CHAPTER XX
IN THE ATMOSPHERE FACTORY
For two days I waited there for Kantos Kan, but as he did not come Istarted off on foot in a northwesterly direction toward a point wherehe had told me lay the nearest waterway. My only food consisted ofvegetable milk from the plants which gave so bounteously of thispriceless fluid.
Through two long weeks I wandered, stumbling through the nights guidedonly by the stars and hiding during the days behind some protrudingrock or among the occasional hills I traversed. Several times I wasattacked by wild beasts; strange, uncouth monstrosities that leapedupon me in the dark, so that I had ever to grasp my long-sword in myhand that I might be ready for them. Usually my strange, newlyacquired telepathic power warned me in ample time, but once I was downwith vicious fangs at my jugular and a hairy face pressed close to minebefore I knew that I was even threatened.
What manner of thing was upon me I did not know, but that it was largeand heavy and many-legged I could feel. My hands were at its throatbefore the fangs had a chance to bury themselves in my neck, and slowlyI forced the hairy face from me and closed my fingers, vise-like, uponits windpipe.
Without sound we lay there, the beast exerting every effort to reach mewith those awful fangs, and I straining to maintain my grip and chokethe life from it as I kept it from my throat. Slowly my arms gave tothe unequal struggle, and inch by inch the burning eyes and gleamingtusks of my antagonist crept toward me, until, as the hairy facetouched mine again, I realized that all was over. And then a livingmass of destruction sprang from the surrounding darkness full upon thecreature that held me pinioned to the ground. The two rolled growlingupon the moss, tearing and rending one another in a frightful manner,but it was soon over and my preserver stood with lowered head above thethroat of the dead thing which would have killed me.
The nearer moon, hurtling suddenly above the horizon and lighting upthe Barsoomian scene, showed me that my preserver was Woola, but fromwhence he had come, or how found me, I was at a loss to know. That Iwas glad of his companionship it is needless to say, but my pleasure atseeing him was tempered by anxiety as to the reason of his leavingDejah Thoris. Only her death I felt sure, could account for hisabsence from her, so faithful I knew him to be to my commands.
By the light of the now brilliant moons I saw that he was but a shadowof his former self, and as he turned from my caress and commencedgreedily to devour the dead carcass at my feet I realized that the poorfellow was more than half starved. I, myself, was in but little betterplight but I could not bring myself to eat the uncooked flesh and I hadno means of making a fire. When Woola had finished his meal I againtook up my weary and seemingly endless wandering in quest of theelusive waterway.
At daybreak of the fifteenth day of my search I was overjoyed to seethe high trees that denoted the object of my search. About noon Idragged myself wearily to the portals of a huge building which coveredperhaps four square miles and towered two hundred feet in the air. Itshowed no aperture in the mighty walls other than the tiny door atwhich I sank exhausted, nor was there any sign of life about it.
I could find no bell or other method of making my presence known to theinmates of the place, unless a small round hole in the wall near thedoor was for that purpose. It was of about the bigness of a leadpencil and thinking that it might be in the nature of a speaking tube Iput my mouth to it and was about to call into it when a voice issuedfrom it asking me whom I might be, where from, and the nature of myerrand.
I explained that I had escaped from the Warhoons and was dying ofstarvation and exhaustion.
"You wear the metal of a green warrior and are followed by a calot, yetyou are of the figure of a red man. In color you are neither green norred. In the name of the ninth ray, what manner of creature are you?"
"I am a friend of the red men of Barsoom and I am starving. In thename of humanity open to us," I replied.
Presently the door commenced to recede before me until it had sunk intothe wall fifty feet, then it stopped and slid easily to the left,exposing a short, narrow corridor of concrete, at the further end ofwhich was another door, similar in every respect to the one I had justpassed. No one was in sight, yet immediately we passed the first doorit slid gently into place behind us and receded rapidly to its originalposition in the front wall of the building. As the door had slippedaside I had noted its great thickness, fully twenty feet, and as itreached its place once more after closing behind us, great cylinders ofsteel had dropped from the ceiling behind it and fitted their lowerends into apertures countersunk in the floor.
A second and third door receded before me and slipped to one side asthe first, before I reached a large inner chamber where I found foodand drink set out upon a great stone table. A voice directed me tosatisfy my hunger and to feed my calot, and while I was thus engaged myinvisible host put me through a severe and searching cross-examination.
"Your statements are most remarkable," said the voice, on concludingits questioning, "but you are evidently speaking the truth, and it isequally evident that you are not of Barsoom. I can tell that by theconformation of your brain and the strange location of your internalorgans and the shape and size of your heart."
"Can you see through me?" I exclaimed.
"Yes, I can see all but your thoughts, and were you a Barsoomian Icould read those."
