_The City of Golden Domes_
With the _Nomad_ cruising slowly over the surface of the peaceful
satellite, Mado sampled the atmosphere through a tube which was
provided for that purpose. The pressure was low, as they had expected;
about twenty inches of mercury in the altitude at which they drifted.
But the oxygen content was fairly high and the impurities negligible.
A strange element was somewhat in evidence, though Mado's analysis
showed this to be present in but minute quantity. They opened the
ports and drew their first breath of the atmosphere of Europa.
"Good air, Carr." Mado was sniffing at one of the ports. "A bit rare
for you, but I think you'll get along with it. Temperature of
forty-five degrees. That's not so bad. The strangest thing is the
gravity. This body isn't much more than two thousand miles in
diameter, yet its gravity is about the same as on Venus--seven eighths
of that of Terra. Must have a huge nickel-iron core."
"Yes. It'll be a cinch for me. But you, you big lummox--it's the G-ray
for you as long as we're here."
"Uh-huh. You get all the breaks, don't you?"
Carr laughed. He was becoming anxious to land. "What sort of a
reception do you suppose we'll get?" he said.
"Not bad, from the tone of that last message. And here they come,
Carr. Look--a dozen of them. A royal reception, so far."
Suddenly they were in the midst of a flock of great birds; birds that
flapped their golden wings to rise, then soared and circled like the
gulls of the terrestrial oceans. And these mechanical birds were fast.
Carr and Mado watched in fascination as they strung out in V formation
and led the way in the direction of the setting sun. Six, seven
hundred miles an hour the _Nomad's_ indicator showed, as they swung in
behind these ships of Europa.
* * * * *
They crossed a large body of water, a lake of fully five hundred miles
in width. More country then, hardly populated now and with but few of
the gleaming roadways. The sun had set, but there was scarcely any
diminution of the light for the great ball that was Jupiter reflected
a brilliance of far greater intensity than that of the full Moon on a
clear Terrestrial night. A marvelous sight the gigantic body
presented, with its alternate belts of gray-blue and red and dazzling
white. And it hung so low and huge in the heavens that it seemed one
had but to stretch forth a hand to touch its bright surface.
Another mountain range loomed close and was gone. On its far side
there stretched the desolate wastes of a desert, a barren plain that
extended in all directions to the horizon. Wind-swept, it was and
menacing beneath them. Europa was not all as they had first seen it.
A glimmer of brightness appeared at the horizon. The fleet was
reducing speed and soon they saw that their journey was nearly over.
At the far edge of the desert the bright spot resolved itself into the
outlines of a city, the city of golden domes. Cones they looked like,
rather, with rounded tops and fluted walls. The mental message had
conveyed the most fitting description possible without words or
picture.
The landing was over so quickly that they had but confused impressions
of their reception. A great square in the heart of the city, crowded
with people. Swooping maneuvers of hundreds of the bird-like ships. An
open space for their arrival. The platform where a committee awaited
them. The king, or at least he seemed to be king. The sea of upturned
faces, staring eyes.
* * * * *
Mado fidgeted and opened his mouth to voice a protest but Carr nudged
him into silence. The king had risen from his seat in the circle on
the platform and was about to address them. There was no repetition of
the telepathic means of communication.
"Welcome, travelers from the inner planets," said the king. He spoke
Cos perfectly! "Cardos, emperor of the body you call Europa, salutes
you. Our scientists have recorded your thoughts with their psycho-ray
apparatus and have learned that you have a message for us, a message
we fear is not pleasant. Am I correct?"
Carr stared at the soft-voiced monarch of this remarkable land. It was
incredible that he spoke in the universal language of the inner
planets!
"Your Highness," he replied, "is correct. We have a message. But it
amazes us that you are familiar with our language."
"That we shall explain later. Meanwhile--the message!"
"The message," Carr said, "is not pleasant. A golden sphere out in
space. Helpless in the clutches of a nameless monster, a vast creature
of jellylike substance but possessed of enormous destructive energy. A
mental message to our vessel warning us away and bidding us to come
here; to tell you of their fate. We escaped and here we are."
The face of Cardos paled. He reached for an egg-shaped crystal that
reposed on the table; spoke rapidly into its shimmering depths. Hidden
amplifiers carried his voice throughout the square in booming tones.
