiful from here.”

Yamaki was the most energetic of them all.

“I’d always wanted to ride in a plane, but flying through the sky sure is something else!”

Ned leaned his cheek against the window frame, gazing endlessly at the greenish carpet-like world below.

Chou remained silent. Kawai was gripping a pencil and writing something intently in his notebook.

“Oh! Stars are visible over there… You can see stars even though it’s daytime!” Yamaki exclaimed in surprise and stretched his finger upward. Then Kawai, who had been silent until now, looked up from his notebook and said, “Exactly. We’re in the stratosphere here. According to my calculations, we should already be about fifteen kilometers up.”

“Stratosphere! When did we enter the stratosphere? I didn’t even notice!”

“From now on, the sky will keep getting darker, so the stars will be visible. The number of stars will keep increasing.” “Oh, a land of mystery!”

Chou exclaimed in admiration. “Ah, the world below has become so hazy,” “Ah, Earth is disappearing.”

Ned’s voice broke into a sob. Yet Earth did not vanish. Only the boundaries between Earth’s lands, rivers, and seas gradually blurred until the terrain became indistinguishable. Instead, its entire surface blazed brighter with a silvery glare. Now they all clearly sensed they were at the very heart of the vast cosmos.

The engine remained unfixed.

At that moment, Kawai spotted Bill Marton—the young engineer beloved by the four boys—hurrying down the corridor toward them.

“Mr. Marton—has the engine been fixed properly?”

“It’s no use, Kawai,” Marton said with a shrug.

“The engine’s racing like a wild horse.” “If we keep going at this rate, it’ll be impossible to stop the engine until all the fuel in the first warehouse gets exhausted.” It was dire. They had no choice but to keep flying endlessly onward. What’s worse, with the rudder unresponsive, they couldn’t steer toward their intended course. This was the very essence of careening through space.

“So, which direction is our spaceship flying now?” Kawai asked. “Due east,” replied Marton. “Roughly aligned with the ecliptic plane.” “We’re following our preplanned course—just three weeks too early.” “‘Preplanned course,’ you say...?”

“It’s simply heading where we might encounter Mars – though about three weeks ahead of schedule,” Engineer Marton remarked casually.

“Oh, is that so? So this spaceship had indeed been prepared to go to Mars after all?”

Yamaki, too, was belatedly surprised.

“That’s right. Dr. Denny had resolved to carry it out this very year.” “Of course, there were many opponents to this, though.” “Anyway, Dr. Denny is a pitiable man.” And Engineer Marton said this in a solemn tone. Judging from these words, Marton appeared to be a sympathizer of Dr. Denny.

“Dr. Denny is aboard this spaceship, then?”

“That’s correct. When the emergency occurred earlier, I went to urge Dr. Denny: ‘The danger is imminent—please evacuate immediately.’ But he retorted, ‘You should be the ones escaping! I will never leave this ship,’ and flatly refused to evacuate.” “So Dr. Denny has resolved to share this ship’s fate?” “The Doctor built this vessel after decades of relentless effort. That’s why it’s as precious to him as his own child. But there’s more—he knows this ship better than anyone alive. He’s convinced that when crises strike, he alone can implement the optimal response. That’s why he remains aboard.”

Dr. Denny had a reputation as a doddering old scholar—worse yet, one of those charlatans pushing impossible Mars expeditions while being of unsound mind—but according to Engineer Marton’s account, this appeared to be mistaken. “Well then, shouldn’t we just keep flying straight to Mars?” Yamaki said.

“It’s not that simple, you know. Our departure was three weeks early, and while our general direction is roughly correct, it’s slightly off. Then there’s controlling the engine and the food supply issue—unless all of these are adequately addressed, we won’t reach Mars. We’re currently working our hardest to steer things in that direction, you know.”

Engineer Marton’s face clearly showed a look of anguish.

“Is the food also scarce?”

Ned asked worriedly. He had a tendency to get hungry faster than anyone else.

“Ah, it’s insufficient.” “According to the latest report, there’s some concern about whether we even have three months’ worth left.”

“Only three months’ worth?” “Mr. Marton.” “How many days will it take to reach Mars?”

“According to the initial plan, if we departed at the optimal time, we were scheduled to reach Mars in approximately thirty days. For that plan, we needed to maintain a speed of 100,000 kilometers per hour—with Mars’s straight-line distance set at 55 million kilometers and accounting for how much longer our curved trajectory would be compared to that direct path—it was ultimately calculated to take about thirty days.”

“Let’s not just laze around—why don’t we work alongside the adults?” Kawai said.

“That’s right.” “That’s right.” “That’s a good thing.”

“I’ll do anything. When it comes to cooking, I’m confident.”

Chou leaned forward. "What should I do? I'll take over the bellboy's job."

Hearing this, Engineer Marton was greatly pleased. Truly, this ship had a crew of only a dozen or so members, leaving them desperately short-handed. Engineer Marton promptly brought this matter to Captain Dr.Denny. "I leave it to you," said Dr.Denny. After consulting various personnel, Marton decided Chou would serve as cook, Ned as bellboy, Kawai would assist him with engine maintenance, and Yamaki would handle odd jobs for Captain Dr.Denny. So the four boys,

“Alright then, let’s each do our best in our assigned positions.” “Heave-ho!”

After exchanging farewells, they temporarily went their separate ways.

Now, during all this, the engine room remained the most taxing place. Following Engineer Marton and leaping into that room, young Kawai was met with a shock so intense it felt like his heart had stopped. The engine room was a chimney-like space spanning twelve floors—from the second level down to the tenth basement floor. In the captain’s compartment, layers of complex machinery overlapped endlessly; pipes of varying sizes snaked like fish intestines while violet-glowing discharge tubes, blazing mercury lamps, and groaning transformers seized the eyes and strained the ears. Seven or eight people gathered before the switchboard, intently staring at the instrument panels. They turned the resistance handle as far as it would go. Pop! Blue flames emerged from behind the switchboard. The people in front of the switchboard cried "Ah!" and leaped backward. Then the flames went out. The people once again gathered around the switchboard. The malfunctioning engine still hadn’t been fixed.

Among the crowd, a noticeably taller old man was mingling. That was none other than Dr. Denny, President of the Mars Exploration Society, whom young Kawai recognized.

Dr. Denny, unlike when he had appeared in Ellis Town before, now had eyes that gleamed sharply, cheeks that glowed red, and looked remarkably vigorous. He had not left this room for a moment since the spaceship departed from the ground and was working desperately to fix the engine’s condition. Despite Dr. Denny’s tremendous efforts, the engine showed no signs of returning to proper working order. “Hey, Kawai,” Engineer Marton said as he placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder.

“To handle an engine this massive, we only have eight technicians.” “If you’ll work with us, I can’t say how much that would help.”

“Yes, I’ll work! But what exactly should I do?” “That’s for Dr. Denny to decide. Alright, let’s head over to the switchboard together.” Led by Engineer Marton, young Kawai joined the group of technicians gathered before the switchboard. Young Kawai, who loved machines, waited for Dr. Denny’s orders with his heart pounding.

Gravity was decreasing.

Restoring the malfunctioning engine to normal operation seemed nearly hopeless. Fourteen hours had already passed since their ground departure, yet the engine kept running autonomously. Still, Dr. Denny persistently adjusted the engine again and again. Blue sparks sprayed between machinery parts, insulation materials blazed fiercely, oil jets erupted naturally—it became a riotous spectacle. Young Kawai partnered with Engineer Marton to courageously plunge into the machinery amid such chaos and execute emergency repairs.

No one made any unnecessary remarks. They were technicians who had been battling the engine for fourteen hours straight without a single hitch.

At that moment, Dr. Denny spun around smoothly and faced the group. He seemed to have something new to say.

“Everyone,” “From now on, we’ll switch to a two-shift system.” “That is, while the engine remains malfunctioning, we believe it won’t deteriorate further.” “So for the time being, I think keeping watch over the compromised engine should suffice.” “After all, once we’ve exhausted the fuel in Warehouse One, the engine will naturally stop on its own.” “That will occur approximately four days from now.” “Knowing that, there’s no need for everyone to stand watch together.” “Let’s form two groups—Group A and Group B—and operate on shifts.”

Young Kawai joined Group B along with Engineer Marton. Dr. Denny was also in Group B. Group B was now to take a three-hour rest, while Group A would continue keeping strict watch over the engine and performing emergency repairs.

“Kawai. You must be tired and hungry. Now go to the mess hall and eat your fill.” With that, Engineer Marton suggested that young Kawai go to the mess hall.

“Yes, thank you. Aren’t you coming to the mess hall, Mr. Marton?” “I’ll come along later. Before that, I need to discuss a few things with Dr. Denny, so you go on ahead without waiting.”

Having been told this, young Kawai went ahead to the mess hall.

“Oh, Kawai. What happened to you?”

Ned was the first to spot Kawai and approached him. Hearing this, Kawai indeed noticed that his clothes were covered in oil.

“I just helped out a bit, and this is how I ended up. By the way, is Chou managing okay?”

With that, Kawai asked with concern about Chou, who had become the cook. "You mean Chou?" "That guy’s overjoyed." "Why? Because he’s buried in canned delicacies!" "By the way, what do you want to eat?" "I’ll bring you whatever you want!"

Ned asked with a smile. “Hmm, hot coffee and... “And something sweet. “Shortcake or canned pineapple would be fine.”

“Alright, we’ve got plenty of everything, so I’ll bring a whole bunch!”

"But I heard the food supplies are running low, so just bring a little." "Nah, we’ve got plenty. No problem!"

Ned entered the kitchen with a knowing look.

While Kawai was waiting, a loud shout came from the kitchen. As he wondered what was happening, Ned soon approached him with a peculiar expression. Ned held a pie can in his left hand and a plate in his right, using the plate to press down on top of the pie can.

“What’s wrong, Ned?” Kawai asked. “Well, there’s something weird going on. “I opened the pie can. “Then a pineapple came sliding out from inside! “It’s like the pineapple’s alive—I can’t think of it any other way! “And then, you know, this sweet syrup started rising up from the can like steam, drifting unsteadily all over the place. “Man, that was wild. “It’s like a haunted house in there!”

“Hmm, I wonder why that’s happening...” “That’s why I’m pressing down on the can with a plate like this.” “You have to be careful when eating this stuff!”

“I wonder what’s causing that…” Kawai took the can from Ned and placed the plate that had been acting as a lid underneath it. Then sweet syrup came slithering out like smoke from the can. And from beneath it, a piece of yellow pineapple swayed as it rose up. “Ah, so this is it. This is strange,” he said.

“Quickly, if you don’t hold it down with a fork, the pineapple will get away! Just now in the kitchen, an entire can’s worth got away from us!” “Ah, I see. This is bad. Pineapple, wait!” Kawai brandished his fork, swimming through the air to stab the drifting pineapple piece with a decisive thrust.

What in the world was the reason for this?

Because they had moved quite far from Earth, gravity had diminished. When gravity decreases, all substances become lighter. Because of this, such strange phenomena occurred one after another, surprising and bewildering everyone.

A Prophecy Fulfilled

On this day, Dr. Denny was finally chased by coffee. It was truly an unprecedented strange incident. And Yamaki, who had clearly witnessed this, rushed into the cafeteria where his fellow boys had gathered and recounted the whole incident.

“Oh, I’ve never been as shocked as I was today! Because the coffee really did chase Dr. Denny around! And I, thinking to prevent that steaming hot coffee from burning him, desperately wrestled with it. And look at this—I burned both my hands so badly!” With that, Yamaki held out his hands—red and swollen from burns—for Kawai, Chou, and Ned to see.

“Man, those are some nasty burns!”

“But I don’t quite understand what you’re saying—when you say the coffee chased Dr. Denny, what exactly do you mean?”

Ned thrust his face forward. "The coffee chased Dr. Denny—that's the only way to describe it!" Even as Yamaki said this, perhaps finding the situation absurd himself, he burst out laughing.

“I understand,” said Kawai.