Then a door opened at the far side of the chamber and a strange, driedup, little mummy of a man came toward me. He wore but a single articleof clothing or adornment, a small collar of gold from which dependedupon his chest a great ornament as large as a dinner plate set solidwith huge diamonds, except for the exact center which was occupied by astrange stone, an inch in diameter, that scintillated nine differentand distinct rays; the seven colors of our earthly prism and twobeautiful rays which, to me, were new and nameless. I cannot describethem any more than you could describe red to a blind man. I only knowthat they were beautiful in the extreme.
The old man sat and talked with me for hours, and the strangest part ofour intercourse was that I could read his every thought while he couldnot fathom an iota from my mind unless I spoke.
The old man sat and talked with me for hours.]
I did not apprise him of my ability to sense his mental operations, andthus I learned a great deal which proved of immense value to me laterand which I would never have known had he suspected my strange power,for the Martians have such perfect control of their mental machinerythat they are able to direct their thoughts with absolute precision.
The building in which I found myself contained the machinery whichproduces that artificial atmosphere which sustains life on Mars. Thesecret of the entire process hinges on the use of the ninth ray, one ofthe beautiful scintillations which I had noted emanating from the greatstone in my host's diadem.
This ray is separated from the other rays of the sun by means of finelyadjusted instruments placed upon the roof of the huge building,three-quarters of which is used for reservoirs in which the ninth rayis stored. This product is then treated electrically, or rathercertain proportions of refined electric vibrations are incorporatedwith it, and the result is then pumped to the five principal aircenters of the planet where, as it is released, contact with the etherof space transforms it into atmosphere.
There is always sufficient reserve of the ninth ray stored in the greatbuilding to maintain the present Martian atmosphere for a thousandyears, and the only fear, as my new friend told me, was that someaccident might befall the pumping apparatus.
He led me to an inner chamber where I beheld a battery of twenty radiumpumps any one of which was equal to the task of furnishing all Marswith the atmosphere compound. For eight hundred years, he told me, hehad watched these pumps which are used alternately a day each at astretch, or a little over twenty-four and one-half Earth hours. He hasone assistant who divides the watch with him. Half a Martian year,about three hundred and forty-four of our days, each of these men spendalone in this huge, isolated plant.
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bsp; Every red Martian is taught during earliest childhood the principles ofthe manufacture of atmosphere, but only two at one time ever hold thesecret of ingress to the great building, which, built as it is withwalls a hundred and fifty feet thick, is absolutely unassailable, eventhe roof being guarded from assault by air craft by a glass coveringfive feet thick.
The only fear they entertain of attack is from the green Martians orsome demented red man, as all Barsoomians realize that the veryexistence of every form of life of Mars is dependent upon theuninterrupted working of this plant.
One curious fact I discovered as I watched his thoughts was that theouter doors are manipulated by telepathic means. The locks are sofinely adjusted that the doors are released by the action of a certaincombination of thought waves. To experiment with my new-found toy Ithought to surprise him into revealing this combination and so I askedhim in a casual manner how he had managed to unlock the massive doorsfor me from the inner chambers of the building. As quick as a flashthere leaped to his mind nine Martian sounds, but as quickly faded ashe answered that this was a secret he must not divulge.
From then on his manner toward me changed as though he feared that hehad been surprised into divulging his great secret, and I readsuspicion and fear in his looks and thoughts, though his words werestill fair.
Before I retired for the night he promised to give me a letter to anearby agricultural officer who would help me on my way to Zodanga,which he said, was the nearest Martian city.
"But be sure that you do not let them know you are bound for Helium asthey are at war with that country. My assistant and I are of nocountry, we belong to all Barsoom and this talisman which we wearprotects us in all lands, even among the green men--though we do nottrust ourselves to their hands if we can avoid it," he added.
"And so good-night, my friend," he continued, "may you have a long andrestful sleep--yes, a long sleep."
And though he smiled pleasantly I saw in his thoughts the wish that hehad never admitted me, and then a picture of him standing over me inthe night, and the swift thrust of a long dagger and the half formedwords, "I am sorry, but it is for the best good of Barsoom."
As he closed the door of my chamber behind him his thoughts were cutoff from me as was the sight of him, which seemed strange to me in mylittle knowledge of thought transference.
What was I to do? How could I escape through these mighty walls?Easily could I kill him now that I was warned, but once he was dead Icould no more escape, and with the stopping of the machinery of thegreat plant I should die with all the other inhabitants of theplanet--all, even Dejah Thoris were she not already dead. For theothers I did not give the snap of my finger, but the thought of DejahThoris drove from my mind all desire to kill my mistaken host.
Cautiously I opened the door of my apartment and, followed by Woola,sought the inner of the great doors. A wild scheme had come to me; Iwould attempt to force the great locks by the nine thought waves I hadread in my host's mind.
