Ankova's Story
The Martian made a brief nervous sign to the jailer. "Gently, Rega," he
said. The Space Man relaxed his painful grip on his prisoners. The noble
surveyed them smiling. Defiantly, half contemptuously, Shelby was
smiling back.
Finally, with a mocking casual air, Hekki spoke: "There is a very
ancient saying on your planet," he said, "to the effect that bad pennies
always return." The corners of his mouth twitched with sardonic
amusement. His manner grew more serious, yet still there was an
undercurrent of sarcasm: "Miss Darell and Mr. Shelby, I want to
compliment you on your remarkable cleverness and daring. Words cannot
express my admiration for you. You have every right to be proud of
yourselves."
Shelby nodded. "We are," he told him drily. "Is there anything more on
your mind?" He turned away with an expression of bored contemptuous
indifference.
"I have little to say except that we are about to continue our recently
interrupted journey tonight, Mr. Shelby," said the Martian.
He saw the Earthman and the girl casting interested glances at the disc
vehicles that surrounded them everywhere.
"You like my people?" Hekki inquired. "You find them entertaining?
Perhaps you have discovered things in their habits which you cannot
understand. Shall I give you explanations?" For the moment at least
there was a serious earnest ring in Hekalu's voice.
"Flag of truce, Jan. This should be interesting," Shelby said. His eyes
were full of eagerness as he turned back toward the Martian. "How do
they live out there?" he cried. "There isn't any air or water, and it's
almost as cold as it can get anywhere. Why, the thing is utterly
impossible according to the laws of common sense!"
Immediately all of Hekalu's lazy air of careless mockery was gone, and
the dynamic aura of the tireless experimenter and inventor that had
hidden beneath it showed out clear. His voice was husky with suppressed
excitement when he spoke:
"I too was dumbfounded when, some five Earth years ago, I first ran
across the Space Men out there. (He waved his hand toward the west away
from the sun.) But after I had studied them for a time, I knew that
there was really nothing very remarkable or impossible about the nature
of their living. It is actually quite similar to our own.
"Why do we need air? Simply because by the chemical combination of
oxygen with food we obtain the energy necessary to make our brains to
think, our limbs to move, and our hearts to beat. Energy is life. But
doesn't it occur to you that this vital thing might be obtained in some
other manner? The Space Men do. Their principal food is the radio-active
element, atomic number 109, as yet undiscovered on the planets. It is a
purplish liquid that is fairly abundant on a number of the planetoids.
Daily, like radium, it gives off vast quantities of energy; and when in
the systems of the Space Men it supplies them with power more
efficiently than food and oxygen ever could do for us.
"Why can't we survive the intense cold of space? The answer is a simple
one. The protoplasm of all forms of living things that we know of,
including the Space Men themselves, is a colloidal jelly the principal
portion of which is, and must be, a liquid. Cells must be bathed and
nourished, and impurities washed away. Without liquids there seems to be
no likelihood that there would be any life, unless in some manner a gas
could perform this fluid function. Solids would remain forever dead and
motionless.
"If anything happens to chill even slightly the protoplasm of any of the
higher forms of planetary life, the body fluid becomes sluggish and
death may result. No mammals or birds that we know of can live actively
with their body temperatures at all approaching the freezing point of
water. However, in the polar seas of both planets there are creatures
whose systems function quite normally with their blood temperatures just
above this point. But beyond this deadline, zero degrees Centigrade, or
a little lower or higher, depending on the actual congealing point of
the water in their bodies, even they cannot go, for there, the cold
limit of Terrestro-Martian life has been reached.
"Why couldn't these polar fish survive the cold of space? Simply because
the protoplasm of their tissues, based on water, would instantly become
solid, and in solids as I have said, there can be no real life except
perhaps in the form of suspended animation.
"The Space Men face no such danger, for first, their bodies are
protected by this heat-resisting outer covering; and second, the liquid
in their veins freezes only at absolute zero, and since it is
radio-active--producing heat from within itself--it cannot get that cold
even in the void. And that, friends, is the whole stupendous, simple
explanation."
"And how do the Space Men's vehicles move?" asked Jan.
Hekki shook his head. "Except that a strange propulsive ray is involved,
I know very little about it. I have not yet discovered how the Space Men
manage to produce the ray. The works of Nature ever surpass the works of
man.
"And that is all I have time for now, my friends. Breakfast is ready
aboard ship. Enjoy my hospitality to the fullest!" Hekki's mask of
smiling sardonic cruelty had dropped again. He waved something to Sega.
* * * * *
Janice, sensing that she was about to be separated from her lover, threw
herself into his arms. The series of things she had gone through in the
past twenty-four hours had frayed her nerves almost to the breaking
point.
"Don't let them take me away from you, Austin. Don't let them! Oh,
Hekki, please!"
Hekalu's face reddened, and then Sega tore the two apart. Shelby
struggled but it was useless. Sega's huge muscles were quite equal to
the task of mastering a dozen of the best fighting men of Earth.