It was a strange tongue he spoke, with many gutturals and sibilants. A
groan came up from the assembled multitude.
Cardos tossed the crystal to the table with a resigned gesture, then
tottered and swayed. Instant confusion reigned in the square and the
emperor was assisted from the platform by two of his retainers. They
never saw him again.
* * * * *
One of the counsellors, a middle-aged man with graying russet hair and
large gray eyes set in a perfectly smooth countenance, stepped from
the platform and grasped the two adventurers as the confusion in the
square increased to an uproar.
"Come," he whispered, in excellent Cos; "I'll explain all to you in
the quiet of my own apartments. I am Detis, a scientist, and my home
is close by."
Gently he clung to them as the larger men forced their way between the
milling groups of excited Europans. No one gave them much attention.
All seemed to be overcome with grief. A terrible disaster, this loss
of the golden sphere must be!
They were out of the square and in one of the broad streets. The
fluted sides of the unpointed cones shone softly golden on all sides.
Alike in every respect were these dwellings of the people of Europa,
and strangely attractive in the light of the mother planet.
Not a word was spoken when they reached the abode of their guide. They
entered an elaborate hall and were whisked upward in an automatic
elevator. Detis ushered them into his apartment when they alighted. He
smiled gravely at their looks of wonder as they cast eyes on the maze
of apparatus before them. It was a laboratory rather than a living
room in which they stood.
Detis led them to an adjoining room where he bid them be seated. They
exchanged wondering glances as their host paced the floor vigorously
before speaking further.
"Friends," he finally blurted, "I hope you'll excuse my emotion but
the news you brought is a terrible blow to me as to all Europa. Carli,
our prince, beloved son of Cardos, was commander of the ship you
reported lost. We deeply mourn his loss."
* * * * *
Carr and Mado waited in respectful silence while their host made
effort to control his feelings.
"Now," he said, after a moment, "I can talk. You have many questions
to ask, I know. So have I. But first I must tell you that Carli's was
an expedition to your own worlds. A grave danger hangs over them and
he was sent to warn them. He has been lost. Our only space-ship
capable of making the journey also is lost. Six Martian years were
required to build it, so I fear the warning will never reach your
people. Already the time draws near."
"A grave danger?" asked Mado. "What sort of a danger?"
"War! Utter destruction! Conquest by the most warlike and ambitious
people in the solar system."
"Not the people of Europa?" asked Carr.
"Indeed not. There is another inhabited satellite of Jupiter, next
farthest from the mother planet. Ganymede, you call it. It is from
there that these conquerors are to set forth."
"Many of them?" inquired Mado.
"Two million or so. They're prepared to send an army of more than a
tenth of that number on the first expedition."
"A mere handful!" Carr was contemptuous.
"True, but they are armed with the most terrible of weapons. Your
people are utterly unprepared and, unless warned, will be driven from
their cities and left in the deserts to perish of hunger and exposure.
This is a real danger."
"Something in it, Carr, if what he says is true. We've no arms nor
warriors. Haven't had for two centuries. You know it as well as I do."
"Bah! Overnight we could have a million armed and ready to fight them
off."
* * * * *
Detis raised his hand. "You offend me," he said gravely. "I have told
you this in good faith and you reward me with disbelief and boastful
talk. Your enemies are more powerful than you think, and your own
people utterly defenceless against them."
"I'm sorry," Carr apologized, "and I'll listen to all you have to say.
Surely your prince has not given his life in vain." He was ashamed
before this scientist of Europa.
A tinkling feminine voice from the next room called something in the
Europan tongue.
Detis raised his head proudly and his frown softened at the sound of
dainty footsteps. His voice was a caress as he replied.
A vision of feminine loveliness stood framed in the doorway and the
visitors rose hastily from their seats. Carr gazed into eyes of the
deepest blue he had ever seen. Small in stature though this girl of
Europa was--not more than five feet tall--she had the form of a
goddess and the face of an angel. He was flushing to the roots of his
hair. Could feel it spread. What an ass he was anyway! Anyone'd think
he'd never seen a woman in all his thirty-five years!
"My daughter, Ora, gentlemen," said Detis.
The girl's eyes had widened as she looked at the huge Martian with the
funny black box on his back. They dropped demurely when turned to
those of the handsome Terrestrial.
"Oh," she said, in Cos, "I didn't know you had callers."