Weeks put it down on the
table and snapped up the lid.
A new aroma, or aromas, was added to the scents now at war in the cabin.
Weeks pulled out a handful of fluffy white stuff which frothed up about
his fingers like soap lather. Then with more care he lifted up a tray
divided into many small compartments, each with a separate sealing lid of
its own. The men of the Queen moved in, their curiosity aroused, until
they were jostling one another.
Being tall Dane had an advantage, though Van Rycke's bulk and the wide
shoulders of the Captain were between him and the object they were so
intent upon. In each division of the tray, easily seen through the
transparent lids, was a carved figure. The weird denizens of the Venusian
polar swamps were there, along with lifelike effigies of Terran animals,
a Martian sand-mouse in all its monstrous ferocity, and the native animal
and reptile life of half a hundred different worlds. Weeks put down a
second tray beside the first, again displaying a menagerie of strange
life forms. But when he clicked open one of the compartments and handed
the figurine it contained to the Captain, Dane understood the reason for
now bringing forward the carvings.
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