He dragged his captives aboard the _Selba_, and guided by the
inscrutable Koo Faya, locked them in chambers from which escape would
now be definitely impossible. Jan was thrust into the room she had
occupied before, but Shelby was put into a chamber somewhat larger than
his original prison.
An almost ungovernable fury had taken possession of the young Earthman.
If for only a moment he could get his hand on the smooth Hekalu! His
fingers clutched and unclutched spasmodically as he hurriedly paced the
room. When presently, he found himself hammering on the walls with the
frenzy of a trapped gorilla, a realization of where he was headed came
to him. "Stop where you are, you fool!" he muttered to himself.
He went to the table where an appetizing breakfast was set out. He ate a
little and then waited a while. He wanted to make sure that the food was
not drugged. Half an hour passed and he felt no ill effects. He ate the
rest of his breakfast. Then he made several attempts to signal Jan by
tapping on the walls, but he was quite sure that to get a message to her
in this way was now out of the question.
For a long time he gazed out into the sunlit valley floor from his
window. Preparations of some kind were under way. It looked as though
the entire population, which must have numbered close to fifteen hundred
Space Men all told, was getting ready to move away _en masse_. Scores of
the strange black people were hurrying about, lugging loads of weapons
and hundreds of large cylindrical objects into four immense box-like
things of dull metal. Several vehicles, resembling machines of the Space
Men, but many times larger, were clustered together in a group.
It must have been several hours after Shelby had been taken into the
space ship that two of Alkebar's people came to his room, carrying
between them the unconscious form of the Space Man who had been Jan's
and his fellow prisoner during the night of their arrival on Mars. They
threw the limp giant down carelessly on one of the bunks, and without a
glance at him or the Earthman, they stamped out.
Shelby would have liked to examine his cell mate more closely, but owing
to the chain which had again been fastened to his ankle, it was
impossible to get nearer to him than four yards. Who was this creature?
His gorgeously bejeweled harness and his huge size seemed to indicate
that he had been a leader of some kind. Shelby had noticed that all
Space Men who had a right to command, were somewhat larger than their
fellows.
All through the long Martian day Shelby paced the length of his tether,
pausing occasionally to look out of the window and to think. By
nightfall he was in a state bordering upon complete dejection. Not that
he was weak; Shelby could face trying situations shoulder to shoulder
with the stubbornest and cleverest men that Earth or Mars could produce.
But he was human and had his limitations. Recapture after a glowing
promise of freedom and safety for his people, his love, and himself had
almost crushed him.
Only half interestedly he wondered when Hekalu Selba would strike. He
knew that it would be very soon. In vain he tried to tell himself that
he had no real proof of the Martian's power, but always a vision of
those black horrors swooping down like living thunderbolts upon Taboor
or New York or Chicago made him realize how futile would be any
resistance that the planets could offer.
Even if there were but fifteen hundred Space Men, and Shelby was certain
as actual knowledge that there were many more, and even if they must
fight with their bare hands, still they would be a formidable menace.
Within an hour's time they could strike in a dozen different places on
the surface of a planet. Shelby did not know that already there were
forces of Fate in action which neither he nor Hekalu Selba himself had
been able to foresee--forces however, which boded no good for the
worlds.
Koo Faya brought the Earthman his noonday and evening meal. With each
came a note from Hekalu, both exactly alike: "Remember the Atomic Ray."
Doubtless the Martian sought by endless repetition of this message to
undermine his captive's nerves to a point where he would divulge the
secret.
At dusk there was the sound of activity aboard the _Selba_--muffled
shouts and the drone of generators being tuned up. Then the slow rocking
and swaying of the vessel which told that her levitator plates were in
action, raising her off the ground, through the atmosphere and out into
the void.
Shelby looked out of the window, saw that the stars were growing
brighter and the sky blacker. A searchlight was playing from somewhere
on the ship, for in the shadow of the planet it was very dark. The beams
swung back and forth stabbing through the swarms of Space Men who flew
in a cluster about the _Selba_. The lights lingered for several instants
on the forms of four great metal cubes that were being lifted up through
the gaseous envelope of Mars by a number of the larger discs the
Earthman had seen resting beside them in the valley that day.
Shelby threw himself upon his bunk. He gave one quick glance at the blob
of darkness on the other bunk at the farther end of the room, wondered
vaguely who or what the creature could be, and then, mentally and
physically exhausted, went quickly to sleep.
* * * * *
When he awoke Shelby spent many minutes staring at his fellow prisoner.
There were indications that his consciousness was returning for he
stirred frequently. Presently he who had been the Earthman's and the
mysterious one's jailer in the hut the night before, came, bearing a
bowl filled with a purplish radio-active liquid which served the Space
Men as food. He also carried a hypodermic syringe and a small glass
container partially filled with a clear fluid.
These last two articles he placed upon the table, while he carried the
bowl over to his charge. He shook the lacerated and bejeweled Space Man
roughly and when he had aroused him to a sluggish half-consciousness,
held the bowl of liquid food to his lips. Mechanically the prisoner
drank.
Shelby looked at the tiny vial on the table and then at the back of the
jailer. Close beside the vial stood a glass partially filled with water.
