machine drew from him an involuntary agonized cry.
Llysanorh's dead body lay across that of Alice, his sharp dagger sunk
into the upper part of her arm. Ralph hurriedly moved the rigid body
aside.
_There lay Alice in a terrible pool of her own blood, her eyes
closed--dead._
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 11: In 1876 Reitlinger & Urbanitzky before the Vienna Academy
of Sciences published a report on their experiments on artificial
comets. A tube containing hydrocarbon has been pumped out till the
pressure has fallen to 0.1 millimeter. If connected to an induction
coil, a blue sphere will be formed at the positive electrode after a
short time, which "hangs" suspended freely. Connected to the sphere is
a tail, fig. 1. One is struck immediately with the close resemblance
between this artificial comet and that of Henry's Comet of 1873, fig.
2. If a
[Illustration: _Fig. 1_]
[Illustration: _Fig. 2_]
conductor (a brass ball) as seen in fig. 1 is brought near the tube,
the tail flees from the conductor as far as the tube allows. This again
proves that the artificial as well as the real comets are subject
to the same natural laws. As is known, the tails of all comets are
repulsed strongly by the sun, which latter is nothing but a conductor.]
[Footnote 12: According to Bredikhine, the long straight tails, as
seen in the comet of 1861, are composed of hydrogen; the long curved
tails, like the principal tail of Donati's Comet, consist largely of
hydrocarbon vapors; while the somnolent, rare, short tails of violent
curvature are made up of mixed iron, sodium and other metallic vapors.
This classification has received support from spectroscopic evidence.
In 1882, Fitzgerald first propounded the theory that the tail was
due to the pressure of light upon the gaseous matter composing it.
In 1900 Arrhenius revived the theory, but modified it to the extent
of supposing the tail to consist, not of gaseous matter, but of
fine particles produced by condensation from the emanations of the
comet.--New International Encyclopædia.]
[Footnote 13: The induction balance is an instrument which, connected
with a telephone, causes the latter to emit a singing sound, when a
piece of metal is brought near the balance. It is incredibly sensitive
and has been used to locate buried treasures, etc. Invented in 1880 by
Professor Hughes.]
15
LLYSANORH' THROWS OFF THE MASK
When Alice saw that it was Llysanorh' standing on the threshold of her
room she experienced at once great disappointment and overwhelming
relief.
The second space flyer was not driven by Ralph, but she was at least
safe from Fernand.
"Oh," she cried with a sob of relief, "I am so glad it is you,
Llysanorh'! I have been so frightened."
He made no answer, but regarded her with enormous eyes in which burned
a somber flame.
"You _are_ going to take me off this horrible flyer, aren't you,
Llysanorh'? You won't leave me here alone with that--that beast, will
you?"
He shook his head soberly, and extended one hand to her.
"Come," he said briefly.
She put her own hand confidently in his, and he led her down the
stairs, and past the laboratory. She shrank back as she saw Fernand's
bound and motionless form.
"Is he--dead?" she whispered.
"No," said Llysanorh', leading her to the connecting tube. He helped
her through with gentle hands, and in a moment she found herself in
the other flyer. Taking her hand again in his, Llysanorh' led her to a
luxuriously furnished room.
"Stay here until I come back," he said. "I won't be long."
He turned to go but she, catching his sleeve, detained him.
"Are you going to--to kill him?" she asked.
"Perhaps. I haven't decided yet," he replied, unsmiling. And then,
gripping her shoulders with startlingly sudden emotion, "Has he harmed
you?"
"No, no," she said, frightened, "he just tried to terrify me, that was
all."
He released her, and strode to the door.
"I won't kill him," he said, and for the first time he smiled, but in
that smile there was no mirth. "I shall let him live, that he may pray
for the death I have denied him."
And he was gone.
Presently Alice heard him disconnecting the two machines, and a moment
later she knew that Llysanorh's flyer was moving. A half hour passed
and still she was left alone. Beyond the vibration of the machinery
there was no sound to indicate that she was not absolutely alone on the
flyer.
Feeling a little panicky she finally left the room and made her way
through a corridor. Several doors that she opened led into rooms even
more luxurious and splendid than the one she had left.
