Kortha lifted his big hammer and showed it to Guantra.
"Talk no more of friendship between us, _yavit_," he said clearly.
But Guantra leaned forward and smiled again. His dark eyes were steady
on the big man in the white fur harness, whose sun-browned skin seemed
like smooth bronze against the bearskin.
"Zut love me, but you _will_ be my friend, Kortha. Wait! I am sending
men for you. You cannot fight me, for all Mars is at my beck. My men
will bring you to me, and I will _make_ you my friend!"
He flung back his head and laughed, and his mirth rang loud and harsh
in wild, eerie peals. Listening to it, Kortha bared his teeth in a
soundless snarl and shook his hammer, and said, "I would sooner be
friends with a canalhound. Send your men, but they'll not find me. I'll
be away, looking for the shortest route to your throat!"
Guantra grinned, "I'll forgive you that when you're my friend, Kortha.
Don't think you can get free of the tower. The controls for those doors
are under my fingers. A trusted guard watches the screen here, night
and day. He summons me when any enter the tower. He was quite excited
upon seeing you. Mars has not forgotten Kortha who reunited the clans.
"How Mars will worship a Kortha come to life! Mars will also worship
Guantra who found you and gave you back to her. The crowds will go for
you. Kortha the genius. Kortha the man-gorilla. Kortha the great.
"And Kortha will be--my friend!"
It was then that the giant swung the massive hammer against the
quartz-crystal screen. It shattered into fragments that sounded like
musical glass as they fell to the floor.
Kortha looked at Xax, and rested the hammer by a sandalled foot. His
green eyes glittered, and his long yellow hair shook as he moved
abruptly, turning on his heel.
"Guantra has his weapon now. He needed that weapon before he dared
declare himself. So! A lightning-blaster. Now when Earth and Venus
learn that Mars is a power to be reckoned with, they will seek
Guantra's favor. Each will hasten to make peace and bid for his
friendship. And Guantra will sell Mars for the highest offer. In a
polite way, of course.
"If I can't stop him, he will. And Guantra has an army. And an air
fleet."
Kortha laughed harshly, "I have two hands and a brain, and a hate for
Guantra. Maybe that will even up the odds. Come, Xax. Stop talking to
me."
Xax shrilled a chuckle and rolled along with the fur-clad giant, back
into the science hall. Kortha worked with his deft fingers, examining
coils and rings, delving into the secrets of ages-ancient generators
and condensors. He grunted and swore, and his brow was furrowed in
thought. One engine he completely dismantled, but could make nothing of
its function. Others he merely glanced at, passing them by.
"I'd need a laboratory to test them all," he said at last. "I just
don't have the equipment. You can't determine uses or strengths or
purposes with your naked fingertips."
He went and patted the ringed machine with his palms.
"We have no weapon but this, Xax. It will have to do."
"That?" choked the tumblie. "That's no weapon. It's just a--a luxury!"
Kortha knelt and began fastening wheels to the base of the machine.
He said, "In our hands it will be a weapon. It will have to be, for
Guantra is sending men and ships to capture us. When those doors roll
open, his men are coming in for me."
The wheels screeched as they bore the weight of the big engine across
the marble floor. Kortha's leg-muscles bunched and writhed under the
pressure he exerted. His naked arms bulged, tightening under the smooth
skin. Up the ramp went the machine to grate to a halt opposite the
entrance doors.
Kortha lengthened the distance level of the beam, and wiped a forearm
across his wet brow. He smiled mirthlessly, "Let them come, now. We're
ready for them."
Xax shrilled, "You said we could escape by throwing a beam of light on
the mechanism of the doors. Then why do we stay here?"
"Guantra has sent men to overcome me. If we escape, we'll be out in the
open where they can overcome us at will. Here we have a chance. They
have to come in that door. I'll have them all in front of me. I have to
kill them all, Xax. Otherwise Guantra may learn where I've gone."
"He may still find out," the tumblie grumbled.
"I know. It's a chance I have to take."
* * * * *
The drone of the fliers sounded sooner than Kortha had anticipated. He
could imagine them circling above the ancient city, swooping in to a
landing in the square. A moment later he heard the drumming of feet on
stone.
The doors rolled open effortlessly. Guantra's guards came in yelling,
with guns in their hands, leaping for him; shouting loudly at sight of
him.
Kortha put a hand on a lever, threw it down.
A beam lanced out at the doorway. It splashed its pale green color over
the scarlet tunics and naked legs of the guards.
The guards changed color.
They glittered yellow, metallic. One or two of them were off balance.
They fell with a ringing clangour on the marble floor.