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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/20739-8.txt b/20739-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b881b27 --- /dev/null +++ b/20739-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6508 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Rebels of the Red Planet, by Charles Louis Fontenay + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Rebels of the Red Planet + +Author: Charles Louis Fontenay + +Release Date: March 4, 2007 [EBook #20739] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REBELS OF THE RED PLANET *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Janet Blenkinship and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + +REBELS OF THE RED PLANET + +by + +CHARLES L. FONTENAY + + + +_Charles L. Fontenay has also written_: + +TWICE UPON A TIME (D-266) + + + +Copyright ©, 1961, by Ace Books, Inc. +All Rights Reserved + +Printed in U.S.A. +ACE BOOKS, INC. +23 West 47th Street, New York 36, N.Y. + + + + + MARS FOR THE MARTIANS! + + + Dark Kensington had been dead for twenty-five years. It was a fact; + everyone knew it. Then suddenly he reappeared, youthful, brilliant, + ready to take over the Phoenix, the rebel group that worked to + overthrow the tyranny that gripped the settlers on Mars. + + The Phoenix had been destroyed not once, not twice, but three times! + But this time the resurrected Dark had new plans, plans which + involved dangerous experiments in mutation and psionics. + + And now the rebels realized they were in double jeopardy. Not only + from the government's desperate hatred of their movement, but also + from the growing possibility that the new breed of mutated monsters + would get out of hand and bring terrors never before known to man. + + + CHARLES L. FONTENAY writes: "I was born in Brazil of a father who + was by birth English and by parentage German and French, and of a + mother who was by birth American and by parentage American and + Scottish. This mess of internationalism caused me some trouble in + the army during World War II as the government couldn't decide + whether I was American, British, or Brazilian; and both as an + enlisted man and an officer I dealt in secret work which required + citizenship by birth. On three occasions I had to dig into the + lawbooks. Finally they gave up and admitted I was an American + citizen.... + + "I was raised on a West Tennessee farm and distinguished myself in + school principally by being the youngest, smallest (and consequently + the fastest-running) child in my classes ... Newspaper work has been + my career since 1936. I have worked for three newspapers, including + _The Nashville Tennessean_ for which I am now rewrite man, and + before the war for the Associated Press." + + Mr. Fontenay is married, lives in Madison, Tenn., and has had one + other novel published by Ace Books. + + + * * * * * + + + +1 + + +It is a sea, though they call it sand. + +They call it sand because it is still and red and dense with grains. +They call it sand because the thin wind whips it, and whirls its dusty +skim away to the tight horizons of Mars. + +But only a sea could so brood with the memory of aeons. Only a sea, +lying so silent beneath the high skies, could hint the mystery of life +still behind its barren veil. + +To practical, rational man, it is the Xanthe Desert. Whatever else he +might unwittingly be, S. Nuwell Eli considered himself a practical, +rational man, and it was across the bumpy sands of the Xanthe Desert +that he guided his groundcar westward with that somewhat cautious +proficiency that mistrusts its own mastery of the machine. Maya Cara +Nome, his colleague in this mission to which he had addressed himself, +was a silent companion. + +Nuwell's liquid brown eyes, insistent upon their visual clarity, saw the +red sand as the blowing surface of unliving solidity. Only clarity was +admitted to Nuwell, and the only living clarity was man and beast and +vegetation, spotted in the dome cities and dome farms of the lowlands. +He and Maya scurried, transiting sparks of the only life, insecure and +hastening in the absence of the net of roads which eventually would bind +the Martian surface to human reality from the toeholds of the dome +cities. + +In that opposite world which was the other side of the groundcar's seat, +Maya Cara Nome's opaque black eyes struggled against the surface. They +struggled not from any rational motivation but from long stubbornness, +from habit, as a fly kicks six-legged and constant against the surface +tension of a trapping pool. + +Formally, Maya was allied to Newell's clarity and solidity, and she +could express this alliance with complete logic if called on. But behind +the casually blowing sand she sensed a depth. The shimmering atmosphere, +hostile to man, which sealed the red desert was a lens that distorted +and concealed by its intervention. The groundcar was a mechanical bug, +an alienness with which timorous man had allied himself; allied with it +against reality, she and Nuwell were hastened by it through reality, +unseeing, toward the goal of a more comfortable unreality. + +The groundcar bumped and slithered, and an orange dust-cloud boiled up +from its broad tires and wafted away across the sculpted sand. The +desert stretched away, silent and empty, to the distant horizon; the +groundcar the only humming disturbance of its silence and emptiness. The +steel-blue sky shimmered above, a lens capping the red surface. + +The groundcar rolled westward, slashing toward its goal from the distant +lowland of Solis Lacus. Far away, two men, machineless, plodded this +same Xanthe Desert toward the same goal; but they plodded southward, +approaching on a different radius. + +They were naked. In a thin atmosphere without sufficient oxygen to +support animal life or even the higher forms of terrestrial plant life, +they wore no marsuits, no helmets, no oxygen tanks. + +The man who walked in front was tall, erect, powerfully muscled. His +features and short-clipped hair were coarse, but self-assured +intelligence shone in his smoky eyes. He moved across the loose sand, +barefoot, with easy grace. + +The--man?--that shambled behind him was as tall, but appeared shorter +and even more muscular because his shoulders and head were hunched +forward. His even coarser face was characterized by vacuously slack +mouth and blue eyes empty of any expression except an occasional brief +frown of puzzlement. + +Toward a focal point: from the east, two people; from the north, two +people. If in the efficient self-assurance of Adam Hennessey could be +paralleled a variant harmony with the insistent surfaceness of S. Nuwell +Eli, does any coincidental parallelism exist between Brute Hennessey and +Maya Cara Nome? + +Puzzlement was the climate of Brute's mind. This surface film of things +through which he ploughed his way, the swarming currents below the +surface--all were chaos. He grasped vaguely at comprehension without +achieving, the effective coalescence of electric ideas always falling +short before reaching consciousness. + +The two men plodded, naked, through the loose sand. Above them in the +Mars-blue dome of day, the weak sun turned downward, warning of its +eventual departure. + +A two-passengered groundcar and two men, widely apart, and yet bound for +the same destination.... + +The destination was a lone, sprawling building in the desert. It could +have been a huge warehouse, or a fortress, of black, almost windowless +Martian stone. The only outstanding feature of its virtually featureless +hulk was a tower which struck upward from its northern side. + +As the summer afternoon progressed, Dr. G. O. T. Hennessey paced the +windy summit of the tower, peered frequently into the desert north +beneath a sunshading hand, and waggled his goat beard in annoyance under +his transparent marshelmet. + +Had the helmet speaker been on or the air less thin, one might have +determined that Goat Hennessey was utilizing some choice profanity, +directed at those two absent personages whose names were, respectively, +Adam and Brute. + +The airlock to the tower elevator opened and a small creature--a +child?--emerged onto the roof. Distorted, humpbacked and +barrel-chested, it scuttled on reed-thin legs to Goat's side. It wore no +marsuit. + +"Father!" screeched this apparition, its thin voice curiously muffled by +the tenuous air. "Petway fell in the laundry vat!" + +"For the love of space!" muttered Goat in exasperation. "Is there water +in it?" + +When the newcomer gave no sign of hearing, Goat realized his helmet +speaker was off. He switched it on. + +"Is there water in the vat?" he repeated. + +"Yes, sir. It's full of suds and clothes." + +"Well, go fish him out before he soaks up all the water. The soap will +make him sick." + +The messenger turned, almost tripping over its own broad feet, and went +back through the airlock. Goat returned to his northward vigil. + +Miles away, Nuwell slowed the groundcar as it approached the lip of that +precipitous slope bordering the short canal which connects Juventae Fons +with the Arorae Sinus Lowland. He consulted a rough chart, and turned +the groundcar southward. A drive of about a kilometer brought them to a +wide descending ledge down which they were able to drive into the canal. + +Here, on the flat lowland surface, the canal sage grew thick, a +gray-green expanse stretching unbroken to the distant cliff that was the +other side of the canal. Occasionally above its smoothness thrust the +giant barrel of a canal cactus. + +Nuwell headed the groundcar straight across the canal, for the chart +showed that the nearest upward ledge on the other side was conveniently +almost opposite. The big wheels bent and crushed the canal sage, leaving +a double trail. + +The canal sage brought with it the comforting feeling of surface life +once more. This feeling, for no reason that he could have determined +consciously, released Nuwell's tongue. + +"Maya," he said, in a voice that betrayed determination behind its +mildness, "I don't see any real reason for waiting. When we've cleared +up this matter at Ultra Vires and get back to Mars City, I think we +should get married." + +She glanced at his handsome profile and smiled affectionately. + +"I'm complimented by your impatience, Nuwell," she said. "But there is a +good reason for waiting, for me. When we're married, I want to be your +wife, completely. I want to keep your home and mother your children. +Don't you understand that?" + +"That's what I want, too," he said. "That's my idea of what marriage is. +But, Maya, if you insist on finishing this government assignment, that +could be a long time off." + +"I know, and I don't like it any better than you do, darling," said +Maya. "But it's cost the Earth government a great deal of trouble and +money to send me here, and you know how long it would take for them to +get a replacement to Mars for me. I don't feel that I can let them +down, and I don't think it would be much of a beginning to our marriage +for me to be running around ferreting out rebels during the first months +of it." + +"That's another thing I don't like, Maya," said Nuwell. "It's dangerous, +and I don't want anything to happen to you." + +"It's your work, too, and it's not absolutely safe for you, either. I'll +be sharing it with you when we're married, and for you it will go on for +a long time. I have a specific mission here, to locate the rebel +headquarters, and as soon as I've done that I'll be more than happy to +become just a contented housewife and leave the rest of it to you." + +Nuwell shrugged, a little disconsolately, and turned his attention to +the task of negotiating the groundcar up the ascending slope. + +She was a strange creature, this little Maya of his. She had been born +on Mars and, orphaned by some unknown disaster, had been cared for +during her first years by the mysterious, grotesque native Martians. +When they took her at last to one of the dome cities, she was sent to +Earth for rearing. And now she was back on Mars as an undercover agent +of the Earth government, seeking to ferret out the rebels known to be +engaging in widespread forbidden activities. + +Often he did not understand her, but he wanted her, nevertheless. + +Nuwell steered the groundcar slowly up the slope, over rubble and ruts, +avoiding the largest rocks. At last they reached the top, and the +groundcar arrowed out over the desert again, picking up speed. + +Far to the left and ahead of them there was another dust-cloud drifting +up, one that was not of the thin wind, but nearly stationary. Nuwell +found the binoculars in the storage compartment and handed them to Maya. + +"What's that over there?" he wondered. "Another groundcar? Take a look, +Maya." + +Maya trained the glasses in the direction indicated, through the +groundcar's transparent dome. It was difficult to get them focused, for +the groundcar swayed and jolted, but at last she was able to make brief +identification. + +"They're Martians, Nuwell," she said. "Can we drive over that way?" + +"You've seen Martians before," he said. + +"But I'd like to speak with them," she said. "I talk their language, you +know." + +"Yes, I do know, darling, but that's utterly foolish. They're only +animals, after all, and we have to get to Ultra Vires before night, if +we can." + +He kept the groundcar on its course. + +Maya lapsed into disgruntled silence. Nuwell stole a sidelong glance +at her, his breath catching slightly at the curve of the petite, +perfectly feminine form beneath the loose Martian tunic and baggy +trousers. He reached over and patted her hand. + +But Maya was offended. She kept her black head turned away from him, +looking out of the groundcar dome across the desert. + +At their destination, Goat Hennessey peered eagerly into the distance, +searching. + +This time, his watery blue eyes picked up two tiny figures on the +horizon. He watched them as they approached, finally detailing +themselves into two naked, pink creatures of manshape and only slightly +more than mansize. + +"They made it," he muttered. "Both of them. Good!" + +He turned and entered the airlock. As soon as its air reached +terrestrial density and composition, he removed his marshelmet. + +Goat rode the elevator to the ground level, left it and hurried down a +corridor, reaching the outside airlock in time to admit the two figures. + +Adam entered first, easily confident, carrying his head like a king. +Brute shambled behind him. + +"Everything go all right?" asked Goat, his voice quavering in his +anxiety. + +"Fine, father," said Adam, smiling to reveal savage, even teeth. + +"Nothing unusual happen?" + +"Nothing at all, sir." + +"You forget, Adam?" mouthed Brute eagerly. "You forget you fall?" + +Adam spun on him ferociously, raising a heavy hand in threat. Brute did +not cringe. + +"I forget nothing!" snarled Adam. "You crazy Brute, I say it is +nothing!" + +"But, Adam--" + +"I say it is nothing!" howled Adam and sprang for him. + +"Stop it!" snapped Goat, like the crack of a whip, and they froze in the +moment of their grappling. Sheepishly, they parted and stood side by +side before him. + +"I'll listen to details after supper," said Goat. "The children are +hungry, and so am I." + + + + +2 + + +Adam and Brute followed Goat Hennessey down the corridor, towering over +him like Saint Bernards on the heels of a terrier. They turned into the +dining room, a big square room centered with a rude table and chairs, +one wall pierced by a fireplace in which a big cauldron steamed over +smouldering coals. + +The dining room swarmed with a dozen small creatures, human in their +pink flesh, more or less human in their twisted bodies. As soon as Goat +entered with Adam and Brute in tow, the assemblage set up a high-pitched +howling and twittering of anticipation and began beating utensils on the +dishes, table and walls. + +"Quiet!" squawked Goat over the tremendous clatter, and the noise +subsided. They stood where they were, bright eyes fixed on him. + +These were "the children." Some of them were humpbacked, like Evan, +the one who had carried the message to the tower. Some, like Evan, were +grotesquely barrel-chested, with or without the hump. Some were as thin +as skeletons, with huge heads; some were hulking miniatures of Brute. +One steatopygean girl was so bulky in legs and hindquarters that she +could waddle only a few inches with each step, yet her head and upper +torso were skinny and fragile. + +Goat sat down at the head of the table, and immediately there was a +tumbling rush for places. Most of the children sat, chattering, while +two of the larger girls moved around the table, taking bowls to the +cauldron, filling them with a brownish stew and returning them. + +They ate in silence. When supper was ended, the children scattered, some +to play, others to chores. Goat beckoned to Adam and Brute to follow +him. He led them down the corridor and into his study. + +Goat turned on the light, revealing a book-lined, paper-stacked room +focused on a huge desk. He removed his marsuit to stand in baggy +trousers and loose tunic. Adam and Brute stood near the door, shifting +uncomfortably, for the study was normally forbidden ground. + +Goat stood by a thick double window, looking out over the desert to the +west. The small sun disappeared beneath the horizon even as he looked, +leaving the fast-darkening sky a dull, faint red. Almost as though +released by the sunset, pale Phobos popped above the horizon and began +to climb its eastward way. The desert already was dark, but a stirring +above it bespoke a distant sandstorm. + +Goat turned from the window and faced the pair. + +"Well," he snapped harshly, "what happened?" + +Adam smiled confidently. + +"We did as you said, father," he answered. "We walked to the edge of the +canal, and we walked back. We had no water and we had no air. We did not +feel tired. We did not feel sick." + +"Fine! Fine!" murmured Goat. + +"Father ..." said Brute. + +Goat turned his eyes to Brute, and savage irritation swept over him. +With that word, at that moment, Brute gave him a feeling of guilty +foreboding. + +"Don't call me 'father!'" snapped Goat angrily. + +"But you say call you father," protested Brute, the puzzled frown +wrinkling his brow. "What I call you if I not call you father?" + +"Don't call me anything. Say 'sir.' What did you want to say?" + +"Father, sir," began Brute again, "Adam forget. Adam fall." + +With a muted roar, Adam swept his powerful arm in a backhanded arc that +caught Brute full on the side of his head. The blow would have felled an +ox, but Brute was not shaken. Apparently unhurt, he stood patiently, his +blue eyes on Goat with something of pleading in them. + +"Adam, let him alone!" commanded Goat sharply. "Brute, what do you mean, +Adam fell?" + +"We come back. We not far from canal. Adam fall. Adam sick. Adam turn +blue." + +"It is lies, father!" exclaimed Adam, glaring at Brute. "It is not +true." + +"Let him finish," instructed Goat. "I'll decide whether it's true. What +did you do, Brute?" + +"I find cactus, father," answered Brute. "I make hole in cactus. I put +Adam inside. I put hole back. Adam stay in cactus. Then Adam break +cactus and come out again. We come back." + +Goat cogitated. If Adam had shown, symptoms of oxygen starvation.... The +big canal cacti were hollow, and in their interiors they maintained +reserves of oxygen for their own use. More than once, such a cactus had +saved a Martian traveler's life when his oxygen supply ran short. + +He turned to Adam. + +"Well, Adam?" he asked. + +"I tell you, father, it is lies! I do not fall. Brute does not put me in +the cactus." + +"And why should he lie?" asked Goat blandly. + +This stumped Adam for a minute. Then he brightened. + +"Brute wants to be bigger and stronger than Adam," he said. "Brute knows +Adam is bigger and stronger than Brute, Brute does not like this. He +tells you lies so you will think Brute is bigger and stronger than +Adam." + +"I know you are bigger brother, Adam," objected Brute, almost +plaintively. "I not try to be bigger. Why you say you do not fall?" + +"I do not fall!" howled Adam. "I do not fall, you stupid Brute!" + +Goat held up a stern hand, enforcing silence. + +"I can't certainly settle this disagreement, but I'd be inclined to +accept what Brute says," said Goat thoughtfully. "You're smart enough to +lie, Adam. Brute isn't. The only thing I can do is to run the experiment +over. You shall go out again tomorrow, and this time I'll go with you." + +"You'll see, father," said Adam confidently. "Adam will not fall." + +"Perhaps not. But I must be sure. As much as I prefer your more human +characteristics, Adam, it's entirely possible that Brute has some +survival qualities that you lack." + +"Is true, father," said Brute eagerly. "Some things kill Adam, they not +kill Brute." + +"You lie!" cried Adam again, turning on him. "Why do you lie, Brute?" + +"No lie," insisted Brute. "You know, is true." + +"Lie! Lie!" shouted Adam. "Adam is bigger and stronger! What do you say +can kill Adam that does not kill Brute?" + +"This," replied Brute calmly. + +With an unhurried lunge, he picked up a heavy knife from Goat's desk. In +a single easy movement, he turned and slashed Adam's throat neatly. + +Choking and gurgling, Adam sank to his knees, bright blood spouting from +his neck, while Goat stood frozen in horror. Adam fell prone, he kicked +and threshed convulsively like a beheaded chicken, then twitched and lay +still in a spreading pool of blood. + +Brute calmly wiped the knife on his naked thigh and laid it back on the +desk. + +"Adam dead," he said without emotion. "Brute not lie." + +Dismayed fury erupted through Goat's veins and a red haze swept over his +eyes. + +"You idiot!" he squawked. "So that won't kill you?" + +Goaded beyond endurance, Goat seized the knife and swung it as hard as +he could against Brute's neck. It thunked like an ax biting into a tree +trunk, biting halfway through the flesh. Brute recoiled at the impact, +tearing the handle from Goat's feeble hands and leaving the knife blade +stuck in his throat. + +Brute staggered momentarily. Then he reached up and jerked the knife +away. Blood spurted through his severed throat. Brute clapped a hand to +the wound, tightly. + +For a moment, blood oozed through his fingers. Then, pale but steady, +Brute dropped his hand. + +The wound had closed! Its edges already were sealed, leaving a raw, red +scar that no longer bled. + +"Brute not lie," said Brute, the words forced out with some difficulty. +"It not kill Brute." + +Stunned by astonishment and disbelief, Goat stared at him, his mouth +moving soundlessly. + +"Go away," he whispered hoarsely at last. "Go out of here, monster!" + +Obediently, Brute shambled out of the study. As he passed through the +door, Goat regained his voice and called after him: + +"Tell the children to come and take away Adam's body." + + * * * * * + +Kilometers away, Maya Cara Nome and S. Nuwell Eli rode a groundcar that +moved swiftly across the interminable waves of the red sand. It swayed +through hollows and jounced over multiple ridges, Nuwell steering it +with some difficulty. In the steely sky, the small sun moved downward, +its brightness unimpaired by the occasional thin clouds which moved +before it. + +The sun touched the western horizon, seemed to hesitate, dropped with +breathtaking suddenness, and the stars immediately began to appear in +the deepening twilight sky. + +They stopped and had a compact meal, heated in the groundcar's +short-wave cooker. Then Nuwell switched on the headlights and they went +on again. + +Soon afterward, a faint spot of light appeared in the desert far ahead +of them. As they approached it, it became a yellow-lighted window in a +huge black mass rearing up against the night sky. They had reached Ultra +Vires. + +Nuwell announced their arrival over the groundcar radio and swung the +groundcar up beside the building's main entrance. He sealed the +groundcar's door to the building air-lock so they would not have to don +marsuits. + +After a few moments, the airlock opened. They passed through it and were +greeted by a skinny, shriveled little man with watery blue eyes and a +goatee. + +"I was expecting you, but not tonight," said this person, rather sourly. +"Well, come on in and I'll have the children fix you something to eat if +you haven't eaten." + +"I'm S. Nuwell Eli," said Nuwell, holding out a hand which the other +ignored. "This is the terrestrial agent, Miss Maya Cara Nome. You are +Dr. Hennessey, I assume." + +"That's right," said Goat. "Do you want supper?" + +"No, thank you, we ate on the way," said Nuwell. "I'd like to get +started with the inspection as soon as possible." + +"Inspection or investigation?" suggested Goat, sniffling. "Well, no +matter. I have nothing to hide." + +He led them down a dim, dusty corridor, stretching deep into the dark +bowels of the building, and turned aside into a paper-stacked room which +evidently was his study. He went straight to a big desk, sat down, +swivelled his chair around and waved them to seats. Nuwell shuffled a +little uncomfortably, then sank into a chair, but Maya remained standing +by the door, her small traveling bag in her hand, indignation rising in +her. + +"Before you settle down to charts and questions, Dr. Hennessey, do you +mind showing us to our rooms so we may wash away some of the travel +dust?" she asked icily, black eyes snapping. + +At this, Goat jumped to his feet, sincere contrition in his face wiping +out all traces of his irritated gruffness. + +"I'm very sorry!" he exclaimed. "I hope you will forgive my manners, but +I've lived and worked here alone in the desert so long that I had +forgotten the niceties of civilization." + +This apology cleared the air. Goat showed them their overnight quarters, +adjoining rooms which were not luxurious but were reasonably +comfortable, and after a time the three of them congregated once more in +Goat's study, all of them in better humor. + +"Let us have some wine first," suggested Goat. "This is very good red +wine, imported from Earth." + +He went to the door and shouted into the corridor. + +"Petway!" + +Goat returned to his chair. A few moments later, a twittering noise +sounded in the corridor, then a horrible little apparition appeared in +the door. It was a child-sized creature, naked, grotesquely +barrel-chested and teetering on thin, twisted legs. Its hairless head +was skull-like, with gaping mouth and huge, round eyes. + +Maya gasped, profoundly shocked. The little creature looked more like a +miniature Martian native than a human, but the Martians themselves were +not so distorted. She saw her own shock reflected in Nuwell's face. + +"Petway, get us three glasses of wine," commanded Goat calmly. + +Petway vanished and Goat turned briskly back to his guests. + +"Now," he said, "I shall outline the progress of my experiments to you +and answer any questions you may have." + + + + +3 + + +Maya's education was extensive, but it did not include the genetic +sciences. She was able to follow Goat's explanations and his references +to the charts he hung, one after another, on the wall of his study, but +she was able to follow them only in a general sense. The technical +details escaped her. + +Nuwell seemed to have a better grasp of the subject. He nodded his dark, +curly head frequently, and occasionally asked a question or two. + +"Surgery is performed with a concentrated electron stream on the cells +of the early embryo," said Goat. "I call it surgery, but actually it is +an alteration of the structure of certain specific genes which govern +the characteristics I am attempting to change. Such changes would, of +course, then be transmitted on down to any progeny. + +"The earlier the embryo is caught, the easier and surer the surgery, +because when it has divided into too many cells the very task of dealing +with each one separately makes the time requirement prohibitive, besides +multiplying the chance for error. The Martians have a method of altering +the physical structure and genetic composition of a full-grown adult, +but this is far beyond the stage I've reached." + +"The Martians?" repeated Nuwell in astonishment. "You mean the Martian +natives? They're nothing but degenerated animals!" + +"You're wrong," replied Goat. "I know that's the general opinion, but I +had considerable contact with them a good many years ago. Perhaps most +of them are little more than strange animals. No one really knows. They +live simple, animal-like lives, holed up in desert caves, and they're +rarely communicative in any way. But I know from my own experience that +some of them, at least, are still familiar with that ancient science +that they must have possessed when Earth was in an earlier stage of life +than the human." + +"This ... child ... that brought us the wine is one of the products of +your experiments?" asked Nuwell. + +"Yes. Petway's pretty representative of the children, I'm afraid. I've +been trying to determine what went wrong. It could be an inaccuracy in +dealing with the genetic structure itself, or a failure to follow +exactly the same pattern of change in moving from one cell to another in +the embryo. If I could only catch one at the single cell stage! + +"None of the children has turned out as well as my first two +experiments, Brute and Adam. Both of them were born about twenty-five +years ago--terrestrial years, that is--and developed into normal, even +superior physical specimens. Unfortunately, their mental development was +retarded. Adam was the brighter of the two, and Brute killed him +tonight, shortly before your arrival." + +Maya shivered. + +"Somehow, it seems horrible to me, experimenting with human lives this +way," she said. + +"It's being done for a good cause, Maya," said Nuwell. "Dr. Hennessey's +objective is to help man live better on Mars. After all, there is +nothing nobler than the individual's sacrifice of himself for his +fellows, whether it's voluntary or involuntary." + +"But what about the mothers of these children?" asked Maya. + +"The big problem is to reach them as soon as possible after conception," +said Goat, misinterpreting her question. "We do this by magnetic +detectors, which report instantly the conjunction of the positive