"Yes, we want to know about your woman companion's arm, and about the
others in the cave--what has happened on earth--?"
The old man's face peered, suddenly eager, closer up to the screen. His
eyes watered, and the calm manner was gone. His thin fingers tapped a
lexicon nervously.
Hilda pointed to words in her lexicon and John wrote,
"cripple--colony."
The old scientist grew pale and he staggered a bit as he turned to the
others. Their white beards bent in an almost comical cluster over the
little green table and bobbed excitedly. Their hissing syllables were
shrill. Suddenly the screen blanked out.
"Well, what do you know about that?"
"John, do you remember what they said about 'primitive contagion'?"
"Yes, I get it--You mean they are afraid."
"Of many things--other colonies to follow this--their eventual
discovery--diseases! Perhaps it is partly that we cripples offend their
sense of beauty--"
"Forget it, Kid, you've got more pep in one hand than any girl I ever
knew had in two."
She smiled at him gratefully, before she turned away, and then her
voice was still gay--"That isn't what you say to all the girls--Well,
what next?"
John stood with his feet apart as if alert to danger. He combed his
fingers through the already tousled mop of reddish brown hair. After a
moment of silence, he said, "Do you suppose that will make a difference
in their attitude toward us?"
"Perhaps not--after all, most of the trouble came with the ship. They
are not angry with us--We'll just have to wait and see."
It wasn't a long wait. A larger opening in the wall allowed the sliding
entrance of a small glass-like dome, containing their Earth clothes and
oxygen helmets on a low bench inside.
The old scientist who had been talking to them before, appeared again
on the screen. He ordered, impersonally, "Dress yourselves, lift the
cover, and then strap yourselves to the seat inside. We are going to
take you for a trip. The dome is to protect us from you."
"Isn't much else to do, is there?" said John hopelessly.
"Let's assume they are friendly, until they prove otherwise."
Their tiny glass cage slid away down a dimly lighted corridor, with
no visible means of power, and clicked into place in the cabin of the
same round aircraft that had captured them. Several of the old men
were seated in padded and swinging chairs which moved rhythmically at
moments of unsteadiness. They, too, were strapped in place, as if ready
for any violent action of the ship, and the arc of each swaying chair
was limited.
In an hour they were hovering over the desert area again. Heavy sunset
clouds were rich in coloring. The desert sands were whirling into a
gathering dusk and the whole sky was overcast. The speed slowed, and
John recognized the familiar rock and cliff entrance where they had
been captured. At last their small ship settled down on the sand and
the little cage slid out gently on the hard sand.
"Maybe they're just going to let us go, John."
"I hope not--I want to know more about them."
A crackling and distorted voice spoke electrically in their ears,
"Please get out and walk quietly toward the entrance. We mean you no
harm. Your friends are coming--"
"Well, that's that!" John rolled back the cover and straddled over the
edge, turning to help Hilda follow him.
They gasped as the intense cold of sunset struck through their thin
clothing. Then they turned and ran toward the metal door, leaning
into the wind and sheltering their hands from the blowing sand. The
door slid open and Doctor Smithson came running toward them with fur
coats in his arms. Behind him walked Mary, the nurse, bundled up and
smiling. Even more slowly, old Jake Adams hobbled on crutches. Doctor
Smithson cast uneasy glances at the strange airship, but came steadily
toward them. Just as he was helping John into a coat, the lower port of
the Mars ship opened and that square black projection came thrusting
through. John saw it and cried, disgustedly, "Don't be afraid. This
won't hurt--We're going for a ride upstairs!..."
His last words were spoken from a distance of ten feet above ground....
In a few minutes, the five of them were crowded into that little glass
cage, and sat staring at the old men in resentment. Jake had lost his
crutches and lay, in a ridiculous posture, on the floor, his two wooden
pegs spread out at a wide angle. He scowled truculently at the old men.