“They are numbers for counting one through nine, plus a nothing symbol, what in English is called ‘zero’.” The Marbii Matriarch’s daughter explained to the Earth ladies.

“How very odd.” Signora Zuccaro seemed mildly intrigued. “Who would manufacture an Earth-style briefcase and use Venusian symbols on it?” After a brief pause, she shrugged off the distraction and once again got to business. “Come, ladies. I think a long sit in the solarium at La Chateau would do us all some good. Signorina Sargent, you are going to simply love the drinks they serve there. The jungles of Venus produce fruits such as you have never tasted on Earth.”

La Chateau was arguably the most famous hotel in International City. Dixie knew that solariums were a necessary matter of health for Earth natives on Venus. The World Beneath the Clouds did not receive enough of the Sun’s rays for optimum Earth human health. Even private residences were strongly encouraged to include one in their floor plan when built. For those who could not or did not have one at home, there were many public solariums that served as social centers for neighborhoods. The solarium at La Chateau was very opulent. It contained a restaurant and bar. The view through the glass paned ceiling of the kaleidoscopic Venusian cloudscape above in the sky competed for Dixie’s attention with the sights, sounds, and smells of the international and interplanetary restaurant around her.

The floor was a beautiful marble, maple in tone with darker, almost black, swirls. The floor made her feel like she was walking on top of a giant bowl of Ma’s cookie dough back in Iowa, each of the dark swirls was like a chocolate chip. The chairs and tables were works of art, adorned with lots of brass.

In one corner, a tall, cylindrical cage stretched from floor to ceiling containing a network of branches and housing what Dixie at first thought must be Venusian birds. Her gaze started to sweep past the cage when its inhabitants made some noises that caused her to swivel her head back in a double take. The noises were frog croaks. What had looked at quick glance like wings folded at the amphibians’ sides were, in fact, their feet. Each webbed foot was so long and wide that it could have been used as a lady's accessory fan to flutter to cool herself on hot days.

Signora Zuccaro noticed that Dixie had lagged behind a bit and drifted back to speak with her. Signorina Accetta and Ahlondra had been greeted by one of the hotel staff who was directing them to a table near the tree frog cages.

“God or Evolution, whichever Agent of Nature you prefer to give credit to, liked frogs a lot on Venus. You will find forms of them everywhere, in all sizes, shapes, and colors. Those are flying frogs, they use their feet to glide as do flying squirrels on Earth. But speaking of Earth, there is a celebrity from your country there, yes?”

The elderly Italian matron pointed to the largest gathering in the solarium restaurant. There Dixie saw, recognizing him from newspaper pictures of him, Colonel Theodore Roosevelt sitting at the bar with his back to the bar, facing a crowd of about three dozen people, all hanging on his every word.

“There I was…” The Rough Rider of the Hive Wars had just taken a swig of his beverage and was launching into another tale for the crowd.

“You Americans call him Teddy, no?”

“Yes. He’s retired from the military since the Hive Wars. He’s come to Venus for big game hunting.”

“Well, on Venus, he’ll find big game for sure. Perhaps too big, even for him.”

“There are some in America who say he should run for President.”

“Ah, you Americans! Your fascination with heroes and adventure. But come! I see our companions have been seated and are awaiting us.”

Since most of the solarium’s attention had been drawn to the war hero, the corner by the flying frogs was relatively peaceful, that was until Dixie was seated next to the cage. She had just set down the strange briefcase on the floor between their table and the frog cage when the frogs went wild. The ladies had checked Dixie’s other luggage with a bellboy who had taken her heavier, more cumbersome bags up to their room. Dixie had held onto the briefcase, though. She felt like she didn’t want it to get too far away from her, but she wasn’t sure why. Surely it would have been safe with the bellboy and taken to their room.

The frogs made an earsplitting cacophony and leaped at the bars of the cage opposite the ladies’ table with such ferocity that some of the frogs cut themselves on the bars and began to bleed. The tumult started so suddenly that the host who had seated them hadn’t even walked away yet. He looked alarmed and immediately invited the ladies to be seated somewhere else.

“Ze haf nevare acted zis way befor,” he assured them.

Dixie noticed that as quickly as the frogs’ agitation had started, it stopped just as immediately as soon as she fetched the mysterious briefcase away from being in proximity to their cage. The schoolteacher from Iowa thought the chances of that being coincidence were extremely low.

What was in this thing?