“Just now, I saw a piece of pineapple start swaying and floating in the air, so I chased it around with a fork.” “In Dr. Denny’s case, it was the coffee that ended up chasing him instead.” “That’s how it was. “In Dr. Denny’s room, he was boiling coffee using an electric coffee maker. “Then Dr. Denny shouted ‘Ah, hot!’ and jumped up from his chair. “When I looked, something like a rod was stretching toward Dr. Denny’s back. “When I looked closely, you see, it was coffee. “It was stretching out from the coffee maker’s spout like a rod. “It was a brownish rod, you see. “So I grabbed that brownish rod that was just about to touch Dr. Denny’s back. “But then—‘Ouch!’ “I burned both my hands with that coffee rod… “Because the coffee was boiling hot after all.”

“Hmm… That must’ve been hot.” “But the coffee rod, like a living creature, kept chasing after Dr. Denny wherever he fled.” “I thought it would be terrible if Dr. Denny got burned, so I grabbed the coffee again.” “After that, I got burned many times.” “I wonder why—the coffee kept chasing only Dr. Denny.” “Well, that’s only natural.” “When Dr. Denny runs away, a vacuum forms behind him, you see.” “The fact that a vacuum forms means it ends up sucking the coffee toward it.” “It’s just like how rain clouds gather toward the center of a low-pressure system.”

Kawai explained.

“Hmm... I see.” “But Chou’s amazing.” “Because he accurately predicted that Dr. Denny would be chased by coffee, you know.”

Yamaki turned toward Chou, who had been smirking nearby all along.

“Heh heh heh.” “It’s scary, I…” “The fact that my prophecy came true is absolutely terrifying.” Chou twisted his mouth into a laugh, a blend of smugness and terror. “Regarding Dr. Denny’s future, Chou-kun made three prophecies, right?” “Since one of them came true, the remaining two are sure to come true without fail.”

Ned said, rolling his eyes. When the conversation turned to fortune-telling, he became more enthusiastic than anyone else.

“What were they again…the other two prophecies…”

Yamaki tilted his head. “The second one is that he will no longer have a single bed or a single grave anywhere in the world.” “The third is that Dr. Denny will have his heart frozen and continue standing watch for five thousand years.”

Ned remembered clearly. “Hmm… Was that how the prophecy went?”

Chou said with admiration. Chou, the very one who had made the prophecy, seemed to have completely forgotten such things. "How pitiable that Dr. Denny has neither a bed nor a grave." "Then where in the world is Dr. Denny supposed to sleep?" "And where is he supposed to have a grave?" "If that prophecy comes true, Dr. Denny won’t be able to do anything about it, will he?"

“Well, I don’t know how things will turn out,” said Yamaki. He had been developing a strong interest in Chou’s prophecies lately.

Ned also shook his head from side to side.

“Dr. Denny must have his heart frozen and stand watch for five thousand years.” “Now he’s truly a pitiable man, Dr. Denny.” “But why does he have to stand watch for such a long time?” “Hey, Chou.”

“How should I know?” Chou shook his head vigorously. “Oh dear, if the oracle himself doesn’t know, then no one could possibly figure it out.”

“When that time comes, we’ll understand everything. As they say, time solves everything.”

Kawai Jirou, who had been silent until now, said this.

Expedition Resolve

Because the artificial gravity device had started working, the chaos inside the spaceship—like a piece of pineapple swimming through the air or coffee chasing people—had disappeared. The artificial gravity device was an apparatus that created a special gravitational field inside this spaceship through human power. When this device started working, everything settled firmly just as it would on the ground. As they advanced further into space, moving ever farther from Earth, gravity would diminish even further. Therefore, this device was absolutely necessary.

If this device had not existed, everything inside the ship would have broken free from desks and floors, mingled in midair, and caused tremendous chaos.

On the fifth day after the artificial gravity device had started operating, a most welcome incident occurred aboard the ship. It was that the engine, which had refused to obey since departing Earth, finally began heeding the crew’s commands. The speed had nearly reached dangerous levels, but on this day, Dr.Denny and his team of technicians succeeded in reducing it through a concerted effort. The rudder also began functioning properly. The interior of the ship became as bright as if brought back to life. Expressions of joy and relief were visible on every face.

Hearing this, the four boys also breathed a sigh of relief, thinking, "Well, that’s a relief." Flying through space with the ship still malfunctioning was definitely not a pleasant feeling.

That day, to commend the crew for their hardships since departing Earth, the cafeteria was decorated like Christmas, and a lavish feast was served. And afterward, Dr. Denny and everyone else presented hidden talents as entertainment and laughed uproariously. Time passed pleasantly.

As the gathering was finally nearing its end, old Dr. Denny stood up. And he proceeded to make a significant statement.

“Now, gentlemen. “Through your splendid cooperation and indomitable efforts, our ship’s malfunctions have at last been repaired. However, I now wish to consult with you regarding what course our vessel should take from here on.” “There are two courses available to us.” “One is returning to Earth; the other is seizing this opportunity to venture all the way to Mars.” “Which path do you gentlemen desire?”

Having said that, Dr. Denny looked around at everyone's faces. However, no one uttered a word. "The current position of this ship has already passed through approximately two-thirds of the route connecting Earth and Mars." "In other words, navigating one-third more will bring us to Mars." "Furthermore, we have sufficient fuel either way." "We discovered more fuel than expected had been stored in the main facility—no, this ship—so there's no concern on that front." "As for food provisions, they aren't as plentiful as the fuel; we're at bare minimum levels." "Therefore, if we proceed directly to Mars, you'll need to slightly reduce rations for the foreseeable future."

“Let’s go to Mars.” “Agreed! Now that we’ve come this far, I want to see Mars.” “After all, as members of the Mars Exploration Society, we are prepared from the outset to endure hardships as we head toward Mars.” “Let’s go to Mars.”

All the crew members wanted to go to Mars. Not a single person proposed wanting to return to Earth.

Seeing this, old Dr. Denny was greatly satisfied. “Therefore, we have decided this ship will now proceed directly to Mars. According to today’s observations, I believe it will take another eleven days to reach Mars. In the meantime, I hope you gentlemen will make thorough preparations based on your prior research. Whether we can land on Mars remains uncertain until a bit later, but in any case, I will announce the post-landing organization tomorrow. With our crew being so few in number, each of you will have to take on significant responsibilities. You must be prepared for that.”

“We’ll do anything. Give us your orders without holding back!” “That’s right! Let’s fully demonstrate the results of our research here and succeed in opening a route between Mars and Earth. Everyone, let’s give it our all!” “Ah, we’ll do it! On the honor of Earth’s humanity, we’ll make this a success!” “If we can be first to reach Mars, I won’t regret turning to dust on its surface!” The crew members—all who had nurtured a strong yearning for Mars exploration through years of hardship—pledged their cooperation to old Dr.Denny. And they encouraged one another.

From that time onward, a brightness reminiscent of spring permeated the spaceship. Everyone’s resolve stood unshaken. They were now plunging headlong toward Mars exploration—that grand objective no human had ever achieved. The four boys shared this sentiment—no, felt it even more intensely than the adults—reveling in the prospect of Martian exploration. That very day, they pressed their faces against the observation deck’s windowpanes and stared outward.

O form of the great universe, with its endless darkness! What a vast space it was! In that darkness, the stars sparkled like diamonds. To the west shone an Earth over ten times larger than the full moon; though they had surely departed from there, seeing it like this made it feel unreal. Beside it clung the small moon.

What about Mars? Could it be seen?

They circled around the observation room and reached the opposite window. "Ah! There it was," they exclaimed. That vivid crimson star. Its size already appeared comparable to a ceremonial tray. That was Mars. What mysteries could lie waiting on that unnervingly lurid orb?

Martian Life Forms “The surface of Mars is still as hazy as ever.” Before they knew it, Mr. Marton—whom the four boys adored—had come and stood behind them, gazing at Mars through the observation window just as they were, and made that remark.

“Ah, Mr. Marton. Why is the surface of Mars so hazy?” In moments like these, Kawai was always the first to want to ask questions.

“Ah, shall I explain why it’s hazy? Well, that’s because there’s water vapor on the surface of Mars.” “Earth is like that too.” “Because there’s water vapor, there are clouds—even today you can’t clearly see the shape of the continents or anything like that.” “The water vapor on Mars is only one-twentieth that of Earth’s.” “Nevertheless, there is another reason why the surface of Mars appears hazy.” “That’s because a considerable amount of cosmic dust surrounds Mars.” “Do you know what cosmic dust is?”

“Hmm, what could it be... ‘aliens’?”

Ned rolled his large eyes around. “Cosmic dust is, in other words, the dust of space.” “In other words, cosmic dust consists of tiny fragments of stars.” “This completely encircles Mars.” “That’s why the planet’s surface is even harder to see.”

Engineer Marton wore a worried expression, unsure if his explanation had gotten through to the boys.

"Why is cosmic dust gathered around Mars?" Chou blurted out the question. “That’s asking why cosmic dust came to surround Mars,” said Marton. “Hmm, this is difficult. There are various hypotheses, but even astronomers still don’t know the real truth.” “Do even scientists have things they don’t understand?”

Chou asked with a puzzled look.

“Of course they do. There are many scientists in the world. However, the mysteries of natural science that those people have unraveled are still only a small fraction. Even if it takes hundreds of millions of years from now on, they’ll never unravel all of them. That’s how profoundly deep the mysteries of natural science are.” “Even after all that time, they still won’t figure it out?” Kawai tilted his head quizzically. “It’s funny how scholars are diligently toiling away at things that even a hundred years won’t unravel. A scholar’s lifespan doesn’t even reach a hundred years...”

Ned laughed. But Engineer Marton responded to this. “That’s not it. Because these are monumental tasks that cannot be unraveled without immense time, scholars bear an extraordinary responsibility. And they must strive to unravel the mysteries of natural science even a day or an hour sooner, working with all their might. Truly, we must acknowledge them as noble people.” Engineer Marton said this and made a very serious face.

Starting that day, the boys decided to enter the observation room once daily to gaze out into the vast universe. The vast universe visible from there remained an expanse of darkness with countless stars perpetually twinkling—unchanging, without any dawn breaking—a view scarce in variation. Yet the boys always entered this room. What they wanted to see was twofold: first, the receding figure of their beloved Earth growing ever more distant; second, Mars gradually drawing nearer in appearance.

“Kawai-kun. In two more days, I hear our spaceship will finally pass through the cosmic dust belt. Won’t it end up full of holes by then, don’t you think?”

“Nah, it’ll be fine. Dr. Denny and Mr. Marton both look perfectly calm.” “Hmm, I wonder… And do you think there are humans living on Mars?”

"I don’t know if they’re human or not, but I think there are living things there, Chou."

“Living things? When those living things see us, what do you think they’ll try to do?”

“What do you mean by ‘what they’ll try to do’? Like what exactly?” “In other words, when a Martian lion or gorilla sees our faces, don’t you think they’ll go, ‘Oh! A rare feast has arrived! Let’s gobble them up right away!’ or something like that?” “Hmm, I don’t know... We’d have to ask Mr. Marton.”

“Mr. Marton also said he doesn’t really know, so I thought about it. I think when landing on Mars, we should prepare and bring lots of chunks of delicacies.”

“Chunks of delicacies.” “That’s right. These chunks of delicacies aren’t for us to eat—we’ll throw them in front of the Martian creatures when the time comes. Then those creatures will start munching away. Then, while they’re distracted, I’ll make my escape.”

“Hmm, so those chunks of delicacies are essentially our stand-ins, then.”

“It’s not for all of us. Right now, it’s a plan I’m making just for myself as a decoy.”

“Don’t say things like that—make my portion too.” “Alright, then I’ll make your portion too—but what exactly do those Martian creatures eat? What do they like? Tell me that.” “...”

Even Kawai Jirou was finally at a loss for a reply to this.

Now, the spaceship carrying everyone finally drew near Mars and entered its gravitational sphere.

That was all well and good, but the first major challenge had arrived. This referred to the cosmic dust belt. Would this spaceship truly be able to safely pass through this perilous zone? Given that it was an entirely unprecedented endeavor for humanity, even elderly Dr. Denny was deeply concerned.

The entry into the perilous zone of destiny was now a mere five hours away.

