THE KALKAR CITY
Now, indeed, did I have reason to curse the stupidity that had permitted
me to cast into the abyss all of the hooked poles save one, since even
this one was now lost to me and I was utterly without means of escape
from the tunnel.
As the fellow approached me at a rapid run I hurled my lance, but being
unaccustomed to the weapon, I missed, and then he was upon me, dropping
his own lance as he leaped for me, for it was evidently his desire to
take me alive and unharmed. I thought that I was going to have him now,
for I believed that I was more than a match for him, but there are
tricks in every method of attack and this lunar warrior was evidently
well schooled in his own methods of offense. He scarcely seemed to touch
me, and yet he managed to trip me and push me simultaneously so that I
fell heavily backward to the ground and turning a little sideways as I
fell, I must have struck my head against the side of the tunnel, for
that is the last that I remember until I regained consciousness in the
very cave that Nah-ee-lah and I had reached when we saw the first of the
Kalkars. I was surrounded by a party of eight of the Kalkars, two of
whom were half carrying, half dragging me. I learned later that in the
fight before the rostrum I had killed four of their number.
The fellow who had captured me was in very good humor, doubtless because
of his success, and when he discovered that I had regained consciousness
he started to converse with me.
“You thought that you could escape from Gapth, did you?” he cried, “but
never; you might escape from the others, but not from me—no, not from
Gapth.”
“I did the principal thing that I desired to do,” I replied, wishing to
learn if Nah-ee-lah had escaped.
“What is that?” demanded Gapth.
“I succeeded in accomplishing the escape of my companion,” I replied.
He made a wry face at that. “If Gapth had been there a moment earlier
she would not have escaped, either,” he said, and by that I knew that
she had escaped, unless she had fallen back into the crater; and I was
amply repaid for my own capture if it had won freedom for Nah-ee-lah.
“Although I did not escape this time,” I said, “I shall next time.”
He laughed a nasty laugh. “There will be no next time,” he said, “for we
are taking you to the city, and once there, there is no escape, for this
is the only avenue by which you can reach the outer world and once
within the city you never can retrace your steps to the mouth of the
tunnel.”
I was not so sure of that, myself, for my sense of direction and that of
location are very well developed within me. The degree of perfection
attained in orientation by many officers of the International Peace
Fleet has been described as almost miraculous, and even among such as
these my ability in this line was a matter of comment. I was glad,
therefore, that the fellow had warned me, since now I should be
particularly upon the watch for each slightest scrap of information that
would fix in my memory whatever route I might be led over. From the cave
in which I regained consciousness there was but a single route to the
mouth of the tunnel, but from here on into the city I must watch every
turn and fork and crossing and draw upon the tablets of my memory an
accurate and detailed map of the entire route.
“We do not even have to confine our prisoners,” continued Gapth, “after
we have so marked them that their ownership may always be determined.”
“How do you mark them?” I asked.
“With heated irons we make the mark of the owner here,” and he touched
my forehead just above my eyes.
“Pleasant,” I thought to myself, and then aloud: “Shall I belong to
you?”
“I do not know,” he replied, “but you will belong to whomever The
Twentyfour allot you.”
We moved on after we left the cave for a considerable period of time in
silence. I was busy making mental notes of every salient feature that
might be useful to me in retracing my steps, but I found nothing other
than a winding and gently ascending corridor, without crossings or
branches, until we reached the foot of a long flight of stone steps at
the summit of which we emerged into a large chamber in the walls of
which there must have been at least a dozen doorways, where, to my great
disappointment, I was immediately blindfolded. They whirled me around
then, but evidently it was done perfunctorily, since it was exactly one
full turn and I was halted in my tracks facing precisely in the same
direction that I had been before. This I was positive of, for our powers
of orientation are often tested in this way in the air service. Then
they marched me straight forward across the room through a doorway
directly opposite that at which I had entered the chamber. I could tell
when we left the larger chamber and entered the corridor from the
different sound which our footsteps made. We advanced along this
corridor ninety-seven paces, when we turned abruptly to the right and at
the end of thirty-three paces emerged into another chamber, as I could
easily tell again from the sound of our footsteps the instant we crossed
the threshold. They led me about this chamber a couple of times with the
evident intention of bewildering me, but in this they did not succeed,
for when they turned again into a corridor I knew that it was the same
corridor from which I had just emerged and that I was retracing my
steps. This time they took me back thirty-three paces and then turned
abruptly to the right. I could not but smile to myself when I realized
that we were now continuing directly along the same corridor as that
which we had entered immediately after they had first blindfolded me,
their little excursion through the short corridor into the second
chamber having been but a ruse to bewilder me. A moment later, at the
foot of a flight of steps they removed the blind, evidently satisfied
that there was now no chance of my being able to retrace my steps and
find the main tunnel leading to the crater, while, as a matter of fact,
I could easily have retraced every foot of it blindfolded.
