THE STORY OF A STAR
“Methought I saw
Life, swiftly treading over endless space.”
(+Hood.+)
Jupiter now lay before them as they pointed straight for his surface,
and the Martian warrior soon recovered sufficiently to walk to the
window and watch the great belted mass. His name was Werran, and he was
an expert general of high standing, much esteemed for his numerous acts
of bravery.
When he looked outside and beheld the countless worlds and planetoids
crossing and recrossing in various orbits he became lost in thought.
He had seen them through telescopes hundreds of times and knew their
courses, recognising many of the globes from their positions and
configurations, their distances and progress he also knew; but when he
saw them, as from a stationary ship, speeding towards and passing them
in a flash, the ship itself overtaking and passing with terrific speed
all those travelling in the same direction, he could scarcely realise
it. This, however, was nothing to what happened a few hours later.
From somewhere on their extreme right, discernible with the naked eye,
came a faint glow like a phosphorescence; going to the glasses it was
seen to be a ray of light from some distant star, seen on some floating
stratum of dense ether, the star itself unseen in the infinity of
space. Probably for millions of years the ray had been travelling at
a velocity of nearly 187,000 miles per second, and they could see it
far ahead travelling towards them, the light falling on the denser
strata of ether in its path in a broad, straight ray. Adjusting their
movements they drew nearer and nearer to this ray till they met and
entered it, when they saw strange things—scenes that were travelling
on the light beams, scenes that happened perhaps millions of years
before, when these particular light-beams left their source. It might
be the people had now ceased to exist, perhaps the world itself had now
no existence, and no place in creation as a world, but the marvellous
light-beams were carrying the record of a bygone time, on and on
throughout the universe, showing every world that crossed their path,
what things had been done at some infinitely remote portion of the
infinite universe in the far distant past.
Thus was the history of a whole world laid bare, too rapidly for the
sight to distinguish details, so the high-speed continuous photographic
apparatus was at once set in motion. As they shot into the light-ray,
with incalculable speed, it sped past them, and later they found
that the lenses of the instruments had given them miles and miles of
excellent pictures of the distant world, proving that it had been
formed physically like Earth, and that all the various periods of its
existence till the formation of man coincided exactly with those of
Earth, and as the ship entered into and obstructed the light-beams
there came the time when out of the darkness that was on the face of
the deep there appeared lurid lights of phosphorescence and exploding
gases, which became chemically united to form better and purer air and,
eventually, an atmosphere; then land appeared, though the azoic rocks
and land were incapable of supporting life and the world was small and
deadly. Then followed long periods in which various forms of animal
and vegetable life existed, each living its allotted time and dying,
its remains resting upon the ground, each epoch in its turn adding to
the size of the world and preparing it for the next form of life. First
of all came the molluscs, to which the world was principally given
over, for these sightless creatures needed no light; then came the
fishes, which disturbed and aërated the waters by their movements; then
came marine reptiles, and as the land became habitable, though soft,
these were followed by every variety of reptiles, and after these had
prepared the ground, all forms of animals except man; later came man
and all the animals suited to live with him, and as the races of men
progressed, their various actions of good and ill were imprinted.
For several days the voyagers travelled in this light-beam, unable even
with the powerful instruments to penetrate the distance to its source,
and at last they turned aside to resume their flight to Jupiter.
Eagerly running the films through the reproducer, they were almost
overwhelmed to see the wonderful sights being presented to them as in a
book. Although well known in theory, it seemed miraculous to prove by
actual sight that the light was carrying on its beams the whole history
of a world across the great infinity of space, unfolding it silently
and swiftly to all who had eyes to see.
“That was the most awesome sight I ever beheld!” said Ross, deeply
impressed.
“Had we gone forward,” said Godfrey, “we should have come to the world
itself and seen what lives the people are leading to-day. If the world
exists now!”
“Yes,” assented Gilbert, “but we might have gone on for years and then
not have come to the source of light,” and then he continued, laughing,
“if we get lost and can’t find Earth again, we can hunt up that beam
and eventually locate the world it came from! It is so like our own
that it would just suit us to settle on.”
With that began a general discussion on the probability of losing Earth
and the possibilities that would open out in that case, for in the
immensity of space where every point can be the centre of infinity,
direction seemed of no account. But there was little danger of such a
calamity, for so long as they did not travel beyond sight of the sun,
or some member of the solar system, they could always return and locate
themselves, for the movements of the planets were doubly clear to them
by actual sight and not as diagrams drawn on a flat surface.