and +negative. The surgery is performed, as quickly as possible, utilizing +the suspended animation technique which is being developed toward +interstellar travel." + +"I wasn't asking about the technical aspects," said Maya. "What I want +to know is, what sort of mothers will permit you to experiment this way +on their unborn children, especially seeing the results you've already +obtained?" + +Goat started to answer, but Nuwell forestalled him. + +"There are some things that are none of your business, darling," he +said. "The terrestrial government sent you here on a specific +assignment, and I don't think you should inquire into matters which are +classified as secret by the local government, which don't have anything +to do with that assignment. Now, Dr. Hennessey, just what sort of +survival qualities have you been able to develop in these experiments?" + +"There's no witchcraft involved," retorted Goat, with a sardonic +grimace. + +"I haven't accused you," said Nuwell quickly. + +"No, but I keep up with events, even out here, well enough to know that +you're the Mars City government's chief nemesis where there's any +suspicion of extrasensory perception. I doubt that you chose to make +this trip yourself without reason, Mr. Eli." + +"It's merely a routine inspection," murmured Nuwell. + +Goat indicated one of his charts, showing a diagram of genes and +chromosomes in different colors. + +"This is my original chart," he said. "I copied it from one belonging to +the Martians many years ago, and my genetic alteration of Brute and Adam +were based on it. But I must have miscopied it, or else the Martians +didn't have the objective I thought they did in it, because I could find +no alteration of genes affecting lung capacity or oxygen utilization. My +own subsequent charts, on which later experiments were based, are +alterations of this." + +"But just what is your objective, and how well have you succeeded?" +persisted Nuwell. + +"Ability to survive under Martian conditions." + +"I know. This is stated in all previous inspection reports. I want +something more specific." + +"Why, ability to survive in an almost oxygen-free atmosphere, of course. +As well as can be determined, the Martians do this by deriving oxygen +from surface solids and storing it in their humps under compression, +very much like an oxygen tank. + +"I've succeeded to some degree with my children. All of them can go an +hour or two without breathing. What I don't understand is that no +capacities like that were included in the genetic changes on Adam and +Brute, and yet they've gradually developed an ability to do much better. +Both of them were out on the desert the entire day today without +oxygen." + +Nuwell was silent for a moment, tapping the tips of his fingers +together, apparently in deep thought. Then he said: + +"Maya, I think we've reached the point where you had better retire to +your room and let us to talk privately. You can question Dr. Hennessey +in the morning about any attempts the rebels may have made to contact +him." + +Maya obeyed silently, rather glad to get away and think things over +alone. When she had come to Mars as an agent of the Earth government, it +had not occurred to her that there would be areas of information from +which the local government would bar her. She recognized that such a +prohibition was perfectly valid, but she was a little offended, +nevertheless. + +Her room was a spacious one on the ground level, and boasted one of +Ultra Vires' few large windows. Maya unpacked her bag, and gratefully +stripped off her boots and socks, her tunic and baggy trousers. In +underpants, she went into the small bathroom, washed cosmetics from her +face and brushed down her thick, short hair. + +Donning her light sleeping garment, she sat down on the edge of her bed. +She was very tired from the long drive and, almost without thinking, she +did not get up to turn out the light. She thought at it. + +The switch clicked and the light went out. + +She felt foolish and a little frightened. She had never told Nuwell of +this sort of thing. Can a woman ask her witch-hunting lover: "Do you +think I'm a witch?" + +With almost total recall, as though she heard it spoken, she remembered +the summation speech Nuwell had made the first time she had seen him in +action. He was prosecuting a man charged with conducting experiments +similar to the historic and outlawed Rhine experiments of Earth. + +"_Gentlemen, we sit here in a public building and conduct certain +necessary human affairs in a dignified and orderly manner. We follow a +way of life we brought with us from distant Earth. Apparently, we are as +safe here as we would be on Earth._ + +_"I say 'apparently.' Sometimes we forget the thin barriers here that +protect us against disaster, against extermination. A rent in this +city's dome, a failure in our oxygen machinery, a clogging of our +pumping system by the ever-present sand, and most of us would die before +help could reach us from our nearest neighbors._ + +_"We live here under certain restrictions that many of us do not like. +Certainly, no one likes to be unable to step out under the open sky +without wearing a bulky marsuit and an oxygen tank. Certainly, no one +likes to be rationed on water and meat throughout the foreseeable +future._ + +_"But what we have to remember is that absolute discipline has always +been a requirement for those courageous souls in the vanguard of human +progress._ + +_"Witchcraft--the practice of extrasensory perception, if you prefer the +term--is forbidden on Mars because to practice it one must differ from +his fellow men when the inexorable dangers of our frontier demand that +we work together. To practice it, one must devote time and mental effort +to untried things when our thin margin of safety makes concentrated and +combined effort necessary for survival. That is why witchcraft is +forbidden on Mars._ + +_"Let those who yet cling to the wistful liberalism of Earth label us +conformists if they will. I say to you that until Mars is won for +humanity, we cannot afford the luxury of nonconformity._ + +_"Gentlemen, I give you the prosecution's case."_ + +Maya stared out the window. This whole side of Ultra Vires was dark, +except for a rectangle of light cast from a window a little distance +away--the window of Goat Hennessey's study. In this rectangle, the red +sand of the desert lay clear and stark. + +Near the end of the rectangle lay an indistinct, crumpled, oblong +figure. Puzzled, Maya studied it. It looked like a body to her. + + * * * * * + +In the study, Nuwell gazed at the skinny doctor with angry brown eyes. + +"The bulletins sent to you, as well as other researchers, gave specific +instructions that research was to be directed toward human utilization +of certain foods now being developed," accused Nuwell. + +"I thought this was more important," replied Goat. + +"You thought! You're not on Earth, where scientists can get government +grants and go jaunting off on wild research projects of their own." + +"I still think this is more important," said Goat stubbornly. "I know +that all of us are expected to co-operate and stick to tried and +accepted lines so we won't be wasting time and material. Perhaps I was +wrong in not doing that initially. But now I've proved that this line +of research can be followed profitably, so its continuance now can't be +looked on as a waste of time." + +"Scientists should leave political direction to more experienced men," +said Nuwell in an exasperated tone. "This is not merely a matter of time +waste, or nonconformity. The Mars Corporation operates our sole supply +line to Earth, Dr. Hennessey, and that supply line brings to man on Mars +all the many things he needs to live here. The Earth-Mars run is an +expensive operation, and it's important that it remain economically +feasible for Marscorp to operate it. + +"No matter how altruistic you may be about it, you get man to the point +that he doesn't depend on atmospheric oxygen here, and domes, +pressurized houses and groundcars, oxygen equipment--a great many things +are going to be unnecessary. But there'll still be a lot of other things +we'll have to have from Earth. Don't you realize what a disaster it +would be if Marscorp decided to drop the only spaceship line to Earth +because its cargo fell off to the point that it was economically +unsound?" + +Goat looked at him with shrewd blue eyes. + +"I think I can jump to a conclusion," he remarked mildly. "Marscorp has +some sort of control over the 'foods' you're trying to make practical +for human consumption in the approved experiments, doesn't it?" + +"Well, yes. Marscorp wants to make man gradually self-sufficient on +Mars, and I think it's legitimate that Marscorp derive some economic +benefits from its efforts in that direction." + +"I've wondered for some time just how close Marscorp and the government +were tied together," said Goat dryly. "Obviously, if I don't do as you +say, my supplies here will be cut off. So I have no choice but to +discontinue this work and turn my attention to the approved line." + +"That isn't quite adequate now," said Nuwell. "You're going to have to +leave here and come to Mars City where you can do your research under +supervision. Your experimental humans here will be destroyed, of +course." + +"Destroyed?" There was an agonized note to Goat's voice. "All of them? +How about the two mothers I have who haven't given birth yet?" + +"You'd destroy them anyhow, as you have the others, not long after the +births. And that brings up another thing. When you get to Mars City, +watch your tongue. You almost revealed to Miss Cara Nome that the +government has been kidnapping an expectant mother now and then for your +experiments." + +"Years of work, gone to waste," mourned Goat somberly. "When must I do +this?" + +"As soon as possible. You'll be expected in Mars City within two weeks. +Now, I'd like to see these experimental humans." + +A few moments later, they made their way together through a large +dormitory in which all of Goat's charges were sleeping. Nuwell shuddered +at the sight of the small, deformed bodies. + +"I don't worry that you could ever take any of these to Mars City +undetected. But," he said, pointing to Brute, "that one looks too near +normal. I want to see him destroyed before I leave." + +"Brute? But he's the most successful one I have left!" + +"Exactly. That's why I want to see him destroyed, tonight." + +Goat awoke Brute, and the monster man sleepily followed them back to the +study. + +Goat picked up the huge knife, still stained with Adam's blood, and +looked Brute squarely in the face. Brute returned the gaze, no +comprehension in his dull blue eyes. + +"You think I can't kill you, Brute?" said Goat coldly. "I'll show you!" + +With a surgeon's precision, Goat plunged the sharp point between Brute's +ribs and into the heart. + +_Shock swept over Brute's mind._ + +_Father kills me!_ + +_Reject! Reject!_ + +_Father, all kindness, all hope, all wisdom and love, wants me no more. +Father rejects me! Father kills me!_ + +_Despair!_ + +_Reject! Reject!_ + +_Blackness swept fading through Brute's despairing brain._ + +One agonized note of pleading in the pale-blue eyes, and they closed in +acceptance. Brute swayed and fell forward, crashing to the floor, +driving the knife into his chest to the hilt. + +Brute shuddered and rolled over on his back. He lay sprawled, arms flung +out limply, the knife hilt protruding upward. He sighed, and his +breathing stopped. + +Goat stared down at him. He picked up Brute's wrist and held it. There +was no pulse. + + * * * * * + +Shortly after dawn, Maya awoke. Remembering what she had seen dimly the +night before, she went curiously to the window. + +There were two of them now. They were bodies, human bodies, naked and +unquestionably dead. In the night, the dry, vampirish Martian air had +dessicated them. They were skeletons, parchment skin stretched tightly +over the lifeless bones. + +Even as she stood and looked, a group of figures appeared on the horizon +and came slowly nearer. They were Martians--monstrous creatures, +huge-chested, humpbacked, with tremendously long, thin legs and arms, +their big-eyed, big-eared heads mere excrescences in front of their +humps. + +Trailing slowly through the desert toward Aurorae Sinus, they passed +near the skeleton bodies. One of the Martians saw them. He boomed +excitedly at the others, loudly enough for Maya to hear through the +double window. + +The Martians stopped and gathered around the bodies. + +What, she wondered, could interest them in two corpses? There was no +guessing. Martian motives and thought processes were alien and +incomprehensible, even to one who had lived among them and communicated +with them as a child. + +One of the Martians picked up one of the corpses, and the whole group +moved away toward the lowland, the Martian carrying the body easily with +one long-fingered hand. Wisps of sandy dust trailed them as they +dwindled and slowly vanished. + +The second body lay where they had left it. A gaping wound in its throat +seemed to mock her. + + + + +4 + + +Fancher Laddigan made his way down a long dim corridor in the rear +portion of the Childress Barber College, in Mars City's eastern quarter. +He stopped and hesitated, with some trepidation, before an unmarked door +near the end of the corridor. + +Completely bald, bespectacled and well up in years, Fancher looked like +a clerk and he had the instincts of a clerk. Yet he utilized that +appearance and those instincts in a perilous cause. + +Fancher knocked timidly on the door. On receiving an indistinct +invitation from inside, he pushed it open and entered. + +Fancher had a tendency to shiver every time he had occasion to see the +Chief, whose real name was unknown to Fancher and to most others here at +the barber college. + +Small as a child in body, wagging a thin-haired head larger than +lifesize, the Chief surveyed Fancher with icy green eyes. The eyes were +large and round as a child's, but there was nothing childlike about +their expression. As though to deny his physical smallness, he smoked +one of the fragrant, foot-long cigars produced only in the Hadriacum +Lowlands. + +"Sit down," commanded the Chief in a high, piping voice. + +Fancher swallowed and sat, facing his superior across the big desk. The +Chief opened a drawer, took out another of the long cigars, and handed +it to Fancher. Fancher did not like cigars, but he had never dared say +so to the Chief. He lit it gingerly, coughed at his first inhalation, +and smoked at it dutifully and unhappily. + +"You recognized this man certainly as Dark Kensington?" asked the Chief. + +"Well ..." Fancher began, and started coughing again. The Chief fixed +him with an unwinking green stare. When the coughing spell ended, +Fancher sat silent, his eyes stinging with tears, fumbling at what he +wanted to say. + +"You knew Dark Kensington before his disappearance twenty-five years +ago," said the Chief, with a trace of impatience in his tone. "I am told +that you saw this man and talked to him. You are qualified to recognize +Dark Kensington. Is this man Dark Kensington, or not?" + +"Well," said Fancher again, "the man was walking alone across the +desert, and when someone picked him up he asked how he could find the +Childress Barber College, and of course our men heard of it and went out +to--" + +"I have received a full report on the man's appearance and our initial +contact with him. I asked you a question." + +"Well, Chief, it's a peculiar thing. If this man, as he is now, had +reappeared twenty-five years ago, I'd _know_ it was Dark Kensington. But +he looks exactly as Dark did when he disappeared, not one day older. And +he doesn't remember a thing beyond his disappearance except events of +the past two weeks, he says. + +"Yet his memories of Dark's activities before his disappearance are +unquestionably accurate and clear. It's as though Dark had been put on +ice at the time of his disappearance and just now thawed out, without +any aging or memory during the interim." + +"Perhaps he was," said the Chief dryly. "But is it possible that this +man, looking so much like Dark Kensington, could have studied +Kensington's personality and activities carefully and be posing as +Kensington?" + +"No, sir," said Fancher promptly. "Dark and I were very close friends at +one time. He remembers that, although he had difficulty recognizing me +since I'm so much older. We went through some experiences together that +I never told to anyone, and I'm sure he didn't. He remembers them in +every detail. Like the way we trapped a sage-rabbit once when we'd run +out of supplies out in Hadriacum." + +Fancher chuckled. + +"Then we couldn't eat the thing," he reminisced. + +"Very well, if you're sure of his identity, that's all I wish to know," +said the Chief. "I don't want to be trapped by a Marscorp trick with +plastic surgery. But if this man is Dark Kensington, it's the best +fortune the Phoenix has met with in a long time." + +He fell silent, and busied himself with papers on his desk, paying no +more attention to Fancher. Fancher waited, then concluded reasonably +that the interview was at an end. And, since the long cigar agonized +him, he rose and moved quietly toward the door. + +"I have not given you permission to leave," said the Chief, without +raising either his eyes or his voice. "Kensington is due to arrive in a +few moments, and I want you here when I talk to him. If any of his words +or actions appear inconsistent in any way to you, I want you to let me +know." + +Fancher sighed silently, returned to his chair and puffed disconsolately +on the cigar. + +Some five minutes passed. Then there was a firm rap on the door. + +"Come in!" called the Chief in his reedy voice. + +The door opened, and in walked a man whose entire presence radiated +strength, confidence and the potentiality of instant violence. Dark +Kensington was tall and broad-shouldered, clad in dark-blue tunic and +baggy trousers. His face was darkly tanned, strong, handsome. His hair +was black as midnight. His eyes were startlingly pale in the dark face; +eyes of pale blue, remote and filled with light. + +"I'm Dark Kensington," he said, striding up to the Chief's desk. "You're +the man known as the Chief?" + +"Yes," answered the Chief, and waited. + +Dark nodded to Fancher. Fancher, feeling rather green about the gills, +returned the greeting. + +Dark turned his attention back to the Chief, and he, also, waited. There +was a long silence. The Chief broke it first. + +"What do you know about Dr. G. O. T. Hennessey--Goat Hennessey?" asked +the Chief calmly. + +Fancher blinked at this unexpected line of questioning. A cloud passed +over Dark's face, as though the name had triggered something in him +that he could not quite remember. + +"He was a very good friend of mine," answered Dark, "although it seems +that something happened between us that I can't quite recollect. He was +one of the most brilliant geneticists of Earth, and came to Mars with an +experimental group that was to try to develop a human type that could +live more comfortably under Martian conditions. The project was backed +by the government." + +He stopped. It was the Chief who added: + +"Then Marscorp stepped in." + +The expression on Dark's face was blank. + +"You don't know what Marscorp is, do you?" asked the Chief curiously. + +"The name's familiar," replied Dark. "It's a spaceline, isn't it?" + +"If your amnesia is genuine, you might very well react in such a +fashion," said the Chief reflectively. "Marscorp is the Mars +Corporation, and it's the only spaceline that serves Mars now. It's a +giant combine on Earth which has a virtual monopoly on the spacelines +and exports and imports between Earth and all the colonized planets. + +"Marscorp is against any development of human beings who can live under +natural extraterrestrial conditions, because that would end the +colonies' dependence on Marscorp for supplies. As it is, the colonies +literally can't live without Marscorp. Marscorp controls enough senators +and delegates in the World Congress to block other important projects if +the Earth government refuses to co-operate with it, so the +government--that is to say, Marscorp--put a ban on the experiments by +Hennessey and other scientists here." + +"I remember the government ban on the projects, but I wasn't aware that +Marscorp had anything to do with it," said Dark. "Goat Hennessey was one +of a group of us who retired to the desert to continue work despite the +government ban." + +"Goat sold out," said the Chief. "Perhaps your memory doesn't include +that important point, but Fancher remembers it well. It was a little +before my time. Goat sold out, and betrayed the others to the +government in return for assistance in carrying out more limited +experiments. Some of the group escaped and formed the nucleus of the +rebel movement which now is centered here at the Childress Barber +College. We call ourselves the Order of the Phoenix." + +The Chief allowed himself the luxury of a very faint smile. + +"Marscorp and the government call us the Desert Rats," he said. "Very +appropriate. They consider us in the same category as rats." + +Dark had been standing, casually at ease, before the Chief's desk, with +the air of a man who does not tire from standing. Now he did something +Fancher would not have dared: without the Chief's invitation, Dark sat +down in a comfortable chair, leaned back and stretched out his legs in +relaxation. + +"It's a little hard for me to realize there's a twenty-five-year gap in +my memory," he said. "It seems to me that it has been less than a month +ago that Goat and I were together, with other refugees from the +government edict, in the Icaria Desert. Why did you ask me about Goat?" + +"Because the government brought him back to Mars City not three months +ago," answered the Chief. "None of us had any idea where he was, but it +turns out that the government has had him working under surveillance +some place in the Xanthe Desert north of Solis Lacus. Since it was not +far from Solis Lacus that you were picked up, I wondered if you had had +any contact with him." + +"Not that I remember," said Dark. "Do you have another of those cigars?" + +"Why, yes," answered the Chief, startled. He produced another Hadriacum +cigar and handed it to Dark. Dark lit it and puffed the fragrant smoke +with evident enjoyment. + +"As I say, the last time I remember seeing Goat was in the Icaria +Desert, in a dome we had set up there," said Dark. "The next thing I +remember is waking up in the midst of some sort of cave in a different +part of Icaria, surrounded by Martians. + +"I could communicate with them in a fashion--something I was never able +to do before--and they were able to write the name of the Childress +Barber College so I could read it. But they evidently don't +differentiate our dome cities by name. I had no idea the college was +here in Mars City until your men contacted me; I just assumed it was at +Solis Lacus." + +"You'd have waged a merry search for it, clear on the other side of +Mars," remarked the Chief. "What was your purpose in finding it?" + +"I don't know that I had any specific purpose," replied Dark easily. "I +gathered from the Martians that here I could find someone who concurred +with my philosophy of resisting the government edict against seeking +self-sufficiency on Mars, and this was more or less confirmed by your +two men who contacted me at Solis Lacus." + +"I'll see to it that in the future they're not quite so frank until +they're sure of their man," said the Chief darkly. He looked quizzically +at Fancher, and Fancher nodded slightly. "But it's true. As a matter of +fact, the Phoenix follows the path toward self-sufficiency that you +recommended, rather than the one sought by Goat Hennessey." + +"That's the wrong way to approach it," said Dark promptly. "Goat and the +other scientists were following a line offering valid possibilities in +their genetic research. The only reason the rest of us chose to attempt +the extrasensory powers--particularly teleportation--was that we were +not qualified in genetic research and this seemed a field in which we +stood a chance to contribute along alternate lines. The effort should be +followed along both lines." + +"The government managed to capture all the scientists at the time of +your disappearance, and it was assumed that you had been captured, too," +said the Chief. "We don't have any scientists in the Phoenix who are +capable of doing Goat Hennessey's type of research." + +"You say he's in Mars City? I wonder if it would do any good for me to +contact him." + +"I told you that he was the one who betrayed the whole thing to the +government, and he's been working under government supervision these +last twenty-five years. I wouldn't trust him." + +The Chief surveyed Dark's strong face with speculative green eyes, then +added: + +"As a matter of fact, we've made a certain amount of progress following +your line of research. Since there are probably a good many things you +discovered in this work that we haven't stumbled on yet, we could use +your help in developing it, if you're interested." + +"Very definitely," answered Dark. "I'm interested in seeing what you've +done, and I'll be glad to help in any way I can." + +"There's one thing," said the Chief, measuring his words. "I've held +this organization together despite some pretty severe reverses for more +than fifteen years now. The reason I've been able to do it is that I +expect and must insist on absolute obedience to my orders." + +Dark smiled. "I said that I would be willing to help you," he replied +gently. "I follow no man's orders." + +The green eyes fixed themselves unwinkingly on the pale-blue ones for a +long moment. The blue ones did not waver. + +At last, to Fancher's utter amazement, the Chief nodded agreement. + + + + +5 + + +Maya Cara Nome looked from her furnished room through cracked shutters +at the building across the street. + +A barber college. The building at 49 Sage Avenue, Mars City, was a +barber college. + +That surprised her. She didn't know exactly what she had expected: a +hospital, perhaps, or even a kindergarten. But a barber college! + +But the source of the information she had received that 49 Sage Avenue +was the address she sought was unimpeachable. She had ferreted it out, +after a long time and through devious ways, and she was sure she could +trust it. + +"The Childress Barber College" read the neatly lettered sign above the +door. Maya's landlady, moon-faced Mrs. Chan, had pointed out Oxvane +Childress to her as he left the building one day: a big man, +comfortably stomached, with a heavy brown beard which, even at that +distance, she could see was shot with gray. + +As innocent as you please. Childress came out and went in, the students +went in and came out. Still, it was the address she had been given. + +Maya had to gain entrance to the building. She could learn nothing +watching it from outside. She was established here as a tourist from +Earth; besides, the position and activities of women were prescribed +rigidly by Martian colonial convention, and women did not study to +become barbers on Mars. + +She would have to have help. She, thought at once of Nuwell, and as +immediately rejected him. + +"Maya, I don't see why you insist on working alone," he had complained. +"I can set the whole machinery of government in motion to help you, +whenever you need it." + +"Primarily because you're well known and your activities are observed," +she had answered. "Your whole government machinery hasn't been effective +in tracking down the rebel headquarters yet, and it's reasonable to +assume that the rebels have a fairly effective intelligence network. My +job is to find that headquarters, and if I were seen very often with you +or tried to utilize your government machinery, they'd have me pinpointed +pretty soon." + +She left the window, filled a tiny basin with precious water, shrugged +out of her negligee and sponged her small, perfect body. She donned +form-fitting tunic, briefs and short skirt, pulled on knee-length socks +and laced up Martian walking shoes. She spent some time preparing her +hair and face. + +Then she left the room and the house and walked uptown. The walk was +about a kilometer, along sidewalks bordered by cubical, functional +houses and trim lawns of terrestrial grass and small trees. Above the +city, its dome was opalescent in the morning sun. + +The small houses gave way to larger business buildings, also cubical, +and the lawns dwindled and vanished. Farther down, the buildings were +even larger and the streets were wider and busier; but she was not +going into the heart of Mars City. + +She turned into an office building, and studied the directory in the +lobby. The offices were those of doctors and lawyers. On the directory +she found "Charlworth Scion, Attorney-at-Law, Room 207." + +There was no elevator. Maya walked up the stairs and down a corridor, +finding a door that had nothing on it but the number. She turned the +knob and went in. + +The small outer office was uninhabited. It was carpeted and desked, with +two straight chairs against a wall, for clients. Through a door, she +could see part of the inner office, cluttered and stacked with papers +and books. + +She stood there, hesitating. The outer door clicked shut behind her. At +the sound, a gray-haired, preoccupied man with spectacles and stooped +shoulders peered from the inner office. + +"Oh!" he said. "I'm sorry, my secretary went to lunch a bit early today. +Can I help you, Miss?" + +"I'm looking for Mr. Scion," she said. + +"I'm Charlworth Scion." + +"Terra outshines the Sun," said Maya. + +Scion's eyes were suddenly wary behind the spectacles. + +"Well, well," he murmured. "Come in, please." + +She went into the cluttered inner office, and Scion closed and locked +the door. + +"And you are ...?" said Scion behind his desk, his pale hands fumbling +aimlessly with papers. + +"Maya Cara Nome," she said. + +Scion found a paper and scanned it. He apparently found her name there. + +"I'm surprised to see you here," he admitted. "Our information was that +you would be working entirely alone." + +"I am," said Maya. "Or I was. I was told not to contact you