So this was the space flyer owned by the Martian of which there had
been so much gossip. Stories she had heard before of its spaciousness
and magnificence came back to her.
It was like the palace of the Beast in the ancient fairy story, where
Beauty had wandered for hours through room after room filled with new
marvels. Alice smiled whimsically at the thought. She was "Beauty,"
she reflected, and Llysanorh'--yes, he made a very good "Beast."
Her buoyant spirits were rapidly recovering from the strain of her
imprisonment.
Finally, she tried one more door, and entered a wonderful laboratory
fully equipped.
And at the farther end, seated before a low table sat the Martian, his
head resting on his folded arms. His whole attitude suggested hopeless
desolation. He looked very lonely and remote, and somehow, to her, very
pathetic.
She stood, hesitating, uncertain of whether to advance or retreat.
Finally she spoke his name softly. At her voice he raised his head and
stared at her. And she saw that his face was lined and furrowed as if
with some terrible strain, but his eyes were steady with resolve.
"How serious you look," she said, coming into the middle of the room.
"You seem so worried and anxious, Llysanorh'. Has something gone wrong
with the flyer? And what did you do with Fernand and his machine?"
"I left him recovering from the effects of the drug," he said, in
a forced and unnatural voice which betrayed, even more than his
expression, the disturbed state of his mind. "And nothing is wrong with
the flyer. It is I--I with whom everything is wrong."
"Oh, surely it can't be as bad as you think," said the girl, her quick
sympathies aroused by his obvious misery. "Would it make you feel any
better to tell me? We have always been such good friends, Llysanorh',
and I might be able to help you."
"Later, perhaps, later," he said, and then with an effort, "can you
make yourself comfortable here for a few days, do you think? I brought
the maid with me. You will find her waiting in your rooms for you. I
don't think she will give you any trouble."
"Oh, yes, I surely can," she replied. "It is lovely here. I have
heard so much of this flyer. Why haven't you shown it to father and
me before? The rooms are like those of a fairy palace. Tell me,
Llysanorh', will it be long before we get back to Earth? Everyone"--she
had been about to say Ralph, but checked herself--"everyone will be so
worried about me."
"We are never going back to Earth," he said.
"Never going--why, what has happened then? Is there something wrong
that you won't tell me?--or are you joking? But of course you're
joking, Llysanorh', and for a minute I thought you were serious."
"I was never more serious," he said, rising to his feet and facing her.
"We are never going back, you and I."
Alice looked at him wide-eyed, amazed and bewildered.
"But I don't understand," she faltered. "Why, Llysanorh'?"
It was then that the pent-up emotion of months burst the bonds of
self-restraint that he had forced upon himself.
"Why!" he cried passionately, "you ask me why! Can't you see why? How
can you look into my eyes and not know why? Because I am a man--because
I am a fool--good God, because I love you!" He flung himself upon his
knees, clasping her about the waist with his arms.
"I worship you, I adore you--I always shall. You must love me, you
cannot help but love me, I love you so much, Alice, Alice, my dearest,
my beloved."
He threw his head back and looked into her face imploringly, as if by
the very force of his love she must respond, but he read there only
terror and a growing abhorrence. It cooled him more effectually than
any words she could have spoken, and he relinquished his hold on her,
rose and went back to his former position at the table, while she
watched him speechlessly.
For a time neither spoke. At last he said in quiet tones strangely in
contrast with his late passion, "You can't hate me, Alice, I love you
too much."
"No," she said, gently, "I don't hate you, Llysanorh', but oh, can't
you see how hopeless all this is? I love Ralph, and if you keep me here
forever I will still love him."
She got a glimpse, then, of the terrible struggle this man of Mars had
had with his conscience.
"I know, I know," he groaned, "I have gone over that ground many
times--many times, but I can not--will not--give you up. I tell you,"
he went on with a return of his former frenzied emotion, "that rather
than let him have you I will kill you with my own hands. At least, when
you are dead I will be sure that no other man can possess you."
She was a courageous girl, but before the madness in his face she fled
shuddering.