Rapidly they approached the mighty Jupiter, looming before them like
a giant golden ball, and they all stood at the windows fascinated by
the glorious sight of one of the moons passing before him as a dark,
semi-opaque object with an iridescent border.
A few hours later the _Regina_ was again in the heavy atmosphere, and
Godfrey inquired, “What are you going to do with these people for the
trick they played us when we came before?”
“We will see,” replied Dennis. “If they are friendly now, we will be
friendly too and let bygones be bygones;” and Ross, whose turn it was
at the time to pilot the vessel, caused her to settle to within twenty
feet of the ground, and connected the protecting current to the outer
casing to prevent possible damage being done by the Jovians.
Of course they landed at a different part of the planet this time, and
below them the people came running up from all directions. These people
could not have been of the same constitution as the Terrestrians, for
considering that the specific gravity on the surface is more than
double that of Earth, the inhabitants might reasonably be expected to
be proportionately larger and heavier. Heavier they must have been,
but they were of the average Earth size and slighter in build.
They crowded below, gesticulating and talking volubly, but in the
ship their combined voices could not be distinguished by Werran, so
the current was switched off as the Jovians appeared friendly, and
Werran stepped outside and held up his hand for silence, which is a
sign understood on every planet, apparently. In a few seconds all was
quiet and in his commanding voice the interpreter asked them to give
him and his companions every assistance during their visit, at the same
time requesting to speak with the principal personage. Whether they
understood his language or the concentrated thought of it was difficult
to say, but at once the governor of the town approached under the
escort of an armed guard, and asked if the visitors were friendly—from
whence they came and for what purpose?
Werran gave the desired information, then, feeling his head beginning
to swim, he stepped inside the vessel and translated all that had
passed, he speaking in Martian language, as he had done from the start,
for soon after his forced imprisonment he had unthinkingly spoken in
his own tongue, forgetting his hosts were ignorant of it, whereas they
replied in English, equally oblivious of the fact that English was a
dead letter to their captive. This was not noticed till some time had
elapsed because, in his near presence, the serious thought accompanying
the words on both sides made the actual speech a mere matter of form,
so that they conversed with Werran in English, he speaking the Martian
tongue, though he alone was able to converse with the Jovians, either
by thought or language.
In the meantime, the Jovians were busily discussing the situation, and
whether it was that the people were different from those they had first
met, or that the presence of an interpreter gave an air of ‘quality’
to the expedition, the Jovians seemed disposed to give the travellers
every assistance. They appeared to know little about the grub asked
for and talked over the question with Werran at great length, till
all in the ship grew impatient. At last Werran came inside and said,
innocently, “They don’t seem to understand what grub it is you want, so
I have asked them to bring all the animals they have and you can take
your choice.”
“Oh, Great Bona!” gasped Godfrey, in dismay, while the others roared
with laughter. “There will be a Noah’s Ark soon! We shall have to stay
here for years to go through every variety of living thing on the face
of Jupiter!” and he sat down quite overcome, glaring round at the
laughter of his companions.
Werran could not understand it, but then he never could understand
laughter, for the Martians do not laugh. It seemed to him so strange
that the Earthians should crease their faces and make noises and hold
their sides when they were pleased. He kept his face perfectly serene
under the influence of both pleasure and pain, for it was considered
bad form on Mars to alter the expression in the slightest degree, no
matter what the circumstances. Consequently, he was amazed that his
companions—who seemed to him refined and educated—should occasionally
lose all self-control and give themselves up to peculiar contortions
of the features, often ending in tears and a holding of the sides. Nor
could he understand why they seemed nonplussed at his request to bring
out _all_ the animals. They had none on Mars, and his idea of what an
animal was seemed very vague.
“There’s nothing for it but waiting to see what they’ll bring us,” said
Ross, laughing.
In a few hours the Jovians brought some hundreds of animals, native to
the locality, but it was impossible for Godfrey to make a selection,
as not one of them bore any resemblance to Earth animals, and there
were no grubs or any form of caterpillar amongst them. They were of
all sizes, from that of a mouse to a mammoth, and of endless variety;
all seemed extremely friendly, looking trustfully at the strangers in
passing, and Godfrey averred he saw one of them deliberately wink at
him, but when the others looked, the creature’s eyes were filled rather
with sadness and reproach than with frivolity, though it seemed to
brighten up when Godfrey was charged with maligning it, but this might
have been fancy.
