whole new world lay before me, my first thought was of Mother Earth. A
desire to view my old habitat as Martians see it seemed almost
irresistible.

To touch the radioscope that was trained on Earth, would result in an
instant change taking place in my body as it lay in the laboratory, and
this would be disastrous. It was only the regenerating properties of the
super-radium current that kept it in a state acceptable to my return,
and the delicate mechanism of this instrument was regulated so as to
keep the current exactly in position, as long as that part of the
Earth's surface was exposed to Mars. To interfere then with this
current, for a moment, would mean certain death.

Immediately I became conscious of the presence of another instrument,
which was in a room adjoining, and, feeling absolutely familiar with
every inch of the way, I proceeded thence. The room was a small one,
just large enough, indeed, to operate the radioscope, which was exactly
the same as the one in the room I had just quitted.

With a perfect knowledge of the mechanism of the instrument, I was soon
at work adjusting the projecting and receiving apparatus. An ordinary
telescope was attached to the huge tube of the radioscope, and with
Almos' dexterity I soon located Earth through it, thus sighting the
radioscope for that planet.

I had now but to turn on the current to see the people on Earth and
watch their doings, as had done Martians for hundreds of years, but,
with my hand on the lever that controlled the current, I paused.

The sight of Earth, as it appeared through the telescope, was too