* * * * *
During the next several days Alice kept close to her rooms. She saw
little of Llysanorh', who seemed to be avoiding her purposely, and
the maid, Lylette, was uncommunicative. Alice was horribly lonely and
afraid. At first she had confidently expected Ralph to rescue her at
any moment, but as the days dragged on, and still the space flyer
drew nearer to Mars, and there were no signs of Ralph, she became
increasingly aware that her situation was desperate.
She knew that Llysanorh' controlled powerful interests on his native
planet, and that once there, all her pleadings would be in vain and he
would make her his bride.
The few times she saw him he was quiet in manner, showing a courteous
deference to her. But he could not hide the triumphant light in his
eyes, which, the nearer they came to Mars, he took less pains to
disguise from her. And yet, she could not deny the fact of his genuine,
and fervent love for her. Only once, did he again speak of it.
One day she was sitting in the beautifully appointed library reading,
with Lylette near by, when he entered. He gazed at her a moment in
silence. Then he said, "You know, Alice, just to have you here with me,
where I can see you occasionally, is wonderful to me."
Her eyes filled with quick tears, for she was worn and unhappy. And
seeing them he quickly withdrew.
Later, he seemed very busy in the machine room. Passing it, once, she
saw him working frantically at something; what, she could not see. But
a glimpse of his face revealed it haggard and drawn. It was but a few
minutes after that, back in her own room, a complete and terrifying
blackness obliterated everything. She heard Lylette screaming somewhere
in dreadful panic, and she heard Llysanorh' shout something hoarsely.
Stumbling, she made her way as fast as she could in the darkness back
to the machine room. She heard him at one of the windows. Apparently he
was trying to pierce the blackness, to ascertain its cause. She started
toward him, when the light returned in a blinding flash, and she saw
Llysanorh' stagger as if struck by something.
"Llysanorh'," she cried, "what is it? What is happening?"
He lurched toward her and caught her in his arms savagely. "I'll tell
you what has happened," he shouted, "I see it all now. The comet--a
trick, damn him! And now he's got me. But not you, Alice, not you. You
are going with me--"
The Martian's face was distorted with passion. He had a gleaming dagger
in his right hand poised over her. Then, just as it was about to strike
she saw his face go blank and felt a terrific blow on her arm. The next
instant she was slumping--seemed to drop off into a dreamless sleep.
16
THE SUPREME VICTORY
When Ralph burst into the machine room of the Martian's flyer and
saw Alice lying dead in a pool of her own blood the shock was almost
more than he could bear. Falling on his knees beside her he caught
her small, yet warm hand in his, calling her name again and again in
agonized tones. He covered her lovely white face with kisses, while dry
tearless sobs tore at his throat.
Then, thinking that perhaps he had made a mistake, that her heart
_must_ still beat, he tried, with trembling hands to discover the
extent of her injuries. Llysanorh' had aimed at her heart but the dying
man had missed his mark, and the sharp point of the dagger had slashed
her arm, cutting into the large artery. And in those precious moments
when Ralph had been connecting the two flyers, and making his way from
one to the other, her warm rich life's blood had ebbed rapidly away.
He lifted the lifeless body in his arms and carried it to his machine,
where he laid it on his bed. His mind was confused and disordered and
he was unable to think coherently. A sickening sensation of depression
so overwhelmed him that he felt physically ill.
Suddenly an electric thrill seemed to pass through his body and his
clouded mental vision cleared. A picture flashed upon his mind. He
saw himself in his laboratory on Earth, bending over a "dead" dog. And
there came to him a memory of the words of that Dean of scientists:
"_What you have done with a dog, you can do with a human being._"
In that instant Ralph was galvanized. For the first time in his life
he doubted. Could he do it? What if he failed? Then he pushed such
thoughts from him with stem resolution.
_He would not fail!_
He touched the body of the girl. It had not yet grown cold with the
icy chill of death. He rushed for some electric heating pads, which he
applied to her to keep what warmth remained.
Then came that which proved itself a terrible ordeal for him. It was
absolutely necessary to drain away all the remaining blood, so that it
would not coagulate.
It had been a simple matter to empty the blood vessels of a dog, but
this was the girl he loved, and he shuddered as he began his work.
He opened the large artery, and it was only with supreme courage that
he forced himself to complete the heart=breaking task, while scalding
tears ran down his cheeks unheeded.