Approaching Perilous Zone

Mars, colored like a ripe apricot and shaped like a small hill, floated in the dark void—a sight of utterly breathtaking intensity. Ned grew increasingly despondent, speaking less and less with each passing day. Lately it wasn’t just Ned—even Yamaki Ken had lost his vigor and wore a frightened expression. They would occasionally emerge into the observation room but linger only briefly before retreating again.

Kawai, concerned, spoke to Yamaki.

“Yamaki-kun. “Why have you lost so much energy, I wonder…”

“Yeah… I just haven’t been feeling right. “No fever or anything… Maybe it’s because of… you know.”

Yamaki jerked his chin and pointed outside the window. There, Mars loomed large, blocking their view. “Ah, I see—so you’ve developed space neurasthenia too after all.” “Wait, space neurasthenia?” “That’s right. This illness arises when our minds are severely oppressed upon colliding with the cosmos’s overwhelmingly mysterious and terrifying spectacle. You must be feeling the same way. As you can see, Mars hangs there monstrously large in the sky, blocking our path. That’s what’s making you feel uneasy, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, when you put it that way, maybe so.” “Certainly, I can’t help but feel like I’m losing my mind when I look at Mars.” “Why is that huge object floating there in space without falling?” “Ugh, I can’t stand this.” “It looks like I’ve finally lost to Mars.”

Having said that, Yamaki covered his eyes with both hands. Kawai sympathized and encouraged his friend to the utmost. “In a little while, that unpleasant feeling will go away.” “Right now is the worst part.” “In other words, right now, because Mars appears as a huge sphere, you feel sick wondering why it doesn’t fall down below or perceive it as some moon monster—it’s really not good at all.” “In a little while, Mars will finally spread out wide, just like when you look down at Earth from an airplane in the sky.” “Once that happens, it’ll all feel normal.”

Kawai comforted Yamaki with a skillful explanation. But Kawai too was by no means contemplating this awe-inspiring celestial spectacle with ease. He too was desperately rallying his spirit to avoid being overwhelmed by the extraordinary sight.

At 8:00 PM, the spaceship finally plunged into the problematic cosmic dust belt.

In the control room, Captain Dr. Denny and several technicians had crowded in, nerves taut, poised for whatever might occur. In front of Dr. Denny, six square, box-shaped photographs were arranged like a flower—four vertically and one each to the left and right. Upon closer inspection, the photographs showed the surface of Mars and countless glittering stars. There were also images of something like a curved hull, but it was understood that this was part of the spaceship. The photographs emitted a beautiful fluorescent glow, making the screen rather bright. And upon closer inspection of these photographs, one should be able to tell that they were moving little by little. This was indeed the television projection screen. In other words, the conditions outside the spaceship were being projected onto the screen via television devices capturing six directions: front, back, up, down, left, and right.

Moreover, the images were far brighter than what could be seen with the naked eye, allowing objects to be clearly distinguished. This was because this television device had been made highly sensitive to infrared rays. In other words, it was a television device like a cat’s eye that could see clearly even at night. Dr. Denny was paying closest attention to these six projection screens at all times.

“Doctor, can you see it? The cosmic dust is…”

The young Bill Marton called out to Dr. Denny. This youth was specially operating the helm today. The helm platform stood one level higher behind Doctor Denny; within an iron-pipe-woven sphere enclosing both him and the helm mechanism itself - all supported by two massive steel rings. This configuration ensured that however sharply their vessel tilted through space’s void,the helmsman and controls remained fixed midair without slightest deviation.

“Hmm, the swirl of cosmic dust appears like a black band, but the individual particles aren’t showing up yet.”

Dr. Denny responded and leaned his face even closer to the projection screens.

“Since we’re still at the entrance of the cosmic dust belt, there probably aren’t many colliding masses yet.”

“That’s right. For now, let’s try flying at the same speed as the flow of cosmic dust.” “If we were to hastily rush through this swirl of cosmic dust, the spaceship would collide with a massive dust mass and burst into flames.” “We’ll just have to endure it for now.” Dr. Denny explained to Engineer Marton that the time for patience had arrived.

In this manner, the spaceship spent about two hours in complete peace without incident. In the meantime, the surface of Mars had shifted slightly westward in position. The Martian polar ice caps were always dazzling, shining like the eye of a cyclops. The other areas appeared either white or black, but the black parts were undoubtedly land without snow. And those landmasses existed scattered in many places and appeared connected by linear formations resembling a spider’s web. These must be what are called the canals of Mars, but whether they were truly canals or not would not be known until much later.

“Ah, full rudder to the fourth quadrant!”

Suddenly, Dr. Denny shouted. At the same moment, a red warning light lit up in front of Engineer Marton at the helm, and beneath it, a stream of numbers flowed like an electric news display. “Aye aye! Full rudder to the fourth quadrant!”

With that, Engineer Marton yanked the rudder hard, then adjusted it according to the streaming numbers. These numbers indicated the safe navigational path, being automatically measured and transmitted by that television system.

That was good—but the next moment, the spaceship resounded violently and trembled. “Stay calm, Marton. Full rudder to the fourth quadrant—more, give it more!” “Aye aye—pulling as hard as I can, but it’s already at full!” “Look out!” Boom... thud! With an eerie noise, the spaceship lurched sharply. They were tossed into the air two or three times. Then the power went out.

The room was now lit only by emergency lights, casting deep shadows across the anxiety-filled profiles of the crew. The boy Kawai was also one of them. What on earth had happened?

Finally, Total Chaos

When everyone in the cockpit was plunged into the depths of anxiety, a panicked voice blared from the ceiling loudspeaker.

“Captain.” “It’s the Pit.” “The third rudder has been blown off.” “A massive cosmic dust mass tore off that rudder in the blink of an eye.” “All hands are currently conducting emergency repairs, but the third rudder won’t be operational for the time being.” “Ah, understood.” “Keep your spirits up and try to get it done as quickly as possible.” Damage to the third rudder was reported. Under these circumstances, controlling the spaceship became difficult. But was that unsettling vibration just now merely due to damage to the third rudder? If that were all, they could still count themselves fortunate.

“Captain. A large hole has opened on the eighth basement floor. A 20-ton dust mass came flying in. Fortunately, there are no abnormalities among the crew, but a considerable amount of fuel has been lost.”

A grave report burst forth from the loudspeaker. The fuel had been taken away. It was also reported that a large hole had opened on the eighth basement floor. Both of these were directly related to the spaceship’s safety. “Hey, Green!” Dr. Denny shouted into the microphone. “So, is there a risk of the spaceship breaking apart mid-air?”

“For now, it should be okay. Since that twenty-ton dust mass broke through the opposite hull and flew out, I suppose that’s something.” “As for the fuel situation—how much has the spaceship’s operational range decreased? Can we still make it to Mars like this?” Dr. Denny shouted without hiding his worry. “We should be able to make it to Mars. But…” Green’s voice cut off. “But…what’s wrong, Green? Speak clearly!”

“Yes,” Green said in a strangled voice, “However, we no longer have the fuel to return to Earth. It is truly regrettable.” Thus came the grievous news. “What? We can’t return to Earth anymore?” Even Dr. Denny was stunned.

When they heard this, everyone in the cockpit felt their heads spinning. The worst possible situation had finally come to pass. To think they couldn’t return to Earth—ah, how utterly pitiful. But the crew had no time to be further choked with tears over this lamentable event. This was because several ruthless groups of cosmic dust had continued to fiercely assault the spaceship immediately afterward. The interior of the spaceship reached the height of chaos. Violent vibrations occurred in rapid succession. The spaceship seemed on the verge of breaking apart into pieces and scattering. Inside the spaceship, dust masses groaned with a whining sound as they flew about at tremendous speed. They proceeded to smash every last piece of valuable equipment inside the spaceship.

The crew could not even hold their positions at their workstations. Even Engineer Marton could no longer do anything. The emergency light went out, and then the iron pipe cage that had been protecting him was bent out of shape by a dust mass, rendering it unable to function any longer. Because of this, he was being swung around along with the whirling spaceship, just like the other crew members.

Kawai was flung to a corner of the room and pinned between equipment frames. Before long, his head ended up below and his feet above, causing him to nearly slip out of the frame. Startled, he clung to the frame. Then, racking his brains, he used a rope that had gotten tangled around his hand to secure his body to the frame.

After letting out a sigh of relief and checking on everyone’s condition, he found nothing but furious roars and screams everywhere around him. Yet no human figures came clearly into view; instead, blue sparks hissed and flashed while what seemed to be dust masses glowed crimson and darted about the room like Chinese festival fireworks, each time striking terror into his heart.

He worried about how his three companions were faring. Seeing that no one was calling out to him or coming to check on him, he wondered if everyone had died. No—since even he couldn’t move from between these equipment frames, his friends must each be clinging to something somewhere, trembling in fear, right? In any case, even the usually patient Kawai finally invoked the divine name, praying, "Please somehow save the lives of Dr. Denny and all of us."

Whether it was due to the boy Kawai’s prayer reaching divine ears or not，even such a major incident had finally subsided． The reverberation of those vibration sounds that had been striking their ears was now nowhere to be found． The fiery dust masses that had been whizzing around like monsters now vanished from sight． And the spaceship returned to a safe state as before．

“Hey! All survivors, gather over here!” “Yeah, I’m coming!” The crew’s calls began reaching them sporadically. This greatly lifted everyone’s spirits. The boy Kawai, deciding things were finally safe enough, untied the rope binding his body and freed himself. He stepped onto the floor for the first time in ages, but his legs wobbled uncontrollably, sending him plopping down right where he stood. “Hey, Kawai! Pull yourself together!”

Someone called out to him.

Wondering who it was, he looked up toward the voice—it was Engineer Marton. He was still leaning sideways, gripping the helm wheel as he determined the spaceship’s course.

“Ah, Mr. Marton! You weren’t injured, were you?” “Ah, I’m completely fine. So, were you scared?” “Yes, I was really startled. So, the spaceship seems pretty badly damaged, but is it still flying safely?”

“Hmm, how should I put this…” Marton tilted his head. “At any rate, for now we’re still flying toward Mars like this. The spaceship’s damage might be surprisingly light. Dr. Denny is currently investigating it.”

Oh, Dr. Denny. Was Dr. Denny safe—and already vigorously tackling crucial work? Realizing he couldn't idle around either, the boy Kawai steeled himself.

The Old Doctor’s Admonition

The boy Kawai left the control room to confirm the safety of his companions.

Everywhere was terribly damaged. In places, the spaceship's outer walls had been torn off in large sections, leaving corridors exposed. “Ah! It’s dangerous! You mustn’t go out there!” As the boy Kawai peered into the corridor, someone grabbed his arm from behind and pulled him back. The boy turned around in surprise. The one standing there was Dr. Denny.

“If you stick your body out there, you’ll be blown away and crash. “You mustn’t go out there!”

Dr. Denny reiterated his caution to Kawai. He was glad and expressed his gratitude warmly. Dr. Denny gave a slight nod.

And then,

“Ah, right. “There were four of you boys, correct?”

“Yes, that’s correct.” “Ah, right.” “Because you boys boarded this ship, I now feel much more resolute.” “This is my thanks to you.”

“Huh? Why do you say that?”

Kawai, unable to make sense of it, asked in return. “At my age, I have little time left, but you boys can live for fifty or sixty more years." “The endeavors we could not bring to success—I earnestly hope you four boys will take them up and see them through.”

Dr. Denny said in a solemn tone and tapped the boy Kawai on the shoulder.

“Yes.” “I’ll tell everyone that and do my best.” “But Doctor—” “But Doctor—has this Mars expedition already been deemed a failure?”

Kawai asked. It was because the old doctor’s words had resonated that way. Dr. Denny remained silent for a while. His white beard trembled faintly. At last, Dr. Denny began to speak. “Nothing is certain yet, but Kawai, young man. Even if we manage to land safely on Mars, when the time comes to return to Earth, we would likely have to construct a new spaceship. This is an enormous undertaking. Moreover, the power of you boys is absolutely indispensable. You will come to understand that soon enough. In the event of an emergency—there’s a green trunk in my room with numbers from No. 1 through No. 10 engraved on it—I bequeath it to you all. Please take good care of it. It will surely help you.”