From here on we climbed interminable stairways, passed through numerous
corridors and chambers, all of which were illuminated by the
radium-bearing substance which coated their walls and ceilings, and then
we emerged suddenly upon a terrace into the open air, and I obtained my
first view of a lunar city. It was built around a crater, and the
buildings were terraced back from the rim, the terraces being generally
devoted to the raising of garden truck and the principal fruit-bearing
trees and shrubs. The city extended upward several hundred feet, the
houses, as I learned later, being built one upon another, the great
majority of them, therefore, being without windows looking upon the
outer world.
I was led along the terrace for a short distance, and during this brief
opportunity for observation I deduced that the cultivated terraces lay
upon the roofs of the tier of buildings next below. To my right I could
see the terraced steps extending downward to the rim of the crater.
Nearly all the terraces were covered with vegetation, and in numerous
places I saw what appeared to be Va-gas feeding upon the plants, and
this I later learned was the fact, and that the Kalkars, when they are
able to capture members of the race of Va-gas, keep them in captivity
and breed them as we breed cattle, for their flesh. It is necessary, to
some extent, to change the diet of the Va-gas almost exclusively to
vegetation, though this diet is supplemented by the flesh of the
Kalkars, and their Laythean slaves who die, the Va-gas thus being
compelled to serve the double purpose of producing flesh for the Kalkars
and acting as their scavengers as well.
Upon my left were the faces of buildings, uniformly two stories in
height, with an occasional slender tower rising fifteen, twenty or
sometimes as high as thirty feet from the terraced roofs above. It was
into one of these buildings that my captors led me after we had
proceeded a short distance along the terrace, and I found myself in a
large apartment in which were a number of male Kalkars, and at a desk
facing the entrance a large, entirely bald man who appeared to be of
considerable age. To this person I was led by Gapth, who narrated my
capture and the escape of Nah-ee-lah.
The fellow before whom I had been brought questioned me briefly. He made
no comment when I told him that I was from another world, but he
examined my garments rather carefully and then after a moment turned to
Gapth.
“We will hold him for questioning by The Twentyfour,” he said. “If he is
not of Va-nah he is neither Kalkar nor Laythean, and consequently, he
must be flesh of a lower order and therefore may be eaten.” He paused a
moment and fell to examining a large book which seemed to be filled with
plans upon which strange hieroglyphics appeared. He turned over several
leaves, and finally coming evidently to the page he sought, he ran a
forefinger slowly over it until it came to rest near the center of the
plat. “You may confine him here,” he said to Gapth, “in chamber eight of
the twenty-fourth section, at the seventh elevation, and you will
produce him upon orders from The Twentyfour when next they meet,” and
then to me: “It is impossible for you to escape from the city, but if
you attempt it, it may be difficult for us to find you again immediately
and when we do you will be tortured to death as an example to other
slaves. Go!”
I went; following Gapth and the others who had conducted me to the
presence of this creature. They led me back into the very corridor from
which we had emerged upon the terrace and then straight into the heart
of that amazing pile for fully half a mile, where they shoved me roughly
into an apartment at the right of the corridor with the admonition that
I stay there until I was wanted.