unless I had +to, Mr. Scion, but it seems I'm going to need some help." + +Scion inclined his head, but said nothing. + +"As you may or may not know, my specific assignment is to locate the +nerve center of rebellious activity," said Maya. "It seems that the +rebels have an intelligence network about as effective as the +government's, and it was felt that a woman tourist from Earth might be +successful where any unusual probing by local agents might arouse +suspicion." + +"That's true," conceded Scion. "I doubt that they're really sure of the +identity of more than a few of our agents, but sometimes I think they +have a card file on every person on Mars. We have to be very careful +that movements of our agents are consistent with their pretended +occupations." + +"I have a reliable tip that their nerve center is the Childress Barber +College here," she said. "I can't find out anything, though, unless I +get into the building over a period of time. As a woman, I can't very +well apply to study barbering." + +"No," said Scion. "I see your problem." + +He turned to a filing cabinet, unlocked it and searched through it, +whistling tunelessly. He found a folder, pulled it out and studied it. + +"If it is, they've certainly kept it well covered," he said. "There's +not a mark of suspicion entered against the Childress Barber College. +But here's a possibility for getting you in. The barber college employs +one secretary, female. Now, if you could take her place...." + +Maya smiled. + +"I might as well apply as a barber student," she said. "You propose to +remove a trusted member of their own group from their midst and replace +her with a complete unknown?" + +"We don't know that she's a rebel," answered Scion. "If she isn't, she +can be lured away to another job at a much better salary. If she is, and +can't be lured ... well, there are other methods. The Mars City +Employment Agency is operated by one of our agents, and you'll be the +only secretary available when the barber college asks for a woman to +fill her place. + +"Believe me, Miss Cara Nome, as easy as it is for a woman to get married +on Mars, it is difficult to find women to do any sort of business work. +It won't seem at all strange that you're the only one available." + +"The only trouble is that I'm known in the neighborhood as a tourist +from Earth," objected Maya. + +"Well," said Scion, "things have been more expensive than you planned +for on Mars. You've run short of money. You have to work for a while to +pay living expenses here until the next ship leaves for Earth." + +"My account at the bank?" + +"It will vanish quietly from the records," said Scion with a smile. "The +bank is a government institution." + +"Very well," said Maya, taking her purse from his desk. "Let me know +when I'm to apply." + +"You won't hear from me again," said Scion, shaking his head. "The +employment agency will notify you to appear at the barber college for an +interview." + +Maya knew of Scion only as her emergency contact on Mars. She did not +know what position he held in that underground network of terrestrial +agents which was largely unknown even to Nuwell Eli, the government +prosecutor. But, whatever his position, he got things done in a hurry. + +Within two weeks, Maya was typing up applications, examination reports +and supply orders in the Childress Barber College, joking and flirting +with barber students between classes, and naively declaiming to her +ostensible employer, phlegmatic Oxvane Childress, how lucky it was for +her that she was able to get a job right across the street from her +rooming house. + +"The work's easy," rumbled Childress, explaining her tasks to her. "Any +time you want to take a coffee break with any of the young men, or go +uptown shopping, go ahead, as long as the work gets done. Just one +thing: you have to stay up here in the front of the building, and don't +ever go back in the classrooms. The instructors are mighty strict about +that, and that's one rule I won't stand to be violated." + +This significant restriction convinced Maya she was on the right track. +But she needed to move cautiously, if she was not to arouse immediate +suspicion. So she adhered strictly to her role for nearly a month, +keeping her eyes open. + +If it was a rebel operation, it was almost perfectly disguised. +Childress performed the duties of the administrative head of a barber +college, and nothing more. The students, about fifty of them, went in +and out at regular school hours, and she became casually acquainted with +a good many of them. The half-dozen instructors, whom she also came to +know, were less regular in their movements, but she could detect nothing +suspicious about them. + +"We cut the hair of Mars," was the college's motto, and she learned that +it was the larger of only two barber colleges on the planet. Apparently, +it actually did supply graduate barbers to all the dome cities. It took +in customers for the students to practice on, and, although many of them +were strangers, some of them were prominent Mars City citizens whom she +knew by sight. + +There was no question about it: partially, at least, it was a legitimate +barber college, whatever other activities it might mask. The only thing +noticeably unusual on the surface was that it was extremely selective in +its approval of students who applied for courses in barbering. She +discerned that through her processing of the applications. + +If she was going to find out anything definite, she would have to get +into the forbidden rear portion of the building. But obviously there +were legitimate classrooms there, in addition to the activities she +suspected, and if she were caught nosing around the classrooms she would +be discharged at once for violation of the rules, without finding out +what she sought. She would have to hit it right the first time. + +Biding her time and watching, she was able to learn, almost intuitively, +from the movements of students, customers and instructors, that the +classrooms in which barbering was actually taught were all concentrated +on the western side of the building. If there were any more sinister +activities, they occurred on the opposite side. Having determined this, +she planned her course of action. + +Near the end of her first month at work, she chose her time one day +when Childress was downtown, leaving her alone in the business office. +The afternoon classes were in full swing. + +Taking along a filled-out order form as an excuse, Maya walked quickly +down the corridor that stretched across the front of the building. +Carefully and quietly, she pushed open the door at the extreme end of +the corridor--a little surprised, as a matter of fact, to find it +unlocked. + +She was in another corridor, that struck straight back to the rear of +the building. + +She hesitated. There were doors spaced all along both sides of this +corridor. Did she dare attempt to open one, on the chance that the room +behind it was unoccupied? + +Then she saw that one door, a little way down, stood half open. Quietly +she walked down the hall, not quite to the door, but near enough to it +to be able to see a large area of the room behind it. + +There were people in there. In the part she was able to see, there were +half a dozen students seated, and one of the instructors standing among +them. Fortunately, their backs were to her. + +Whatever they were studying, it was not barbering. There was an +occasional murmur of voices, but she could not make out the words. + +Then she saw! On the table at the front of the room, which the students +faced, there was a big barber's basin. + +As she watched, the basin slowly raised off the table and moved upward a +few inches. No one was near it, but it floated there, quivering and +tilting a little, in the air. And then, from it, slowly, the water +itself came up in a weird fountain, moved completely free of the basin +and hung above it in the air, gradually assuming the form of a globe. + +Telekinesis! This was a class in telekinesis! The students were +concentrating on the basin and water, and lifting them into the air by +the power of their minds. + +This was indeed the heart of the rebel movement. She had found what she +sought. + +"Aren't you where you shouldn't be, young lady?" asked a calm masculine +voice behind her. + +Shocked, terrified, she whirled. A tall, handsome, dark-haired man she +had never seen before was standing there, observing her quizzically. His +pale eyes seemed to look through her and beyond her. + +She forced herself to casual composure. + +"I don't believe I've met you," she said. "Are you one of the +instructors?" + +"I'm Dark Kensington, one of the supervisors," he replied. "And you're +Miss Cara Nome, the secretary, who shouldn't be back here." + +Had he noticed that she saw the telekinetic action? She glanced back at +the classroom. The basin was now comfortably ensconced back on the +table, full of water. + +"I had this order, which I thought was of an emergency nature," she +said, offering it to him. "Mr. Childress wasn't in, and I thought I'd +better find one of the instructors so it could be approved and go out +right away." + +Dark took it and glanced at it. + +"I doubt that its emergency nature is as grave as you may have thought," +he said soberly. "However, Mr. Childress would be better qualified to +judge that. You understand that I shall have to report this infraction +of the rules to him." + +Suddenly, Maya was overwhelmed by an utterly terrifying sensation. It +seemed that these pale-blue eyes were looking into her mind, searching, +seeking to determine her thoughts and her true intention. + +Instinctively, not knowing how she did it, she veiled her thoughts with +a psychic barrier. And, instinctively, she recognized that he detected +the barrier and could not penetrate it. + +Telepathy? Why not, if they were experimenting successfully with +telekinesis? + +"I'm sorry," she murmured hurriedly, and brushed past him. He did not +try to detain her. + +She hurried back to the office. She hurried, but as she hurried down +first the one corridor and then the other, she discovered that her steps +were slowing involuntarily. A powerful force seemed to be detaining +her, attempting to draw her back. + +Frightened but curious, she attempted to analyze this force even as she +struggled against it. She could not be sure--it was disturbing, either +way, but she could not be sure whether it was a telepathic thing or +merely the magnetic force of this man's powerful masculine personality +that pulled at her. + +In a state of mental turmoil, she reached the office. Childress was not +yet back. + +Should she wait for him? + +Then, as suddenly as she had sensed Dark Kensington's telepathic +probing, she sensed something else. Somewhere in the back of the +building, he was talking to another man she had not seen before, and +within ten minutes Dark Kensington would be in this office. And the +prospect she faced was far more serious than mere discharge for +infringement of company rules. + +She had to get in touch with Nuwell at once. She recognized that if she +could get out of this building and across the street to her rooming +house, she would be safe for a little while. She could telephone Nuwell +from there. + +Grabbing her purse, she hastened out of the office. + + + + +6 + + +The three men who stood by a table in the back lobby of the Childress +Barber College and checked off the departure of the men at regularly +spaced intervals were as different in appearance as they were in their +positions in the Order of the Phoenix. + +Oxvane Childress, big and bearded, was the "front," and directed the +very necessary task of administering the Childress Barber College as a +genuine barber college. Childress was a prominent member of two of Mars +City's civic and social clubs, and careful examination of his activities +over a period of years would have thrown no suspicion on him. + +The Chief, whose real name perhaps Childress knew but never spoke, was a +huge-headed midget who directed the far-flung activities of the Order of +the Phoenix as an underground rebel organization. He never left the +building, but reports were brought in to him from all over Mars. He knew +a great deal at any time about what the government and Marscorp were +doing, and he gave the orders for those moves aimed at maintaining the +secrecy of the Phoenix. + +Dark Kensington, tall and pale-eyed, had moved at once into the natural +position of guiding the experimental work of the organization in +extrasensory perception and telekinesis. He was able to add his +knowledge of earlier work to the progress that had been made since his +disappearance, and co-ordinated the studies in the various dome cities. + +A little behind the three stood Fancher Laddigan, doing the actual +checking with a pencil on a list in his hand. + +"I think it's all unnecessary," rumbled Childress unhappily. "I watched +the girl carefully while she was here, and the usual checks were made +into her background. It's true she had some social contacts with Nuwell +Eli when she first came to Mars, but there's nothing sinister about that +association and it seems the last thing a Marscorp agent would do +openly. As far as I could determine, she just realized she'd violated a +rule and would be discharged for it, so she left before she could be +discharged." + +"She hasn't returned to her rooming house," remarked the Chief in his +high, thin voice. + +"Looking for another job, or maybe just on a trip," said Childress. +"After all, she's a terrestrial tourist. If this is all a false alarm, +how am I going to explain suspending operation of the college for a +period?" + +"Remodeling," replied the Chief. "Work out the details and put a sign up +as soon as evacuation has progressed far enough." + +"It may be unnecessary, Oxvane," said Dark, "but it's best not to take +chances. This telepathy is a very uncertain thing, and sometimes it's +hard to differentiate true telepathic communication from one's own hopes +or fears. But it seemed to me that I had the very definite sense that +Miss Cara Nome was seeking something with hostile intent, and it's +entirely possible that she saw part of one of the experiments through +that open door." + +Two students appeared, gave their names to Fancher in an undertone, and +sauntered out the back door of the building. + +"What's the status now?" asked the Chief. + +"They were nineteen and twenty," answered Fancher precisely. "They're +part of Group C, which is going to Hesperidum. Group A goes to Regina, +Group B to Charax, Group D to Nuba and Group E to Ismenius." + +"None to Solis?" asked Childress in surprise. + +"No, sir, nor to Phoenicis, either," answered Fancher. "They're both so +far, and Solis is a resort, where they might be easier to detect. We're +using both public transport and private groundcars. All of them so far +have reported safely through the flower shop, except these last two, so +the government evidently hasn't thrown a ring around the building yet." + +"And I don't think they will, either," growled Childress. "I tell you, +it's all unnecessary." + +"Are things going smoothly here?" asked the Chief. + +"Yes, sir," replied Fancher. "The last five men scheduled to leave are +taking care of any customers who come in, and the rest of them are +packing supplies into the trucks. As soon as I get word from the flower +shop that the last pair has cleared, I give another pair the word to +leave." + +"It seems to be moving along well," said the Chief, and he turned his +green eyes upon Childress. "Is the business office manned?" + +"Why--why, there's no one there right now," said Childress, taken aback. + +"I think it would look extremely peculiar to any investigator if you +weren't there, frantically trying to locate a new secretary," said the +Chief quietly. + +Childress left, in confusion. The Chief turned to Dark. + +"I think Fancher's handling this very well without my help," he said. +"You know where your groundcar is, if we all have to make a run for +it?" + +"Yes," answered Dark. "We won't be going together?" + +"No," replied the Chief, and his lips twisted in a faint smile. "I have +my own method of exit, which should give them other things to think +about." + +He left, moving with quick, short steps. Dark stayed for a few moments +more, then he too went back into the building to help with packing. + +The Lowland Flower Shop, on the other side of Mars City, near the west +airlock, was the clearance point for the evacuees. The flower shop was +operated by a Phoenix agent, and each pair that left the barber college +passed through there before leaving the city to let those behind know +that they had not been stopped by government men. Other Phoenix agents +watched the heliport and bus station for any evidence that the +government was trying to block these routes out of Mars City. + +The evacuation moved steadily, and it began to appear that Childress was +right. Singly, the first two of the five trucks moved out, and all of +the ESP instructors and thirty-two of the students had reported back +safe clearance from the flower shop, when.... + +Dark was moving a stack of charts from one of the classrooms to the +basement when bells all over the building set up a tremendous clangor. +Immediately the quiet evacuation dissolved into an uproar, with men +running and shouting and the bell ringing incessantly. + +Dark knew what had happened. Childress, in the front office, had seen +government agents approaching, or perhaps they had actually entered the +building. He had pressed the alarm bell, then sought to delay them with +the righteous indignation suitable to the administrative head of a +barber college which is invaded by government officials. + +The bells stopped suddenly, and the scattered shouting sounded strange +and thin in the comparative silence. Then the piping voice of the Chief +came over the loudspeakers spread throughout the building. + +"Attention!" said the Chief. "We are temporarily safe. The alarm +automatically sealed all doors to the building behind the front +corridor. + +"Kensington, please come to my office. The rest of you, tie up the +customers still here and leave them unharmed, and then leave the +building by the emergency exits. Scatter, and make your way by whatever +private transportation methods you can to the rendezvous assigned to +your respective group. Do not use public transportation, because +Marscorp will undoubtedly be checking public transport now." + +Dark set the charts down on the stairs and made his way back to the +Chief's office. The Chief was sitting, tiny behind his big desk, his +face as serene as ever. He was puffing casually on one of the long +Hadriacum cigars. + +Dark laughed. + +"You don't have another of those cigars, do you?" he asked. + +For the first time since he had been here, Dark saw the Chief's mouth +break into a full, broad smile. + +"I think so," said the Chief, an undertone of delight bubbling in his +voice. He reached into the desk and pulled one out. Dark accepted it +gravely, and lit it. + +"The last two evacuees haven't reported to the flower shop, and they're +overdue," said the Chief, his face getting serious. "Childress hasn't +reported back here by telephone, either, so the Marscorp gang probably +had already entered the building before he detected them and sounded the +alarm." + +"What about Childress?" asked Dark. "What will happen to him?" + +"He'll take the rap," answered the Chief. "His defense will be that if +there were any Phoenix activities going on here he didn't know about it. +He was just running a barber college in good faith. I don't think they +can prove otherwise." + +"Do we have any idea what our situation is?" asked Dark. + +"A very accurate idea. We have observers posted in the two houses at the +ends of our emergency exits, and they've been reporting to Fancher, in +the next room, by telephone. There's a force of about a hundred Mars +City policemen and plain-clothes agents in the streets all around the +building. They saw a squad go into the front, but evidently they didn't +have enough warning to let Childress know in time." + +"Will the doors hold?" + +The Chief's mouth quirked. + +"They'll need demolition equipment to break them down," he said. "All +these have are heatguns and tear gas. One of the observers farther +downtown said he saw a tank heading this way, but if they don't already +know there are innocent customers in here, Childress will tell them." + +"Then everybody gets away but Childress?" + +"We hope. They're not going to ignore these surrounding houses, +especially with men drifting out of them and moving away. That's why I +want to stress the importance of one thing to you, Kensington: you're +too important for us to lose at this juncture, with your knowledge of +the original work done. That house at the end of your exit will have a +dozen or so of our men in it, waiting to drift away one by one, but you +can't afford to worry about them. I want you to get in that groundcar, +alone, and take off like Phobos rising." + +"You're going out the other emergency exit?" + +"That's none of your business. But, as a matter of fact, no. If you want +to see something that will throw consternation into this Marscorp +outfit, watch the roof of this building. Now, get moving, Kensington, +and good luck. Fancher and I will be leaving as soon as he gets all the +records packed." + +The Chief held out his tiny hand, and Dark shook hands with him. Then +Dark left, went down into the basement and entered an underground door +in its eastern wall. He had to crawl through the tunnel driven through +the sand under the street. + +He emerged in the basement of a house across the street, which +ostensibly was owned by Manfall Kingron, a retired space engineer. He +went upstairs. + +About half the personnel of the barber college who had not been caught +by the alarm were roaming the rooms of the small house, drifting singly +out the back door at ten-minute intervals. + +Dark went to the front window and looked across the street at the barber +college. + +The street was full of men carrying heat pistols, moving restlessly, +facing the barber college. Some of them were in police uniform. Squads +of them moved about on the college grounds, and a few were in the yards +of houses on this side of the street. + +Dark watched the roof. + +As he did so, from its center a helicopter rose into the air, hovering +over the building, moving upward slowly. + +So that was the Chief's escape method. He had smuggled a helicopter into +the domed city itself! But how was he to get out of the city in it? + +The appearance of the copter threw the men outside into confused +excitement. They ran about, aiming their short-range heat beams futilely +up at the rising copter. + +A military tank, undoubtedly the one the Chief had been told about, spun +around the corner. It stopped, and its guns swung upward toward the +copter. But they remained silent. Heavy heat beams or artillery could +puncture the city's protecting dome. + +The copter went straight up, gathering speed. Up, and up, and it did not +stop! + +It hit the plastic dome near its zenith. It tilted and staggered. It +ripped through the dome and vanished. + +Immediately, sirens began to wail throughout the city. Doors clanged +shut automatically everywhere. Lights and warning signs flashed at every +street corner, advising citizens to run for the nearest airtight +shelter. + +The dome was punctured! + +Emergency crews would be up within minutes to repair the break, and very +little of the city's air would hiss away. But, in the meantime, every +activity in Mars City was snarled by the necessity to seek shelter. The +Chief had, indeed, created a situation of consternation in which it +would be easier for the Phoenix men to elude their enemies. + +The armed men of the government forces were already running for the +houses in this area. Some of them were headed for the house from which +Dark watched. + +The Phoenix men were donning marsuits. They would admit the refugees, +after requiring them to lay down their arms, and then leave the house in +their marsuits. + +Dark grinned happily, and walked quickly through the house to the +attached garage. He climbed into the groundcar, started the engine, and +opened the garage door by the remote control mechanism on the dashboard. + +Accelerating at full power, Dark drove the groundcar out of the garage +and spun into the street. The men afoot, seeking entrance to the houses, +paid no attention. The tank began to turn ponderously in his direction, +but by the time it was in a position to bring its guns to bear, Dark's +groundcar had reached the corner and raced around it into the broad +thoroughfare leading to Mars City's east airlock. + +The airlock was only a dozen blocks away. The Chief's theory had been +that the government, depending on surprise in its move to surround the +Childress Barber College, would not attempt the complicated task of +checking all traffic passing through the airlock until it was realized +that some of the Phoenix men had escaped from the trap at the college. + +Dark reached the airlock in minutes. The Chief's theory proved correct. +There were no police at the airlock, and the maintenance employee +stationed there did not even look up as Dark's approach activated the +inner door. + +He drove the groundcar into the airlock. The inner door closed behind +him. The outer door opened, and Dark drove out onto the highway that +struck straight across the Syrtis Major Lowland toward the Aeria Desert +and Edom. It was as simple as that. + +About ten miles out was the circular bypass highway that surrounded Mars +City, and Dark proposed to turn right on that, for his destination was +Hesperidum. The highway he was on would take him eastward, and +Hesperidum was about 8,000 kilometers southwest of Mars City--a little +better than two-days' drive at groundcar speed on the straight, flat +highways. + +Dark reached over and set the groundcar's radio dial on the frequency +which had been agreed on for emergency Phoenix broadcasts during this +operation. If government monitors caught the broadcasts and jammed them, +there were alternate channels chosen. With only about two dozen radio +stations on all Mars, plus the official aircraft and groundcar band, +there was plenty of free room in the air. + +There was nothing on the Phoenix frequency now but a little disconsolate +static. + +The country through which he drove here was uninhabited lowland. The +human life on Mars, agricultural, industrial and commercial, was +concentrated under the domes of the cities. Except for a few tiny +individual domes at the edge of Mars City, there were no human +structures close to it except the airport and the spaceport, and these +were west and north of the city, respectively. + +The highway struck straight and lonely through a faintly rippling sea of +gray-green canal sage, spotted occasionally with the tall trunk of a +canal cactus, rising above it. Later he would see infrequent dome farms, +but he could expect no more than two or three score of these in the +entire long drive to Hesperidum. + +Dark slowed and entered the cloverleaf that took him onto the bypass +expressway. Even as he did so, the radio crackled and the thin voice of +the Chief sounded over the groundcar loudspeaker. + +"Attention, Phoenix," said the Chief intensely. "Attention, Phoenix. +Emergency instructions. We have monitored reports that the government is +checking airlocks at all cities. Repeat: the government is checking +airlocks at all cities. + +"Some Phoenix have been captured attempting to leave Mars City. +Instructions: those in Mars City do not attempt to leave but find +shelter with Phoenix friends. Those beyond dome without credentials, go +to assigned emergency rendezvous spots _outside_ dome cities. Repeat +instructions: those...." + +Swearing under his breath, Dark pulled the groundcar to a stop beside +the highway. It was so simple! They should have foreseen that the +government would take such a step as soon as it was realized that the +Phoenix men were leaving Mars City. He himself evidently had gotten +through the airlock just in time. + +But he had been assigned no outside rendezvous! Whether it was an +oversight or not, he did not know, but the only place he had been +instructed to go was Hesperidum. The only Phoenix contact he knew was +the South Ausonia Art Shop in Hesperidum; and now he could not enter the +city without being captured. + +He had only one alternative: the Martians, in the Icaria Desert, halfway +around Mars. They would remember him and shelter him, and he was sure he +could find the spot. + +He looked at his fuel gauge. The tank was full. It would not take him +quite there, but he could chance refueling at Solis Lacus, some 20,000 +kilometers from Mars City. He could take the highway, turning out into +the desert to go around Edom, Aram and Ophir. + +He put the groundcar in drive again, and made a U-turn in the highway. +He entered the cloverleaf and was halfway through it when he saw the +copter. + +It was a red-and-white government copter, and it was descending at a +shallow angle toward him from the direction of Mars City. Dark switched +his radio to the official channel. + +" ... await check. Repeat: groundcar in cloverleaf, stop at once and +await check." + +Dark braked the groundcar to a stop. As soon as the copter grounded, he +could accelerate and escape. + +But the copter did not ground. It hovered, directly over him. Then Dark +realized it was awaiting a patrol car from Mars City to check and take +him in custody if necessary. + +Immediately, he put the groundcar in drive and whipped out of the +cloverleaf under full acceleration. If he could only achieve top speed, +350 kilometers-an-hour, the copter couldn't match it. + +But the copter was on his tail at once as he swerved out of the tight +curve. Its guns spat fire. + +There was a terrific impact, and the groundcar dome shattered above him. +Unprotected, he felt the air explode from the groundcar, from his +lungs. Oxygenless death poured in through the broken dome. + +It all happened in an instant. Even as the dome shattered under the +copter's shell and Dark recognized the imminence of death, the groundcar +twisted out of control and careened from the highway. He