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fittest? One man, apparently, outlived every one else on the planet, and then
he also died.
"But here you have gone the limit in the other direction. Of course, we might
have known that you long ago abolished poverty, unearned wealth, pestilence,
drunkenness and the other causes of premature death; but as for three and a
half trillion!"
"Nevertheless," remarked Myrin, "every last one of us, once born, lives to die
of old age; and in most cases this means several hundred of your years."
Smith involuntarily rubbed his eyes; and they all laughed, a nervous sort of a
laugh which left the visitors still in doubt as to their senses, and their
guides' sanity. Van Emmon's suspicions came back with a rush, and he burst
out:
"Say you'll excuse me, but I can't swallow this! Here you've shown us houses
as thick as leaves; not a sign of a farm, much less an orchard! No vegetation
at all, except for a few flowers!
"Three and a half trillion! All right; let it go at that!" Out came his chin,
and he brought one fist down upon the other as though he were cracking rocks
with a hammer, and with every blow he uttered a word:
"How do you feed them all?"
X. LOAVES AND FISHES
Without a word Myrin drove her machine toward the ground, and, as before,
Estra followed despite the lack of any visible signal. Within a minute the two
machines had come to rest, softly and without disturbance, on the roof of a
handsome building, much like an apartment house. There was the usual
transparent elevator, and a minute later the four were being introduced to the
occupants of a typical Venusian house.
These two people, apparently man and wife, did not need to be told why the
explorers had been brought there. They led the way from the dimly lighted
hallway in which the elevator had stopped, into a group of brightly decorated
rooms. Here the four were given seats in the usual saddellike chairs, and then
Myrin answered Van Emmon's question:
"I knew that this point would arise soon, and you will pardon me if I handle
it in a prearranged fashion. I will admit that it is not an easy question Mr.
Van
Emmon has put; not because the answer is at all complicated but, on the
contrary, extremely simple."
The four were listening unanimously. Despite himself, Van Emmon was highly
impressed by the Venusian woman's serious manner. Perhaps it was because, in
her earnestness, she was not quite so affable as before. She went on:
"From where you are sitting, you can see all the rooms in this house. You will
look in vain for anything even remotely resembling a kitchen. There is not
even a dining-room.
"And yet you must not jump to the conclusion that we all use restaurants. We
have no such thing as a public eating place. Or rather," and here she spoke
very carefully, "rather, every place is an eating place."
The doctor looked Myrin over as though she were a patient with a new kind of
disease. "You do not mean that literally, of course," said he kindly.
But she nodded gravely. "You must not misunderstand. Remember, even on your
own planet, the distribution of food is becoming more and more extensive,
until you can now buy something to eat at every crossroads. We have merely
carried the idea to its logical end, so that all Venusians can obtain food at
any time, and at any spot."
She turned in her chair all the chairs on Venus were pivoted, Estra said and
touched a button in the wall at her hand. A panel slid noiselessly aside, and
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revealed a tiny buffet. At least, Billie labeled it a buffet, for want of a
more accurate term.
For it consisted of a silver bibb, something like the nozzle of a soda- water
fountain above which was a board containing a large number of tiny, numbered
push buttons. Below the bibb was a space in which a cup might be set, and
projecting from a tube at one side was a solid block of telescoping,
transparent cups.
"This," said Myrin, "is the Venusian Nutrition System. There is a station like
this in every room on the planet." And she proceeded to take a cup from the
tube, filling each from the silver faucet while she pressed a variety of the
buttons.
The four watched in silence, and eagerly took what was given to them. It
comprised liquids entirely; liquids of every degree of fluidity, from some as
thin as water to others as thick as gruel. They varied even more as to color,
ranging from actual transparency to a deep chocolate.
"Now, I warn you not to be shocked," said Myrin, "although I fully expect that
you will be. The fact is that we have no other kind of food than what you see;
there are thousands upon thousands of different kinds and flavors, but they
are all fluids. We have nothing whatever in solid form.
"You see," she explained, "we have no teeth."
All they could do was to stare at her as, with a return of her smile, she made
a sudden gesture across the front of her mouth. Next instant a set of false
teeth lay in her hand!
Estra spoke up. "We are both obliged to wear them in order that we might use
your language." He removed his own, to show a mouth as free of teeth as a
newborn baby's. Both Venusians replaced their sets, and smiled afresh at the
explorers' astonishment.
"Teeth will soon be a thing of the past with you on the Earth, too,"
commented
Myrin. "Dr. Kinney will surely testify to that. Your use of soft, cooked
foods, instead of the coarse, hard articles provided by nature, is bound to
have this effect in time. With us, it resulted in having teeth reduced to the
standing of your appendix; and, like you, we resort to an operation rather
than take chances on trouble. I may mention that the appendix is totally
absent from all
Venusians, while we are beginning to lose all traces of either the first or
second molars; just as you are beginning to lose your wisdom teeth.
"However, suppose you try our diet while I explain."
The four once more looked at each other. The doctor was the first to take a
sip of one of the cups handed to him, and Van Emmon was the last; the
geologist waited to see the effects upon the others before gingerly tasting of
the thickest, darkest liquid of them all. Another taste, and he discovered
that it was very good, and that he was exceedingly hungry.
"Very delicately flavored," commented Billie, after emptying her fourth glass,
a golden fluid with a slightly oily appearance.
"Delicately is right," said the doctor. "This stuff is barely flavored at
all, Estra."
The Venusian was also "eating." "We much prefer them all that way," said he.
"I
suppose you would consider our tastes very finicky, on Earth; but the fact is
we are able to distinguish between minute variations in flavoring such as
would escape all on earth except a humming-bird."
"I suppose," remarked the doctor, smacking his lips over a reddish solution
with a winelike flavor, "I suppose we can expect something of that sort on the
Earth, too, in time. Originally mankind was only able to distinguish fresh
from stale, and animal from vegetable flavors."
After a while Myrin went on: "You know, the processes of nutrition, as they
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take place among your people, are extremely wasteful. You have probably heard
it said that 'the average human is only fifty per cent efficient.' That simply
means that digestion, assimilation and excretion require half the energy which
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