 What was a common factor with all the victims of the Red Spot Fever?
What with red-spot fever, talking cockatoos and flagpole trees, I was running in circles—especially since Grannie became twins every now and then. [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Planet Stories Spring 1945. Grannie Annie strode in the lead, her absurd long-skirted black dress looking as out of place in this desert as the trees. Everything else was blanketed by the sand and the powerful wind that blew from all quarters. If my calculations are right, we've hit it at its narrowest spot." He could be excused this time, however, for this was only our third day on Jupiter's Eighth Moon, and the country was still strange to us. If you haven't read her books, you've missed something. Blood-and-thunder as these books are, however, they have one redeeming feature—authenticity of background. Grannie Annie was the original research digger-upper, and when she laid the setting of a yarn on a star of the sixth magnitude, only a transportation-velocity of less than light could prevent her from visiting her "stage" in person. He was an old prospector Grannie had met, and he had become so attached to the authoress he now followed her wherever she went. As for Xartal, he was a Martian and was slated to do the illustrations for Grannie's new book. Five minutes after my ship had blasted down, the four of us met in the offices of Interstellar Voice . It's no use to the people of Earth but of untold value on Mars. I'm not up on the scientific reasons, but it seems that life on the red planet has developed with a supersonic method of vocal communication. Then it was found that this ore, Acoustix, revitalized their sounding apparatus, and the rush was on." "But up until now this moon is the only place where it can be found. So now here we were at the outer reaches of the Baldric, four travelers on foot with only the barest necessities in the way of equipment and supplies. Xartal, the Martian illustrator, already had a notebook in his hands and was sketching a likeness of the creature. Above us, the great disc of Jupiter began to descend toward the horizon. And then all at once Grannie stopped again, this time at the top of a high ridge. Down there, slowly toiling across the sand, advanced a party of four persons. Behind her strode a grizzled Earth man in a flop-brimmed hat, another Earth man, and a Martian.
 They had all started seeing symptoms in the barracks
 They were all treated in the Baldric  They had all started investigating the odd birds and their strange behavior  They had all started seeing symptoms in the mines  They had all started seeing symptoms in the barracks