I found myself in a dimly lighted, rectangular room, the air of which
was very poor, and at the first glance I discovered that I was not
alone, for upon a bench against the opposite wall sat a man. He looked
up as I entered and I saw that his features were very fine and that he
had black hair like Nah-ee-lah. He looked at me for a moment with a
puzzled expression in his eyes and then he addressed me.
“You, too, are a slave?” he asked.
“I am not a slave,” I replied, “I am a prisoner.”
“It is all the same,” he said; “but from whence come you? I have never
seen your like before in Va-nah.”
“I do not come from Va-nah,” I replied, and then I briefly explained my
origin and how I came to be in his world. He did not understand me, I am
sure, for though he seemed to be, and really was, highly intelligent, he
could not conceive of any condition concerning which he had had no
experience and in this way he did not differ materially from intelligent
and highly educated Earth Men.
“And you,” I asked, at length—“you are not a Kalkar? From whence come
you?”
“I am from Laythe,” he replied. “I fell outside the city and was
captured by one of their hunting parties.”
“Why all this enmity,” I asked, “between the men of Laythe and the
Kalkars—who are the Kalkars, anyway?”
“You are not of Va-nah,” he said, “that I can see, or you would not ask
these questions. The Kalkars derive their name from a corruption of a
word meaning The Thinkers. Ages ago we were one race, a prosperous
people living at peace with all the world of Va-nah. The Va-gas we bred
for flesh, as we do today within our own city of Laythe and as the
Kalkars do within their city. Our cities, towns and villages covered the
slopes of the mountains and stretched downward to the sea. No corner of
the three oceans but knew our ships, and our cities were joined together
by a network of routes along which passed electrically driven
trains”—he did not use the word trains, but an expression which might
be liberally translated as ships of the land—“while other great
carriers flew through the air. Our means of communication between
distant points were simplified by science through the use of electrical
energy, with the result that those who lived in one part of Va-nah could
talk with those who lived in any other part of Va-nah, though it were to
the remotest ends of the world. There were ten great divisions, each
ruled by its Jemadar, and each division vied with all the others in the
service which it rendered to its people. There were those who held high
positions and those who held low; there were those who were rich and
those who were poor, but the favors of the state were distributed
equally among them, and the children of the poor had the same
opportunities for education as the children of the rich, and there it
was that our troubles first started. There is a saying among us that ‘no
learning is better than a little,’ and I can well believe this true when
I consider the history of my world, where, as the masses became a little
educated, there developed among them a small coterie that commenced to
find fault with everyone who had achieved greater learning or greater
power than they. Finally, they organized themselves into a secret
society called The Thinkers, but known more accurately to the rest of
Va-nah as those who thought that they thought. It is a long story, for
it covers a great period of time, but the result was that, slowly at
first, and later rapidly, The Thinkers, who did more talking than
thinking, filled the people with dissatisfaction, until at last they
arose and took over the government and commerce of the entire world. The
Jemadars were overthrown and the ruling class driven from power, the
majority of them being murdered, though some managed to escape, and it
was these, my ancestors, who founded the city of Laythe. It is believed
that there are other similar cities in remote parts of Va-nah inhabited
by the descendants of the Jemadar and noble classes, but Laythe is the
only one of which we have knowledge. The Thinkers would not work, and
the result was that both government and commerce fell into rapid decay.
They not only had neither the training nor the intelligence to develop
new things, but they could not carry out the old that had been developed
for them. The arts and sciences languished and died with commerce and
government, and Va-nah fell back into barbarism. The Va-gas saw their
chance and threw off the yoke that had held them through countless ages.
As the Kalkars had driven the noble class into the lofty mountains, so
the Va-gas drove the Kalkars. Practically every vestige of the ancient
culture and commercial advancement of Va-nah has been wiped from the
face of the world. The Laytheans have held their own for many centuries,
but their numbers have not increased.