The Earthman had drawn a drink from the tap shortly before going to
bed, and had left the tumbler standing there.
The idea that had now entered his head had no real purpose. He
recognized it as no more than a practical joke, plain and simple; but
the idea was clamoring for attention. He would pour out the drug, which
was almost certainly meant to keep the giant captive senseless, and
replace it with harmless water. The jailer would not see for he was very
busy. A little noise, the rattling of the chain or the tinkling of the
glass as it was set down, would not matter, for though the Space Men may
have possessed a very delicate touch sense capable of detecting faint
vibrations in solid objects about them, Shelby knew by now that they had
no real organs of hearing.
And so, quickly the deed was done, and quickly he returned to his bed
feigning sleep.
It was a long time after the jailer had departed before Shelby's trick
bore fruit. The huge prisoner rose to a sitting posture and looked
about, a trifle dazedly at first. He surveyed his wounds, felt over
himself tentatively, and then glanced at Shelby. The Earthman saw that
the fogginess was clearing from his big eyes. There was a questioning
expression in them.
Shelby thought that there was a slight chance that the colossus might be
able to read his lips even though he could not hear. "Who are you?" he
questioned in Pagari.
Apparently the creature understood, for immediately he turned, and with
his forefinger slowly traced out on the wall behind him in the planetary
symbols: "Friend of enemies of Black Emperor and of Man from Fourth
World."
Shelby was taken aback by the Space Man's startling knowledge of things
of which he should know nothing. "That makes me your friend," he wrote,
smiling.
The giant nodded, and for almost a minute stared fixedly at the
Earthman. There was a strange appeal in his eyes. Finally he turned, and
laboriously he traced a quaintly worded message on the wall: "Think hard
to know what I go say," he wrote.
Shelby had heard a good deal about telepathy and thought transference,
depending on etheric vibrations of some kind, supposedly originating in
the mind of one individual, and capable of being detected and
interpreted by the mind of another. Several savants of Earth and Mars
claimed to be adept with it, but owing to the fact that to master the
art required a long period of intensive practice, it had not come into
general use.
Could it be that this savage of the void was claiming knowledge of it?
Sensing the meaning back of the odd words, the Earthman bent every fibre
of his will to the task of concentrating on the idea of communication.
He gazed fixedly at the eyes of the black mystic, and presently felt a
slight tingling about his temples, and then, within his brain it seemed
that a tiny voice speaking with a queer wording and a peculiar accent,
came to life. It was odd to look at that blank impassive face and hear
those words!
"I know you to be friend of mine," the voice said. "I read it in brains.
You free me from sleep. But where are we? What Fourth World Man do? What
for you here?"
Briefly Shelby outlined the events of the past few days, starting with
his meeting with Hekalu. However, he was careful not to make any mention
of the Atomic Ray. Then, partially through curiosity, and partially in
the hope that the information might be helpful, he mentally asked his
companion to tell him more about the Space Men's relations with the
Martian.
"Everything maybe all right," said the giant. "Maybe everybody happy at
last. Who know? But I tell you. We Star People--my people Star People.
For a long time, oh, for very long time, we wander out there in empty
places. One million year, two million year, who know? We free. Maybe
find little planet--we camp there--soon go away. We fight, we hunt. Oh,
there very many of us! Like sand in sky!
"One day some of us find your sun. We land on little world. Stay long.
Man from Fourth World come in ship. We frightened, but he make friends.
Bring us gifts. We give jewels and things we make. He learn our sign
language--talk with us--tell about his world. Go away but soon come
back. Bring more gifts--want more jewels and things. He take some of us
with him to empty desert where nobody live. Tell us to bring jewels
there to trade, but always be careful no one see!
"He make friends with Black Emperor. They plan. Gather big army. But
many not like Black Emperor and Fourth World Man. My father, big noble,
not like them; I not like them. They never good to us--make our people
work hard, and take away our animals.
"Civil war soon--my father lead many little tribes, but Black Emperor
and Man from Fourth World win. Have many strange weapons. Make peace for
big conquest war, and I am hostage on Fourth Planet.
"Mars man good to me at first. I learn languages--both Pagari and Earth
language. I learn to throw thoughts. My father learned from Mars slave.
Then bad things happen. Fourth World Man not like me to throw thoughts
to my father so far away. He give me sleep drug. When my father lead
revolt again, Mars Man torture me. Now, as you say, he take me back to
place where army is, on two little worlds."
A gleam of hope came into Austin Shelby's eyes, but it passed quickly.
His lips curled bitterly. It was not well to base one's hope on the
assertion of an unknown savage that he could hurl his thoughts across
millions of miles of space.
"By what name are you known, Man of the Void?" he asked.
The voice in his brain spoke again: "Mars Man call me Ankova." Here the
giant made a darting gesture with his hand. "Mean same as so in my sign
language--Darting Meteor."
"I see. Can you communicate with your father now, Ankova?--get help?"
The Space Man nodded. "My brain clear now," he said. "Sleep drug not
bother me any more. I talk right away."