“There’s your Noah’s Ark, Godfrey, my boy,” said Dennis. “All the
varieties of animals in the kingdom are at your feet, take your choice,
only get a little one! that frisky one there would fill the saloon.”
“It’s all very well for you fellows to stand there and chaff,” replied
Godfrey, shortly. “It’s a great pity three great hulking fellows like
you cannot employ your time to better advantage! If these are specimens
of Jovian bugs we’d better get back home again, for there are no
apparatus here to deal with any of that lot.”
“Werran!” exclaimed Gilbert, laughing, “just ask them if they’ve any
nice little grubs to trot out for our friend here, there’s a good chap!
tell them these insects are too full-grown for him, and not the right
kind.”
Werran delivered the message, but the folks had done their best
and could do no more, so matters were at a dead-lock. In a fit of
desperation, Godfrey turned to Werran, saying, “We want a grub that
will stand fire, Werran, old chap. Ask them to burn the whole lot, and
then we’ll take those that live and thrive on it.”
The message was duly and seriously given, but the Jovians had no
sense of humour as propounded by Terrestrians, for they refused to
do anything more and seemed rather huffy at the ingratitude of their
visitors.
“You three are running this show,” said Godfrey, with an air of
disclaiming all connection with the business. “What are you going to
do? Take the lot, or none?”
“No! we’re letting you run it, old man! you know you said you could
manage the people splendidly,” remarked Ross, laughing, receiving a
glare from Godfrey as a reward for his too-ready memory.
“That’s just where we want your advice as an expert,” said Dennis,
banteringly. “We’d like to have the lot, so as to give you every
encouragement, but the ship won’t hold them;” then turning to Ross, he
asked, “_Had_ we come to _Jupiter?_ and what part of him did they say?
I forget.”
“Upon my word, I’ve completely forgotten!” said Ross.
“So have I!” chimed in Gilbert, laughing.
“Great Bona!” cried Godfrey, with a start, “you _are_ a brilliant
triad, I must say! you undertake two journeys, hundreds of millions of
miles, to say nothing of a war or two by the way, and the only address
you have is—‘a grub, Jupiter’—and Jupiter is about fourteen hundred
times larger than Earth. And I give up all my important work on Earth
to play dummy to three idiots! Let us go home again till you grow a
bit older! I’m surprised at you!” he continued, sarcastically. “I said
I should have to look after you, and upon my word you need it. If any
one had told me that you three scientists could come all this distance
and bring me with you, like a toy on a string, without knowing what you
want and where to find it, I’d have—eaten ’em. A grub on Jupiter! upon
my word, it does you great credit and I feel quite proud of you. A grub
on——” and Godfrey, following the example of his three companions, gave
way to long and uncontrollable laughter.
Their mirth so affected Werran, that after staring hard first at one,
then another, he found himself following their example, first smiling,
then laughing like his companions, which surprised him so much and was
withal so comforting that he continued to laugh long after the others
could laugh no more, but sat looking stolidly at one another with
tear-streaming faces. It thus fell to the lot of four Britons to have
the honour of causing the first Martian laugh.
“Can none of your fuzzled brains remember?” asked Godfrey, in gasps.
“Don’t! Godfrey,” begged Ross. “I can’t laugh any more; my sides ache
as if they were raw.”
“We shall have to spin round the planet’s surface till something
recalls the instructions,” said Dennis.
“Ay!” agreed Gilbert, and turning to Werran, said, “Will you tell those
folks down there, Werran, please, that we are much obliged—we did not
want to look at their stock for ourselves, but for a friend, and we’ll
call again!” and he stepped towards the switch-board as unconcernedly
as if he had been walking out of a shop.
Werran gave the message, though it is to be hoped he wrapped it up
rather more daintily, and a few minutes later they were wandering
over the surface of Jupiter in search of the forgotten locality. The
landscape that unfolded itself below them was as unlike Earth as it was
possible to be. There was a great deal of water, both salt and fresh,
but the strangest feature lay in the vegetation, for all the grass was
long, broad, and thick in the blade, and the trees had heavy, leathery
leaves covered with stiff, bristly hairs and as strong as the giant
cactus of Earth. The explorers were constantly stopping to collect
samples of this strange vegetation and specimens of the geology and
mineralogy of the planet, and to hold converse with various inhabitants.
