Even at the time when space ships were making regular voyages across the universe, the "Marathon" was a remarkable craft. Powered by the Flettner system, its speed was so great that for the first time exploration of the outer galaxies was made possible.

"Men, Martians and Machines" describes some of the great voyages made by the "Marathon." There was, for example, the planet which was solely inhabited by machines--survivors, perhaps, from a civilization in which the first machine-makers had perished. On another planet, the inhabitants had developed the power of hypnotism to a fantastic degree, so that the observer saw only what he was willed to see.