"Exactly."
"You wouldn't settle for a moon maiden, would you? I heard they're
cute. And sexy."
"A Martian." He was very adamant. "I'll have the greatest attraction in
the world. Nick, I'm the kind who gets what he wants. I've spent over
three million dollars on this project and I'm ready to spend another
three million. Just get me my Martian and you'll be a rich man. You'll
be rich enough to quit working for me and to tell me to go to hell.
You'd like that, wouldn't you?"
"I'd like that very much."
* * * * *
Two weeks later we went to Arizona. A week after that we took off. I
didn't really think we would. But we did.
Just me and Joe Roane. Two men in a space ship.
A huge metal tube hurtling through the longest and blackest of nights.
Joe Roane was a good-looking chap. Good-looking, young, and excited.
He was the first to pilot a ship to Mars. He was looking ahead to the
glory that awaited him.
We landed on Mars.
We put on helmets that Ritter and Young had made for us. We stepped
down the metal ladder.
They were there, waiting for us.
I'd rather have faced a bushmaster or a rhino.
They stood on three legs. They had globe bellies, tiny heads, and no
necks. They were of a color I had never seen before. They had two arms
with two hands attached to each arm. I suppose they were hands. They
were more like claws.
I stood frozen solid. Joe Roane screamed and turned to run back up the
ladder. A beam flashed and Joe fell forward, silent and very dead.
After that it was all a blank.
When I came to I was strapped down by metal clasps on a long board made
of some kind of marble. I was alone for some time.
I don't remember how long it was before one of them appeared. He stood
by my side, looking down at me. His eyes were purple. There were no
whites. "You have come a long way," he said.
"You--you speak English?"
"We used a 64-V machine on you. We learned your language, your
thoughts, your name. We know about Norbert Marsten. A very enterprising
man, it seems."
"What are you going to do with me?"
"We haven't decided yet. So you were going to take one of us back with
you for Marsten's circus. To exhibit one of us to your stupid race. My
followers wanted to kill you when this information was learned. But I
believe I have a better idea."
He went away. I yelled for him to come back. I yelled till my throat
was dry. Eventually he did come back. He came back with Joe Roane
and ... myself.
"I want you to meet Klar and Grat," he said. "They have taken over
your bodies; you will take theirs--and return to Marsten. We have
a transformer machine to accomplish this. Only we never had an
opportunity to use it until you were so gracious as to visit us." He
spoke on, telling me of his idea. I shuddered and wished for death. I
begged him to kill me.
Then a contraption was fitted over me and it hummed and I passed out. I
remember the trip back to earth.
* * * * *
I'm no longer Nick Faber. I'm Marty the Martian. What a cute title
Marsten had hung on me. I've got a nice home and I get plenty to eat.
Only my home is a cage and it's made of glass. People come from all
over the world just to see me. And Marsten has been to see me every
day. He chews on his big cigar and there's a smile on his face a yard
wide.
I've tried to talk to my keepers but all I can manage is some crazy
kind of gibberish. I also see Klar and Grat. But they're only there
when Marsten is around. They're keeping very close to him. My being
transformed into a Martian was just part of it. Klar and Grat were
going to carry out the rest of it.
On one dark night, and very soon, Klar, Grat, and Marsten were going to
disappear.
Maybe I was the greatest attraction on earth. But Norbert Marsten was
going to be the greatest attraction on Mars.