Terrestrial history shows that in times past Earth had been given over
to engines, carriages, and cars, and trains running on rails which
lay upon the ground and bridges and entered tunnels in the hills,
and many of the beauty spots on Earth had been covered with these
unsightly lines and wires for transmitting electric current and sending
messages from place to place. All these things had long ago disappeared
and the Earth had been much improved thereby; but here, in certain
districts, were lines on which goods were sent, but what was the motive
power could not be seen, except that it was of enormous strength, for
when the force of the _Regina_ was directed to resist one of these
loads in order to test it, the dial registered a force of over one
thousand horse-power. There was an entire absence of pneumatic tubes
for transmitting luggage, but perhaps this unseen force and single
guide-line would be as effective as Earth-methods, or more so.
The Jovians spoke of Earth as “Gorok,” which to them signifies ‘small’;
Mars they call “Lazak,” or ‘ruby,’ because, as seen from the surface
of Jupiter through his atmosphere, Mars appears blood-red, which
recalls the fact that Jovian blood is colourless, and contains few red
corpuscles though rich in hæmoglobin and, consequently, possesses great
power of absorbing oxygen, the people, therefore, being healthy and
strong. Their own planet is named “Milak,” which signifies ‘beautiful
garden’; the sun they call “Kulik,” or ‘learned’; and it was noticed
that most of the proper names terminated with the explosive sound of k.
Suddenly, as they were flying over a village, Gilbert shouted, “Now
I remember! the Bonian told us we should get what we wanted beside a
mountain with a crater like a flat cross.”
“So he did!” agreed Ross, “he said the people would meet us there.”
“I remember it, too, now!” also assented Dennis.
“Do you really!” broke in Godfrey, ironically, “blessed memory! and is
this haven of rest at hand?”
“Yes!” replied Dennis, laughing, “it is close before us and we shall be
there in a minute!”
Slowly the vessel skimmed over a city, then a village, and then a few
straggling houses, and beside the crater of an extinct volcano lay a
long building having a roof of some glittering metal which was unknown
on Earth and which shone strangely in the peculiar light cast by two
differently coloured moons.
Coming to a stand above the building they saw many people gathering
together on the ground below, and Werran, as usual, spoke to them.
It was plain that they were expected, and after a brief conversation
Werran returned to tell them that they had at last reached their goal
and their difficulties were now at rest, for here, the only place on
the whole surface of Jupiter, were cultivated the germs which were
wafted on ether to Bona, the floral paradise of the solar system.
Godfrey was now a different being; all banter was put aside for the
nonce in the seriousness of the work he had undertaken, and full of
his subject, he kept Werran busy asking and translating innumerable
questions and answers relating to the life-history of the little
creature he had come to cultivate. He and Werran then landed and
entered the building, but the air was too oppressive for a long stay,
and after a matter of ten or fifteen minutes they were obliged to
return to the ship for recovery and rest, after which they resumed
their work, Werran becoming quite as interested in the small organisms
as Godfrey himself. This caused them to be constantly entering and
leaving the ship, and Godfrey soon enlisted the services of the three
others, so that before very long all five were working, each with
fixed duties, and matters progressed so well that Godfrey was in high
spirits. Fortunately, also, as the days wore on, they became more and
more accustomed to the air until they were able soon to remain in it
for several hours at a time, although, remembering the adventure in
Mars, the vessel was never left without one or other of the owners in
charge, well-disposed as the Jovians appeared.
In the garden of this place, called “Kulametik” was a strange beast,
like the one that had caused the death of so many of the Jovians, and,
on inquiry, they gained much information about this curious animal,
which made them feel sorry they had imputed wrong motives to the
natives they had met on their first visit.
They learned that the particular insect, the germs of which are sent
to Bona, is a variety of remarkable habit. Although living in distinct
colonies, they are symbiotic, and do not grow to perfection unless
there is a certain beast living near them. Such an instance is by no
means isolated, for there are, on Earth, many forms of bacilli, for
example, which, to arrive at perfect development, must be placed side
by side with amœbæ; if they are thus placed on culture-plates and both
fed, the samples taken from them for independent culture must also be
symbiotic, and contain both bacteria and amœbæ so that both may grow
together, if results are to be depended upon. For this purpose the
people at Kulametik imported an animal of enormous bulk from a distant
land called Carakulak, in which district alone it was bred.