“Huh? What’s inside that trunk?” “It contains blueprints I’ve painstakingly created over many years. You’ll understand when the time comes.” “Doctor—does this mean we can’t return to Earth with this spaceship?”

“We likely won’t be able to return. The return fuel is nearly depleted, the ship has suffered significant damage as you can see, and I still have other lingering concerns. Oh, right—I can’t keep you here any longer; I’ll explain everything properly later.”

Seeming to recall an important task, Dr. Denny hurried off in that direction.

Then Kawai went to the cafeteria.

There, his companions had gathered. Yamaki was there too. Chou was there too. Ned’s face was among them. Everyone was unharmed. They had been lucky. Only Chou had sustained a bruise on his right leg and was limping.

The boy Kawai made everyone listen to what he had been told by Dr. Denny. The news that they couldn't return to Earth in this spaceship left them all disheartened. Kawai had to encourage the group. To avoid betraying Dr. Denny's trust and expectations, they would have to study even harder from now on. He passionately insisted this was essential for Earth's humanity to achieve glory and happiness, finally managing to lift their spirits. Just then, Engineer Marton entered. Though unharmed, his clothes were thoroughly stained with oil. He must have been wrestling with the engine again in another fierce struggle.

“Oh, everyone’s unharmed. Did you see it? The surface of Mars. Since we’ve passed through the cosmic dust belt, it’s completely clear now, so you can see Mars’ surface well. You know about the Martian canals, right? Those are clearly visible too. Come on, hurry to the observation room and take a look!” Told this, the four boys dashed out. And they ran up to the observation deck. Oh, they could see it—they could see it! The surface of Mars was brightly visible. It was daytime on Mars. It was already not much different from looking down at Earth from above.

Long green streaks crisscrossed like a spider’s web. That had to be the Martian canals. But those didn’t seem to be canals at all. Though still unclear, what appeared to stretch out there were forests aligned in straight lines. The terrain of Mars was brown. Soil did indeed seem to exist there.

Something resembling a sea could also be seen. But to eyes accustomed to Earth’s oceans, it was a sea far too small. It looked just like a lake. Just where would this spaceship land? Had the Martian creatures already discovered this spaceship? Could they see any sign of Martian creatures flying somewhere?

The boys were each letting their imaginations run wild. Even Ned, who had been suffering from nervous exhaustion, had a strange gleam in his eyes as he gazed down at the surface below.

But suddenly, a calamity occurred.

“All hands, assemble in the engine room!”

A shrill alarm and anguished cries rang out. Before they subsided, the spaceship began emitting a strange noise like being swallowed by a storm, followed by an unmistakable sensation of plunging downward. “We’re crashing! Fire! It’s trailing smoke from the rear!” The vessel that had been cruising safely moments earlier suddenly went into a spinning nosedive from 20,000 meters above Mars, plummeting while dragging a smoky tail behind it.

What would become of Dr. Denny and his crew?

Mars Landing The state of the engine room was as ferocious as a battlefield.

Captain Dr. Denny stood up on an elevated command platform and barked out orders in a hoarse voice, one after another. His face burned crimson as though blood might drip from it, his gray hair bristling like a field of withered pampas grass battered by wind, his eyes gaping wide as saucers. “Raise field voltage to six hundred volts.” “...Let the generator break if it must.” “We only need five more minutes.” “...Third motor—increase rotation!” “Push oil pressure to three thousand eight hundred RPM...”

The old doctor’s voice resounded like that of a young man.

The four boys also dashed back and forth, lending their assistance. Engineer Marton and the boy Kawai ran toward the switchboard, their bodies pressed together as if competing in a three-legged race.

Chou hung from the handle of the field resistance regulator, flailing both legs.

Ned—oh, poor Ned—had been drenched in black oil from head to toe. Yamaki climbed onto the steel beam and clamped onto the large binoculars mounted there, looking outside.

“Thirteen thousand meters left. The spaceship drifts slightly westward… It’s a desert. A vast desert. A lake is visible. Large rings are visible in several places… I can’t tell what they are…”

Yamaki captured everything that entered the binoculars' view, putting each observation into words one after another. “How much longer? How much longer, Engineer Marton?”

Dr. Denny’s voice resounded like a blast. There was no answer. “Engineer Marton... What’s wrong...?” Finally, Marton’s right hand rose. Then Dr. Denny’s shoulders trembled violently. “All gravity neutralizers—turn on the switches!” “Heave!” With a groaning rumble like an earthquake, the alarm began ringing shrilly.

“Ahh!” “Hmm…” Everyone in the engine room groaned as if electrocuted. And everyone, with expressions like those in the throes of death, closed their eyes and clenched their teeth. Ned had his face pressed mercilessly into the sea of oil. Chou was pressed against the switchboard, sparks crackling at the seat of his pants. Kawai ended up thrusting his head into Engineer Marton’s crotch. Yamaki was suddenly yanked backward and left dangling from a steel beam.

Though it was a mere forty seconds in time, the people felt it as interminably long as a hundred years. During that time, their breath stopped, and it felt as if even their hearts had abruptly ceased beating.

“It worked!” “Gravity has decreased.” “The crash speed has decreased.” “W-we’ll make it… With this…”

The first to speak was Captain Dr. Denny. Dr. Denny’s final efforts had finally taken effect. Like a storm abruptly ceasing, like raging waves suddenly quieting their roar, the crew’s spirits were abruptly refreshed. Those who had been standing collapsed limply where they stood, falling onto their backsides. Ned, who had lost consciousness in the sea of oil, was helped up by Kawai. Just then, Engineer Marton rushed over and administered resuscitation, so Ned regained his breath. Both those who had been rescued and those who had done the rescuing had faces pitch-black with oil, their entire bodies dripping with it, looking like oil-soaked statues.

“...Altitude five hundred meters, six hundred meters. “It’s beginning to ascend slightly now.” At some point, Yamaki returned to his original binoculars and shouted energetically.

With that, Dr. Denny staggered unsteadily while swaying and pulled himself up using the handrail of the command platform.

“Engineer Marton. “Adjust the gravity neutralizer!” “Prepare for landing.” “Lower the rudder!” “Lower it five degrees!” “Then set it back to zero degrees...” Marton dashed out, splashing oil as he ran.

"...It's a huge jungle. Jungle! Ah! The jungle parts, and now there's a sea! Sea... sea..." Yamaki shouted. "Turn right..." came Dr. Denny's voice. "What? Still not working?... Use the right bank of nozzles. Hurry! Hurry up!" Had it not been for Dr. Denny's words, the spaceship would have plunged headfirst into the Martian sea and sunk. In that case, Dr. Denny and his crew—who had protected the ship this far—would have all drowned in an alien sea the moment they heard their landing announcement. Dr. Denny's calm, decisive measures saved everyone at the critical moment.

“Desert! A desert!” “Desert! Desert!” When a few of the right-side nozzles—though not all—spewed fierce black gas, the spaceship swung its tail to the right. In that instant, the sea vanished and a white desert appeared. Four or five seconds later, with a thunderous roar, the spaceship’s belly made contact with the sandy plain. This was truly the moment of Mars landing that should be recorded. “Open...” The engine was detached. Its resilience still remained. The spaceship continued gliding through the heart of the desert, still billowing up clouds of sandy dust.

Yet, you never know what will prove fortunate—thanks to this desert landing, the fire that had broken out in the spaceship’s tail suddenly subsided.

The Overjoyed Crew

After sliding approximately three thousand meters, the spaceship finally came to a stop.

Everyone jumped up and raised a cheer of joy. Tears of joy overflowed from everyone’s eyes, wetting their cheeks. That was only natural. The great expedition to Mars had finally been accomplished by their own hands. With a crew of fewer than ten members, they had successfully accomplished this difficult and monumental task. They had faced mortal peril multiple times. That they had managed to survive them was nothing short of miraculous. No, this very success was none other than the result of everyone helping one another, not acting selfishly, following the orders of their leader Dr. Denny, and maintaining perfect order to allow the organization to operate at peak efficiency.

And in trying to save their friends, they also saved themselves. This was a beautiful friendship. It was a victory of love.

Captain Dr. Denny’s joy was greater than anyone else’s. It had been twenty-five years since he had founded the Mars Exploration Society—now, at last, his great undertaking had succeeded. During that time, Dr. Denny had been mocked as a fraud on some occasions, while on others, his funds had run out, forcing him to sell even his knives and forks.

But now, all such things could be completely forgotten.

However, Dr. Denny could not afford to be swept up in this great jubilation. The reason was that the spaceship he had designed and built had only just now landed on Mars. The work was not finished with that. No—rather, the true work lay ahead.

The landing site was not on Earth. It was on Mars—a world whose ways were unknown. It was on Mars—a world with a different climate and environment. The air was thin. The gravity too was vastly different. A land where temperatures fluctuated violently, making it difficult to inhabit. Furthermore, on Mars, they might encounter unknown creatures. Would their minds and our Earthly human minds truly be able to communicate? Would their party be subjected to the terrifying persecution of Martian creatures? Just as our human ancestors in prehistoric times had faced attacks from wild beasts and venomous snakes day and night, continuing to struggle and endure while making great sacrifices day after day. Dr.Denny had to set aside indulging in the great jubilation for now and immediately issue one appropriate command after another. He had to lead his subordinates—who bore humanity's highest honor—protect them, proactively initiate difficult negotiations with Martian lifeforms, and resolve those negotiations peacefully. The more one thought about it, the responsibility resting upon Dr.Denny was immeasurably heavy and vast.

“Inspect all compartments for air leaks!”

The first command Dr. Denny issued was this one. They proceeded to check for any locations where air might be leaking. Mars had scarce air. According to what had been researched up to that point, it had been established that the density of Mars' atmosphere would likely be even more rarefied than that at the summit of Mount Everest on Earth—known as our planet's highest point at an altitude of 8,882 meters. This measurement equated to approximately one-third of Earth’s atmospheric pressure, leading researchers to surmise that the Martian atmosphere would amount to a quarter or less of Earth’s.

Therefore, if they left the air leak holes in each compartment of the spaceship unattended, the air inside would steadily escape outward, and those inside would inevitably face breathing difficulties. Therefore, they had to inspect for air leak locations, and if any were found, they would have to sacrifice that room by lowering the bulkhead at its boundary with the next compartment to avert danger. Moreover, this had to be done with great urgency. Unfortunately, due to the previous hardships, various parts of the spaceship had broken. Each time, they had taken emergency measures, but as their hands were full with navigation tasks, preventing air leaks had not been sufficiently addressed. It was correct that Dr. Denny had prioritized issuing commands about this matter first.

The entire crew ran through every compartment and, though it was a bit regrettable, proceeded to abandon any rooms with leaks one after another, lowering the bulkhead doors behind them as they went. Thanks to the efforts of every member, the task was mostly completed in just five minutes. “Everyone, inspect your landing air suits!” The second command escaped from Dr. Denny’s lips. This time, it was an inspection of each crew member’s landing air suits. "Landing use" referred to setting foot on Mars itself—to exit the ship’s interior, one couldn’t simply go out in regular clothing. First, to compensate for oxygen shortages and other deficiencies, they had to breathe air supplied from tanks filled with specially made compressed air. For this purpose, they had to wear something resembling a diving suit, put on a helmet-like covering on their heads, and carry an air tank on their backs. That wasn’t all. On Mars, where sudden temperature fluctuations were expected to occur, this air suit had to be designed to be heated with the flip of a switch. This was what was known as an electric heated suit.

In regular electric heated suits, inserting the plug at the end of the cord attached to the garment into a power outlet in the spaceship would allow current to flow and warm the suit, but this was not feasible for landing air suits. Because they couldn’t very well walk around dragging a long power cord from the ship. Therefore, a special electric heating system had been prepared. It was a power generation device directly connected to an extremely small atomic engine. This nuclear power generator also served as the source for various other tasks.