He had scarcely terminated his work, when he heard steps in the
corridor. He could feel his hair bristling, and he whirled to face the
door, reaching for his radioperforer as he did so. Could Llysanorh'?...
The next moment a large woman stood in the doorway.
Ralph stared at her in amazement. Then suddenly it dawned upon him that
this must be the maid Fernand had provided.
She had hidden herself in abject terror when the darkness came down,
and had only now mustered enough courage to investigate. The first
object she had seen upon creeping to the machine room was the dead body
of the Martian. Horrified, she had fainted away, but later, recovering,
she crawled through the connecting tube.
She was weak, trembling with fright, and could be of no use, and
Ralph hastened to get her into another room, where he put her into
a comfortable chair and left her, for he could not afford to lose a
minute now.
A most important task was now before him. He had to pump an antiseptic
solution through the veins of Alice, and after that the blood vessels
must be filled with a weak solution of Radium-K Bromide, which, taking
the place of the blood would prevent her body from undergoing physical
and chemical changes.
With infinite care Ralph applied himself to his difficult task.
After the blood vessels had been completely filled with the Radium
preparation, he sewed up the arteries. In this gruesome task he was
assisted by Lylette, who had recovered sufficiently to be of some help
to him.
There remained only one more thing--to apply the Permagatol, the rare
gas, having the property of conserving animal tissue, which Ralph had
used successfully in his dog experiment, in keeping the respiratory
organs from decomposing in the absence of blood in the blood vessels.
Ralph then quickly constructed a case of flexible glass, which he
fitted around the upper part of Alice's body, covering her head and
torso.
He took special precautions, moreover, to make the case air-tight.
When the case had been completed and the recording and registering
instruments put in place, Ralph went up to the laboratory to get the
Permagatol.
When, however, he tested the steelonium bomb, labeled "Permagatol," he
found it absolutely empty.
The discovery nearly paralyzed him. His head swam and he was forced to
sit down to keep from slumping over in the gravitation-less flyer. This
last blow was almost too much. His cup of hope, that Alice could be
brought back to life, had been snatched out of his hands.
Without the Permagatol, it was impossible to save her. There was
nothing to keep the beautiful dead body from disintegrating. While
the Radium-K Bromide stayed the process to a certain extent, the
respiratory organs could only be saved by means of the precious
Permagatol.
Could he use a substitute gas? It was a dangerous experiment to make,
but he had nothing to lose, and everything to gain.
He threw himself with a frenzy into the work and in six hours had
compounded a gas that, in its general structure and atomic weight, came
close to the properties and characteristics of Permagatol. The gas he
evolved was Armagatol, and while he knew that it had never been used
for the purpose for which he intended it, he felt justified in risking
the experiment.
After the air had been drawn from the glass case, he immediately
introduced the Armagatol into it.
The change in Alice's face shocked him, as he watched the Armagatol
fill the case. The green gas-vapors cast an unearthly green pallor
over her countenance, and the ghastliness was further enhanced by the
deathly pallor of her face.
He arranged the electric heating pads around Alice's body, and
inspected the registering instruments.
It had now become necessary to take his bearings. He found to his
amazement that instead of being close to Mars, as he had expected, he
was moving away from that body.
The two space flyers, although their machinery was not working,
had been moving rapidly, due to the gravitational action of the
nearest large celestial body. This body was not Mars, however, but
Earth. Although, at the time of the encounter with Llysanorh', the
two machines had been slightly nearer to Mars, the larger mass, and
consequently the stronger attraction of the Earth had overcome the pull
that Mars exerted on the machines, and as a result the machines were
now being drawn toward Earth.
A glance at the celestial chart revealed to Ralph that Earth and Mars
would be in opposition the next day and that he was separated from
Earth by twenty-two million miles. He would have to move faster than
Earth if he were to overtake that body. Besides, he was twenty-two
million miles to the east of the planet.
The Earth was traveling 65,533 miles per hour in its orbit. A simple
calculation indicated that, by forcing his space flyer to the utmost,
or 90,000 miles an hour, he could not hope to reach Earth in less than
fifty days, as he could only gain about 24,400 miles an hour on Earth.