felt it +spinning over and over, and then blackness closed in around him. + + + + +7 + + +Maya had never seen Nuwell in such a state of sustained rage. + +He strode back and forth in the private dining room of the Syrtis Major +Club, near the western edge of Mars City, slapping his fist into his +hand. His face usually was engaging and boyish, the wave of his dark +hair setting it off handsomely, but now it was flushed like that of a +petulant child and the lock of hair hung down over his forehead. Maya, +the only other person in the room, sat quietly and watched him pace. + +"They had plenty of time and all the information they needed," stormed +Nuwell, "and yet they didn't get a single one of the key men! Most of +the rebels slipped out easily, right under their noses!" + +Maya watched him detachedly. This was the man she had promised to marry, +and, as she had once or twice before, she was undergoing pangs of doubt. +After all, she had known Nuwell Eli only during the few months she had +been on Mars. + +She had fallen in love with him for his charm, his intelligence, his +good-humored gentleness, but she did not like this display of temper. It +was not a controlled anger, but had something of the irrational in it. + +"Childress was captured," she reminded him. + +"Childress! A figurehead! He says he didn't know about the rebel +activities going on in the college, and he's so stupid I may not be able +to make a case against him." + +Maya recognized that this element, the success of his prosecution, was a +very important factor to Nuwell. + +"Are the twelve I identified the only ones captured?" asked Maya. + +"Yes. Twelve captured, seven killed, and every one of them small fry. +The leaders undoubtedly got away in that copter. We blockaded the +airlocks fast, so most of the others are probably still in the city, but +we don't have any idea where to look for them." + +"I may be able to help in that, when I get back from my swing around the +other cities," said Maya. + +"I don't want you to go on that jaunt, Maya!" exclaimed Nuwell, swinging +around to face her with fierce emphasis. "You said when you had found +the headquarters, you'd resign the service and marry me. Now you want to +go all over Mars looking for rebels!" + +"Nuwell, I can identify almost all of those who were at the barber +college," Maya remonstrated. "They've picked up some men at the airlocks +and others on the roads at several cities, and even Martian law won't +permit you to uproot those people and send them to Mars City just on +suspicion. They can't be sent here for me to identify: I'll have to go +there." + +"We can work out some charges to get them extradited to Mars City," +snapped Nuwell angrily. "I don't want you to go, Maya. I want you to +stay here and marry me, immediately." + +"Aren't you being a little dictatorial, Nuwell?" she suggested coolly. + +The warning implied in her remoteness seemed to trigger a polarized +reaction in Nuwell. The furious dark eyes melted suddenly, the stubborn +anger of the face altered on the instant to a sentimental, wistful smile +of appeal. + +"Don't be angry, Maya," he pleaded, half-ruefully, half-humorously. +"It's just that I love you so much. It's just that I'm impatient for you +to be my wife." + +Changeability is attributed to the feminine, but Maya was not able to +shift her mood as facilely as her fiance. + +"If I'm worth marrying, I'm worth waiting for a little longer," she +said, with an edge to her voice. She was angry at Nuwell for acting so +like a spoiled child. "I'm going to see this job finished. I'm leaving +for Solis Lacus on the jetliner tonight." + +"Solis Lacus!" he exclaimed in astonishment. "Why, Maya, that's halfway +around Mars!" + +"That's exactly why the rebels might be more likely to go there. In +spite of the patrols, you know they haven't picked up all of the rebels +who escaped Mars City by groundcar. Any of them who headed for Solis +Lacus will be arriving there within the next two or three days. Then +I'll make a swing around and spend as much time as necessary at each of +the dome cities before coming back here." + +The angry, stubborn expression swept across Nuwell's face again. + +"Maya, I won't--" he began. + +But at that moment, their guests began arriving. As the judge of Mars +City's superior court and his wife entered the room, Nuwell cut himself +off sharp and turned to greet them. His face cleared instantly, his lips +curved into a delighted smile and he welcomed them with such natural, +innocent charm that one would have thought he was incapable of frowning. + +The presence of the guests seemed to intoxicate him with good-humor, and +when he had to leave in the midst of the party to drive Maya to the +airport he did not resume his argument. He merely kissed her good-bye +tenderly before she boarded the plane and begged her with melting eyes +to hurry back because he would be lonely every moment she was away. + +So it was that Maya stretched in a reclining chair on the sundeck of the +Chateau Nectaris the next afternoon and permitted herself to be +disgusted with the entire planet Mars. + +Maya's small, perfect body was kept minimally modest by one of those +scanty Martian sunsuits. A huge straw hat, woven of dried canal sage, +hid her beautiful face. + +A disappointing resort area for an Earthwoman, this Solis Lacus Lowland. +No swimming, no boating, no skiing. No water and no snow. Just a vast +expanse of salty ground, blanketed with gray-green canal sage and dotted +with the plastic domes of the resort chateaus. Nothing to do but hike +in a marsuit or sun oneself under a dome. + +She had chosen the Chateau Nectaris because it was the largest of the +resort spots, and therefore the most likely one to be chosen by men who +sought to hide out for a while. She had contacted the managers of all +the resort chateaus and all had agreed to let her know of the arrival of +any new guests. + +There had been three of them during the morning, two arriving by +groundcar and one by copter, at three different chateaus. She had driven +to each one and circumspectly inspected the new guest, but none had been +anyone she recognized from the Childress Barber College. + +In a way, she wished she had yielded to Nuwell's importunities. There +was much more of interest to do in Mars City. And Nuwell _was_ charming +and intelligent and rather dashing, and she did love him, and she did +want to marry him. But.... + +But she was right in wanting to help identify those rebels who had been +captured before she considered her task finished. And perhaps Nuwell had +been right in his implied disagreement with her idea of coming first to +Solis Lacus, so far from Mars City. Logically, would it not be harder to +lose oneself in a fashionable resort area than in a good-sized city? But +something within her had urged her to come here first. It was a hunch, +and she intended to play it. + +With a sigh, Maya pushed the hat off her face and stared with exotically +slanted black eyes at the shining blur of the dome hundreds of feet +above her. She sat up, hugging her knees with her arms. + +A score of other guests were sunning themselves here also. At her +movement, the unmarried men turned their eyes on her frankly; the +married ones did so furtively, to be promptly yanked back to attention +by their wives. + +Maya's onyx eyes surveyed this dullness aloofly, then lifted over the +nearby parapet and across the sparse terrestrial lawn which would grow +only under the dome. The far cliffs of the Thaumasia Foelix Desert +loomed darkly, distorted through the dome's sides. + +The dome's airlock opened to admit a groundcar. She watched it, +interestedly, as it scurried like a huge, glassy bug along the curving +road and disappeared under the parapet in front of the chateau. Mail +from Mars City, perhaps, or supplies. Maybe even a new guest. + +Something struck her, now that the groundcar was no longer in sight. It +had been a little too far away to discern its details clearly, but there +was something strange about the appearance of that groundcar. A glassy +bug, but not entirely sleek and shiny. Rather like a bug that had come +out second best in an argument with another bug. + +Maya arose, purposefully. She stretched lithely, to the delight of the +assembled viewers, and padded gracefully toward the chateau's +second-floor entrance, trailing the huge hat in one hand. + +She walked lightly along the balcony over the lobby, toward her room. As +she turned its corner, passing the grand stairway, she could see the +chateau entrance and the registration desk. + +The groundcar had brought a new guest. He was signing the registration +book, a tall, broad-shouldered man in a marsuit, holding his marshelmet +under his arm. Why would he be wearing a marsuit in a groundcar? + +As she looked, he laid down the pen and turned. His face was darkly +tanned, strong, handsome. His hair was black as midnight, his eyes +startlingly pale in the dark face. + +His gaze lifted to the balcony, and Maya ducked behind the big hat just +in time. + +Dark Kensington! + +Triumph swept through her. She had been right in coming here! This was +Dark Kensington, the man she had met once, just before the raid on the +college. This was one of the leaders! + +The hat held casually to conceal her face, Maya walked on to her room. + +The telephone was ringing as she entered. She dropped the hat on the +bed, and answered it. + +"Miss Cara Nome, this is Quelman Gren, the manager," said the male voice +on the line. "You asked me to notify you about any new guests. One has +just registered." + +"I saw him," she said. "What can you tell me about him?" + +"He is registered as D. Kensington, from Hesperidum," answered Gren. "He +is just staying overnight. His groundcar dome was broken in an accident, +and he wants to have it replaced and the groundcar refueled." + +"Thank you," said Maya. "Now, please put in a call for me to S. Nuwell +Eli in Mars City." + +She had bathed and dressed for dinner by the time the call came through. + +"Nuwell," she said, when he had identified himself on the other end of +the line, "I knew I was right in coming here. One of the rebel leaders +just registered." + +"Are you sure?" he asked excitedly. + +"Certainly I am. He was one of those who stayed hidden in the back of +the barber college, and I saw him for the first time the day of the +raid. He identified himself then as a supervisor. But he's just staying +overnight." + +"That's long enough! I'll get a jet and be up in a few hours. Get the +police to take him in custody and hold him for me." + +"Darling, there aren't any police at Solis Lacus," Maya reminded him. +"This is a private resort area. The nearest police are at Ophir." + +There was a silence while Nuwell digested this. + +"You say he's staying overnight?" Nuwell said then. "I can be there +before midnight with some men to take him in custody." + +"I'm a trained agent," said Maya. "I can take him in custody for you." + +"You'll do no such thing!" squawked Nuwell in alarm. "It's, too +dangerous! Now you listen to me, Maya. You stay out of sight of this man +and wait till I get there!" + +"All right, darling, I'll use my own judgment," replied Maya demurely, +and hung up. + +She sat and cogitated for a time. She was dressed for dinner, and she +had been looking forward to appearing in the dining room in the somewhat +sensational moulded, flame-red gown she had bought recently in Mars +City. She didn't relish the idea of having dinner sent to her room, and +sitting up here alone to eat it. + +With sudden decision, she arose. She donned dark glasses and tossed a +powder-red veil over her dark hair. Kensington had only seen her once +and would not be expecting to see her here. If he saw her now, he +wouldn't recognize her. + +Fifteen minutes later, she was sipping an extremely expensive martini in +the dining room when she raised her eyes to see Dark Kensington enter, +wearing a dark-red, form-fitting evening suit. + +He paused just inside the door and stood there, slowly surveying the +room. His eyes fell on Maya and paused. Then he walked straight to her +table. + +"May I join you, Miss Cara Nome?" he asked in a deep, controlled voice, +a rather sardonic smile on his lips. + +She felt trapped, and irrationally angry at him for recognizing her. + +"I'm afraid you've made a mistake," she said coldly. "That isn't my +name." + +At this juncture, a helpful waiter appeared at Maya's elbow and asked in +an appallingly distinct tone: + +"Would you care for another drink, Miss Cara Nome, or do you wish to eat +now?" + +"An understandable mistake, since it's such a common name," said Dark, +sitting down opposite her. He turned pale-blue eyes, remote and filled +with light, on the waiter, and added: "She'll have another drink, and +bring me one of the same." + +The waiter left, and Maya removed her dark glasses to level furious +black eyes at Dark. + +"I could call the manager and complain that you're annoying me, you +know," she said. + +"You could," he agreed somberly. "You seem to be a very efficient +tattletale. Or are you going to try to pretend that you weren't the one +responsible for the raid on the college?" + +She recognized that she was well in for it. He was not going to play a +game of pretense. Well, she had tried--partly, anyway--to do as Nuwell +wanted. + +Very deliberately, she opened her purse, realizing that Dark was +watching her closely, all his muscles tense. She took out a cigarette +case and a lighter, laying them side by side on the table, and he +relaxed visibly. + +Maya extracted a cigarette and placed it between her lips casually. She +picked up the lighter and balanced it in her hand. + +"I assume that you're not armed, Mr. Kensington," she said. + +He shrugged and smiled, revealing strong white teeth. + +"Hardly, in this suit," he replied. "I'm glad to see you've decided to +recognize me." + +"I am," she said grimly. "Armed, I mean. This is not a cigarette +lighter, but a very efficient and deadly heatgun. You're under arrest, +Mr. Kensington, so I suppose you're having dinner with me whether you +like it or not. Now, do you mind being a gentleman and lighting my +cigarette, since this is not very good for the purpose?" + +He looked at her face, then dropped his eyes to the lighter, still +smiling. + +"You'd better take my word for it," she advised. "I don't want to kill +you, Mr. Kensington, but I won't hesitate. I'm an agent of the +terrestrial government." + +Dark shrugged again. He produced a lighter and leaned forward to light +her cigarette, without a tremor. + +The waiter returned with their drinks and an announcement. + +"There's a telephone call for you from Mars City, Miss Cara Nome," he +said. + +Maya kept her eyes on Dark. + +"Can you bring a telephone to the table?" she asked the waiter. + +"Certainly, Miss," he replied. He left, and returned a moment later with +a telephone. He set it before her and plugged it in under the table. + +Juggling the lighter-gun gently in one hand, Maya picked up the phone. +As soon as she answered it, her ears were assailed by Nuwell's agonized +voice. + +"Maya, I can't get up there tonight!" he said. "There aren't any jets +here, and these idiots refuse to bring one in from Hesperidum or Cynia +for me to use. I'll have to come up by groundcar." + +Maya sat silent, stunned. It had not seemed too great a feat to her to +hold Dark captive with her disguised heatgun when she was anticipating +Nuwell's arrival within hours. But suddenly she felt like a hunter who +has snared a lion in a rabbit trap. + +"Maya, are you there?" demanded Nuwell querulously. "We'll spell each +other at the wheel and drive up without stopping, but it will still take +two and a half days to get there." + +Maya took a deep breath. + +"Come ahead," she said in a steady voice. "I'll have your man waiting +for you when you get here." + +"You'll what? But I thought you said he was only staying overnight! +Maya, don't you do anything rash!" + +"I'm afraid I already have," she said, a little ruefully. "I have him +under arrest right now." + +The noise at the other end of the line sounded like a dismayed shriek. + +"You little fool!" he shrilled. "I told you not to do anything like +that! How can you hold a man like that for two days, single-handed? Call +in the police!" + +"It seems to me that I already mentioned there aren't any around here," +she reminded him patiently. + +There was a long silence on the other end of the line. Then Nuwell said, +with forced calm: + +"I'm leaving immediately. In the name of space, Maya, be careful!" + +Maya put the telephone quietly back in its cradle and looked across the +table at the Tartar she had caught. Dark smiled at her, easily. + +"So the reinforcements you were expecting won't get here tonight, after +all," he remarked softly. + +"He didn't say that at all!" she retorted, too quickly. + +"There's hardly any point in trying to deceive me about it is there?" he +pointed out. "I can tell a great deal from your conversation and the +expression on your face, and I'd estimate that your help is going to +have to come from Mars City by groundcar--a trip I've just made, so I +know exactly how long it takes. Do you plan for us to spend these two +nights in your room, or mine?" + +She looked at him silently, stricken. + +"I see our waiter returning," said Dark equably. "I trust you'll enjoy +your meal as much as I'm going to enjoy mine, Miss Cara Nome." + + + + +8 + + +The waiter unplugged the telephone and lifted it from their table. + +"We're ready to order now," Maya said to him. "And please ask Mr. Gren +to come in here." + +A few moments after the waiter left, the manager came to their table. +Quelman Gren was dark and thin-faced, with sleek, oily hair. + +"When I told you I was here in an official capacity for the government, +Mr. Gren, you said you would co-operate with me in every way possible," +said Maya. + +"Yes, Miss Cara Nome, I have made every effort to do so," replied Gren. +"Is there some way I can help you now?" + +"Yes, there is," she said. "This man is my prisoner, and I'm going to +have to keep him in custody here for two days and a half, until help +arrives from Mars City. I'd like for you to arm a couple of dependable +men with heatguns and assign them to help me guard him." + +Gren shook his head. + +"I'm sorry, Miss Cara Nome, but none of the employees of the Chateau +Nectaris was employed for that sort of work, and I'm not going to ask +them to do it. What you should have is police help." + +"As you know very well, there are no police nearer than Ophir," she +said in an exasperated tone. "Surely, you have some semi-official +officers employed in the chateau in case of trouble among the guests." + +"I have a house detective, but his duties are to intervene only when +some crime has been committed against a guest or against the chateau. +You told me that you were seeking political rebels, and I assume that +that is your charge against Mr. Kensington. My house detective has no +authority to act in such cases, and I do not intend to get the chateau +mixed up in these affairs. + +"I've co-operated with you to the extent of giving you information you +wanted, Miss Cara Nome, and I'll continue to co-operate insofar as I am +not asked to do something I have no authority to do. It occurs to me +that if you came here seeking rebels, you should have come equipped to +handle them if you found them." + +"It occurs to me that you act very much as though you were in sympathy +with the rebel cause," retorted Maya angrily. + +"My sympathies are not the government's affair, as long as I take no +illegal actions," said Gren. "Good evening, Miss Cara Nome." + +Maya gazed after him furiously as he left the dining room. Dark, sitting +completely relaxed, smiled pleasantly at her. + +"Please be assured," he said, "that I'm going to try to avoid injuring +you in any way when I escape your custody." + +"I'm not worried, because you aren't going to escape," she said. "But I +appreciate the thought. You seem to be a very mild-mannered person, +for...." + +She stopped. + +"For a rebel?" he finished for her. "I really don't know what sort of +indoctrination you must have had, Maya--if I may call you Maya, and +there's no point in being formal under the circumstances. The students +at the barber college were all rebels, and the reports I received were +that you got along nicely with most of them." + +"Yes, I did. I don't suppose it should surprise me to find that rebels +are human beings, too." + +"Merely a matter of a difference in orientation. And a question for you +to consider is, which orientation actually is correct?" + +Maya did not like the direction the conversation was taking. She was +relieved by the appearance of the waiter with their meals of thick, +steaming steaks, with all the necessary trimmings. + +"It will be a long time before we can be served anything like this by +teleportation," she said, laughing. "But, Mr. Kensington--" + +"Dark, if you don't mind." + +"Very well. Dark, you say that you drove here from Mars City. How did +you avoid the copter patrols that were out trying to intercept the +escaping rebels?" + +"As a matter of fact, I didn't, and that's a very peculiar thing," he +said thoughtfully. "One of them got me just outside Mars City and +blasted the dome of my groundcar." + +"I noticed you were wearing a marsuit when you registered here, and Gren +said you were having the dome repaired." + +"That's what's peculiar about it. I wasn't wearing the marsuit when the +copter broke my dome. I didn't have any protection at all. The groundcar +went off the road and overturned. I don't know how long I was +unconscious, but it was evidently long enough for the copter to look me +over, decide I was dead, and move on out of sight. What I can't +understand is why I didn't asphyxiate." + +"You mean that you were protected by no oxygen equipment at all?" + +"None. I returned to consciousness and I was lying there with the dome +broken wide open and my face bare to the Martian air. I got into my +marsuit right away, of course, but that took a few minutes in addition +to the time I was unconscious. And I didn't feel restricted by the lack +of air. I wasn't even breathing. And I felt that I didn't need to!" + +"That is peculiar," she said meditatively. "Tell me, do you know a man +named Goat Hennessey?" + +"You're the second person who's asked me that recently," said Dark. "I +knew him well, many years ago, but I haven't seen him in years. Why do +you ask?" + +"Because the only case I've heard about of any human being able to live +without oxygen in the Martian atmosphere involved some genetic +experiments of Goat Hennessey, before the government made him stop them +and destroy the creatures he'd been experimenting with." + +Dark laughed. + +"I can assure you I'm not one of Goat's genetic experiments," he said. +"Goat and I were colleagues in this rebel movement twenty-five years +ago, before I was hit by a period of amnesia that I've just come out +of." + +She stared at him. + +"A twenty-five year period of amnesia? Impossible! You're not more than +twenty-five years old," she said positively. + +"If what people tell me is correct, I'm nearer sixty," said Dark. +"Terrestrial years, of course." + +"Of course. But I don't believe it." + +Dark shrugged, and cut another bite of steak. He seemed to be enjoying +his meal quite as much as though he were not her prisoner and she his +captor--as, indeed, she was, too. + +They chatted pleasantly throughout the meal and Maya found, somewhat to +her surprise, that she was talking about herself a great deal to this +pale-eyed man. She told him of her childhood on Mars, among the +Martians, and of going to Earth to live with her uncle, a World Senator +who had had close and profitable connections with Marscorp. + +She went on to tell of her decision to become an agent of the +terrestrial government, despite her uncle's objections but as a result +of his often-expressed enthusiasm for the government's role in +developing the planetary colonies; and of her assignment to Mars to +ferret out a rebel headquarters which had eluded the best efforts of the +Martian government. She even told him how she had met Nuwell and fallen +in love with him. + +Some time after the meal's conclusion, she suddenly stopped in +mid-sentence. + +"What's the matter?" asked Dark. + +"I just realized that you're my prisoner," she answered, smiling at him. +"Frankly, I'm not sure what to do with you. We can't just sit here in +the dining room all night." + +"Why not go out and sit on the terrace?" he suggested. "They say that +Solis Lacus is a beautiful sight when Phobos is up and moving." + +"And a shadowed terrace is a very convenient place from which to attempt +an escape," she countered. + +"Look," he said, "there's no point in making the evening more difficult +than it is. I very definitely intend to get away from you and get out of +here during the next two days if I can, but I'm enjoying this +conversation. If I promise that I won't attempt an escape in the next +two hours, are you willing to go up on the terrace for a while?" + +She studied his face carefully. It was a handsome, earnest face, full of +strength, full of wisdom, with a touch of weariness. + +"All right," she said at last. "But I warn you that if my trust is +misplaced and you do attempt to escape, I'll burn you down without +compunction." + +They went up together, quite as casually as might any two guests +relaxing at the resort, and found chairs in the semi-darkness +overlooking the moonlit lowland. + +Deimos hung near the zenith, a tiny globe of light, virtually +stationary. Phobos, larger and brighter, was not long risen, and it +moved swiftly and smoothly across the sky, like the cold searchlight of +some giant aircraft. Touched and transformed by the shifting shadows, +Maya and Dark sat and chatted like old friends. + +Dark talked now, and he told her of his past life, of his coming to +Mars, of his joining the rebel movement upon realizing how the +government was holding back man's progress toward Martian +self-sufficiency. He spoke soberly, with intense conviction, and Maya, +listening, began to realize that there was another side to this conflict +than the one she had been taught. + +She began to waver and to wonder, for the grave voice of this man was +like a deep music she had never heard before but seemed to remember from +some time before there was hearing, a music that touched the depths of +her being. + +Then his arm slid around her waist and he drew her gently toward him. +For an instant, she responded, turning her face upward. + +And, on that instant, she remembered. + +With a lightning twist, she was free, and on her feet before him. She +stepped back, and the lighter-gun was in her hand. + +"I thought you said I could trust you," she said coldly. "Evidently, I +was foolish to do so." + +He looked up at her, and there was nothing but surprise on his face. +Then, slowly, he smiled at her. + +"It depends on your interpretation of the word," he said. "I was merely +attempting to kiss you, my dear." + +She let her hand sag, feeling rather foolish. + +"Well, don't," she said, her sharpness covering her confusion. "We +aren't lovers, Mr. Kensington." + +"No," he said, quite seriously. "And I find that I rather regret that we +aren't." + +She stood looking at him, fighting off a sneaking regret of her own that +he hadn't succeeded in his intention. + +"I think this moonlight has had an unfortunate effect on us both," she +said. "We'd better go inside. Besides, if I'm to keep watch over you all +night, I want to get into something more practical than an evening +gown." + +Without protest, Dark preceded her inside. They went to the manager's +office, and Maya issued instructions to Gren. + +"Have a maid move my things from my third-floor room to a room on the +top floor," she ordered. "We'll wait here until it's done." + +When the maid brought Maya the key to the new room, she and Dark took +the elevator to it. As soon as they were inside, she locked the door +behind them. + +"I'm going into the bathroom to change clothes," she said precisely. +"The window to this room is six floors above a stone courtyard and I +don't think you can jump that far without being killed, even on Mars. +Since these windows don't open, I'll hear you if you break it to get +out, and I can burn you long before you can climb down the face of the +wall." + +The lighter-gun in her hand, she went into the bathroom and closed the +door behind her. + +She had just stripped off the evening gown when she heard the bathroom +door lock from the outside. A moment later, there was the crashing sound +of breaking glass. + +Calmly, Maya burned off the lock of the bathroom door with the little +heatgun. She pushed it open and went out into the room in her underwear. +Dark was in the process of gingerly climbing through the broken window. + +"It's a long fall, Dark," she said. + +He looked back over his shoulder. He smiled ruefully, and came back into +the room. + +"Well, it was worth a try," he said philosophically. + +He surveyed her with frankly admiring eyes and added: + +"And it was worth failing, for the view." + +She turned pink. But, without taking her eyes off him, she reached back +into the bathroom, got the tunic and trousers she had laid out, and +slipped them on. + +"I think it would be better if we go down and sit in the middle of the +lobby," she said, unlocking the door to the room. "That way, you'll have +farther to run if you try to get away." + +They went down and found comfortable seats. They sat there, talking, to +all casual appearance two of the chateau's guests. Gradually, the +conversation moved back to its earlier informal and friendly terms. + +How long they sat chatting, Maya did not know, for she was wrapped up in +her enjoyment of the things Dark said and his attitude toward life. But +after a time she realized that no more guests were sitting in the lobby +or moving through it. They were the only ones there, except for Gren, +sitting morosely behind the registration desk. + +"Just how do you propose to get any sleep and watch me at the same +time?" asked Dark. + +"I don't," she answered, smiling. "If you can stay awake for two nights, +so can I." + +"You forget, young lady," he retorted. "I don't have to." + +With