The inspection of the landing air suits had been completed. Each of them had made preparations to don them at any time. Dr. Denny issued the third command. It was for each member to take up their respective new posts. The new posts referred to the division of tasks necessary for living on Mars. Kawai was assigned to engine duty under Engineer Marton, Ned became the cafeteria server, and Chou took on the role of cook—returning to their previous assignments. Yamaki was officially appointed as lookout and assigned a permanent station before the six-directional television—commonly known as the television monitor. Yamaki was highly observant and, if anything, possessed an overly sensitive disposition, making him a perfect fit for this role.

Yamaki, immediately after Dr. Denny’s third command, faced the projection screen of the television monitor, focusing all his nerves through his eyes as he kept watch in all directions—when he suddenly spotted something—

“Huh?!”

Groaning, he grabbed the television monitor's magnification handle and hastily began turning it.

Grotesque creature

On the television projection screen, a vast desert and the dense forest beyond it were projected. When Yamaki turned the magnification handle, the dense forest rapidly approached on the screen, and the image grew larger. The trees forming the dense forest were robust shrubs somewhat resembling pine. They were densely packed. The height of the trees seemed to be about ten meters. They were quite tall trees.

What surprised Yamaki was neither the height of the trees nor the grandeur of the jungle. It was because he had spotted something moving in a certain part of that jungle. The thing was darting in and out of view among the trees of the jungle. (It seemed to be a Martian animal.) Yamaki attempted to get a clearer view of its form by increasing the magnification on the television monitor, and as he did so, the squirming entity among the trees gradually emerged larger and more distinct on the projection screen.

Indeed, it was an animal. But what a bizarre form this animal possessed! To put it simply, it was something midway between an octopus and an insect. Namely, it had a large head that its slender body laboriously lifted. Its head bore two large eyes. No nose was visible; instead, protruding from its jaw was a pointed object exactly like the proboscis of an octopus as depicted in illustrations. Attached to both sides of its face were ears closely resembling those of a donkey. Moreover, in a most peculiar manner, atop its head grew what appeared to be two or three long antennae resembling those of a root-boring grub. These looked extremely flexible and moved vigorously about on its head, almost as if the antennae themselves were dancing.

When looking at the animal from the neck down, it was pitifully thin. A small, knob-like torso; then three limp arms; then three similarly limp legs—these legs were indeed reminiscent of an octopus’s legs. What on earth was this unfathomable creature…? Yamaki felt such boundless interest in the strange figure of that animal in the vicinity that he had nearly forgotten to report its discovery.

The strange animal wove through the trees, going this way and that, appearing quite busy. And some of them were pressed right up against tree trunks, their large eyes darting around as they vigorously waved their antennae, intently watching the spaceship.

“I... I can see a strange animal. In the dense forest straight ahead, beyond the desert.”

It was at this moment that Yamaki finally regained his composure and shouted his first report about discovering a Martian animal.

“What? A strange animal, you say...” Dr. Denny moved close behind Yamaki. Yamaki pointed at the projection screen of the television monitor. “Ah, this one? “There it is.” “So it was indeed as I thought.” “This demands our utmost vigilance.” “They possess bodies far superior to ours…” Dr. Denny gazed at the creature squirming among the trees with an air of profound fascination. “Doctor, what kind of animal is that?” “It looks like an octopus, but it’d be strange for an octopus to be in a forest, wouldn’t it?”

Yamaki turned toward the doctor as he said this.

“That’s not an octopus. That’s probably a Martian, I’d say.” “What?! A Martian? So that’s what Martians look like?” “Yeah. No doubt about it. Their body structure matches perfectly with what I’ve researched and imagined all these years.”

“Whoa... If that’s supposed to be a Martian, then Martians are really creepy, huh? I still thought there’d be humans living here just like on Earth, but…”

“No, it’s not that simple. For one thing, the climate differs; Martian origins and history differ; and beyond that, after achieving tens of thousands of years of evolution and growth unique to Mars, it was unthinkable that beings shaped like Earth humans could inhabit this planet.”

While Dr. Denny and Yamaki were talking, the other crew members began to gather one after another in front of the television monitor. Everyone had come out of interest, having heard Martians were visible. "They look disgusting, don't they?" "They're rather disagreeable to interact with like this, don't you think?"

“Which ones are male and which are female?” “Well… I have absolutely no idea which is which. Anyway, I’d heard stories about ‘Mars having many beauties,’ but now I see that was all nonsense.” “Well, how pitiable...”

A burst of laughter erupted.

“Doctor, there’s a huge number of Martians gathered in the forest. They’re really creepy. Don’t you think they’re coming this way?” Yamaki had discovered a massive horde of Martians deep within the jungle—their eyes sharpened as they jostled against one another—and reported it to Dr. Denny.

Dr. Denny seemed to have already noticed that.

“...I do wish we could negotiate peacefully with the Martians somehow. But we cannot let our guard down. We must go forth fully armed.”

Dr. Denny appeared intent on proactively approaching the Martians. It became clear he wanted to resolve matters peacefully. But then, for reasons unknown, the Martians suddenly emerged from the jungle. They came charging across the vast desert as if flying straight toward us! There were hundreds—no thousands—no, even more than that! Like a massive swarm of red ants on the move, they formed orderly ranks, crossed the desert, and surged toward the spaceship with unstoppable momentum.

Ah, here it comes—the crisis! We numbered fewer than ten Earth humans. The opposing force was a massive horde of Martians—tens or hundreds of thousands in countless numbers. Moreover, our side was on the alien world of Mars—a place where everything operated under unfamiliar rules. Dr.Denny's group found itself in an extremely disadvantageous position.

Approaching Martians

The situation was exceedingly perilous. The massive horde of Martians, their forms resembling giant red ants standing upright, advanced in splendid formation, drawing ever closer to the spaceship lying prone in the desert. Dr.Denny, commanding our Mars expedition team, stood rigidly atop the command platform, staring fixedly at the six display screens of the television monitor without moving a muscle. Ah, if things continued like this, the group of nine would be assaulted by the Martian horde and instantly trampled underfoot.

Kawai was accompanying Engineer Marton at this time, but when the engineer asked him to fetch some provisions from the cafeteria, Kawai hurried off in that direction.

When Kawai entered the cafeteria, Chou and Ned were pressing their faces against the plexiglass porthole, peering outside with such intensity that they didn’t seem to notice him come in. “Hey, this is from Engineer Marton. We need sausage, asparagus, and coffee!”

At Kawai’s voice, Chou and Ned startled and spun around. “Huh? This is no time to be eating!” Ned widened his eyes. Chou answered “All right” and dashed into the kitchen. “No, you can’t work on an empty stomach. Engineer Marton says to eat as much as you can now.”

“How enviable. Even someone like me—a total glutton—doesn’t feel like eating even a single biscuit right now.”

Chou came running back from the kitchen. He handed Kawai cans of sausage and asparagus and a magic bottle filled with coffee. “Thank you. Hey, Chou.” “What on earth will happen from here on out?” Kawai asked Chou. “How should I know?” “Why don’t you consult the crystal ball using the Ox-Head Sage’s power?” “I already had Chou do that earlier.” Ned interjected from the side.

“Hey, Chou. Go on and tell Kawai-kun about that vision.”

“That kind of prophecy is no good,” Chou said. “I’m not confident about it. “But since Ned-kun insisted I do it…” “If the Ox-Head Sage doesn’t know his own power, that’s a problem. “Anyway just go ahead and tell Kawai-kun about it already.”

Because Ned pressed him so earnestly, Chou began speaking with evident embarrassment. "...You see, when I stared into the crystal ball, I felt like I saw this scene." "The four of us..." "We were up on that cow-painted delivery truck, dancing this really lively tanuki dance."

“Huh? A tanuki dance?” “Come on, didn’t Yamaki-kun teach us that once before? It’s the dance from the tanuki hayashi of such-and-such temple—the one where they swing thick tails and dance in weird poses.” “Ah! That one! It’s the Tanuki Song of Shōjōji Temple!” “Yeah, that’s it. Then while we were dancing on top of the car, these scattered red things started falling like rain. After that, the vision disappeared. That’s all.” “What’s with those red things falling all scattered like…?”

“I don’t understand that. They’re bigger than sparks. They’re red things about the size of torn cotton pieces.” “Then are incendiary bombs falling from above?” “There’s no way we’d dance under falling incendiary bombs!”

Ned raised an objection.

“That’s why I think this divination is a sign that something good will happen soon.”

“You’re such an optimist—I envy you.” “Anyway, we’ll find out soon enough whether it’s true or not. See ya.” With that, Kawai adjusted his hold on the groceries and ran back to Engineer Marton.

While Kawai was briefly away, the situation outside the ship had grown increasingly dire. When viewed through the television monitor, the ship was now completely surrounded on all sides by a horde of Martians.

And the eerie creatures, jostling each other, gradually inched toward the ship while tightening their ring of encirclement. And suddenly, above their heads, blue firework-like objects burst open with sharp pops. As if taking that as their cue, the horde of Martians transformed into something resembling raging tidal waves crashing against a shore—leaping upward before charging at the ship from all directions with ferocious speed. The moment of fate’s extremity finally arrived. Now, this small crew’s spaceship stood on the very brink of being trampled beneath them!

“Release the F-gas!”

Dr. Denny’s command resounded through the air. And then, the order was relayed in rapid succession. The machinery roared to life. The spaceship—as if rousing from slumber—began to shudder. Then billowing brown gas erupted from several points along the vessel’s underbelly. The gas—appearing roughly equal in weight to Mars’ atmosphere or slightly heavier—rose just above the ship without climbing further upward, and within moments had completely engulfed the craft.

On the monitor’s projection screen, the spreading gas could be seen as clearly as if one could reach out to touch it. And now the screen had become completely enveloped in this brown gas, yet—thanks to the television monitor’s unique ability to see through even the darkness of night—the surrounding scenery remained clearly visible through the F-gas.

That’s how it was. The horde of Martians—their earlier ferocious momentum now vanished—collided with the gas and immediately dissolved into chaos, breaking ranks, tumbling over one another, and scrambling to flee in every direction. This spectacle of panicked retreat played out with almost comical clarity. “The Martians must have been utterly shocked!” “They’re in full retreat!” “With this, even they won’t dare attempt such reckless schemes again.” Dr. Denny wore a relieved expression.

“What kind of poison gas was that F-gas just now?”

Kawai asked Engineer Marton. “That one, huh? F-gas isn’t exactly what you’d call poison gas—it’s more like something that makes soft skin tingle a bit. But it seems it was enough to startle them, right?” Engineer Marton smiled as he said that.

Earth's Excitement

After that, the release of F-gas was continued without pause. The thick wall of gas completely enveloped the damaged spaceship, safely protecting it from Martian attacks.

With the immediate crisis having passed, Dr. Denny ordered the crew members to take turns sleeping.

However, Dr. Denny did not rest and commenced a meeting with the senior staff members regarding how to enter into negotiations with the Martians.

About an hour later, cheers erupted inside the ship.

“The radio’s working!” “Radio contact with Earth has been restored!”

What? The radio could reach Earth now?

Upon hearing this, the crew hurriedly gathered in the radio room. Even those who had just gone to bed leapt up from their berths and dashed to the radio room.

“Hello, KGO Station? …Yes, that’s correct. We narrowly avoided crashing and have landed.” “…They say everyone’s amazed.” “They say phone calls are pouring in to the station.” “Some are even arriving by car.” “That’s wonderful, isn’t it?” “…You want the names of our crew members?” “First, Captain Dr. Denny, and then…” On Earth, this had already been reported worldwide via radio waves, creating a whirlpool of excitement.

Dr. Denny, who had been in a meeting, was finally dragged before the microphone.

“I, as president of the Mars Expedition Society, wish to express heartfelt gratitude for the support received over many years from the entire American populace. “Now we, Earth’s humanity, have imprinted our footprints upon Mars itself. Yet through this glory, we have forgotten in an instant all struggles endured until today. “However, our mission remains grave and grand, and our negotiations with the Martians now stand upon the threshold of commencement. “We shall preserve Earth’s honor and glory without tarnish, sparing no effort in this new mission. “Yet what weighs upon my mind are our spaceship’s severe damages and the loss of most fuel reserves. Even at this moment, we deliberate upon optimal measures to address these matters. “Finally, I profoundly hope—nay, expect—from you American citizens, indeed from all Earth’s people, and pray this Mars expedition may guide us living beings toward happiness and glory. “Thank you.”