The next important step was to cut loose Llysanorh's machine. He
instructed Lylette to get her things from the Martian's flyer. She
started to crawl through the connecting tube, and that was the last
time Ralph saw her alive.
A loud hissing noise, like escaping steam caused him to rush to the
connecting tube, but he was too late. The automatic safety valve
had sprung, and the circular door of the connecting tube had been
hermetically closed.
The two machines had drifted apart, and as Ralph peered anxiously
through one of the windows, he was horrified at the sight of Lylette,
hanging by her feet from the circular connecting-tube door of
Llysanorh's machine.
The door had closed automatically when the two machines had become
disconnected. The air had of course rushed out immediately from
Llysanorh's flyer. She had died in a few seconds and her body had
become distended to a great many times its normal size. Ralph,
nauseated by the terrible spectacle, turned away from it. There was
nothing he could do.
Few people realize that it is nothing but the atmospheric pressure that
keeps our bodies from falling apart; thus, it is well known that when
flying at high altitudes on the Earth, where the atmosphere becomes
thin, blood will begin to flow from the mouth, nose and ears.
When he glanced backwards a few minutes later and saw Llysanorh's
machine he gave an exclamation of astonishment. The machine was not
to be seen, but in its place was a wondrous comet, its tail streaming
thousands of miles behind it!
Llysanorh's flyer, which was somewhat larger in size than that of
Ralph's, had "captured" the artificial comet! There remained not a part
of it attached to Ralph's flyer. Ralph reasoned that the air that had
been contained formerly in Llysanorh's machine had, upon rushing out
of the flyer after Lylette's fatal accident, mixed with the gases of
the "comet" and thereby assisted the latter in detaching itself from
Ralph's flyer.
It remained within range of his vision for many weeks, before it was
finally lost in the depths of infinite space, where it would, in all
probability, rush through the boundless universe for aeon upon aeon,
ere it would eventually collide with some other body, and would be
reduced to cosmic dust.
* * * * *
The long days during Ralph's flight back to Earth left their indelible
imprint upon his mind. Never, in all the years to follow, could he look
back upon them without a shudder, remembering the heart-break of the
terrible hours in which he sat beside the bed on which lay his beloved.
The nearer he drew to Earth, the more his dread of the coming ordeal
increased. He was by no means sure that he could bring Alice back to
life; it was not even probable. It was but an experiment at best, the
outcome of which could not be foretold. If Armagatol would bring the
same reactions as Permagatol, there was a reasonable assurance of
restoring Alice to life, but Ralph was inclined to doubt the efficiency
of the substitute gas.
He examined her every few hours, and once in twenty-four he looked
at the blood vessels. This was made possible by means of his
_Platinum-Barium-Arcturium_ eyeglasses, which acted in a similar manner
to the old-fashioned X-ray screen. Inasmuch as all the blood vessels
of Alice's body were filled with Radium-K Bromide--which latter, like
Radium, excited the Platinum-Barium-Arcturium eyeglasses--each blood
vessel could be inspected with ease.
The invisible Rays (the same as X-rays) emanating from the Radium-K
Bromide solution in the blood vessels, showed Ralph their exact
condition.
While all the blood vessels remained healthy, Ralph became greatly
alarmed over the change that slowly, but steadily, made itself apparent
in the respiratory organs. Some change was taking place which he did
not understand. He knew it must be the action of the Armagatol, but
he was unable to do anything, as with the chemicals on hand it was
impossible to produce the life-saving Permagatol.
Ralph grew more despondent each day, and his hope of bringing his
betrothed back to life grew dimmer and dimmer as the hours rolled on.
For the first time since he left the Earth he became _space-sick_.
Space-sickness is one of the most unpleasant sensations that a human
being can experience. Not all are subject to it, and it does not last
longer than forty-eight hours, after which it never recurs.
On Earth, gravitational action to a certain degree exerts a certain
pull on the brain. Out in space, with practically no gravitational
action, this pull ceases. When this happens, the brain is no longer
subjected to the accustomed pull, and it expands slightly in all
directions, just as a balloon loses its pear shape and becomes round
when an aeronaut cuts loose, to drop down with his parachute.