that, he stretched out unceremoniously on the sofa on which he had +been sitting, clasped his hands behind his head and closed his eyes. +Within a very short time, he was obviously and genuinely sound asleep. + +Maya sat and watched him, piqued and a little nonplussed. She could +hardly afford to go to sleep, too. Her only course was to stay awake, to +sit there and watch him sleeping comfortably and soundly. It was not a +pleasant prospect, for two nights. + +She sat, heavy-eyed, and racked her brain for some solution, and +silently cursed Gren for refusing to give her the help she needed. Dark +slept on, and a faint smile touched his lips. Then Maya found herself +thinking pleasantly over the things they had talked about during the +long evening, and admiring this man and liking him.... + +She woke up. + +With a start, she woke up, realizing that she had been asleep. She was +not sitting in the chair any more, but curled up comfortably on a sofa, +her head pillowed like a child's against--against what? + +Against Dark's chest! He was awake, sitting up, smiling down at her, and +she was cradled in the curve of his arm. And the little lighter-gun was +no longer in her hand. + +She did not react violently to the sudden realization. She sighed, +almost happily, and murmured to him: + +"So you win, after all. I think I'm glad, Dark. Now you can go, if you +want to." + +He shook his head. + +"I'm glad you feel that way about it, Maya, but I'm afraid it's too +late. I really shouldn't have stayed around to serve as your pillow till +you awoke." + +There was something in his face that caused her to sit up suddenly. + +Two uniformed men stood there in the lobby before them, relaxed but +watchful, regulation heatguns dangling from their hands. As she sat up, +one of them touched his cap and spoke to her: + +"We're police officers from Ophir, Miss Cara Nome. Mr. Eli called from +Mars City and directed us to drive over here and help you guard the +prisoner until his arrival." + +She rose angrily. + +"I didn't ask for your help, so you may go," she said, aware of Dark's +surprised gaze on her. "I made a mistake in identification." + +The policeman who had spoken shook his head. + +"I'm sorry," he said. "We're acting on Mr. Eli's orders, not yours. +We'll have to hold Mr. Kensington until Mr. Eli arrives." + +She glared at them. The one who had spoken was big and burly and +efficient-looking. The other was sallow and silent, with a deadly cast +to his thin face. + +Then she saw her lighter-gun, lying on the lobby floor beside the chair +in which she had gone to sleep. + +She bent down, casually, and picked it up. She straightened, the little +instrument ready in her hand. + +"This is not a cigaret lighter, but a heatgun," she said flatly. "I'm in +charge here, and I say Mr. Kensington is to be permitted to go free. If +any effort is made to stop him, I'll burn you down." + +Both police heatguns swung up in short arcs and trained on her. The +burly policeman spoke gently. + +"I'm sorry, Miss Cara Nome, but we're under orders from Mr. Eli, and we +intend to follow them," he said. "I'd hate to see you injured, but if +you blast either of us the other one will burn off your hand." + +"No, Maya!" exclaimed Dark, getting to his feet. "Don't! There's no +point in your getting hurt for my sake." + +She ignored him. + +"Drop those heatguns, both of you, or I blast!" she snapped, almost +hysterically. + +Then Dark hurled himself bodily at the two men. + +The thin-faced man swung his heatgun around to meet Dark's charge. Maya +twisted the lighter-gun toward him, and at the same moment the burly +policeman threw himself against her. Her heat beam singed the thin-faced +one's shoulder, then she collapsed under the impact of the other's body. + +As she fell, she saw the almost invisible beam of the thin-faced +policeman's heatgun strike Dark directly in the stomach, burning away +the cloth, burning a great gaping hole in his abdomen. Dark slid to the +floor, writhing, gasping, clutching his stomach. + +Her lighter-gun knocked from her hand, Maya struggled, half-dazed, to +her feet. The burly policeman had swung his own gun on the prostrate +Dark, but the other one, grimacing with the pain of his wounded +shoulder, stopped him. + +"Let him be," he said. "I like to watch them die." + +With a wail, Maya dropped to Dark's side. She cradled his head against +her breast and sobbed as he died in her arms. + + + + +9 + + +From the time she saw Dark Kensington die until Nuwell's arrival at the +Chateau Nectaris a day later, Maya remained in her room, half in shock, +half in an agony of sorrow and remorse. + +She was so exhausted by her ordeal that she did sleep, but it was +fitfully and without genuine rest. She had her meals sent up to her +room, and ate automatically, not tasting the food. + +Rationally, she could in no way blame herself for Dark's death, but that +did not prevent her feeling strongly that her insistence on tracking +down the fugitives from the Childress Barber College had made her, +directly, his slayer. Her feeling of distress was much deeper and more +personal than normal regret at having brought about the death of a +friendly enemy while in pursuit of her duty. + +Maya realized that in those few hours she had been with Dark and talked +to him, something had taken root and flowered that had changed her whole +outlook on existence. She did not want to call it love; she was a very +practical young woman and did not believe in love on such short notice. +But, in examining her feelings, she was at a loss as to what else to +call it. + +She had felt a powerful attraction to this man, a tremendous admiration +and liking for him, a feeling of _belonging_ in his presence. She had +sensed his strength. It had appalled her when she had had to oppose +herself to him in keeping him captive, but in other circumstances she +felt it was the sort of strength she could depend on. Willingly, she +thought now, she, could have dispensed with everything else in her life, +and followed Dark Kensington wherever he chose to wander, a fugitive, +among the deserts and lowlands. + +And Nuwell? Her feeling for him had not changed. She was still attracted +to him and she still admired him. But the admiration she had felt for +his sharp, sardonic handling of his opponents in a court of law seemed a +little shallow and a little immature in comparison to the sudden onrush +of what she sensed about Dark. + +Since her early teens, she had been an eager enemy of those rebels whom +she conceived to be disrupting the orderly settlement of Mars, and her +desire to contribute to the defeat of those rebels had been a +disciplining, integrating force in her personality. Yet, in only a few +short hours of quiet talk, Dark had cut the foundation from that force +and dissipated it. + +If only she had not delayed, if only she had made up her mind decisively +to what she felt now ... Dark need not have died, she could have freed +him, and together they could have left Solis Lacus. With him, she would +have fought as hard for the rebel cause as, in the past, she had fought +against it. + +But now it was too late. And, moping tearfully in her room, she found +that she didn't care any more, one way or another, about the struggle +between Marscorp and the rebels. + +By the time Nuwell arrived from Mars City, she had regained control over +her feelings. When he telephoned her in her room, she went down to the +lobby to meet him, pale but composed. + +She had a strange feeling as she came out into the big lobby, arching up +above its balconies, a feeling as though she had been away in a distant +land for a very long time and was just returning to the world she had +known all her life. In this returning, she looked upon things with new +ideas, and they did not appear the same as before. + +This was the same spacious lobby across which she had walked to register +when she came to Solis Lacus from Mars City a few days ago. It was the +same lobby in which, looking down from the balcony, she had seen Dark +Kensington arriving. It was the same lobby in which she had sat with +Dark and talked for so long. But it seemed a strange place, a different +place, one that looked like the lobby she remembered but in which she +had never walked before. + +Nuwell was standing across the lobby with the two police officers from +Ophir, beside a long wooden box that rested on the floor next to the +registration counter. Behind the counter, Quelman Gren, the manager of +Chateau Nectaris, was sorting the day's mail. + +Nuwell saw her, detached himself from the others and came across the +lobby to meet her. As he approached, she experienced the same feeling +toward him that she had felt toward the lobby: he was like someone she +had known, but a different person. + +There was a worried frown on Nuwell's face, and he managed to get +something of disapproval in his greeting kiss. + +"It's lucky I called Ophir and had those men sent over here," were his +first words. "If they hadn't gotten here when they did, that rebel might +have killed you and escaped. I told you, Maya, not to try to handle a +situation like that." + +"It was very astute of you to send them over," answered Maya dryly. "I +should have thought of it myself." + +"That's exactly why you shouldn't try to handle such things alone," said +Nuwell, apparently somewhat mollified. + +Maya looked into his face, a handsome, youthful face bearing a slightly +peeved expression, and she thought two things: she thought of the long +and intensive training she had undergone as a terrestrial agent, and she +contemplated just how effectively Nuwell might have handled Dark's +capture, had Nuwell been in her place. + +"Come on, Maya, let's clear this up, so we can get out of here and get +back to Mars City," said Nuwell, and led her across the lobby to the two +policemen and the wooden box. + +The two men from Ophir greeted her with a certain embarrassment, and +seemed relieved when she smiled wanly at them. + +"These men have told me how the rebel had turned the tables and gained +the advantage of you before their arrival," said Nuwell. "They say that +before he was killed, he confessed to them that he was Dark Kensington, +one of the major rebel leaders who escaped from the Childress Barber +College. I believe that coincides with your identification of him, +doesn't it?" + +"Yes," answered Maya in a low voice. "He was Dark Kensington. I saw him +once at the college, and he identified himself to me then as a +supervisor." + +She did not feel called on to say anything more, and to tell Nuwell what +Dark himself had told her about the rebellion and his part in it. + +"Very good," said Nuwell with satisfaction. "We've captured the Chief, +the peculiar-looking individual who escaped by driving his copter +through the city dome. All the indications are that he and Kensington +were the two top figures in the rebellion. I think all that's needed now +is for you to identify the body positively as Kensington, Maya." + +He indicated the wooden box, which lay, lidless, on the floor. +Reluctantly, Maya stepped up to it, and looked down into it. + +The pain which distorted Dark's face when he lay writhing from the +heatgun blast was gone from his features. They were calm and peaceful in +death. + +Maya gazed down at his face wistfully, sorrowfully, then turned away. + +"Well?" asked Nuwell impatiently. + +"Yes," she murmured. "That's Dark Kensington." + +"Very good," said Nuwell, and turned to the two men. "We'll take the +body to the hydroponic farm for the vats," he said. "There'll be others +after the trials and executions of the rebels we've captured." + +"Do you have to do that?" protested Maya. "Why can't you give the man a +decent burial out here in the lowland?" + +"Don't interfere in matters which are none of your affair," replied +Nuwell brusquely. "Bodies of criminals are always sent to the vats. +They're constantly short of bodies, as it is, and we can't very well +send them corpses of law-abiding citizens." + +He turned away. As Maya accompanied him across the corridor, the two men +from Ophir began nailing the lid on the wooden box that contained Dark +Kensington's remains. + +At the elevator, Nuwell said: + +"Get your things packed as soon as you can. I want to go back to Mars +City right away by copter. I have some things I want to talk to you +about, very seriously, but they can wait until we're airborne." + +"Why by copter?" asked Maya. "Groundcar is faster." + +For the first time, Nuwell's face broke into a genuine smile, and his +ordinary charming self shone through. + +"Because," he replied drolly, "I've just made that trip by groundcar, +and every bone in my body aches. It may be slower, but I want to go back +by air, where there aren't as many bumps!" + +Maya was able to laugh at this. She went up to her room. + +It did not take her long to pack, and to dress in a tunic and trousers +for travel. When she came back down to the lobby, Nuwell was waiting, +and they took a groundcar from the chateau to the dome airlock. + +The three government agents who had come with Nuwell from Mars City had +the helicopter ready for them on the flat lowland just beyond the +airlock. As the groundcar emerged onto the sage-covered plain, the men +were helping the two policemen from Ophir unload the box containing Dark +Kensington's remains from another groundcar and load it into the baggage +bay of the copter. + +Nuwell and Maya slipped into their marsuits, secured the helmets and +climbed out of the groundcar. Nuwell gave his men some final +instructions to follow before returning to Mars City by groundcar. Then +he and Maya went aboard the copter. + +They strapped themselves in the seats. Nuwell sealed the copter door, +and released oxygen from the tanks into the interior. When the dials +showed the air to be breathable, he and Maya removed their helmets, +Nuwell started the motor and the craft lifted slowly and smoothly into +the air above the Solis Lacus Lowland. + +Nuwell headed the copter northwestward. As soon as they were well on +course, he turned to Maya with a stern expression on his face. + +"There's one thing I can't understand at all," he said severely. "What +madness possessed you to resist those men I sent over from Ophir, and +attempt to help Kensington escape?" + +She looked at him steadily without replying. + +What should she answer? Could she say, "I discovered that I had fallen +in love with Dark Kensington. I found that his reasons for the rebellion +made sense to me, and that you and the government and Marscorp are +wrong"? + +What would Nuwell's reaction be if she told this truth? + +But it could do no good to say that. It could do the rebels no good, +because now they were scattered and defeated. It could do Dark no good, +because he was dead. She did not think she would suffer personally from +such a revelation, but it could only hurt Nuwell, who loved her. + +So, at last, she said: + +"Nuwell, I'd rather not talk about that. I didn't succeed, so can we +forget it?" + +"I think it's best that we do," agreed Nuwell. "The only thing I can +think is that you were slightly hysterical over Kensington's having +gained the upper hand, after the strain of guarding him for so long, and +your action was an unconscious expression of resentment at their having +to take over his custody where you had failed. But we might have learned +a great deal through questioning the man at length, and that action of +yours made it necessary for them to kill him." + +Nuwell could not know how deeply those words struck her. She turned her +face away from him, and the tears came to her eyes. + +"At any rate," went on Nuwell, unaware, "I think this demonstrates that +these espionage activities have been far too much of a strain for you, +and I think it's time you stopped. We have one of the two major leaders +captured and the other one dead, and I don't think they're going to give +us much more trouble even if we don't locate all the fugitives. So I +want you to give up this idea of wandering around from city to city, +helping identify rebels." + +"I think you're right," she agreed in a choked voice. She had no more +interest now, certainly, in tracking down rebels. + +"And," continued Nuwell, even more firmly, "marry me when we get back to +Mars City." + +Well, why not? Nuwell loved her. What else was there for her? + +"Yes, I'll do that, too," she said. "As soon as we get back, I'll make +out my report, and send my resignation with it back on the first ship to +Earth. Then I'll marry you, Nuwell." + +His face was radiant and triumphant as he turned to her. He put his arm +around her shoulders, drew her to him and kissed her. + +The helicopter flew northwestward. Passing over the Solis Lacus Lowland, +it crossed the Thaumasia Desert and the Tithonius Lacus Lowland, and +whirred above the Desert of Candor. Ahead of it, after a time, there +rose on the horizon the white stone forms of a distant group of +buildings. + +Nuwell dropped the helicopter lower. He angled it down, and in a short +time landed it on the desert near one of the four buildings of the +Canfell Hydroponic Farm. + +As he and Maya donned their marshelmets, a group of marsuited men +emerged from the building's airlock and came across the sand toward +them. + +Maya stared curiously out the copter window. She had heard of this +government experimental station, but had not visited it before. + +"This is another reason I wanted to take a copter," explained Nuwell, +releasing the air from the copter's interior. "There aren't any roads to +this place, and I didn't want to drive a groundcar across the desert to +bring Kensington's body here." + +They emerged from the copter as the group from the building approached. +Nuwell greeted the five of them and introduced them to Maya. Four of +them were strangers to her, but the fifth she remembered: Goat +Hennessey, white-bearded and watery-eyed. + +"How are you adjusting to your new work here, Dr. Hennessey?" Nuwell +asked him. + +"Very well," answered Goat in his cracked voice. "They're using a +different approach from mine, but I find it extremely interesting." + +Remembering Goat's earlier experiments at Ultra Vires, it occurred to +Maya to be grateful that Dark had not fallen alive into the hands of +these people at the Canfell Hydroponic Farm. + +Their entire stop lasted only a few minutes. Nuwell refused an +invitation to remain overnight, explaining that he was anxious to get on +to Mars City. The others unloaded Dark's coffin and moved with it back +toward the building. Nuwell and Maya climbed back into the copter, and +shortly they were airborne again and the buildings of the Canfell +Hydroponic Farm were receding behind and below them. + +Nuwell guided the copter almost straight westward now. It passed over +Candor and buzzed out over the broad Xanthe Desert. + +And here trouble developed. Without warning, the engine coughed and +stopped. Nuwell worked frantically at the controls, to no avail. As the +big blades slowed in their rotation, the copter sank, slowly at first, +then ever more swiftly, to the surface of the desert. They donned +marshelmets hurriedly. + +It struck with a terrific crash, which would have hurled them through +the windows had they not been strapped down. The entire body of the +copter crumpled in on itself, and it came to rest, a collapsed wreck, +with the two of them sitting in its midst, miraculously uninjured. + +There was no question of trying to start the engines or fly the machine. +It was a total wreck. Nuwell tried the radio without success. + +"What in space went wrong with the thing?" he demanded angrily. "I know +it wasn't short of fuel. There's nothing left for us to do but walk, I'm +afraid, Maya." + +"Back to the hydroponic farm?" + +"No, we've come too far. By my chart, we're not far from Ultra Vires. I +think we'd better try to make it for the night, and if Goat left his +radio equipment in working order we'll call for help. If not, the only +thing I know to do is to head for Ophir." + +Ultra Vires--Maya remembered it with a shudder. The grim, black bastion +in the desert where Goat Hennessey had worked with grotesque, twisted +caricatures of humans. + +They fumbled about the wreck to find the minimum emergency supplies they +thought they would need, and started westward on foot. + + + + +10 + + +Happy Thurbelow finished sweeping the long barracks and leaned wearily +on his broom. That is, he didn't lean on it, or it would have collapsed +him to the floor, but he made the gesture. Why, he wondered, didn't the +Masters make the Toughs sweep their own barracks? Perhaps the Toughs +couldn't be made, or perhaps the Masters did it just from an excess of +cruelty. + +Happy's monstrously bloated body sagged, and his skin felt dangerously +dry and tight. Happy was so adipose that his hands engulfed the broom +handle like a toothpick; under the transparent skin, his flesh was clear +and translucent, and there could be seen the tiny red lines of the +branching veins. Happy was like a jellyfish, in huge human form. + +"Shadow!" he called in a high, grating voice. "I'm going below." + +Shadow appeared disconcertingly, ten feet away. Dark-skinned Shadow +looked at him silently with white-rimmed eyes. Then Shadow turned and +disappeared, as only Shadow could. + +Hanging up the broom, Happy waddled to the iron-barred gate that +prevented entrance to a downward-plunging ramp. He pressed a button +beside it and waited. + +He looked out the window beside the gate. The sands of the Desert of +Candor stretched orange and bleak under the bronze sky. Somewhere out +there to the south, across those sands, under that sky, lay the shining +dome of Ophir. + +The window would be easily broken, and it was large enough for even +Happy's bulky body to pass through. But the oxygen-scant air of Mars +would sear his lungs to quick death without a helmet; and even if it +would not, Happy's skin would dry and crack in a few hours of that +outside air, and he would die in slower agony. + +"What is the purpose of your call?" asked an impersonal voice from the +loudspeaker beside the barred gate. + +"I have finished my task, Master," said Happy, puffing a little. "I seek +your grace to go below." + +The loudspeaker said no more, but after a moment the gate stirred and +lifted into the ceiling. Happy went through it gratefully, and waddled +down the gently sloping ramp. The gate descended behind him. + +Happy did not know whether Shadow had come through the open gate with +him, but it didn't matter. Shadow could slip easily through the bars +when he wished. + +At the foot of the ramp was a vast, low cavern, stretching out of sight +in all directions. It was dim, shading into the darkness of distance. +Its floor was water, flat water, subdivided into large rectangular vats. +In most of the vats vegetation grew in various stages, greening under +the ultraviolet rays that radiated from the low roof. Between the vats +ran straight, narrow walkways of packed earth. + +Happy waddled along one of the walkways until he found an empty vat. He +lowered himself over its edge and sank happily into the still, cool +water, like a hippopotamus submerging. He immersed himself completely, +then lay back in the water, with only his face floating barely above the +surface. + +Shadow appeared, apparently out of nowhere, and sat down on the edge of +the vat, letting his flat legs dangle into the water. + +"Nothing like it," proclaimed Happy, splashing a little. "Nothing on +Mars like it. You ought to come on in, Shadow. As flat as you are, you +ought to float on the surface without any trouble at all." + +Shadow nodded silently, but made no move. + +"I don't see why the Toughs can't take care of their own barracks," +complained Happy, returning to the subject closest to his displeasure. +"You reckon the Toughs are actually the rebels, and the Masters can't +make them do anything?" + +Shadow shook his head, but whether in negation or disclaimer of +knowledge, Happy could not interpret. + +Happy flinched, and shifted in the vat. + +"There's still part of a skeleton in here," he announced. "I thought +this was an empty one." + +Moving, he flinched again. With purpose, he aroused himself and ploughed +to the edge of the vat. + +"I've got to find another vat," he said. "I can't take a nap if I'm +going to get punched in the fanny with bones every five minutes." + +He heaved himself over the edge onto the walkway with difficulty, and +got slowly to his feet. Shadow lifted his feet out of the vat, stood up +and vanished. + +Happy knew how Shadow was able to disappear so suddenly, and it did not +disturb him. Seen directly from front or rear, Shadow had the dimensions +of a normal, black-skinned man. But Shadow was flat, no thicker than +half an inch. When Shadow turned sidewise, he vanished to the sight. + +Occasionally, Happy wondered how Shadow happened to be, and why he was +here in the caverns, but it was not the sort of thing to bother his mind +for very long. + +Happy moved along the walkways, peering into the vats which appeared to +be empty. He assumed Shadow was following him; Shadow always did. + +Around corners, he came upon blubbery creatures like himself, tending +the plants. They nodded greeting at him, and Happy nodded back. + +His search was discouraging. All the vats not filled with plants seemed +to have corpses in them, in varying stages of decomposition. + +Around one corner, Happy came upon a Tough, lounging in the walkway. The +Tough was a compact, muscular youth, with bullet head, sullen eyes and +hard mouth. He looked as though he lounged with hands in pockets, but, +like Happy and all the others, he was naked, so that was just an +impression. + +Happy stopped. He and his soft kind avoided the Toughs when they could. +The Tough looked at him with disinterested eyes, then looked away. + +Happy was uncertain what to do or say. His impulse was to turn and go +back, but he did not quite dare. + +"Are you a rebel, Tough?" he burbled the first thing in his mind, for +lack of something else to say. + +The Tough looked at him contemptuously. Then, suddenly, the Tough's hard +eyes flared with savage excitement and he moved swiftly on Happy. As he +began to turn in panic, Happy saw from the corner of his eye another +Tough racing around the corner of the walkway to come upon him from +behind. + +The Tough in front of him reached him and began pummeling him viciously +with his fists, the hard fists sinking like painful hammers deep into +Happy's flesh with every blow. Happy bleated in fright and distress, +trying ineffectually to ward off his attacker. + +Then, out of nowhere, Shadow flashed in like a lightning bolt on the +other Tough as he had almost reached Happy. There was a brief, squalling +tangle and the Tough pitched headlong into a plant-choked vat. + +Shadow vanished and reappeared, intermittently, like a flashing light. +The first Tough, seeing what had happened to his cohort, ceased +pummeling Happy abruptly and took to his heels. He vanished around a +corner. + +The vanquished Tough climbed out of the vat, sputtering and cursing, and +fled in the other direction. + +"Oh, my! Oh, my!" exclaimed Happy to the now-invisible Shadow. "What +wicked creatures!" + +Sore and shaken, he moved on down the walkway, his search now +intensified by the need for wetness to soothe his injured flesh. + +He came upon a vat without vegetation and, at first joyous glance, +thought it empty. Then, disappointment, a comparatively fresh body +floated in it, just under the surface. + +It was the body of a man. Naked, it was smooth and plump with the water +that had seeped into its tissues, and it was a uniform dead-white all +over, like the belly of a fish. The face and lips were monochrome white, +the hair was bleached, and when it opened its eyes, they were so +colorless that the action was almost unnoticeable. + +Realizing, Happy was paralyzed with shock. + +The dead creature's eyes moved from side to side, then stopped, fixing +on Happy. Its chest began to rise and fall slowly, with +breathing--_under water_. + +"Shadow!" squeaked Happy helplessly. + +Shadow appeared beside him. + +"Shadow, it's alive," whispered Happy, desperately frightened. + +The two stood side by side, staring breathlessly down into the water. +The creature in the vat moved its hands tentatively, it opened its mouth +and closed it. Then it stirred with purpose, turned and climbed up over +the side of the vat, dripping like a weird creature from the depths of +the sea. + +It stood up before them, dripping. + +The man bent slightly and belched forth a great quantity of water from +his lungs. He straightened, and breathed in the air in great, satisfied +gasps. + +"I'm Dark Kensington," he said in a rusty voice. "Where is this?" + +At his words, Shadow disappeared. + +Dark Kensington. Had Maya seen him now, she could not possibly have +recognized him. The muscular body and dark, handsome face were bloated +and pale. The black hair was bleached to pale seaweed, and the blue eyes +were completely colorless now. + +"This is the Canfell Hydroponic Farm," answered Happy, gaining a little +courage. "Under the surface of the Desert of Candor." + +"The Desert of Candor?" repeated Dark, and the pale lips twisted in a +smile. "They hauled me quite a way. I was at Solis Lacus." + +"How did you get here?" asked Happy with sudden eagerness. "Only dead +people are thrown in the vats, to make chemicals for the plants. How +could you stay alive under water?" + +"I imagine I can breathe water for the same reason I can still live +after a heat beam burned my guts out, but I don't know what that reason +is. I imagine that the first step in finding out is to get out of this +place." + +"You can't get away from here," said Happy positively. "Nobody ever +has." + +"We'll see," said Dark confidently. "I gather you and your companion are +some sort of prisoners." + +"Slaves," corrected Happy with unaccustomed bitterness. "The Jellies are +slaves, to work in the vats. I don't know if the Toughs are slaves, too, +but the Masters let them sleep in barracks on the surface. Shadow's not +either a Jelly or a Tough, and I don't know if he's a slave. Shadow's +just Shadow." + +"Before you go on," interrupted Dark, "I seem to be extraordinarily +hungry." + +Happy twittered and quivered. He moved