Dr. Denny’s address seemed to inspire tremendous emotion among the people of Earth. After that, the radio room became frantically busy. In the intervals between official communications, special transmission requests from various news agencies flooded in, and they found themselves at a loss as to how to respond to each one. After all, we had only just restored a single radio device, and there was simply no way to handle the flood of communication requests from Earth.

Had Dr. Denny not stood before the microphone again and honestly informed them that although we had now landed on Mars, we remained exposed to grave danger and lacked the capacity to send detailed reports about our Martian expedition at present, the spaceship’s radio device—so painstakingly restored—would have soon broken down from overuse. At last, the situation became clear on Earth as well, and the government issued an order that, for the time being, communications with the spaceship would be limited to official bulletins, while in response to Dr. Denny’s requests, they would spare no effort in providing all necessary support and stand ready to act upon his proposals.

In this way, the communication frenzy between Earth and the spaceship subsided for the time being, and the radio operators were also relieved. Dr. Denny returned to the meeting. And then two comparatively quiet hours passed.

“What time is it now, anyway?”

One of the crew members asked a colleague.

“It must be around noon.” “Look, the sun is shining right overhead!”

He pointed upward through the round window.

"But this is weird. Even though four hours have passed since we landed on Mars, the sun's been shining almost right overhead the whole time." "There's no way something that ridiculous could happen!" "But that's just how it is—it can't be helped." "That's how it works," Engineer Marton said with a laugh as he passed by.

“On Mars, a day lasts forty-eight hours, you see. In other words, Mars rotates at about half Earth’s speed, so it takes twice as long to complete a full rotation.” “Heh heh, that’s just too much. If we don’t eat double portions at each of our three meals, we’ll starve and get dizzy!” “Oh well, you can just eat six times a day.”

“Nah，you can’t just do that.” “The night lasts twenty-four hours，right?” “Can we survive twenty-four hours without eating anything at all?”

“Well, that does sound a bit tough.” “I guess we’d have to wake up once in the middle to eat, then go back to sleep again.” “I’ve gotten all confused.” “We’ve come to one hell of a troublesome place.” “Ha ha ha!”

The entire group exchanged glances and burst into laughter.

Another attack?

Yamaki’s report that a massive horde of Martians had once again begun gathering en masse before the spaceship clouded the crew’s faces with unease once more. The Martians, who had retreated like an ebbing tide, were now surging toward the spaceship with even greater momentum than before. Not only had their numbers increased, but each Martian now carried strange clubs in their hands.

They were club-like objects with bulbous rounded tips. But that wasn’t all. They were pulling towering siege-like structures behind them. These stood four or five stories high, each floor packed with eerie Martian faces piled like tomatoes at a market stall. Such constructs steadily emerged from the thick jungle, multiplying as they advanced. (What on earth were they planning now?)

Watchtowers and clubs and a throng of countless Martians!

They had retreated en masse after being struck by the F-gas earlier, but there was no doubt they had now devised a countermeasure and were advancing once more. Inside the ship, the order for emergency stations was issued, and Dr.Denny once again stood atop the command platform, glaring intently at the TV monitor.

And then, the Martians all raised the club-like objects they were holding high into the air. Then, strangely, the wind began whistling fiercely. The desert sandstorm swirled up. Then, the F-gas curtain enveloping the spaceship was blown away, rapidly thinning out.

The Martians seemed to roar with laughter. The Martians atop the watchtowers vigorously whirled their clubs above their heads. The wind intensified, and the spaceship began swaying like a small star caught in a violent storm. "This has turned into real trouble!" The crew members, trying not to be thrown off their feet, desperately grabbed onto whatever was nearby.

“Activate the gravity device!”

Dr. Denny issued the command. With a low groan, the gravity device sprang into action. The spaceship clung tightly to the ground. Thus, it ceased even the slightest movement. The wind sent by the Martians grew even fiercer. But the spaceship didn’t budge an inch. However, the F-gas was blown away the moment it exited the nozzles, rendering it useless.

And then, the wind stopped abruptly. The Martians had all lowered their clubs in unison. Just as they thought they were saved, large blue rock-like objects began flying out from among them and were hurled relentlessly toward the spaceship.

“Whoa, grenades? Or bombs?” The crew paled, but these did not appear to be explosives; there was no detonation sound, only the sensation of dull, heavy thuds reverberating through the ship. However, they gradually increased in number, and hundreds upon thousands came falling down onto the spaceship. “The gas nozzles have been blocked.”

A troubling report came in.

“What? So the gas has stopped coming out?” “That’s correct. Once the nozzles get blocked like this, there’s nothing we can do.”

Around that time, the Martians appeared to be in high spirits again, laughing cheerfully. “There’s no other way.” “All we can do now is keep them from getting inside the spaceship for as long as possible.” “Everyone, put on your air suits.” “Because we don’t know when the spaceship might rupture and the air could thin out.”

Having finally faced the worst-case scenario, Dr. Denny's expression grew graver.

The crew members hurriedly began putting on their air suits. Large boots; loose, armor-like legs, torsos, and arms; round helmets resembling octopus heads; air tanks; atomic engine generators. Everyone's appearance completely changed.

"It's surprisingly light. Doesn't this feel weird?" “Since gravity on Mars is about half that of Earth’s, they feel much lighter than when worn on Earth.” “Hmm. With this, we’ve started to look a bit like Martians after all. I wonder if those guys are wearing air suits too.” “There’s no way.”

At that moment, the crew members saw four boys lined up in front of Dr. Denny. What could be the reason? The four boys, each and every one of them, had large tails hanging from their hips. The four boys persistently said something to Dr. Denny. Dr. Denny raised his hand in a gesture, saying "Understood, understood." Eventually, Dr. Denny grasped and shook each of the four boys' hands one by one. Then they started moving away from Dr. Denny and left the room. What in the world was going on?

"I have an announcement for everyone."

Dr. Denny called out to the crew members through the loudspeaker attached to his air helmet.

“As you have just witnessed,” Dr. Denny announced through his helmet loudspeaker, “Kawai, Yamaki, Chou, and Ned—these four boys—came proposing that they venture out as our envoys to meet with the Martians.”

“That’s dangerous. We have to stop them!” “We have to stop them!”

And then someone shouted. “Of course I too tried repeatedly to stop them. However, the boys’ resolve was as hard as rock. They’re saying they want to attempt peaceful negotiations with the Martians through nonviolent means and are asking us to permit it. I have finally realized I must accept these four boys’ adventure—their goodwill. Indeed, if we continue at this rate, we’ll have no choice but to engage in single combat with the Martians...”

Dr. Denny stopped speaking. This time, no one spoke up.

“We shall remain aboard this ship and pray to God for the four boys’ success. If this endeavor ends in failure, we must steel ourselves for what fate has in store next. ...Now, gather before the television monitors. Gaze out from that window there. ...Ah, that sound—Engineer Marton is opening the belly hatch for the four boys. Soon, they will exit the ship and show themselves.”

As soon as Dr. Denny finished speaking, the entire crew let out a resounding cheer.

“Oh, here they go! Our boy brigade!” “Hmm, I thought they’d come up with something...” “To think they’d go riding in something like that.”

What tumbled out from the ship was that rickety, oversized milk delivery truck. It was that dilapidated boxy automobile with a large cow painted on its side. On top of it stood three boys wearing air suits and sporting thick tails. The fourth one must have been in the driver’s seat. It was only natural that the crew members burst into cheers upon seeing this. But then they began shedding tears that streamed down their faces. Tears of overwhelming emotion! What would the four boys do now? What would become of their fate?

High Leap

The boxy automobile advanced, kicking up the desert sand. The four boys fixed their eyes intently on the crowd of Martians, their faces stiff with tension. The horde of Martians, each brandishing club-like weapons high above their heads, came surging toward them like raging waves.

The boxy automobile charged forward like an arrow toward their very center. “Hey—you need to slow down more.” “If you don’t ease up now—you’ll crush those Martians flat!”

Yamaki called out a warning toward the driver’s seat.

"I can't! This is already the lowest speed!" "That can't be right." "No, that's how it is. On Mars, the gravity is only about one-third of Earth's. So the friction's only one-third too, which makes the speed go crazy high!" "Hmm, is that so? Does that even make sense?" To Yamaki, it seemed strange. At that moment, Kawai let out a cry. With that, the automobile shook violently, let out a fierce clang, and came to a stop.

“Whoa!” Chou and Ned, who had been riding atop the boxy automobile, were suddenly hurled into the air and, before they could even gasp, slammed into the sand with a thud. It was fortunate that it was sand. If it had been rock, their heads would have been smashed to pieces. From the Martian crowd erupted a strange, shrill laughter. In the desert, skillfully crafted pitfalls had been set. Unaware of this, Kawai plunged ahead recklessly in the boxy automobile and tumbled into the pit.

The situation had suddenly turned against them. Fortunately, both Kawai and Yamaki sustained only lumps on their foreheads with no life-threatening injuries, while Chou and Ned quickly crawled out of the sand.

But their expressions completely changed. With the boxy automobile they were counting on having fallen into a pit, they would have no choice but to trudge along from now on. It was a rather disheartening situation. “What should we do?” “This is bad.”

Chou and Ned exchanged glances, looking as though they might burst into tears at any moment.

“Hey, Kawai! What should we do?”

Called by Yamaki, Kawai crawled into the pitfall and was examining the vehicle body.

“Hey, everyone! Calm down! The car’s fine!” “But Kawai—even if the car’s okay, having it stuck in this pit isn’t helping! It’s completely useless!” “No, it’s fine. Everyone—give me a hand! We just need to pull the car up from this hole.” “What?! Pull the car up from the pit? How could we possibly do that? We’re just kids, and the car’s heavy—there’s no way!”

With that, Ned shrugged his shoulders.

“It’s fine—it’ll come up. Stop dawdling and come down into the hole already—everyone needs to lend a hand! Come on, hurry up! Quickly!” Chou, Ned, and Yamaki found it hard to believe Kawai’s words, but since he kept urgently pressing them, they reluctantly descended into the hole.

“Come on—push from this side! “One! Two! Three!” “There we go—heave-ho!”

“Heave-ho—oh…!”

“Heave-ho! Heave-ho!”

Unexpectedly, the boxy automobile started moving and, swaying unsteadily, was pushed up along the slope of the hole. Eventually, it properly ascended back to the desert.

“That’s strange. Why has this car become so light?” “That’s exactly why—I told you earlier, didn’t I? On Mars, the gravity is about one-third of Earth’s. That’s why everything feels like it weighs one-third as much!”

“Huh, is that so?” The other three stared wide-eyed. “If you still don’t believe me, try kicking off the ground and jumping up and down. You’ll be able to leap astonishingly high.” Because Kawai had said this, Ned—always the biggest prankster—immediately sprang upward.

Lo and behold, Ned's body rose smoothly into the air like a sheet of cardboard thrown skyward, leaping far above the three boys' heads. "Wow, he jumped up so high!" "It's like he's flying!" "Hey, this is fun! Go on, jump even higher!" Ned, thoroughly enjoying himself, sprang up once, then again, floating lightly as he repeated the motion. Each time he leapt, the thick tanuki tail attached to his rear swayed comically through the air, making everyone forget even the danger of facing the Martian horde as they doubled over laughing. Growing ever more elated, Ned sprang upward once more, striking a ridiculous pose mid-leap.

“Hey, Ned.” “Cut it out.” “And everyone, get in the car quickly!”

With that, Kawai shouted from the driver’s seat. Finally, the other three also came to their senses and scrambled into the car. The car started moving across the desert once more.

The Charm of Music

Since then, the boys seemed to have suddenly regained their vigor. The reason for this change was likely because Ned—who until then had been the most despondent—had become strangely buoyant. He had been jumping around and seemed delighted by how effortlessly he could leap into the air. Ned proposed trying out the electric gramophone loaded in their vehicle. Kawai agreed to this plan though worried whether the gramophone might be damaged. Yet when they tried it, the machine began spinning properly, and that lively "Shōjōji's Tanuki Dance" came blaring triumphantly from the loudspeaker.