Creeping stealthily through corridor after corridor and down windingrunways which turned hither and thither I finally reached the greathall in which I had broken my long fast that morning. Nowhere had Iseen my host, nor did I know where he kept himself by night.
I was on the point of stepping boldly out into the room when a slightnoise behind me warned me back into the shadows of a recess in thecorridor. Dragging Woola after me I crouched low in the darkness.
Presently the old man passed close by me, and as he entered the dimlylighted chamber which I had been about to pass through I saw that heheld a long thin dagger in his hand and that he was sharpening it upona stone. In his mind was the decision to inspect the radium pumps,which would take about thirty minutes, and then return to my bedchamber and finish me.
As he passed through the great hall and disappeared down the runwaywhich led to the pump-room, I stole stealthily from my hiding place andcrossed to the great door, the inner of the three which stood betweenme and liberty.
Concentrating my mind upon the massive lock I hurled the nine thoughtwaves against it. In breathless expectancy I waited, when finally thegreat door moved softly toward me and slid quietly to one side. Oneafter the other the remaining mighty portals opened at my command andWoola and I stepped forth into the darkness, free, but little betteroff than we had been before, other than that we had full stomachs.
Hastening away from the shadows of the formidable pile I made for thefirst crossroad, intending to strike the central turnpike as quickly aspossible. This I reached about morning and entering the firstenclosure I came to I searched for some evidences of a habitation.
There were low rambling buildings of concrete barred with heavyimpassable doors, and no amount of hammering and hallooing brought anyresponse. Weary and exhausted from sleeplessness I threw myself uponthe ground commanding Woola to stand guard.
Some time later I was awakened by his frightful growlings and opened myeyes to see three red Martians standing a short distance from us andcovering me with their rifles.
"I am unarmed and no enemy," I hastened to explain. "I have been aprisoner among the green men and am on my way to Zodanga. All I ask isfood and rest for myself and my calot and the proper directions forreaching my destination."
They lowered their rifles and advanced pleasantly toward me placingtheir right hands upon my left shoulder, after the manner of theircustom of salute, and asking me many questions about myself and mywanderings. They then took me to the house of one of them which wasonly a short distance away.
The buildings I had been hammering at in the early morning wereoccupied only by stock and farm produce, the house proper standingamong a grove of enormous trees, and, like all red-Martian homes, hadbeen raised at night some forty or fifty feet from the ground on alarge round metal shaft which slid up or down within a sleeve sunk inthe ground, and was operated by a tiny radium engine in the entrancehall of the building. Instead of bothering with bolts and bars fortheir dwellings, the red Martians simply run them up out of harm's wayduring the night. They also have private means for lowering or raisingthem from the ground without if they wish to go away and leave them.
These brothers, with their wives and children, occupied three similarhouses on this farm. They did no work themselves, being governmentofficers in charge. The labor was performed by convicts, prisoners ofwar, delinquent debtors and confirmed bachelors who were too poor topay the high celibate tax which all red-Martian governments impose.
They were the personification of cordiality and hospitality and I spentseveral days with them, resting and recuperating from my long andarduous experiences.
When they had heard my story--I omitted all reference to Dejah Thorisand the old man of the atmosphere plant--they advised me to color mybody to more nearly resemble their own race and then attempt to findemployment in Zodanga, either in the army or the navy.
"The chances are small that your tale will be believed until after youhave proven your trustworthiness and won friends among the highernobles of the court. This you can most easily do through militaryservice, as we are a warlike people on Barsoom," explained one of them,"and save our richest favors for the fighting man."
When I was ready to depart they furnished me with a small domestic bullthoat, such as is used for saddle purposes by all red Martians. Theanimal is about the size of a horse and quite gentle, but in color andshape an exact replica of his huge and fierce cousin of the wilds.
The brothers had supplied me with a reddish oil with which I anointedmy entire body and one of them cut my hair, which had grown quite long,in the prevailing fashion of the time, square at the back and banged infront, so that I could have passed anywhere upon Barsoom as afull-fledged red Martian. My metal and ornaments were also renewed inthe style of a Zodangan gentleman, attached to the house of Ptor, whichwas the family name of my benefactors.
They filled a little sack at my side with Zodangan money. The mediumof exchange upon Mars is not dissimilar from our own except that thecoins are
oval. Paper money is issued by individuals as they requireit and redeemed twice yearly. If a man issues more than he can redeem,the government pays his creditors in full and the debtor works out theamount upon the farms or in mines, which are all owned by thegovernment. This suits everybody except the debtor as it has been adifficult thing to obtain sufficient voluntary labor to work the greatisolated farm lands of Mars, stretching as they do like narrow ribbonsfrom pole to pole, through wild stretches peopled by wild animals andwilder men.
When I mentioned my inability to repay them for their kindness to methey assured me that I would have ample opportunity if I lived longupon Barsoom, and bidding me farewell they watched me until I was outof sight upon the broad white turnpike.