 Why did Ben fear the Venusians?
With never a moment to rest, the pursuit through space felt like a game of hounds and hares ... or was it follow the leader? Most of the big room lay obscured behind a shimmering veil of tobacco smoke and the sweet, heavy fumes of Martian Devil's Egg. Several times, Ben glimpsed the bulky figures of CO 2 -breathing Venusians, the first he'd ever seen. There, among the grizzled veterans of the old Moon Patrol, he'd found friends who understood his dream and who later recommended his appointment to the U. S. Academy for the Conquest of Space. And a month ago, he'd signed aboard the Odyssey —the first ship, it was rumored, equipped to venture as far as the asteroids and perhaps beyond.
 He had heard they were telepaths.
 They stood eerily motionless.  He had heard they were telepaths.  They stood silent and unblinking in a eerie manner.  They were large and scaly and resembled toads.