“Oh, this is perfect! Let’s all do the Tanuki Dance on top of the car!” “Alright, I’ll do it too!” Even the usually quiet Chou got swept up by Ned and started getting carried away. With Yamaki joining them, the three of them began that cheerful Tanuki Dance atop the boxy automobile. And the automobile steadily approached the crowd of Martians. The crowd of Martians who had been worked up. Raising their clubs high, the massive horde steadily pressed forward. —At that moment, they suddenly came to a halt. Then, the club-like objects that had been raised high began to gradually lower.

But that wasn’t all. Before long, the Martians began swaying their bodies from side to side. Matching the rhythm of "Shōjōji's Tanuki Dance"...

“Yes! The Martians understand music!” Kawai in the driver’s seat was enveloped in such joy he could have leapt into the air. He slowed the car’s speed as much as possible. And he twisted the knob on the electric gramophone’s amplifier, turning up the volume even more. The automobile finally plunged into the midst of the Martian crowd. The ominous-looking Martians with their strange facial features no longer showed any sign of attacking and cleared a path for the automobile.

Kawai, mustering his resolve, brought the automobile to a precise stop right in their midst.

The Martians formed a large circle around the automobile. They swayed their bodies ever more vigorously from side to side, as if relishing the rhythm. Before long, they began swaying their large heads, waving their octopus-like hands as they danced, and finally started spinning in circles. It appeared they were imitating the Tanuki Dance of the three boys diligently performing atop the boxy automobile.

“This is good! While we play a few more records, the Martians will surely become friends with us. Hey everyone! Put your backs into dancing!” Kawai called up to the car’s roof from below. Yet his voice didn’t seem to reach them above. Still, the three boys kept dancing in utter frenzy. Kawai thought it was fine as long as they kept at it. Suddenly, the record stopped. Kawai, engrossed in watching the Martians dance, hadn’t even noticed it had ended. Then the Martians abruptly ceased dancing, began murmuring restlessly, and showed signs of danger.

“This is bad!”

Kawai hurriedly put on a new record.

It was Beethoven’s *Moonlight Sonata*. When this quiet piece began to resound, the restless Martians fell completely silent. “Hmm, the Martians really do love music after all,” Kawai muttered. However, the Martians no longer danced. Then, stiffening their bodies like stone, they fixed their large eyes intently this way before beginning to emit strange voices. It seemed as if they were sobbing—enchanted by the masterpiece.

“Hey, Kawai! Cut that record! You can’t dance to Beethoven!”

From atop the boxy automobile, Yamaki shouted.

“Play a livelier song we can dance to! Look! The Martians are howling! They’ll come leaping at us any second now!” Ned shouted his protest downward.

“Ah, right—you all were dancing.” “I’ll change the song now.”

Kawai hurriedly changed the record again. What came to hand was *Echigo Lion*. This should be lively enough—no doubt about it. A lively blend of Japanese and Western music began playing.

Then, the effect appeared immediately. The Martian crowd, which had been as rigid as tombstones, suddenly began moving cheerfully. Waving their hands, lifting their feet, and swaying their heavy heads, they began an incredibly vigorous dance—like locusts tossed into a boiling pot. “Hey, that song’s no good!” From above, Yamaki shouted.

“But it’s lively—what’s wrong with that?”

“No, that’s no good. It's too lively—the dancing can't keep up! Poor Ned’s dancing so earnestly that his legs are wobbling.” “This is tricky... Should I play ‘Shōjōji’?” “Hmm, instead of that, let’s do a sprightly waltz. And once the Martians have settled down a bit, we’ll begin diplomatic negotiations. I think it’s about the right time now.” “I see. Then what should we play? Right! I’ll play ‘The Blue Danube’!”

As the lively rhythm of "The Blue Danube" began to resound from the loudspeakers, the Martians all fell silent at once. And gradually shaking their bodies left and right, they began repeating a wave-like surging motion.

Yamaki came down. After that， Chou and Ned came down. “Well then， let’s go and try as a trio． You stay here and keep the music going， please．” Yamaki said this to Kawai．

“Are you sure? Isn’t it too early?”

"No, now's the perfect timing."

Appearing confident, Yamaki said this and beckoned to Chou and Ned before boldly stomping across the sand toward the crowd of Martians. All three wore those large round helmets and sported thick tails dangling from the backs of their bulky air suits... Now, what would happen?

Would the crowd of Martians truly welcome Yamaki and the others without resistance? Or would they have their heads smashed in with a single blow? Kawai, while managing the record player, was busy comparing his friends' retreating figures with the Martians' reactions.

First Encounter

The three boy ambassadors eventually advanced as far as they could and came to a halt before the crowd of Martians.

According to Yamaki’s later account, he had seen so many bizarre Martians right before his eyes that his mind went haywire and he nearly fainted.

According to Chou’s account, upon seeing the Martians’ physiques, he thought that if they were boiled whole in soup, they would surely taste delicious.

What was Ned thinking? It was said he thought if he could somehow bring back a Martian as a souvenir to Earth and put it on display, it would surely make a fortune. Putting that aside, Yamaki wanted to salute the Martians to show his goodwill, but agonized over what form of gesture they would recognize as a salute. But he couldn’t afford to agonize forever. So he resolutely crossed his hands over his chest, bent his upper body forward, and spoke in English.

“Martians, good day. How are you? We have come all the way from Earth.”

While Yamaki was speaking, Chou and Ned also assumed similar postures and offered greetings. Then, suddenly, a strange voice arose from among the Martians.

“Welcome. “Earth’s envoys. “It is a great pleasure to meet you.” It was remarkably fluent American English.

“Oh, thank you! Thank you!”

Yamaki thrust both hands forward in bewildered delight to show his gratitude. Yet he remained half-convinced. Why would Martians know Earth's language - how could they even speak it?

At that moment, the crowd of Martians parted left and right before the three boys. Then seven more Martians advanced toward them from the rear. These Martians wore something resembling thick scarves beneath their large heads where their necks would be. The one at the forefront had a white scarf, while the others sported green, yellow, purple, and similar colors. The white-scarfed Martian clearly appeared to be a figure of authority.

“Interesting music. Interesting dance. “It was most delightful that you let us hear and see such things right before our eyes.” “Everyone is delighted, you know.” As he spoke, the white-scarfed Martian came to a stop before Yamaki and the others and extended one of his whip-like appendages forward. Since it seemed to be requesting a handshake, Yamaki felt slightly uneasy, but he resolutely extended his own hand and firmly grasped and shook the other’s hand. The hand felt quite cold to the touch, yet he realized it still retained body heat.

“Since you kindly speak Earth’s language, we can understand you very well. And I’m glad. My name is Yamaki. Please treat me kindly.”

“Oh! How kind of you to say that—I’m delighted! My name is Ginē, serving as representative of this Mikasa group. A pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

The Martian Ginē, wearing a white scarf around his neck, politely greeted them after saying this. Yamaki, growing increasingly delighted, introduced Chou and Ned, whereupon Ginē in turn introduced the six professional representatives who had been standing behind him. A warm, friendly atmosphere spread through the group. "Ah, so you're Mr. Ginē?"

Yamaki called. “Yes, I am Ginē.”

The white-scarfed Mikasa representative responded. “Well, you see… That is, I must apologize for our earlier rudeness. We released that unpleasant gas and caused you all distress because we had just arrived on Mars and were in a panic ourselves. Then when unfamiliar visitors like yourselves came rushing in, we misunderstood it as a serious crisis.”

“Oh no, that incident wasn’t anything serious at all. We actually had someone on our side who misunderstood things and started making a fuss too. Anyway, please come over there so we can have a proper discussion. And do let us hear more of your interesting music.” “Yes yes, certainly.”

“But before we proceed—if I may ask—what exactly was your purpose in coming here?” Ginē suddenly posed a significant question. Yamaki flinched. But if he panicked here, it would spell disaster—so he steadied his nerves,

“Ah, that matter? We Earthlings have actually known of Mars’s existence for thousands of years. Moreover, we believed that there must indeed be life on Mars—beings such as yourselves—and we had been eager to make your acquaintance as soon as possible. However, traveling through space is no easy feat, and it was only after Dr.Denny’s spaceship was finally completed that we have come here on this occasion.”

“Hmph. Was it simply because you wanted to see us? Is that just it? Do you have no other purpose?”

Ginē’s words had changed slightly from before and somehow seemed to carry a note of suspicion.

“I believe Dr. Denny will explain the details later.” “In any case, our purpose in visiting Mars is to join hands with Earth’s closest neighbors—the Martians—send from Earth what Mars lacks, and with the idea of making each other even happier. That is why we have come here.” “I see.” “Coexistence and mutual prosperity, you say.” “That’s all well and good.” “We all must help each other.” “However… is that truly all there is to your purpose in coming here?”

Ginē rolled his large eyes and pressed on with his questioning. The other six representatives who had been behind Ginē also assumed defensive postures, their attention sharply focused on what Yamaki would answer. Yamaki was finally somewhat overwhelmed and could no longer respond immediately.

“No, Mr. Yamaki. In truth, we have received an advisory to be on guard against Earth people. Depending on your answer, we may have to make a grave decision.”

With those words, the seven Martian representatives formed a tight circle around the three boys. Compared to its favorable beginning, this crisis had taken a hostile turn midway through. What would become of the boy ambassadors?

The situation turned critical.

No sooner was one crisis over than another arose!

No sooner had they breathed a sigh of relief, thinking they had finally won the Martians' favor, than the Martians suddenly erupted in fierce anger. A multitude of sinister faces closed in on Yamaki, Chou, and Ned. Ned’s face had turned as blue as a frog’s, trembling minutely. Yamaki, in contrast, had turned bright red. Only Chou remained utterly composed, his unwavering eyes fixed on Ginē from within his air helmet.

“Who said such a thing?” Yamaki shouted, his face turning even redder as he slapped his air suit. “Who told you to be wary of people coming from Earth? As you can see, we don’t carry any weapons. And we’ve never once willingly opposed you from our side…”

“Didn’t you just release poison gas on us and make us suffer horribly?” shouted one of the representatives standing next to Ginē. This was Bubun—a Martian who stood taller than anyone else.

“That was different! We’re just a dozen people barely surviving in a wrecked spaceship—completely lost about how to protect ourselves going forward. Then you came swarming in—such overwhelming numbers, such violent force! If they’d boarded us like that, what little air we had left would’ve leaked out completely, leaving us unable to breathe. Worse yet—if our crucial instruments and materials got destroyed, we’d lose all hope! That’s why we used the gas. It wasn’t poison—just a protective barrier we set up around the ship. Now you understand? We only took those measures to defend ourselves from your attack—we never assaulted you first. Please understand.”

Yamaki laid bare his thoughts. “Hmm, I’m not so sure,” said Bubun, his expression still clouded with suspicion. “We’ve heard about such things. On Earth, while the population keeps growing，resources are dwindling，and they’re in great distress. You’ve been preparing for an invasion war against Mars for years because of that，haven’t you? Earthlings are utterly untrustworthy!”

“That is also your misunderstanding.” “It’s true Earth has a large population.” “And there have been many wars on Earth until now.” “But aggressive wars have now been completely eradicated.” “The reason is people came to understand that war’s calamities befall not only defeated nations but victorious ones too, realizing war brings great misfortune to all Earth’s people.” “So having learned from war, every nation has declared they’ll no longer start wars.” “Thus eternal peace has come to Earth.” “This eternal peace mustn’t stay confined to Earth—it must extend between planets.” “No—all beings in the universe must cooperate harmoniously toward happiness.” “If mutual love and support arise, I believe everything can be resolved through peaceful talks without wretched means like war.” “Overpopulation and resource shortages too—these can surely be solved with mutual aid.” “I firmly believe this.”

Yamaki’s face grew even redder as he passionately proclaimed his convictions. “Well then, let me ask—why did you invade Mars without any notice? If you were going to come, you should have first inquired about our circumstances and waited for a favorable response before coming. Coming here without even notifying us—I can only conclude that you are invaders after all.”

Representative Bubun would not yield an inch. It was true that Dr. Denny’s spaceship had indeed landed on Mars without permission, so when confronted with this accusation, there was no way for them to argue against it.