On Jupiter there is only one language, which is spoken in all parts
of the planet, and telepathy is in universal use, consequently, when
the Bonians sent their message, all the people on Jupiter on the
same ‘waves’ disturbed by the Bonians received the same message. It
so happened that the people at Carakulak received the message, which
was the cause of their excitement when the _Regina_ settled in their
midst, for they had been expecting and hoping to see the ship which had
travelled so far in so short a time. Understanding what was wanted,
and knowing they sent the large animal to Kulametik for the same
purpose, they no doubt considered they were doing the Terrestrians a
kindness in presenting them with one of the beasts that were necessary
to the full development of the insects at the farm at Kulametik, where
the naturalists in charge would not have one to spare.
These great beasts were perfectly harmless, living or dead, provided
death came naturally, or in any other way than from a broken spine;
for when the spine was fractured, especially near the throat, there
came from the spinal cord or marrow, if exposed, an oozing which was
exceedingly volatile, and instantly became converted into a gas so
deadly as to cause immediate death to every living thing within a
radius of fifty feet of the carcass. When the natives saw the beast
slip through the rope and hang head downwards they feared it might slip
away altogether and break its weak and brittle neck; this explained why
they had run helter-skelter at the first sign of danger.
This great risk made the travellers dubious about taking so dangerous
a creature on board, lest it should inadvertently come to grief
against something, and end their careers suddenly whilst in space;
but it was found, fortunately, that the variety of grub that needed
the close presence of such a beast would not suit Earth, so they
felt considerably relieved. They stayed on Jupiter a little over a
month, during which time Godfrey gained all information possible with
regard to the life-history and culture of the strange and interesting
creatures, the rest of the party rendering valuable assistance. In a
special room which had been made out of what had originally been three
cabins, they fixed up apparatus and dishes and some strange boxes given
them by the people of Kulametik, in which colonies of over fourteen
million eggs or germs were coming forward. These would produce some
millions each in the course of a year or so, and when Godfrey felt
confident in proceeding with them and understood what to do in each
phase of their existence, the visitors took their leave, full of
gratitude to their kind hosts, and sailed away to Mars in order to
return the borrowed Martian. Werran was quite overcome at the parting,
as were they all, for in their close and friendly companionship and
their intimate association in the realms of space they had all become
like brothers. They tried to persuade him to stay with them, but his
friends and family were in Mars and he would not hear of them being
taken to Earth, which had not a very good reputation on the planet,
though many were anxious to risk going there, or indeed anywhere, to
escape the threatened doom, foolishly forgetting, as Werran had himself
strongly pointed out at the time of the attempted seizure of the
_Regina_, that the end could not come for many generations hence; the
present inhabitants were, themselves, in no immediate danger, and there
was certainly no necessity to be hysterical in the matter. He longed
to go back to his native country, nor could they blame him, for there
seems ingrained in the soul such an intense affinity with the land of
one’s birth, that however far one may be removed from it, and no matter
how happy one may be, there is felt such a strong yearning and love
for one’s native land as makes the return to it the subject of many a
longing heartache.
Treacherous as the Martians might appear in their fervent desire to
save their posterity when the chance seemed suddenly to be placed
before them, they were Werran’s own countrymen and Mars his native
soil, and nothing would induce him to leave it, and as the voyagers
sought out and hovered over the locality from which he had been
kidnapped, the natives again congregated in crowds. They still appeared
antagonistic, but bearing past experiences in mind they were not
aggressive, but stood sullenly watching the ship’s every movement as
Werran was gently floated down. Then the _Regina_ rose and over the
house where Werran lived a dark object was seen to fall and then rest.
A few seconds later there was a blinding flash, and, brilliant in the
glaring sunshine even, there shot downwards a powerful red light. Then
the _Regina_ soared upward like a giant bird, becoming smaller and
smaller till lost to view. Still the light poured down its powerful
ray, continuing to illumine Werran’s house for three days and nights,
and when this faded and finally went out in a series of fizzles and
splutters, still the metal cup, inverted like a mushroom, remained
perfectly poised, floating over the house as a further reminder to him
and his warlike compatriots of the _Regina_, although they needed no
souvenir to keep her memory green, for as long as doomed Mars holds
sensate beings, so long will the story of the _Regina_ figure in
Martian history.