hurriedly around a corner to one +of the storage vats, and returned in a moment with a supply of the +tasteless gelatin that was their food here. Dark fell to greedily, and +Happy, his tongue loosed by this new companionship, started feeding him +information in a steady stream. + +"I don't know how they get us here," said Happy. "We aren't born here, +but something happens to our memories. We can't stay up in the dry air +very long, or our skin cracks and our flesh collapses. You see, our +tissues are mostly water. + +"Everybody down here's like me. Everybody but the Toughs. You'll see +them. I don't know how they got here, either, or what use they are. They +don't work like we do. + +"And Shadow. He's different. Shadow likes me. He stays with me all the +time. And then there's Old Beard. He hides down here, and I don't think +the Masters know he's here. He's very old and very wise." + +"Who are the Masters?" asked Dark curiously, between mouthfuls. "And +what sort of work do you do for them?" + +"They're the people who run the hydroponic farm. They're normal men, +like you--I mean, like you would be if you weren't swollen up and pale +like the bodies that are thrown in the vats. + +"Old Beard knows; he's very wise. He calls the Masters 'Marscorp.' I +don't know why, but it seems that before I lost my memory I knew a +language where _corp_ meant _body_. Like _corpse_, you know. Maybe it +has something to do with the bodies they put in the vats. + +"Old Beard says that the Masters are developing Martian foods that we +can eat without dying, and he must be right, because sometimes they +bring down some hard foods and make some of us eat them instead of +gelatin. But those who eat the hard foods always die, so I don't suppose +they've succeeded yet, except some of the Toughs. Some of the Toughs +have eaten the hard food without dying, sometimes, but they got pretty +sick. And then--" + +"Hold on! Wait a minute!" exclaimed Dark, holding up a restraining hand. +"I know what Marscorp is, and I'm not surprised they're behind it. But +I'm trying to digest all this you're throwing at me." + +Happy fell silent, reluctantly, and Dark cogitated deeply. + +Happy fidgeted, anxious to speak but afraid to interrupt Dark's +thoughts. + +And then Shadow reappeared. Shadow appeared out of nowhere, and made +gestures at Happy. Happy glanced at Dark, timidly. At last, he gained +courage to speak. + +"Shadow tells me--" he began, then cringed when Dark looked up in +surprise. Dark gestured to him to go on. + +"Shadow tells me," said Happy, "that Old Beard wants to see you. Will +you go with us to Old Beard?" + +"Certainly," agreed Dark. "From what you tell me, I'm rather anxious to +meet Old Beard, too." + +He followed Happy and the alternately visible and invisible Shadow along +the paths that twisted among the vats for some distance. At last they +ducked into some luxuriant foliage that hung over to form a bower above +the space between two vats. + +Old Beard sat there, in a corner of the dimness, pale eyes fixed +silently on the trio. Old Beard was not so very old. He appeared to be +in robust middle age, although his skin was very pale from long +existence underground. His hair and heavy beard were long and untrimmed, +and were a deep iron-gray. + +"Thank you for coming," said Old Beard in a deep, resonant voice that +bespoke strength and bore an undertone of bitter determination. "It is +safer for me not to move around too much in the open except at certain +hours." + +"I was glad to come, because I'm sure you can help me and I may be able +to help you, too," said Dark. "I'm Dark Kensington." + +"So Shadow told me. I find this extremely interesting." + +"You've heard of me, then?" asked Dark. + +Old Beard laughed, deeply. + +"More interesting than that," he said. "Once, before I was marooned here +and Happy's people came to know me as Old Beard, I had a name of my +own." + +He stroked his beard, and favored Dark with a shrewd look from his pale +eyes. + +"Yes," said Old Beard, "I've heard of Dark Kensington, and there never +was but one Dark Kensington, as far as I knew. That's why I find it so +interesting. You see, I'm Dark Kensington!" + + + + +11 + + +The Xanthe Desert stretched red and barren on all sides of the plodding +couple, the sands unbroken by the form of plant or stone or any living +thing, all the way to the tight horizon of Mars. Above them, the small, +glittering sun slid down the copper-hued sky slowly toward the west. + +It was remarkable, thought Maya, how smooth and flat the desert looked +from the air, and how rough and rolling it was when one had to walk +across the packed sand. They had been walking for hours and, despite the +gentle gravity of Mars, she was getting very tired. + +"It's farther than I thought," said Nuwell, his voice distorted by the +marshelmet speaker. "Distances on the chart are deceptive. We may not +reach Ultra Vires by night." + +Maya did not answer. Again, as she had many weeks before, she was in the +grip of a sensation that this desert through which they walked was only +a surface thing, a shimmering mask to the reality which lay behind it. +That reality seemed very deep, very significant, and she felt that she +was on the verge of comprehending it, but could not quite grasp it. + +She was a little irritated at Nuwell for speaking when he did. If his +voice had not interrupted her probing emotions, she felt, she might have +broken through to that reality she sensed. + +"Nuwell," she said, giving it up, "I'm going to have to rest a while. If +we don't make it by night, we don't make it. There's always tomorrow, +and I'm tired." + +Reluctantly, he consented, and they sat down together on the sand. +Nuwell pulled a chart out of his marsuit pocket and began to study it. +Maya lay back, clasped her hands behind her helmet and closed her eyes, +gratefully feeling the tired muscles relax and the perspiration that +bathed her begin to dissolve in the gentle circulation of the marsuit's +temperature-control system. + +"Maya!" exclaimed Nuwell suddenly. "Look! We're going to be rescued!" + +She sat up and looked in the direction of his pointing finger. On the +horizon to the northeast was a cloud of dust, too placid and stationary +to be a sandstorm. + +They stood up, and Nuwell spoke hastily into his helmet radio on the +conventional emergency band. + +"Attention, groundcar! Attention, groundcar! We're afoot and in trouble. +We're afoot, due southwest from your position. Help, please. Attention, +groundcar!" + +There was no radio reply in the ensuing silence. But all at once it was +as though a deep and alien voice spoke within the depths of Maya's mind: + +"_We see you._" + +Startled, she looked curiously at Nuwell. But he evidently had not had +the same experience. He was chattering into the radio frantically again. + +"They're evidently not tuned in on the emergency band, Nuwell," she said +to him. "But they're coming almost directly toward us. They're bound to +see us soon, if they haven't already." + +"That's true," said Nuwell, and added sourly: "But they ought to be +tuned in. It's required by law." + +The dustcloud moved closer slowly, too slowly for a groundcar. They were +able to discern a dark nucleus below and in front of it. Then Nuwell +said: + +"In the name of space! It isn't a groundcar, Maya. It's a band of +Martians! Let's get out of here!" + +He started to walk on swiftly, but Maya stood her ground. + +"Don't be silly," she said. "Martians won't hurt us. I was raised among +them." + +Nuwell stopped and returned reluctantly to her side. + +"They may not hurt us, but why wait for them?" he demanded, and there +was a touch of hysterical fright to his tone. "Let's go on, Maya!" + +"We may very well have gotten off course in trying to go straight to +Ultra Vires," replied Maya logically. "That may be why we've not sighted +it yet. The Martians will know where it is, and meeting them may prevent +us from getting lost in the desert." + +Nuwell subsided, but she could see from the expression on his face that +he was in a blue funk. This puzzled her. She could not understand why +anyone would be afraid of Martians. They were huge, and ugly, and alien, +but they were not inimical to humans. + +When the Martians came near enough, Maya waved her arms at them and +started off to meet them, Nuwell following her at a little distance. The +Martians changed course slightly and came toward them. + +Maya called childhood memories to her aid. She turned her helmet speaker +to its maximum volume, and spoke to them in their own language, in the +deepest tones possible to her. + +"Children of the past, we seek that place in the desert which is called +'Ultra Vires' by humans," she said. "Can you show us the direction in +which we must travel?" + +The Martians gathered around her, towering over her. There were four of +them. Their huge chests moved slowly, mixing oxygen from their great +humps with the surrounding air. Their thin arms hung limp at their +sides, and their big ears were pricked forward toward her. Their huge, +dark eyes seemed to look through her and beyond her. + +"The sun moves toward this place, but there are no humans there now," +boomed one of the Martians. "Nothing lives there now except small +animals in the walls and corridors." + +"This we know," answered Maya. "We wish to go there that we may +communicate with other humans and have them come and get us." + +She wanted to say that the supplies of oxygen in their marsuit tanks +were inadequate to take them anywhere other than Ultra Vires, but she +did not know how to say this properly in the Martian language. + +But, to her astonishment, the Martian answered as though she had said +it. + +"If the breathing chemicals which you carry are at such a depleted +stage, you cannot chance going astray," said the creature. "Rather than +tell you the direction of this place, we shall accompany you there." + +Throughout this conversation, Nuwell had been standing at Maya's side, +his face bearing an expression of mingled curiosity, irritation and awe. +Maya turned to him. + +"The Martians say they will go with us to Ultra Vires, so we won't get +lost," she told him. + +"No!" he exclaimed vehemently. "Tell them we don't want them along. Tell +them just to show us the way, and we'll go alone." + +"Don't be ridiculous," replied Maya coldly, and indicated to the Martian +that they were ready to accompany the group. + +They moved off together toward the west, the four Martians and the two +humans. Maya, feeling somewhat relieved that now they had expert help in +reaching their goal, attempted to talk to Nuwell, but he refused to +answer except in monosyllables. He was angry that she had agreed for the +Martians to accompany them, and obviously was still very nervous at +their presence. + +So she talked instead with the Martian who had acted as spokesman for +the group. Its name, she learned, was Qril. + +"The place to which you go lies under an evil atmosphere," said Qril. +"The human who abode there many years attempted to do things wrongly." + +"We were there in the season before this one," answered Maya. "This was +just before that human left." + +"I already had read this in you," said Qril. "I also read in you that, +as a child, you lived among us who are children of the past. Therefore, +perhaps you knew before I spoke that an evil atmosphere remains at this +place and has not yet been washed away by time." + +"No, I was not taught such matters as a child," answered Maya. "But tell +me, it is true that this man tried to do evil things, by human +standards, but were Goat Hennessey's genetic experiments also evil by +Martian standards?" + +"You do not read what I have said quite correctly," replied Qril. "The +evil atmosphere is left by the man, because what he did was evil by his +own standards. I said only that he attempted to do things wrongly." + +"What do you mean?" asked Maya. + +"To explain to you, I must speak to you about things about which you +already know partially," answered Qril. "Before you were born, the human +you call Goat was one of a group of humans who sought ways to make +humans independent of the spaceships which bring materials from Earth to +Mars and create small islands of terrestrial conditions in the midst of +the Martian environment. When they met the natural resistance of those +humans who gain material advantage through operation of the spaceships, +they came into the desert to be free to work. + +"Seeking to get far from the men who resisted their work, this group of +humans went to that area which you know as the Icaria Desert. Some of us +who are children of the past live at that place sometimes, and these +humans sought our help, knowing that we possess many remnants of the +knowledge that our forefathers had. + +"But we had difficulty helping them. They were attempting to follow two +courses simultaneously, and both of them were wrong." + +"I know something of those two courses," said Maya. "Some of them were +trying to develop human extrasensory powers so that materials could be +teleported from Earth, and the others were trying to change the human +body physiologically so that humans could live under Martian conditions. +But you say they were both wrong?" + +"In each way that they followed, they sought to make humans partly like +us, the children of the past," said Qril. "We have the power to +communicate with our minds over a distance, and some of us are able to +transport things with our minds over a distance. We do not need your +rich terrestrial air, because we take oxygen directly from the soil and +store it in our bodies for combustion purposes. + +"But humans and the children of the past are different forms of life, +and they cannot be made so much alike. It is possible for humans to +develop mental powers similar to ours, but this course would leave them +dependent upon importing materials from Earth, even though this would be +by mind transmission instead of by spaceship. The other course they +followed could not succeed, because the human body cannot be altered so +that it is able to take oxygen from the soil and store it for later +use." + +"But you're wrong!" exclaimed Maya. "Goat Hennessey had succeeded in +developing some humans who could live without oxygen in the air for a +time. His experiments were imperfect, it's true, but they were able to +do that." + +"The imperfect humans that the human called Goat had developed were not +what he thought," replied Qril. "We tried to help the humans to find the +right course, but they could not understand us well. We tried to show +them, by charts and example, that the proper way to adapt a human to +Martian conditions was a different way. + +"Because Earth is nearer the Sun, humans have a possibility that we do +not have. What we tried to show these humans was a method whereby they +could change the embryonic physiology so that the adult human would be +able to use the energy of solar radiations directly, instead of +depending on the energy of combustion of those chemicals you call oxygen +and carbon. This makes the body independent of both air and food, and +has the advantage also of giving a far superior regenerative power to +the bodily tissues. + +"The human, Goat, for reasons that are not known, stole some of our +charts and two of the pregnant female humans, and continued his work at +this place to which we are going. But he thought he was still attempting +to change the physiology so that oxygen could be stored, and therefore +his experiments went wrongly." + +"But he had your charts," objected Maya. "Even though he was not making +the alterations he thought he was, how could he go wrong if he followed +the charts?" + +"The charts showed the changes to be made in the embryonic cells, but +they could not show the method whereby the changes are made," replied +Qril. "The human, Goat, attempted to make these changes by mechanical, +surgical methods but these are too crude to be successful. The method we +utilize to make such changes, which is the only right method, is to +focus the mental forces upon the embryo. I believe you would call it +psychokinesis." + +Maya was vastly excited at this revelation. + +"Then Goat's oldest experiments, the ones he called Brute and Adam, were +actually the ones on whom you children of the past had performed the +embryonic changes!" she exclaimed. "They must have been the sons of the +pregnant women he kidnapped. That's why they were more successful than +the others!" + +"That is true," said Qril. "We had completed the change on only one of +the two, therefore only that one would develop into an adult who could +live in complete independence of air and food, if necessary. The other +one would never be able to do it for more than a short period without +returning to terrestrial conditions." + +The party now came over a long low ridge, and the mass of Ultra Vires +rose from the desert ahead of them. The sun was near setting, and the +black walls of the stronghold huddled sullenly under its crimson rays. + +The Martians left them here, and Nuwell and Maya went on alone toward +their goal. Nuwell expelled an audible sigh of relief. + +"I'm glad we're free of those monsters," he said. "I don't understand +how you could carry on a conversation with such creatures, Maya. It +sounded like a series of animal grunts and cries to me. I caught an +occasional word, like 'oxygen' and 'psychokinesis.' What were you +talking about?" + +"He was telling me about Goat Hennessey's experiments, and how they +differed from the rebels' experiments before Goat came to Ultra Vires," +answered Maya. + +"That kind of talk serves no good purpose," said Nuwell irritably. "The +rebel movement has been broken now, and there's no point in thinking +about the illegal things they tried to do." + +They came down the slope and approached the southern airlock of Ultra +Vires. The airlock was still sealed. Nuwell activated it, and they went +through it into the big building. + +It was dark inside. Nuwell fumbled around a wall and found a light +switch. He pressed it, but nothing happened. + +"The electrical system isn't operating," he said. "We'll have to use our +marsuit torches." + +He switched on his flashlight. It cast a long beam down the dusty +corridor. Far ahead of them, a small animal scurried across the faint +light and vanished into the darkness. + +Nuwell checked his atmosphere dial. + +"The oxygen in here is all right," he said. "The air has been +maintained, anyhow. We can take off our helmets." + +They took off the marshelmets and walked down the corridor. They checked +each side door, looking for the communications room, but found only +empty chambers or abandoned rooms in which books, papers and broken +furniture were scattered in complete disorganization. + +It took them nearly an hour to find the communications room. And there +they met disappointment. + +Ultra Vires' radio transmitter and receiver had been dismantled. There +was nothing there but a jumble of broken tubes, discarded parts and bare +wire ends dangling from the walls. Nothing but an overturned table and +two bent metal chairs. + +"That settles that," said Nuwell, more philosophically then Maya would +have expected. "Our only hope is to find a groundcar." + +That necessitated another search, but at last they found the motor pool. +And there were three groundcars, all in various stages of breakdown or +dismantlement. + +"It looks like we'll have to walk, Nuwell," said Maya. + +Nuwell shook his head. + +"I checked the chart carefully," he said. "The oxygen supply of a +marsuit won't take us either back to the Canfell Farm or to Ophir, even +with extra tanks. We're just going to have to cannibalize two of these +machines and repair us a groundcar." + +"But, Nuwell, how long will that take?" + +"I don't know," he admitted. "It looks like it may be quite a job. I +expect it will take two or three weeks, but that's the only way we're +going to get out of here." + +He looked at her speculatively. + +"It's a shame we aren't already married," he said. "This would provide +us with a honeymoon, of a sort, out here by ourselves in the desert." + +"Well, we aren't," she said flatly. "And we won't be until we get back +to Mars City." + +"That's true," he said. "Well, the only thing we can do for tonight is +to have supper and find the rooms that Goat assigned us when we were +here before. I hope he left some beds intact in those, or some of the +other rooms. If not, we may have some uncomfortable nights ahead of us." + + + + +12 + + +The two Dark Kensingtons and Happy Thurbelow walked along one of the +pathways between the vats, Happy trailing a bit behind. Somewhere near +them, they knew, Shadow accompanied them. + +The place was dim, with the moist dimness of a swamp. The source of the +light that filtered through the faint mist and seemed to permeate the +air was not discernible, and the roof of this underground world was lost +in the darkness above them. The placid surface of the water gleamed +vaguely in the vats they passed, and the pale-green tangle of vegetation +rose above and around them, sometimes drooping over the paths like +skinny arms that sought to detain them. + +"What I don't understand," said Dark the younger, "is that our memories +coincide exactly, up to a point which you say is a time twenty-five +years ago. My memories are just as genuine as you say yours are; they +aren't something someone told me, but real memories of things that +happened to me, things I felt and did. If they're both genuine sets of +memories, how can it be explained? Are we the same person, who was +somehow split into two distinct individuals?" + +"I can only guess at the explanation, but I have a theory," answered Old +Beard. "You are much younger than I am. I would estimate that you're +twenty-five years younger than I am. My memories are consecutive and +complete: I remember not only the earlier things you say you remember, +but the events of these past twenty-five years, without a break. You say +you suffered a period of amnesia, and your next consecutive memory is of +being with Martians in the Icaria Desert." + +"That would appear to give you an advantage in claiming to be the real +Dark Kensington," agreed Dark with a smile. "But, if you are, who am I? +How is it that I remember being Dark Kensington?" + +"It's entirely possible that, for some reason, my earlier memories were +grafted onto you as your own," replied Old Beard. "I don't know how this +would be done, perhaps through very deep and extensive hypnosis. The +Martians, as well as we can tell anything about them at all, are experts +in such mental fields, a relic of the ancient science they're legended +to have had when their civilizations covered Mars. + +"I worked with Martians very closely for long periods during the early +days of the rebellion--the Phoenix, as you say they call it now--and +they may very well have recorded my memory pattern through some means I +don't know anything about and for reasons I can't imagine." + +"That sounds reasonable," conceded Dark. "But that still leaves +unanswered the questions: Who am I, and what's happened to my memories +of the past twenty-five years?" + +"I'm afraid I can't answer that," replied Old Beard. + +In the dimness ahead of them, they discerned a group of nude Toughs +approaching, swaggering down the path. They turned aside and found a +recess in the vegetation in which they could wait until the Toughs +passed and went on their way. The Toughs were aggressive, and +insensately brutal, and a meeting with them could only mean trouble. + +"Happy's explained the situation here, as well as he could, but I'm +afraid it wasn't a very adequate explanation," said Dark as they huddled +in the shadowed recess. "Could you tell me more about it, and explain +how you happen to be here?" + +"Happy is very intelligent, for a Jelly, but none of the Jellies are +exceptionally bright," answered Old Beard, with a touch of affection in +his voice. "I'll outline it to you as briefly as I can. + +"As your memories--or transplanted memories--indicate, I was one of a +group of Martian colonists who joined forces to work at what, at first, +appeared to be a theoretical and fantastic project: the development of +the ability to live under natural Martian conditions, without dependence +on the regular importation of extremely expensive imports from Earth. As +you know, this project very shortly began to lose its fantastic +qualities and appear to be definitely within the realm of possible +realization. + +"Because of the differing background and orientation of those of us who +attempted this project, two approaches were adopted. One, based on +advancing terrestrial research into the field of extrasensory +perception, was aimed at developing telepathic and telekinetic powers so +that food, oxygen, machinery and other essentials could be teleported +directly from Earth into the martian domes without dependence on the +spacelines. The other, based on more orthodox science, was aimed at +genetic development of a human type that could live _without_ these +importations, on native Martian food and in the Martian atmosphere. + +"As you know, the government banned these experiments and we retreated +into the desert to carry them on despite the ban. From what you tell me +of the extent of your memories, what you do not know is the reason +behind the ban, which we discovered--or, at least, I did--only after we +had been betrayed and the government had raided and broken up our +experimental colony. + +"The spacelines, as one might have guessed, were responsible. They saw +that the success of the experiments would destroy their lucrative +business. These spacelines, led by the Mars Corporation, which later +absorbed the others and gained a monopoly, brought political pressure to +bear and got the project banned. + +"I had heard reports that a great many of my colleagues escaped and +formed a rebel organization that carried on the work secretly and +illegally, but I was never able to learn details of it until you came +and told me of the activities in which you have been engaged. You see, I +haven't been out of these caves in a quarter of a century." + +Shadow appeared at the recess to report to them that the Toughs had +passed on. How he did it, Dark was unable to determine surely, for he +could hear no words spoken. Either Shadow communicated by subtle +gestures or by tones beyond Dark's powers of hearing, but both Old Beard +and Happy seemed to understand him readily. + +"How do you happen to be here, Old Beard?" asked Dark as they left the +recess and resumed their progress down the walkways. + +"I was captured when the government broke up the experimental groups," +answered Old Beard. "I was the leader of the section of the experiments +dealing with extrasensory perception, and, instead of executing me at +once, they tried to persuade me to continue this work for the government +along specific lines and under supervision. I refused, because I knew +that anything I helped them develop would not be used for the benefit of +the Martian colonists, but for greater profits for the spacelines. + +"At last I was able to escape into these underground caverns where they +grow food plants hydroponically and sell them to supplement the produce +of the dome farms and the gardens in the dome cities. These caverns are +extensive and, with the friendship and help of the Jellies, I've evaded +discovery for twenty-five years." + +"Just who and what are the Jellies?" asked Dark. "I haven't been able to +get a very satisfactory answer to that question from Happy." + +"They're human experimental animals," answered Old Beard. "The +terrestrial food plants grown hydroponically and sold in the dome cities +actually are a supplemental sideline to the real purpose of this place. +Marscorp is conducting its own experiments here, with a crew of expert +geneticists. + +"What Marscorp is trying to do is to breed native Martian plants, that +will grow in the open lowlands without expensive oxygenation and +irrigation, that are not poisonous to humans and can be used for food. +At the same time, they're approaching the problem from the other side, +and the Jellies are men and women whose glandular structure has been +altered in an effort to make their physiology more receptive to native +Martian vegetation. If they succeed, of course, Marscorp has just as +complete a monopoly over such a food supply as it does over imports from +Earth, but at considerably less expense." + +"And the Toughs?" + +"They're human experimental animals, too, based on a different type of +glandular alteration. They're neither as docile nor as intelligent as +the Jellies, so they can't be used for slave labour as the Jellies can. +About the only way they're ever used is as occasional goon squads to +terrorize the Jellies and keep them in line." + +"You've been here twenty-five years and have never been able to escape?" +asked Dark incredulously. + +"This place isn't guarded," replied Old Beard, with a wry smile. "They +don't have to guard it. All they have to guard are the supply room where +the marsuits are kept and the motor pool of groundcars. This place is in +the middle of the Desert of Candor, and no one can live in the Martian +desert without oxygen." + +They came now to one of the walls of the underground cavern, and Old +Beard led them suddenly into a fissure that was well concealed from the +walkways by a tangled screen of vegetation. They stumbled along a narrow +passageway for a few feet, and emerged into a rude shaft, around the +walls of which a roughly-chiseled and steep stairway led upward into +pitch darkness. Here Old Beard halted. + +"When I told you there's no way of escape here, it was not that I +haven't tried many times," he said to Dark. + +"This shaft leads up into the walls of the structure above--above, +although it is still underground--and I have been up there often at +night. It has long been my hope that I might be able to get a marsuit or +a groundcar and make my escape, but they are kept locked up and always +guarded, against the Jellies and the Toughs. + +"I want to take you up and give you an idea of the place now, and later +perhaps you will have some ideas to contribute. Happy and Shadow will +stay down here until we get back." + +Old Beard mounted the steep steps slowly, and Dark followed at his +heels. Although the bottom of the "well" was lighted with the same dim +light as that which spread throughout the entire underground area, there +was no light at all higher up, and they had to feel their way carefully +lest they fall off the narrow steps. + +At the top, Old Beard stopped and Dark bumped sharply into him. + +"I'm going to move down the space between the walls," Old Beard +whispered. "Hold onto my hand and follow me. But don't say anything or +make any more noise than you can help, because anyone beyond the wall +may be able to hear you." + +They moved ahead. The way was very narrow, very dark and very difficult, +and frequently was choked with ventilator pipes or tangles of wiring. +They had gone some forty or fifty feet, when Old Beard stopped. + +By Old Beard's movements, Dark knew he was working at something. Then a +section of ventilator pipe came away from a ventilator grill, and faint +light illuminated the space in which they crouched. In this dimness, Old +Beard gestured to Dark to look through the ventilator. + +Peering out, Dark saw that they were near the ceiling of a large, +high-ceilinged room. In it, under glaring lights, a group of half a +dozen white-clad men were working with knives and other instruments on +the body of a man, either anaesthetized or dead, which lay on a surgical +table. + +Old Beard put his face against the grill next to Dark's, and the two men +watched the scene below for a few moments. Then one of the men around +the table raised his head, revealing a thin face, with watery blue eyes +and a straggly goatee. + +The two men inside the wall gasped as one man. + +"_Father!