“Many generations elapsed before the Laytheans found sanctuary in the
city of Laythe, and during that period they, too, lost all touch with
the science and advancement and the culture of the past. Nor was there
any way in which to rebuild what the Kalkars had torn down, since they
had destroyed every written record and every book in every library in
Va-nah. And so occupied are both races in eking out a precarious
existence that there is little likelihood that there will ever again be
any advancement made along these lines—it is beyond the intellectual
powers of the Kalkars, and the Laytheans are too weak numerically to
accomplish aught.”
“It does look hopeless,” I said, “almost as hopeless as our situation.
There is no escape, I imagine, from this Kalkar city, is there?”
“No,” he said, “none whatever. There is only one avenue and we are so
confused when we are brought into the city that it would be impossible
for us to find our way out again through this labyrinth of corridors and
chambers.”
“And if we did win our way to the outer world we would be as bad off, I
presume, for we could never find Laythe, and sooner or later would be
recaptured by the Kalkars or taken by the Va-gas. Am I not right?”
“No,” he said, “you are not right. If I could reach the rim of the
crater beyond this city I could find my way to Laythe. I know the way
well, for I am one of Ko-tah’s hunters and am thoroughly familiar with
the country for great distances in all directions from Laythe.”
So this was one of Ko-tah’s men. I was glad, indeed, that I had not
mentioned Nah-ee-lah or told him of her possible escape, or of my
acquaintance with her.
“And who is Ko-tah?” I asked, feigning ignorance.
“Ko-tah is the most powerful noble of Laythe,” he replied, “some day he
will be Jemadar, for now that Nah-ee-lah, the Princess, is dead, and
Sagroth, the Jemadar, grows old, it will not be long before there is a
change.”
“And if the Princess should return to Laythe,” I asked, “would Ko-tah
still become Jemadar then, upon the death of Sagroth?”
“He would become Jemadar in any event,” replied my companion, “for had
the Princess not been carried off by the air that runs away, Ko-tah
would have married her, unless she refused, in which event she might
have died—people do die, you know.”
“You feel no loyalty, then,” I asked, “for your old Jemadar, Sagroth, or
for his daughter, the Princess?”
“On the contrary, I feel every loyalty toward them, but like many
others, I am afraid of Ko-tah, for he is very powerful and we know that
sooner or later he will become ruler of Laythe. That is why so many of
the high nobles have attached themselves to him—it is not through love
of Ko-tah, but through fear that he recruits his ranks.”
“But the Princess!” I exclaimed, “would the nobles not rally to her
defense?”
“What would be the use?” he asked. “We of Laythe do but exist in the
narrow confines of our prison city. There is no great future to which we
may look forward in this life, but future incarnations may hold for us a
brighter prospect. It is no cruelty, then, to kill those who exist now
under the chaotic reign of anarchy which has reduced Va-nah to a
wilderness.”
I partially caught his rather hopeless point of view and realized that
the fellow was not bad or disloyal at heart, but like all his race,
reduced to a state of hopelessness that was the result of ages of
retrogression to which they could see no end.
“I can find the way to the mouth of the tunnel where it opens into the
crater,” I told him. “But how can we reach it unarmed through a city
populated with our enemies who would slay us on sight?”
“There are never very many people in the chambers or corridors far
removed from the outer terraces, and if we were branded upon the
forehead, as accepted slaves are, and your apparel was not so
noticeable, we might possibly reach the tunnel without weapons.”
“Yes,” I said, “my clothes are a handicap. They would immediately call
attention to us; yet, it is worth risking, for I know that I can find my
way back to the crater and I should rather die than remain a slave of
the Kalkars.”
The truth of the matter was that I was not prompted so much by
abhorrence of the fate that seemed in store for me, as by a desire to
learn if Nah-ee-lah had escaped. I was constantly haunted by the horrid
fear that her hold upon the rim of the crater had given and that she had
fallen into the abyss below. Gapth had thought that she had escaped, but
I knew that she might have fallen without either of us having seen her,
since the pole up which she had clambered had been fastened a little
beyond the opening of the tunnel, so that, had her hold become loosened,
she would not have fallen directly past the aperture. The more I thought
of it, the more anxious I became to reach Laythe and institute a search
for her.