But Yamaki said. "That was impossible. Because we had no idea what language Martians used. How could we have known that? Since there was no way to find out, we had no choice but to land our spaceship on Mars without warning. First of all, we didn't even know whether people like you existed on Mars in the first place."

“Ha ha ha!” Bubun leaned back and laughed mockingly. “Without even studying our language first, to come barging in like this—how barbaric! We know your Earthling tongue perfectly well—that’s why we’re talking to you now. Ah ha ha ha! Well? Get it now? This proves Earthlings are way behind us Martians culturally…”

When confronted like that, Yamaki found himself at a loss for a retort. That was indeed true. There was not a single person on Earth who knew the Martian language or had studied it. Not even Dr.Denny knew. Yet the Martians spoke the Earth language skillfully. Even if it were said that Martians were superior to Earthlings because of this, they could not argue against it. But how on earth had the Martians learned the Earth language?

The Final Effort

The boys' situation worsened. Yamaki was left speechless, effectively defeated by Bubun in the exchange. Bubun’s large eyeballs swiveled restlessly, and the tentacles sprouting from his head writhed sinuously like snakes, swaying with an ominous air.

Ned was so worried that he could barely breathe and clung to Chou.

“Hey Chou, what on earth’s gonna happen to us?”

Chou, who had been standing as still as a statue，gently stroked Ned's hand. And he said， "It's alright．There's no need to worry． "It'll all work out smoothly．"

“Really?” “But man, they’re coming on crazy strong!” “Should we scram and head back?”

“Wait. Don’t move around,” said Chou, standing motionless like a stone statue. “Stay calm like me.” “That won’t work,” Ned shot back, his breathing ragged. “I can’t stay calm like that!” “Ned.” “What is it, Chou?” “Have you forgotten about the Ox-Head Sage?” “Ah! The Ox-Head Sage... That’s you.” “Exactly,” Chou replied, gently patting the bag at his waist. “You’ve always trusted the Ox-Head Sage. That sage has been secretly stroking this spiritually potent crystal and divining our fate all along. Look—the crystal’s right here in my pouch. When I consulted it, the oracle has spoken: we’ll safely survive this crisis! Calm yourself.”

“Huh, the oracle has spoken?” “Oh…” “Then I’m relieved.”

Ned suddenly began to regain his energy.

“Even so… How was this difficult situation going to be resolved smoothly?”

Bubun was still shouting loudly. At that moment, music suddenly began. In the driver’s seat of the milk delivery truck where Kawai had been waiting alone, he started playing the electric gramophone. The piece was *Träumerei*. A dreamy, sleep-inducing melody was being played on the cello. Bubun's voice stopped abruptly. His triumphantly bristling tentacles limply drooped, then gradually began undulating in time with the music's melody.

Strangely enough, the Martians were weak to music.

Ginē, the Martian representative who had remained silent until now, tapped Bubun on the shoulder and said something. Then Bubun jumped up. He seemed surprised by something. He came toward Yamaki and the others,

“Huh?! You’re Earthling boys? I thought you were adult Earth humans…” “That’s right—we four are boys.”

“Four? I only see three...” “The other one is inside that vehicle.” “Ah, so the one making that beautiful sound is him.” “That’s correct.”

“Hmm.” “This is unexpected.” “I had only thought you were adult Earth humans and spoke accordingly, but I never imagined you were still boys not yet of age.” “Since even boys have such ideas, adult Earth humans must be quite impressive.”

“They certainly are impressive. All the adults are staying in the spaceship. Please meet them calmly.”

“Alright, let’s do that.” “Ah, if Ginē had told me sooner that you were boys, I wouldn’t have scolded you like that.” “After all, Ginē has been to Earth—he’s the wisest among Martians.” “What? Mr. Ginē has been to Earth?” “He went two or three times.” “Right, Ginē?” “That’s correct. I went three times. “And I have been researching Earth people. “But it seems Earth people never noticed my activities.”

“Huh! That’s surprising! Why did you go? What did you ride?”

“Hahaha, I’d rather not say. The reason I can speak American English is that I’ve been researching it. However, my Earth studies were still incomplete. That’s why we on Mars hadn’t yet prepared to receive Earth people. No matter how much I tried to calm them down, they wouldn’t listen and ended up storming toward the spaceship with Earthlings inside. I had meant to properly inform everyone about Earth people’s merits and culture before formally establishing friendly relations with Earth. But since you all reached Mars too quickly, my plans were completely derailed.”

Ginē was truly an understanding and calm Martian, making him the ideal person to serve as their representative. Yamaki, Chou, and Ned all let out a sigh of relief. The music of *Träumerei* changed into a lively waltz. “Come on, let’s dance! This is our job!” Ned pulled Chou out and began to dance. Then Bubun, who had grown completely gentle since earlier, also began imitating them and dancing. The large group of Martians who had been standing behind also began dancing together to the waltz melody.

It was extremely fortunate that Kawai, concerned about the tense situation here, boldly started the music again.

Between Yamaki and Ginē, the discussions progressed rapidly, and they also reached an agreement for Ginē and his group to peacefully visit Dr. Denny.

As the music continued, the Martians' dancing gradually grew livelier, their figures vocalizing and whirling about in truly innocent exuberance. The camaraderie between the four boys and the Martians grew increasingly lively, with Martians gathering in great numbers around the milk delivery truck. And pointing at the picture of a cow painted on its side, they marveled with great curiosity. Cows did not live on Mars. No, it wasn’t just cows. They had never seen horses, sheep, or deer either.

When it came to large animals on Mars, there were only creatures that somewhat resembled frogs. Though those beasts(?) were about the size of a cat... When the four boys let the Martians ride in this milk delivery truck, the Martians became even more cheerful. They clustered densely atop the box, emitting strange cries as they shouted and screamed, calling out to their comrades watching around them in great delight. Among them were many Martian children intermingled, but their bodies were very small, about the size of puppies. However, with their large heads swiveling big eyes and short tentacles waving about, they were no different from adult Martians. What made them different was that their bodies from the neck down were extremely short, making them look like monsters fashioned from paper lanterns.

Grand Finale

Now, this story had to come to its conclusion here.

The meeting between Dr.Denny, leader of the Mars expedition team, and the Martians proceeded very smoothly and peacefully thanks to the groundwork laid by the four boys bearing fruit. A provisional understanding was reached regarding three matters: establishing regular air routes between Mars and Earth, mutually supplementing resources each lacked, and conducting cultural and academic exchanges between both parties. This proved an unexpectedly significant achievement even for Dr.Denny. Though his success in establishing Martian air routes alone would have been a splendid accomplishment, he had now added this further achievement on top of it.

Then, Dr. Denny embarked on his next task. It was to establish wireless communication with Earth and investigate whether the damaged spaceship could be repaired.

Communication with Earth had begun proceeding smoothly. They possessed sufficient fuel to operate the generator and had managed to assemble all components required for a new transceiver. The other crucial task—determining whether the damaged spaceship could be repaired—would decide the crew's fate. This investigation required one week. The results revealed utter impossibility. Darkness abruptly descended before the crew's eyes. First came critical equipment shortages, then inadequate machinery, and above all an absolute fuel deficit. Dr. Denny resolved to redesign the spaceship into a smaller model using their limited resources, yet even this approach encountered insurmountable obstacles that rendered success improbable. Installing the engine at its current size would make the craft too heavy for liftoff, while downsizing the engine lay far beyond their workshop's capabilities. Though they could disassemble the engine to half or quarter size, only the quarter-sized version suited Dr.Denny's compact design. This initially appeared feasible until horsepower calculations exposed drastic efficiency losses—a five-year journey from Mars to Earth—with fuel demands far exceeding their capacity to provision. Thus it became irrefutably clear: no vehicle existed to carry them home. The crew's disappointment and despair reached depths almost too cruel to record here.

“Mr. Marton. “Couldn’t we request rescue from Earth? “In other words, have them send another spaceship here to Mars.”

Kawai said to Engineer Marton.

“Well, I’m afraid it’s impossible. After all, the only factory with an organization capable of building a spaceship powerful enough to reach Mars is none other than Dr. Denny’s Mars Expedition Society.” “Can’t such a thing as a spaceship be made elsewhere at all?” “Excluding ours, the ones currently in existence can only reach as far as the Moon at best.” “Moreover, even if they do reach the Moon, returning would be difficult.”

“This is quite a problem.” “Ah, we’re completely stuck.” Even Engineer Marton—always so vigorous, never abandoning hope until the very end—now sank into pessimism’s depths like an entirely different man.

“Ah, that’s right!” Kawai shouted. “Mr. Marton, there’s still something we can try!” “Still something to try? What is that…” “We’ve already determined there’s nothing more we can do on our own—but this is Mars! Martian wisdom, Martian resources, Martian labor—aren’t there plenty of those here? Moreover, that Martian called Ginē has apparently made three secret round trips to Earth. If we ask him, he might lend us a powerful engine beyond our knowledge! And if we borrow the labor force of many Martians, couldn’t we easily build even the most massive spaceship?”

“Oh, that’s a wonderful idea! That’s right! Because we were fixated on solving everything through our own power alone, we had no choice but to conclude that rebuilding the spaceship was impossible. Let’s ask the Martians for help! Ah, of course! That’s right. There is such a path.” Young Kawai’s idea was promptly conveyed by Engineer Marton to Dr. Denny. Dr. Denny was pleased to hear this. And so, they set out on the path to resolve the problem in that direction.

From then on, things progressed smoothly and rapidly. Through Ginē’s goodwill, the Martian government agreed to lend the engine and sent along a technical team to Earth. However, on one condition—that the secrets of this engine would not be disclosed to Earthlings for the time being… Half a year later, the construction of the new spaceship—a collaborative effort between Earthlings and Martians—was successfully completed. This new spaceship was given the name "Child of the Sun." The name carried the meaning that both Mars and Earth were children of the sun, and since they were equally children of the sun, it was imbued with a spirit of peace that they should get along.

The test run also succeeded through the cooperation of Earthlings and Martians. And one month later, with all preparations for their return to Earth complete, the *Child of the Sun* finally embarked on its glorious maiden voyage. From the ground came a lively send-off by Martians, while from the spaceship, Dr. Denny's party along with the Martian envoy delegation and technical team visiting Earth shook hands and waved their tentacles in farewell. Thus began the auspicious space travel born of cooperation between Earthlings and Martians.

Following the space route Dr. Denny had researched and mapped out, the *Child of the Sun* chose the most favorable course and drew near Earth. In merely fifteen days, they traversed that route. When the *Child of the Sun* made its safe landing at New York's newly constructed "Mars" airfield on the outskirts, Earth—no, the entire world—was swept up in a maelstrom of joy and fervor. Dr. Denny and his crew were greeted by the president and showered with honors. The contingent of peculiar envoys from Mars likewise received an enthusiastic welcome.

Dr. Denny rode in the president’s car and made a spectacular entrance into New York. Over the procession, seven-colored paper fell like flowers, and the citizens, having emptied their homes completely, gathered along the roadside and showered them with cheers.

Yamaki, Kawai, Chou, and Ned—the four boys—rode in that familiar milk delivery truck and joined the procession. This was met with tremendous cheers once again—the milk delivery truck became piled mountain-high with bouquets, and beautiful red, blue, and white ribbons were tied around the neck of the painted cow. Chou’s prophecy had indeed come true. As for how Dr. Denny was met with such an overwhelming torrent of welcomes, that surely goes without saying.

However, Dr. Denny had crucial work to fulfill, standing between the Martian delegation and Earth’s representatives as he labored tirelessly day after day. But through these efforts, a sweeping cooperative treaty was established between both parties, with Earth and Mars deciding to jointly operate a regular space route. Advancing further still, an agreement was reached for our solar system’s planets to form a peaceful planetary union. Dr. Denny eventually took up permanent residence on Mars. He was appointed Earth’s Ambassador to Mars. Bronze statues of Dr. Denny were erected in two locations: New York and Arizona—the latter where Denny Tower once stood.

With the reward money, the four boys were able to buy splendid cars and airplanes, which they now drive and fly around. It is said that those cars and airplanes are painted with that familiar large cow.