_" + +The single loud word was torn from Dark's throat without his volition, +without his actually realizing he had spoken. + +The heads of the men in the room jerked up at the cry, and they looked +around and at each other, with puzzled expressions. Old Beard clapped a +firm hand over Dark's mouth and hissed in his ear: + +"Fool! Let's get out of here!" + +As quietly as possible, they made their way back. Through the ventilator +behind them came the murmur of querulous voices. + +When they had climbed back down the stairs and, with Happy and Shadow, +made their way back through the fissure, Old Beard fixed penetrating +eyes on Dark and said: + +"I told you to keep quiet up there! What was that exclamation all +about?" + +"It's something very strange," murmured Dark, his face thoughtful and +bemused. "But you evidently recognized that man, too. Who is he?" + +"Yes, I know him very well," answered Old Beard, with deep bitterness in +his tone. "That's Goat Hennessey. But that's the first time I've seen +him in twenty-five years. He must have just come here recently." + +"Goat Hennessey? I heard of him when I was in Mars City." + +"Goat Hennessey was one of my most trusted friends," said Old Beard. "If +you bear my earlier memories, I'm surprised you didn't recognize him as +Goat Hennessey, too." + +"I recognized him as someone else," said Dark in a low voice. + +"We worked together," went on Old Beard. "I was a leader in the effort +to solve our problem through extrasensory perception, and he was the +major scientist in the group attempting to solve it by genetic change. +We worked together and we went into the desert together with the others +when the government banned our experiments. + +"But Goat was the man who sold out. He betrayed us to the +government--for what price I don't know. And when government agents +raided us and broke up our organization and captured me, Goat Hennessey +kidnapped my young and pregnant wife, and I never saw her again. + +"I'm glad Goat Hennessey is here, because now I can get to him. And when +I can reach him, I'm going to kill him. I'd like to kill him as slowly +and painfully as he killed the heart inside of me!" + +As Old Beard spoke these last words, his face was tense, his fists +clenched and a somber fire burned in his pale eyes. Then, slowly, the +fire died out and he turned his eyes, once more cool and rational, a +little quizzical, on Dark. + +"Didn't you call him 'father'?" he asked. + +"Yes," said Dark in a low voice. "But I'd rather not talk about it right +now." + +He looked at Old Beard, and seemed to be ridding himself, with an +effort, of a deep introversion. + +"There's one thing that I've remembered as a result of seeing Goat +Hennessey," said Dark in a firmer voice. "This place isn't too far from +a place in the Xanthe Desert where Goat conducted some significant +experiments. If he left any of his records there--and I'm thinking of +some in particular--they might go a long way toward solving the problem +we've all be working on for so long. So now I know what to do next: I'm +going to Ultra Vires." + +Old Beard smiled sadly. + +"Have you forgotten we can't get out of this place?" he reminded. "We +can't get at either the marsuits or the groundcars." + +It was Dark's turn to smile. + +"I believe you said there aren't any guards on the airlocks to stop one +from walking out at night?" he said. + +"That's true, but--" + +"There's something you don't know," continued Dark. "You were wondering +at the basis of the regenerative power that permitted me to revive here +after being shot in the stomach with a heatgun. I don't know what it is, +but whatever it is, it's something that also permits me to live without +oxygen. + +"Happy can testify that I was fully alive and conscious underwater. I +discovered, before I was shot, that I can operate just as well outside, +in the Martian atmosphere, without a helmet. And that's why Goat's +records may solve our problem. + +"So tonight I'll leave this place and go to Ultra Vires. If there are +any marsuits and groundcars left there, I'll come back here with them, +and you and Happy and Shadow can escape with me. If not, you may have to +wait a while longer. + +"But I'll be back!" + + + + +13 + + +Brute Hennessey plodded westward through the Xanthe Desert, naked, +wearing no marsuit, his head bare to the thin, oxygen-poor Martian air. +The two small moons shone in the star-spangled sky above the lone +figure, casting fantastic shadows on the sands. + +But this was not the stupid, shambling Brute Hennessey of a few months +past. He walked surely and proudly, and the light of intelligence shone +in his eyes. + +He called himself, now, Dark Kensington. + +Dark's muscular body had not regained, quite, the firmness and tone it +had had before he was shot down at Solis Lacus, but he had recovered +greatly from the bloated flabbiness of a few days ago. Most of that had +been water in his tissues, and resumption of normal physical activity +had wrung it out in short order. + +As he plodded through the Martian night toward Ultra Vires, Dark was +remembering, with something of awe, that emotional explosion within him +that had occurred on his first sight of Goat Hennessey at the Canfell +Hydroponic Farm. It was this sudden, overwhelming recognition that had +wrung from his lips the cry: "_Father!_" + +In that moment, memory had returned with terrible impact and he had been +overwhelmed by the re-experience of those moments when he had stood +before the man he admired and loved as his father and had seen the +bitter realization of rejection by that man written with the point of a +knife. + +Now he remembered it all. He remembered his childhood at Ultra Vires, he +remembered Adam and their experiences together, he remembered their +treks through the desert at Goat Hennessey's command, he remembered his +slaying of Adam and his acceptance of death at Goat's hands. He +remembered that he, Dark Kensington, was Brute Hennessey, somehow +brought to life once before in the Icaria Desert even as he had himself +regained life a second time in the vats of the Canfell Hydroponic Farm. + +So Goat Hennessey was his father, apparently. And Old Beard, the real +Dark Kensington, vowed vengeance on Goat. Dark was able to view this +with equanimity. He no longer felt any admiration or affection for Goat, +whatever relationship might exist between them. + +But, since he was Brute Hennessey and thus not old enough to be the real +Dark Kensington, how and why had he acquired the memories of Dark +Kensington? That question remained unanswered. + +Phobos was setting for the first time that night when Dark reached the +great hulk of Ultra Vires, manipulated one of the airlocks and entered +its dark corridors. There was no light, and a test of the light switch +proved that the electrical system was no longer operating. But Dark knew +every inch of this place from early childhood. He felt his way through +the pitch darkness to Goat Hennessey's old bedroom. + +Probing about in the darkness, he discovered that Goat's bed was still +supplied with mattress and crumpled blankets. This surprised him +somewhat, as any item of cloth on Mars had to be imported from Earth and +was far too valuable to abandon. But, apparently, these things had been +left temporarily in Goat's abandonment of Ultra Vires and would be +picked up by truck later. + +Deriving a certain humorous satisfaction from taking over the master's +chamber, Dark curled up on Goat's bed and went to sleep. + +He awoke the next morning with the glare of the desert sunlight +reflected into the room. He arose, stretched and yawned. The room was a +mess. Goat had left the bed clothing intact, but he had turned +everything else upside down in packing his personal effects to leave the +place. + +There was still water in the reservoir, and Ultra Vires' plumbing system +was still in operation. Dark bathed. He felt ruefully at the thick +stubble of beard that had overgrown his face in the past few days, but +Goat had left no shaving equipment behind. + +Dark made his way down to the big kitchen. There were supplies of canned +food there, and he found utensils and ate. He was hungry, but not +ravenous, and this surprised him a little, because he had had no food +since he started out afoot from the Canfell Hydroponic Farm, four nights +ago. But he was no hungrier than he would normally be after a night's +sleep. + +As he ate, his eye fell on dishes stacked beside the sink. He was +startled to notice that water still sparkled on them. + +He arose and checked them. Yes, they were still wet. + +There were remnants of fresh food in the garbage can. + +People, here? Camping out? Or, more likely, someone passing through the +desert who had taken shelter here for the night? But he thought he would +have heard the roar of a groundcar leaving. + +Thoughtfully, Dark finished his breakfast. It occurred to him that +perhaps some members of the Phoenix had taken refuge here after fleeing +Mars City. But most of them did not even know of the existence of Ultra +Vires, much less its location. + +At any rate, there was no reason to assume that anyone who happened to +be here would be unfriendly to him, in case they met by chance. He saw +no reason to worry about it. + +Finishing breakfast, Dark went down to the storeroom and picked out +three marsuits, for Old Beard, Happy and Shadow. There was a large-sized +suit there that he thought might accommodate Happy's bulk, but he +wondered how Shadow, with his flat build, was going to manage one. + +Nakedness felt quite natural to Dark, especially since he remembered his +identity as Brute, but it occurred to him that it would look peculiar +to anyone he might meet before leaving Ultra Vires--or, for that matter, +on his way back to the Canfell Hydroponic Farm. So he donned a marsuit +himself, leaving off the helmet. + +Carrying the other three marsuits, he went down the corridor to the +motor pool. + +Dark remembered that Goat had always kept four groundcars on hand. There +were three here now, all in advanced stages of dismantlement. + +At one of them, a small figure in black tunic and loose trousers was +bending over, head and arms plunged into the bowels of the engine. + +Dark hesitated. He had found his intruder, perhaps a traveler who had +run into engine trouble in the desert and had fortuitously been near +enough to take shelter here while making repairs. But, again, there was +no reason to anticipate unfriendliness. + +Carrying his marsuits, Dark walked up to the groundcar, overhearing a +muffled bit of profanity as he approached. The unfortunate mechanic +evidently heard his footsteps, because he was greeted with: + +"I wish to Phobos you'd stay down here and _try_ to help me, instead of +spending all your time snooping around this deserted shack!" + +The voice was muffled, but it was definitely feminine and definitely +irritated. Dark grinned and replied drolly: + +"I'm sorry, but this is the first time you've asked me to help you." + +With an audible gasp, the woman disentangled herself, in dangerous +haste, from the groundcar engine and faced Dark. + +They stared at each other, in mutual shocked recognition. + +There was Dark Kensington, bearded, his arms full of marsuits, and there +was Maya Cara Nome, sleeves rolled up, her lovely face streaked with +grease. + +Dark's jaw dropped. Maya's lips formed a round, astonished O. + +Then, with a squeal, she hurled herself on him, throwing her arms around +his neck. Dark staggered back, overwhelmed by marsuits, an abundance of +wriggling femininity and a babble of happy and-completely unintelligible +words gushed against his bearded cheek. + +He managed to disentangle himself by the dual process of dropping the +marsuits and holding Maya forcibly at arm's length. She gazed up into +his face, her own awed and radiant, and was able to reduce her own words +to connected sentences. + +"You're not here," she said positively. "You can't be here. You're dead. +I saw you killed. You must be one of the ghosts of Ultra Vires." + +She wriggled free and threw her arms around his neck again, announcing +happily, "But you're a solid, _comfortable_ ghost, and I love you!" + +Again, Dark managed to get her at arm's length and looked down seriously +into her face. + +"Did I hear you correctly?" he asked soberly. "Did you say you love me?" + +"I did. And I mean it. Oh, Dark, how I mean it!" + +He pulled her to him. He kissed her gravely. Then he held her close in +his arms, while she rested her head contentedly against his shoulder. + +"What," he asked at last, "are you doing here, tinkering with a +groundcar?" + +"Nuwell and I were on our way to Mars City by helicopter, when it failed +and crashed," she explained. "This was the only place near enough for us +to make it afoot, and the marsuit radios don't have the range to call +for help. We've been here more than two weeks now, trying to repair +these groundcars." + +She looked at the machine she had been working on and shook her head +ruefully. + +"I don't think any of them can be fixed," she said. "Nuwell, it turns +out, doesn't know a damn thing about machinery, but I was taught a good +deal about mechanics when I was trained as a terrestrial agent. Even +with three groundcars to supply parts, there are some things missing +that I don't think I can jury-rig substitutes for." + +She turned back to Dark. + +"But you're dead!" she exclaimed. "I know you are, because we carried +your body with us to the Canfell Hydroponic Farm. How in space can you +be here, alive and kissing, when you made such a beautiful corpse?" + +Dark explained the circumstances to her; how he had awakened in the vat, +how he had been able to breathe underwater, how the sight of Goat +Hennessey had revived in him the memory of his identity as Brute, how he +had been able to walk across the desert without a marsuit. + +"If you're Brute Hennessey, I know why you aren't dead," she said when +he had finished. "We fell in with a party of Martians on our way here, +and they told me about certain embryonic changes they made on you and +Adam before Goat kidnapped your mothers and brought them to Ultra Vires. +Qril--he's the Martian I talked to--said that these alterations not only +permit you to live in a free Martian environment, but give you +extraordinary regenerative powers." + +"They must be extraordinary, if they permit me to come to life again +after being stabbed in the heart and having my belly burned out with a +heatgun," observed Dark. + +"That's because your tissues aren't dependent on oxygen-carbon +combustion," explained Maya. "According to Qril, when oxygen is no +longer available to you, your cells utilize direct solar energy. That +would prevent your tissues from dying while the damaged area of your +body is under repair." + +She looked at him in sudden awed realization. + +"It would seem, darling, that you're virtually indestructible!" she +said. + +Dark laughed. + +"Perhaps so," he said. "But I don't hanker to experiment along those +lines any more than necessary. Dying is a very unpleasant experience, +even if I do come to life again." + +"Oh, Dark," said Maya, remembering. "I'd like for Qril to see you, and +maybe he'll give us some more information. They came back here three +days ago and, for some reason, have just been hanging around outside, +under the walls. Let me get on a marsuit, and I'll take you to him." + +"Here, put on one of these," suggested Dark, picking up the one he had +selected for Old Beard. + +Maya wriggled into it. The Martians, she said, were on the other side of +Ultra Vires, so they left the motor pool and walked down one of the long +corridors together, Maya clinging to Dark's arm with one hand and +carrying her marshelmet under her other arm. + +They were halfway across the big building when Nuwell Eli appeared +around a corner about thirty feet ahead of them. He stopped, staring, at +the sight of Maya's companion. + +"Maya," he began, as they neared him. "Who ...?" + +Then he recognized Dark. + +With a terrified yelp, Nuwell turned and raced back down the side +corridor at top speed. They heard the clack-clack of his heels on the +stone floor, fading in the distance. + +Dark and Maya stopped and looked at each other. + +"It must have been quite a shock to him, too, to see you risen from the +dead," she said. "I don't believe he's as happy to see you as I was, +Dark." + +"No, his joy seemed considerably mitigated," replied Dark gravely. "But, +Maya, this raises a rather serious question which hadn't occurred to me +before, in the happiness of our reunion." + +"What's that, darling?" + +"You're a terrestrial agent and, as such, you put me under arrest. It's +true, you tried to free me later. But didn't you tell me that night that +you were engaged to marry this man, Nuwell Eli?" + +"Yes," she admitted in a small voice. "But--" + +"I haven't had the pleasure of meeting the gentleman before," continued +Dark, still in the same grave tone. "But you and he were going back to +Mars City together, and, for some reason, it occurs to me that you and +he planned to be married as soon as you could get there." + +Maya was somewhat stunned at this evidence of mind reading. + +"That's true," she said in a very small voice. + +"Now," said Dark, "you tell me that you love me. You must admit that +the question raised by this is rather serious. Does this declaration of +love--which, I assure you, is reciprocated completely--imply a radical +change in your past course of action? Or, since you're still a +terrestrial agent, can I expect to be arrested again as a preliminary to +your joining Mr. Eli in the holy state of matrimony?" + +Maya looked up into his face, and burst out laughing. + +"I may have put it jokingly," protested Dark, a little taken aback, "but +I'm serious, Maya." + +"I know you are!" she giggled. "That's what makes it so funny. Answering +you in the same vein, Mr. Kensington, I don't intend to put you in +double jeopardy!" + +Dark raised his eyebrows quizzically. + +"I arrested you and you were killed resisting arrest," she explained +mischievously. "I've discharged that duty as a terrestrial agent, so I +don't think I'm either required or entitled to arrest you again. And as +for the other, well, I am a little sorry for Nuwell, but I do love you, +and I won't marry Nuwell, since you're alive. But I can't marry you, +Dark." + +Dark was stunned at this. + +"Why not, Maya? You mean, because you're a terrestrial agent?" + +"No, it isn't that. I'm planning to resign as an agent, as soon as I get +back to Mars City, and that wouldn't stop me, anyway. The reason I can't +marry you is simply that you haven't asked me." + +Dark laughed, a rollicking, relieved laugh, and swept her into his arms. + +"Maya, darling, I ask you now!" he exclaimed. "Will you marry me?" + +"Yes, Dark," she answered demurely. + +She leaned back in the circle of his arms and looked up into his face, +seriously. + +"Whither thou goest, I will go," she said, very quietly. "If you're a +rebel, Dark, I'll be a rebel, too. I want to be with you, and help you +in whatever you do." + + + + +14 + + +Dark and Maya sat with their backs against the wall of Ultra Vires, and +Qril squatted before them, towering huge above them. A little distance +away the other three Martians were grouped, playing some sort of game, +doing some sort of work or participating in some sort of joint +demonstration. Dark could not be sure which. + +Qril boomed out a long, rolling sentence and Maya broke into laughter. +She turned to Dark and translated: + +"He said he didn't understand why I'm wearing a helmet, when you aren't. +I explained that I have to wear a helmet to breathe, and he said that, +since you and I are alike, it appears that we'd dress alike. So you see, +darling, even the Martians recognize that we're made for each other." + +Dark shook his head in wonderment. + +"No human has ever been able to figure out Martian thinking processes, +and I doubt that one ever will," he remarked. "This is the Martian who +explained to you the physiological structure that permits me to live +without oxygen, and yet he asks a question like that!" + +"There's one thing that puzzles me," said Maya curiously. "Without a +helmet, you can't use your marsuit heater, and you said you walked here +naked. But the temperature out here right now is well below freezing. +Aren't you cold?" + +"No," answered Dark. "I get cold in temperatures that are uncomfortable +to anyone else when I'm in a dome or a building and breathing. But out +here, when I'm not breathing, I'm aware of temperature changes but they +don't cause me any discomfort. It must be that switching to direct +utilization of solar power alters my reactions to temperature." + +"Well," said Maya, "I can understand that utilization of solar power +when you're in the sunshine. But how can you keep operating when you're +in shadow, or at night, and not breathing?" + +"I don't know. Maybe Qril does." + +Maya asked the Martian, and relayed his answer to Dark: + +"Qril says that you store excess energy in the tissues, very much as the +Martians store oxygen. In a sense, direct sunlight's your generator, and +it charges your batteries for power when it isn't operating. Now, Dark, +why don't you ask him anything you want to know about your origin, and +I'll act as translator." + +"All right," agreed Dark. "But first, it was among Martians that I awoke +when I returned to life the first time in the Icaria Desert. That's +pretty far away, but I understand Martians have a weird sort of +sympathetic communication among themselves. Does he know anything about +how I got there?" + +Maya talked with Qril and translated: + +"Qril is one of the Martians I saw come by here and pick up your body +the morning after Goat killed you and threw your body out in the desert. +Qril says they recognized you from your genetic pattern--and don't ask +me how they did this!--as being the one they had completed embryonic +alteration on years before, so they picked you up and took you with them +to give you a chance to regenerate and revive." + +"But how and why did I turn up after my revival with Dark Kensington's +memories?" + +"He says they gave you a memory pattern by a deep telepathic process," +answered Maya after talking with Qril, "because your memory pattern as +Brute was of no value to you in meeting a new environment. It seems that +there was some blockage in the operation of your brain as Brute, because +of a slight fault in the embryonic alteration, and they corrected that +before you revived." + +"But why Dark Kensington's memory pattern?" asked Dark. "It turned out +to be a valuable one for me, but I've met the real Dark Kensington since +then, and he's a much older man. Why did they choose his memory +pattern?" + +Maya talked with Qril. + +"He says names mean very little to them," she said then. "That's +something I learned as a child: that Martians often interchange their +names, and the names evidently refer to a state of experience and being +rather than to a specific individual. But he says that the memory +pattern they chose to give you was that of your father!" + +Dark stared at her, stunned. + +"Then," he said slowly, "Old Beard is my father. I should have known! I +think I felt it." + +"I'm not surprised if you did," said Maya. "From what Qril tells me, +Dark, this prenatal alteration they performed on you gave you even more +extensive powers than we realized. He says that you have extraordinary +extrasensory ability, if you would only make an effort to use it." + +"Oh, I do, do I?" murmured Dark thoughtfully. + +He looked over at the other Martians, seated in a circle in the morning +sunshine. They were taking turns tossing some small polygons, and +evidently the objective of whatever they were doing lay in the way the +polygons fell. + +Dark felt a sudden surge of power in his brain. He concentrated it, he +focused it, and one of the polygons rose slowly from the ground and +drifted into the air above the Martians' heads. + +Dark could feel the strength that went out and raised the polygon, like +an invisible extension of himself. Then he felt another force seize the +polygon, and it was drawn back firmly and without hesitation to its +former place. + +Dark turned his head back to look into Qril's huge eyes, and at once he +was in mental contact with the Martian. + +Qril was laughing at him. There was no change of expression on Qril's +face, but in his mind was the atmosphere of high humor. Qril's thoughts +came to him without words, in no language, silently but clearly: + +_You have not practised your power. Experience will be necessary before +you can compete with the simplest effort of one of our race._ + +Dark turned to Maya. + +"He's right," said Dark. "I do have extrasensory powers, but they'll +need some development." + +"I know," said Maya. "The telepathic voltage in the atmosphere must be +very high right now, because even I sensed your effort in lifting that +object, and I understood Qril's communication to you." + +Maya and Dark took their leave of Qril, and went back into Ultra Vires. +As they did so, Qril and the other Martians arose and began to drift +away into the desert, as though they had had a mission in staying here, +which was now accomplished. + +"I hope you know something about mechanics," said Maya as they walked +down the corridor together. "Because if you don't, it looks like we're +stuck here for a while. At least I am, unless you can run one of these +groundcars with psychokinetic power." + +"No, apparently I'm not that good at it yet," said Dark. "Maybe I could +teleport in any parts you need. No wait! I just remembered something! +Come with me." + +They turned off into a side corridor, found stairs and climbed to the +top floor of the building. There they followed another corridor until +Dark stopped and opened a door. + +It was the door to a small airlock. Dark led Maya through it into a huge +room. + +A helicopter stood in its center. + +"Goat _did_ leave it here!" exclaimed Dark joyfully. "I'd forgotten that +he had this. He must have just packed the most necessary things when he +left the place, planning to send trucks and a crew back and clean it out +later at his leisure. Now, if this copter's only in good flying shape, +we're set." + +He checked the machine over. Everything was in order. + +"How do we get it out of here?" asked Maya curiously, looking around the +room. "That little airlock's too small for a copter to go through it." + +"The roof rolls back," said Dark. "Put on your helmet, and I'll show +you." + +Maya donned her marshelmet. Dark went to the wall and pulled a switch. +Nothing happened. + +"I forgot," he said. "The electricity's off. Well, let's try something." + +Dark concentrated his mind intensely on the movable ceiling. For a +moment, there was resistance, then, very slowly, it began to open. A +crack appeared in its center, and the air of the room hissed out with +the swish of a minor tempest. After that, it was easier. The crack +widened swiftly, and the roof rolled back to the walls, leaving the room +open to the heavens. + +"All we have to do now is to climb into it and go," said Dark with +satisfaction. "You fill the fuel tanks, and I'll run down to the motor +pool and pick up those other two marsuits. One of them is for my friend +Happy, who is very fat, and he couldn't wear either of the emergency +suits in the copter." + +Maya uncoiled the hose from one of the fuel drums in the room and poked +it into the copter's tank. Dark left the room, walked down the corridor +and descended the stairs. + +He made his way to the motor pool. Maya was wearing one of the three +marsuits he had brought down, but the other two were still lying on the +floor. He picked them up and started back. + +He was walking down the first floor corridor, carrying the marsuits, +when there crashed in on his mind a terrifying, silent scream: + +_Help!_ + +Dark stopped, appalled. It took him a moment to realize that he was +still standing in the corridor. It took him a moment to realize that he +actually had heard nothing. + +The corridor stretched away ahead of him, dim and dusty. There was no +movement in it, no sound. It was utterly silent. He stood there, in a +dim, dusty corridor, in waiting silence, holding two marsuits under his +arms. + +_Help!_ + +It was a cry that shrieked in his mind, reverberated in his mind, +touching nothing around him, touching not the silent corridor. + +_Maya!