While we were still discussing our chances of escape, two slaves brought
us food in the shape of raw vegetables and fruit. I scanned them
carefully for weapons, but they had none, a circumstance to which they
may owe their lives. I could have used their garments, had they been
other than slaves, but I had hit upon a bolder plan than this and must
wait patiently for a favorable opportunity to put it into practice.
After eating I became sleepy and was about to stretch out upon the floor
of our prison when my companion, whose name was Moh-goh, told me that
there was a sleeping apartment adjoining the room in which we were, that
had been set apart for us.
The doorway leading to the sleeping chamber was covered by heavy
hangings, and as I parted them and stepped into the adjoining chamber, I
found myself in almost total darkness, the walls and ceiling of this
room not having been treated with the illuminating coating used in the
corridors and apartments which they wished to maintain in a lighted
condition. I later learned that all their sleeping apartments were thus
naturally dark. In one corner of the room was a pile of dried vegetation
which I discovered must answer the purpose of mattress and covering,
should I require any. However, I was not so particular, as I had been
accustomed to only the roughest of fare since I had left my luxurious
stateroom aboard _The Barsoom_. How long I slept I do not know, but I
was awakened by Moh-goh calling me. He was leaning over me, shaking me
by the shoulder.
“You are wanted,” he whispered. “They have come to take us before The
Twentyfour.”
“Tell them to go to the devil,” I said, for I was very sleepy and only
half awake. Of course, he did not know what devil meant, but evidently
he judged from my tone that my reply was disrespectful to the Kalkars.
“Do not anger them,” he said, “it will only make your fate the harder.
When The Twentyfour command, all must obey.”
“Who are The Twentyfour?” I demanded.
“They compose the committee that rules this Kalkar city.”
I was thoroughly awakened now and rose to my feet, following him into
the adjoining chamber, where I saw two Kalkar warriors standing
impatiently awaiting us. As I saw them a phrase leaped to my brain and
kept repeating itself: “There are but two, there are but two.”
They were across the room from us, standing by the entrance, and Moh-goh
was close to me.
“There are but two,” I whispered to him in a low voice, “you take one
and I will take the other. Do you dare?”
“I will take the one at the right,” he replied, and together we advanced
across the room slowly toward the unsuspecting warriors. The moment that
we were in reach of them we leaped for them simultaneously. I did not
see how Moh-goh attacked his man, for I was busy with my own, though it
took me but an instant to settle him, for I struck him a single terrific
blow upon the chin and as he fell I leaped upon him, wresting his dagger
from its scabbard and plunging it into his heart before he could regain
his senses from the stunning impact of my fist. Then I turned to assist
Moh-goh, only to discover that he needed no assistance, but was already
arising from the body of his antagonist, whose throat was cut from ear
to ear with his own weapon.
“Quick!” I cried to Moh-goh, “drag them into the sleeping apartment
before we are discovered;” and a moment later we had deposited the two
corpses in the dimly lighted apartment adjoining.
“We will leave the city as Kalkar warriors,” I said, commencing to strip
the accoutrements and garments from the man I had slain.
Moh-goh grinned. “Not a bad idea,” he said. “If you can find the route
to the crater it is possible that we may yet escape.”
It took us but a few moments to effect the change, and after we had
hidden the bodies beneath the vegetation that had served us as a bed and
stepped out into the other chamber, where we could have a good look at
one another, we realized that if we were not too closely scrutinized we
might pass safely through the corridors beneath the Kalkar city, for the
Kalkars are a mongrel breed, comprising many divergent types. My
complexion, which differed outrageously from that of either the Kalkars
or the Laytheans, constituted our greatest danger, but we must take the
chance, and at least we were armed.
“Lead the way,” said Moh-goh, “and if you can find the crater I can
assure you that I can find Laythe.”
“Very good,” I said, “come,” and stepping into the corridor I moved off
confidently in the direction that I knew I should find the passageways
and stairs along which I had been conducted from the crater tunnel. I
was as confident of success as though I were traversing the most
familiar precinct of my native city.
We traveled a considerable distance without meeting anyone, and at last
reached the chamber in which I had been blindfolded. As we entered it I
saw fully a score of Kalkars lolling upon benches or lying upon
vegetation that was piled upon the floor. They looked up as we entered,
and at the same time Moh-goh stepped in front of me.
“Who are you and where are you going?” demanded one of the Kalkars.
“By order of The Twentyfour,” said Moh-goh, and stepped into the room.
Instantly I realized that he did not know in which direction to go, and
that by his hesitancy all might be lost.
“Straight ahead, straight across the room,” I whispered to him, and he
stepped out briskly in the direction of the entrance to the tunnel.
Fortunately for us, the chamber was not brilliantly lighted, and the
Kalkars were at the far end of it; otherwise they must certainly have
discovered my deception, at least, since any sort of close inspection
would have revealed the fact that I was not of Va-nah. However, they did
not halt us, though I was sure that I saw one of them eyeing me
suspiciously, and I venture to say that I took the last twenty steps
without drawing a breath.
It was quickly over, however, and we had entered the tunnel which now
led without further confusing ramifications directly to the crater.
“We were fortunate,” I said to Moh-goh.
“That we were,” he replied.
In silence, then, that we might listen for pursuit, or for the sound of
Kalkars ahead of us, we hastened rapidly along the descending passageway
toward the mouth of the tunnel where it opened into the crater; and at
last, as we rounded the last turn and I saw the light of day ahead of
me, I breathed a deep sigh of relief, though almost simultaneously my
happiness turned to despair at the sudden recollection that there were
no hooked poles here to assist us to the summit of the crater wall. What
were we to do?
“Moh-goh,” I said, turning to my companion as we halted at the end of
the tunnel, “there are no poles with which to ascend. I had forgotten
it, but in order to prevent the Kalkars from ascending after me, I threw
all but one into the abyss, and that one slipped from the rim and was
lost also, just as my pursuers were about to seize me.”
I had not told Moh-goh that I had had a companion, since it would be
difficult to answer any questions he might propound on the subject
without revealing the identity of Nah-ee-lah.
“Oh, we can overcome that,” replied my companion. “We have these two
spears, which are extremely stout, and inasmuch as we shall have plenty
of time, we can easily arrange them in some way that will permit us to
ascend to the summit of the crater. It is very fortunate that we were
not pursued.”
The Kalkar’s spears had a miniature crescent-shaped hook at the base of
their point similar to the larger ones effected by the Va-gas. Moh-goh
thought that we could fasten the two spears securely together and then
catch the small hook of the upper one upon the rim of the crater,
testing its hold thoroughly before either of us attempted to ascend.
Beneath his tunic he wore a rope coiled around his waist which he
explained to me was a customary part of the equipment of all Laytheans.
It was his idea to tie one end of this around the waist of whichever of
us ascended first, the other going as far back into the tunnel as
possible and bracing himself, so that in the event that the climber
fell, he would be saved from death, though I figured that he would get a
rather nasty shaking up and some bad bruises, under the best of
circumstances.
I volunteered to go first and began fastening one end of the rope
securely about my waist while Moh-goh made the two spears fast together
with a short length that he had cut from the other end. He worked
rapidly, with deft, nimble fingers, and seemed to know pretty well what
he was doing. In the event that I reached the summit in safety, I was to
pull up the spears and then haul Moh-goh up by the rope.
Having fastened the rope to my satisfaction, I stood as far out upon the
ledge before the entrance to the tunnel as I safely could, and with my
back toward the crater looked up at the rim twenty feet above me, in a
vain attempt to select from below, if possible, a reasonably secure
point upon which to hook the spear. As I stood thus upon the edge of
eternity, steadying myself with one hand against the tunnel wall, there
came down to me from out of the tunnel a noise which I could not
mistake. Moh-goh heard it, too, and looked at me, with a rueful shake of
his head and a shrug of his shoulders.
“Everything is against us, Earth Man,” he said, for this was the name he
had given me when I told him what my world was called.