_ + +Dark's mind went out to her, rode up on swift wings to the room above +where she had waited for his return. + +He was there, in that room, and there was the helicopter. There was no +Maya there. + +But there were figures in the copter, moving. + +He was in the copter, and there was Maya, struggling and writhing, as +Nuwell Eli, in a furious concentration of savage energy, bound her into +one of its seats with a length of rope. + +Dark touched her mind, and her mind grasped his, desperately. + +_Dark, he followed us up here, and hid until you left. He crept up +behind me and seized me. Hurry, Dark, he's taking me away!_ + +Hurry? Down those corridors, up those steps, when Nuwell already was +sliding into the pilot's seat of the copter? + +Frantically, Dark grasped at his only chance of reaching her in time. +Teleportation. + +He clamped down with his mind on himself. With a frenzied burst of +strength, he sought to lift himself bodily, to be there in the copter +with them. He put every ounce of energy he possessed into the effort. + +And he failed. + +He was standing in the dim, dusty corridor, two marsuits under his arm, +straining futilely toward a place he could not reach. And now he +actually heard, with his ears, the muted vibration above him as the +copter's engines roared to life. + +Dark started running. + +He dropped the marsuits, and ran down the corridor. He leaped up the +stairs, two and three at a time. Breathless, his heart pounding, he +staggered down the upper corridor and impatiently went through the +seemingly interminable process of negotiating the airlock. + +He emerged into the big room. + +It was empty. + +The ceiling was open to the Martian sky. The sunlight poured into the +roofless room. + +In the sky, a small, teetering object rose and moved away from Ultra +Vires, its blades whirring a sparkling circle in the thin air. + +Dark reached out to it with his mind, and again he was in the copter. +Nuwell sat tensely at the controls, guiding it. Maya was in the other +seat, her arms bound down by her sides, her expression agonized. + +Nuwell was unaware of Dark's mental presence. Maya sensed it and her +mind turned toward him. + +_Dark, Dark, what can we do? I should have been watching for him. I +should have known, after he saw us together, that he would do +something._ + +Dark: _It was my fault, Maya. I shouldn't have left you alone. I just +didn't consider him a factor to be reckoned with, and I should have +known better._ + +Maya: _What can we do?_ + +Nuwell turned to Maya, and his face was bitter and sullen. His brown +eyes were flat with anger. + +"You treacherous witch, I should have known better than to trust you +after that trick of trying to help Kensington escape. I wanted to give +you a chance, because I thought that, with him dead, you might have +recovered from your madness," he said. + +A change came over his face: a mixture of fear, disbelief and utter lack +of comprehension. + +"He _was_ dead," said Nuwell, a hysterical note underlying his tone. "I +saw him. You saw him dead, too, didn't you, Maya? How could he be back +there with you?" + +Maya's only answer was a defiant smile. + +"There's some explanation for this," said Nuwell, more positively. "I +don't know what it is, but I'll find it. That man back there isn't Dark +Kensington, because Kensington's dead. Maya, I promise you, I'm going to +find out what the answer is, but first I'm going to make sure that you +don't cause me any more trouble." + +Dark touched Maya's mind. + +_Maya, I'm going to try something here._ + +He moved back. He was outside the copter, near it, keeping pace with it +as it flew. It was tilted slightly forward, falling forward through the +sky at the pull of its blades. + +Dark seized the copter with his mind. He tried to drag it back. + +It hesitated. It quivered. Then it jerked forward and went on. He felt +his mental grasp slipping from it. + +Suddenly he was completely in the big room in Ultra Vires, the room with +its roof open to the sky. He could no longer touch the copter. He could +no longer be in it. He could no longer touch Maya's mind. + +He tried. He reached out again. But he failed. He was where he was. + +He realized he was almost exhausted. The tremendous drain of his efforts +on his energy told on him at last. He no longer had the strength to try +any more, and Nuwell and Maya were gone away from him into the Martian +sky. + +Wearily, he turned back and went through the airlock, down the corridor +and down the stairs. + +There was nothing more he could do now. Nuwell undoubtedly would take +Maya to Mars City. And then? + +Maya would refuse to marry Nuwell now, and Dark doubted that Nuwell +could force her. What Nuwell would do with her, he did not know. +Probably some sort of confinement, eventually perhaps a trial. But +Nuwell had no ground or reason to do her any real harm. + +He would have to try to get to Maya as soon as he could, and that meant +intensification of his efforts. But there was only one course he could +hope to follow successfully, and that was the course he had planned when +he started out for Ultra Vires. + +Only now he _could_ speed it up. + +He had to have some rest. Then he would pick up three marsuits and walk +back across the desert to the Canfell Hydroponic Farm. + + + + + +15 + + +Dark walked across the desert toward the Canfell Hydroponic Farm. + +He had discarded the marsuit he had been wearing, and substituted for it +a light loincloth torn from one of Goat Hennessey's sheets. This +reverse reaction, in a temperature that would be uncomfortably chilly +for a fully clothed man and descended far below zero at night, resulted +from his recognition that he gained a tremendously greater direct influx +of energy from the total exposure of his skin to the sunlight. He could +feel the energy penetrating his flesh, building up in him. And, with +this energy, the low temperature did not bother him. + +Behind him, by a rope, he dragged a little two-wheeled cart he had +constructed from groundcar parts. It rolled and bumped over the sandy +terrain, containing all the marsuits and all the seven heatguns that he +had been able to find at Ultra Vires. + +It also contained a supply of water, in cans. Dark had found that, while +he was operating directly on solar energy, he did not need food at all +and he did not need as much water as he did under ordinary +circumstances. He probably could have survived two weeks without any +water at all. But some water did make him much more efficient. His +independence of food and oxygen did not prevent the slow dessication if +his tissues in the dry Martian air. + +As he walked, only part of his mind was devoted to the routine task of +moving across the desert. The remainder of it was free of the limitation +of distance, touching and interacting with the minds of three other men. + +These men were members of the Phoenix. At the Childress Barber College, +they had been among the instructors, struggling to develop the ESP +potentialities of their students so that a psychic community of purpose +and action might be developed toward the goal of teleporting materials +from Earth to Mars. + +These were the men whose ability at telepathy and psychokinesis had been +most fully developed, to the point of practical demonstration. Now, +newly aware of the extent of his own inner powers, Dark had conceived a +bold plan of action to which these men's comparable abilities was a +necessary contribution. + +There were three of them: Mantar Falusaine at Hesperidum, Pietro +Corrallani at Mars City and Cheng I K'an at Ophir. Among them, by a vast +intangible network of communication, they discussed strategy and the +situation on which it was based. + +Mantar: _We knew of the existence of the Canfell Hydroponic Farm. It was +on our charts as a Marscorp industry, supported by the government. But +we thought it was only an industry, producing food. We did not know it +was an experimental center._ + +Cheng: _We did not know Marscorp was conducting genetic experiments at +all, except those of Goat Hennessey. We kept a casual observation on +Goat's work. Our intention was that, if he ever succeeded completely in +what he was trying to do, we would make a fast raid with a task force +and appropriate his work to our own purposes._ + +Dark chuckled. + +Dark: _That would have dismayed Marscorp! But it appears that, as things +have developed, this sort of raid must be directed now at the Canfell +Hydroponic Farm, to free my father and the Marscorp slaves there. Old +Beard is, after all, the real leader of the Phoenix. If we succeed in +kidnapping Goat, we can put him to work for us, but that is not the +primary objective._ + +Pietro: _Do you plan to take over the Canfell Hydroponic Farm, and make +it our base of operation?_ + +Dark: _No. When we attack the Farm, they will radio Mars City for help +and we don't possess the force to fight off an all-out government +counterattack. I have been in communication with a Martian friend, Qril, +and I am informed that the domes in the Icaria Desert, which were used +by the original rebels a quarter of a century ago, are still usable, +although they will have to be supplied with oxygen, food and water. I +intend for the Phoenix to congregate there and utilize the help of the +Martians in carrying out the embryonic changes which will make your +children and mine as I am. A new race, capable of living in the natural +Martian environment._ + +Pietro: _Will these characteristics of which you speak be inherited, or +must the embryonic changes be made in each generation?_ + +Dark: _They will be inherited, because they are changes of the genetic +structure. The changes will have to be made on each individual embryo of +your children, but their children will be born with these qualities +naturally._ + +Cheng: _What are your instructions?_ + +Dark: _How many Phoenix are at each of your places?_ + +Cheng: _Twelve at Ophir._ + +Mantar: _I would have to count. About twice that many at Hesperidum._ + +Pietro: _About seventy-five here, as well as the wives of most of the +Phoenix who are married_. + +Dark: _Seventy-five! That's more than we had in school!_ + +Pietro: _Don't forget that the school was there for a long time before +you came, and it had many graduates. The government captured between a +third and a half of us who were in the school at that time, but there +are still probably three to four hundred Phoenix scattered about Mars._ + +Dark: _Where are the other three instructors, whom I was unable to +contact with this telepathic call?_ + +Pietro: _They are at Charax, Nuba and Ismenius. Their telepathic powers +are not as well developed as ours, and they would not hear you unless +they were expecting the call._ + +Dark: _Cheng, I thought your group was to go to Regina._ + +Cheng: _It was, but the Regina airlocks were more effectively blockaded +to us than at the other cities. Those who went to the other cities, +except those who were caught, had identification establishing them as +legitimate residents of those cities. Regina has a peculiar social +structure which makes this virtually impossible, except for the Phoenix +who are already there and have been for a long time. We thought of +stopping at Zur, but there were no arrangements to care for us there. We +went to a dome farm operated by a friend of the Phoenix in Pandorae +Fretum, and stayed there until we could trickle gradually into Ophir._ + +Dark: _You had quite an odyssey. Cheng, I want you to bring your twelve +in groundcars, with what weapons you can get, and attack the Canfell +Hydroponic Farm. I'll try to break it open from inside._ + +Pietro: _Shall I bring my group from Mars City as reinforcements?_ + +Dark: _No, twelve will be enough, and the conquest of the farm will +depend on speed. Before you can get there with your group by groundcar, +the government will have a well-armed force there by jet. I want you to +load trucks with supplies, gather all the wives and go straight to the +Icaria Desert to establish our colony. I'll direct you telepathically +when you reach Icaria, if we aren't already there. Cut across the +deserts and lowlands, and stay away from the roads and cities._ + +Pietro: _Very well. But we'll have to leave the city vehicle by vehicle, +and rendezvous somewhere in the lowland. It will take some time._ + +Dark: _Whatever is necessary. Do you know where the Chief is?_ + +Pietro: _He's here in jail in Mars City. His trial is due in twenty +days, and we had planned to rescue him sometime during the trial._ + +Dark: _Leave a few good men there to rescue him as soon as you've +cleared Mars City and are on the way to Icaria. Has Nuwell Eli gotten +back to Mars City yet?_ + +Pietro: _I don't know. We can find out._ + +Dark: _He has Maya Cara Nome with him. She's the girl who was the +secretary at the barber college when it was raided, and she's one of the +Phoenix now. I want her rescued, at the same time, if possible. If not, +I'll go to Mars City and do it myself later, but I want to get all of +you cleared of the city first._ + +Mantar: _What do you want me to do?_ + +Dark: _The most difficult thing of all. I want you to stay in +Hesperidum, and send out all the Phoenix you have with you to contact +those in other Martian cities. They are to rendezvous at Hesperidum, and +then you will gather supplies and form another caravan to join the rest +of us in Icaria._ + +Cheng: _When shall I move out?_ + +Dark: _As soon as you can gather your men and material together. But +stay out of sight of the farm and don't attack until you hear from me. I +should be there within the next forty-eight hours._ + +The instructions given, the telepathic conference faded out, and Dark +was a solitary man plodding across the desert, pulling a loaded cart +behind him. + +He came in sight of the Canfell Hydroponic Farm in just about the time +that he had predicted to Cheng, but waited until nightfall to approach +it. Phobos was abroad in the east at sunset, so Dark waited a little +longer, until the nearer moon plunged beneath the eastern horizon. +Deimos was not in the sky this night, and Phobos' disappearance left it +near pitch-dark. + +Dark moved across the starlit desert, pulling his cart, to the walls of +the farm. The farm was not a massive, sprawling fortress like Ultra +Vires, because most of it was underground. The upper floor, in which +Happy's "Masters" lived and worked, was just below the ground level and +the underground vats were below it, extending considerably beyond it in +all directions. The only parts of the farm that projected above ground +were its four entrances, small buildings of white stone, each with its +own airlock. + +Dark went through the airlock of the nearest one. These entrance +buildings were the barracks of the Toughs, in which they slept at night, +secure from the possibility of escape because no marsuits were available +to them. Dark had moved quietly through a barracks of sleeping Toughs +the night he had left the farm for Ultra Vires, but this time he had his +cart with him. + +There was no alternative but a bold course. Spearing the light of an +electric torch before him, he walked down the aisle toward the barred +gate leading into the regions below, pulling the metal-wheeled cart +across the stone floor behind him. + +Its clatter brought the whole barracks awake. On all sides of him arose +an angry growling and shouting, an upsurge from many throats of the +animal noises that were the Toughs' nearest approach to human language. +Dark moved forward steadily, keeping a telepathic "radar" out to warn +him of any impending attack. + +The very boldness of his action paid off. Its openness apparently +convinced the Toughs that this was merely another, unusually noisy case +of one of the Masters returning to the farm at night--as Dark sensed had +occurred often before. Dark was not molested. + +The barred gate had no controls on this side. Dark operated it +psychokinetically. It raised slowly, he pulled his cart through, and he +lowered it behind him and went on down the ramp into the underground +cavern. + +He went straight to Old Beard's hiding place, and awoke him. Old Beard +greeted him joyously. + +"I was afraid something had happened to you, you were gone so long," +said Old Beard. + +"I had to walk back," said Dark. "None of the groundcars at Ultra Vires +was in operating condition." + +"Then there's no chance of the rest of us escaping," said Old Beard +disappointedly. "We can't get at the groundcars here, and the marsuits +you brought won't help. The oxygen supply of a marsuit isn't adequate to +take us from here to the nearest civilization." + +"I think we can get to the groundcars," answered Dark confidently. "I +brought heatguns, as well as marsuits. Besides, I have a larger plan now +than merely escape." + +He related to Old Beard all the things that had happened, including the +fact that Old Beard was his father. + +"I am very happy," said Old Beard simply, tears in his pale eyes. "I +liked you very much from the first, Dark, and I'm glad that you can bear +the name of Dark Kensington rightfully." + +When Dark told him of the plan for the conquest of the farm, Old Beard +stroked his beard thoughtfully. + +"I'm afraid that the attack from within will depend largely on you and +me, although Shadow probably will be able to help effectively," said Old +Beard. "The Jellies aren't very aggressive and, even with a few +heatguns, I'm afraid they won't be of much use." + +"How about the Toughs?" + +"The Toughs would be fine, if you want to wipe out all the Masters and +all the Jellies, and possibly us, too. They're vicious and +unintelligent, and they can't be disciplined or depended upon." + +"With the attack from the outside timed right, I think the three of us +can handle it," said Dark. "How many of the Masters are there?" + +"Only ten," answered Old Beard. "And they aren't soldiers, but +scientists. But they do have weapons, and they know how to handle them. +They have to, in order to keep the Toughs from getting out of line." + +"Perhaps we can whip the Jellies up to the point of causing a good deal +of initial trouble and confusion, and then the three of us move in at +the proper moment after the attack from outside is under way," said +Dark. "We might even turn the Toughs loose on them, without weapons." + +Old Beard gave him a steady gaze from beneath bushy eyebrows. + +"I don't think we want to use the Toughs," he said slowly. "I said there +are ten Masters, and that is correct. But they have a visitor who +arrived by copter several days ago. A visitor and a prisoner." + +"A prisoner?" + +"Yes, a prisoner who wasn't sent down to the vats, but is kept on the +upper floor. This prisoner is a black-haired, black-eyed woman." + +"Maya!" + +"Yes, I think the visitor is Nuwell Eli and the prisoner is your friend, +Maya." + + + + +16 + + +Nuwell Eli sat with Placer Viceroy, director of the Canfell Hydroponic +Farm, in its large underground dining room, eating lunch. This meal was +not the tasteless, gelatin-like food that was fed to the Jellies and +Toughs and sold on the Martian market. It was a meal of thick, juicy +steaks from the dome farms around Hesperidum and vegetables from the +gardens inside the Mars City dome. + +"We've been here better than a week, and she's still stubborn," Nuwell +said morosely. "Surely she has the intelligence to realize how +ridiculous and impractical is her sudden conversion to a lost rebel +cause. I'm half convinced that this Kensington fellow put her under some +sort of a hypnotic spell." + +"You've been very gentle in your methods of conversion," said Placer. +"It isn't like you, Nuwell. If you want quick results, we could turn her +over to the Toughs for a while." + +"No, I don't want her hurt. I love the woman and intend to marry her. +The whippings and humiliations are as far as I'm willing to go." + +"A peculiar sort of love, if you don't mind my saying so," remarked +Placer. + +Nuwell stared at him coldly. + +"I do mind your saying so," he said. "My personal emotions are not +subject to your interpretation. But Martian wives are expected to obey +their husbands with deference and, by Saturn, I'm going to break her of +that liberal terrestrial training!" + +"You'd have the legal right to take the steps necessary for that, if she +were married to you," Placer pointed out. + +"But the little fool refuses to marry me now!" exclaimed Nuwell in +exasperation. "If she hadn't refused, do you think I'd have brought her +here? But I couldn't take her to one of the cities, except as a prisoner +to be tried for sedition and treason, as long as she expresses this +violent and open support of the rebel cause. Whether you consider it +love or not, I want the woman for myself. I don't want her imprisoned or +executed." + +"Perhaps if she were presented with that alternative, she'd be more +reasonable about it," murmured Placer. + +"Don't you think I've threatened her with it? She just says that she'd +rather die or go to prison than go back on her convictions and knuckle +under to me. If she could only forget that she'd ever met that man +Kensington!" + +"Well, as for that, it might not be so hard to arrange," suggested +Placer quietly. + +Nuwell stared at him. + +"What do you mean?" he asked. + +"You're not familiar with the details of our work here, are you, +Nuwell?" + +"I thought I was, pretty well. But what you just said doesn't strike a +chord." + +"As you know, the Toughs and Jellies are originally criminals and +vagabonds you have smuggled to us for experimental purposes. One major +effect of our initial glandular experiments with them, which makes them +into Toughs and Jellies, is that they lose all memory of their past." + +"I don't want a flabby woman, like a Jelly!" exclaimed Nuwell with a +shudder. + +"I think we could eliminate the memory, permanently, without any +physical changes at all," said Placer. "There are some pretty good +scientists here. I expect the operation would cut down her thinking +ability pretty heavily, though. I think it would still be slightly +higher than that of the Jellies, but you couldn't ever expect her again +to get above the intellectual level of a child of six or eight +terrestrial years." + +"I don't care anything about an intelligent woman," answered Nuwell +ruthlessly. "If she weren't so proud of her intelligence now, I wouldn't +have so much trouble with her. I want her as a beautiful woman, which is +all a woman has a right to expect from a man, and if she were less +intelligent and more tractable I might be able to train her to become +the sort of wife a man of my profession and position requires." + +Placer speared a bite of steak, casually, with his fork. + +"Any time you say the word," he said carelessly. + +"I'll give her the rest of today," said Nuwell with decision. "I'll work +her over again with the whip this afternoon, and if she doesn't break +I'll tell her what she can expect. Then, if that doesn't do the trick, +I'll turn her over to you the first thing tomorrow." + +"Tonight would be better," suggested Placer. "The initial surgery takes +only about thirty minutes, and she'd do better to rest a night after +that. It alone will remove a great deal of her volitional power. The +entire series of operations will require about three days." + +"Tonight it is, then," said Nuwell, "if she doesn't break this +afternoon." + +Maya sat in her locked room, her tunic and trousers covering the red +welts on her back and legs. The tasteless gelatin which had been her +only food since their arrival almost gagged her with every spoonful, but +she had eaten all her lunch. She needed all the strength she could get +to maintain her defiance. + +She was in the grip of dull, unrelenting pain, physically and +emotionally. Her flesh ached from yesterday's beating, and she was sick +at heart at the revelation of Nuwell's essential brutality and +callousness. She had thought him a sensitive and intelligent man, and +she had admired him for this even after some of his exhibitions of +childish temper had disillusioned her as to the glowing nobility which +she had at first attributed to him. + +She had felt a warm attraction to him and, when she thought Dark was +dead, she had been willing to marry him on the basis, not of the +passionate love she now felt for Dark, but of a mellow tenderness which +she conceived a sound basis for an understanding life together. + +But now! She shuddered at the thought that she might have married him, +and perhaps lived all her life with him, thinking him to be gentle and +kind. Whatever happened to her, she felt fortunate that this crisis had +brought to her view the hidden side of him, that heretofore had been +seen only by his partners in political manipulation and by the +unfortunate victims of his prosecution. + +Her shoulders drooped wearily. She stared across the room. It was as +bare as a prison cell, which intrinsically it was. + +There was a glass on the washbasin. It was made of heavy metal, with no +sharp edges. Did Nuwell think she would commit suicide? Not as long as +she knew Dark was alive! + +Her mind touched the glass. It quivered. It tilted and fell to the floor +with a clang. + +She looked at it with mild curiosity as it rolled into a corner. She +hadn't done that for a long time, not since she suppressed it because of +Nuwell's hatred of witchcraft. + +It was telekinesis. She had had the power since she was a child. It +seemed that she remembered using it often, and in rather startling ways, +when she was a small child with the Martians. But when she went to +Earth, she gradually stopped playing with it, except in small ways when +she was alone, because it seemed to make her elders very uncomfortable. + +Telekinesis was ESP. It did not mean that she had any other ESP powers. +But there was her experience in the copter.... + +Her mind reached out. At once, like a shock, she was in contact with +Dark. His mind turned to hers at once. + +Dark: _Maya! Where are you?_ + +Maya: _Come into my room, darling. I'm at the Canfell Hydroponic Farm. +Are you still at Ultra Vires?_ + +Dark: _No, I'm in the vats below you. I knew you were here, but I didn't +know where. I can see your room now, though, and its place in the +building._ + +Maya: _Can you free me?_ + +Dark: _Not now. There are four Toughs outside your door, guarding it. I +can't attack them without arousing the Masters. Soon, though._ + +Maya: _I don't know how I'm doing this. I didn't know I had telepathic +powers._ + +Dark: _A good many people have them, potentially. They don't have to +have been "changed," as I was. But they usually require development._ + +Maya: _I'm just glad I can, to know that you're here._ + +Dark: _Maya, why are you in pain?_ + +Maya: _Nuwell has been whipping me, to try to get me to recant on my +expressions of support for the rebel cause._ + +There was a white-hot explosion in her brain that almost literally +seared her mind. Staggered at its impact, she recognized it as the +explosion of Dark's sudden anger. Then she was no longer in contact with +him. + +A hundred feet away, in another room, Nuwell pulled on a pair of black +gloves and picked up a short, thick-lashed whip. Coiling the whip, he +stepped out into the corridor, and turned toward Maya's room. + +He met Placer, walking in the opposite direction. + +"You're going to make your last try, now?" asked Placer. + +"Yes," replied Nuwell. "I hope it works. Actually, her spirit and quick +wit are among the reasons I like the girl. But I don't intend to be +defied in this." + +He proceeded on down the hall. + +As he started past the barred gate to one of the ramps leading down into +the vats below, the buzzer beside it sounded. A Jelly was standing +behind the gate, fat, pathetic face pressed against the bars. + +Nuwell stopped. No one else was in sight in the corridor. + +"What do you want?" he asked the Jelly. + +"Master, I seek entry in answer to the summons," replied the Jelly in a +voice that quavered with fright. + +"What summons?" + +"It was ordered that one of us come above and do a task for the +Masters," replied the Jelly. "I am one of those who must work today, and +I have come in answer to the summons." + +Nuwell looked up and down the corridor. He saw no one. + +"What sort of task?" he asked, reluctant to accept the responsibility of +admitting the Jelly. + +"I don't know, Master." + +"Look," said Nuwell, "I'm not a Master. I don't know anything about the +summons. Someone else will have to let you in." + +"If I'm late, they'll let the Toughs whip me!" wailed the Jelly +pathetically. "Please let me in, Master!" + +Nuwell, the whip coiled in his hand, impatient to get to Maya's room, +was moved to pity at the creature's plight. Besides, the Jellies were +harmless, and this one certainly wouldn't be seeking admittance without +having been called. + +"All right, then," said Nuwell, and flipped the switch. + +The bars grated open and the Jelly came into the corridor. But as Nuwell +reached out to activate the switch and close the gate, the Jelly, with +surprising agility, slipped between him and the switch. + +"What in space?" growled Nuwell. "Get out of the way!" + +The Jelly did not move. + +"I said get out of the way!" snapped Nuwell, shaking out the whip. + +The Jelly cringed and its eyes were terrified, but it still stood +against the switch, its huge, translucent body barring Nuwell. + +"No, Master," it whimpered. "Don't shut the gate!" + +Viciously, Nuwell slashed the whip across its naked shoulders, and the +Jelly squealed with pain. Nuwell raised the whip again. + +But then through the open gate there poured a solid mass of translucent +flesh, a horde of naked Jellies. Silently, they tumbled into the +corridor, filling it from wall to wall, and others behind them pushed to +enter as they paused. + +Wide-eyed, Nuwell stared at them for the briefest of moments. Then he +dropped the whip and fled back up the hall, shouting at the top of his +voice. + +The door at the end of the corridor opened as Nuwell neared it, and +Placer appeared in it. He held up a restraining hand. + +"Don't make so much noise!" he snapped. "There's a conference going on +in there. What's the--" + +Voiceless now, Nuwell grasped Placer's arm and pointed, trembling, back +down the corridor. + +"What in space?" demanded Placer irritably, peering at the mass of +Jellies pouring out of the gate and beginning to move hesitantly along +the corridor in both directions. + +"Jellies!" croaked Nuwell. "The Jellies are loose! They're attacking +us!" + +"Soft hunks of blubber!" said Placer contemptously. "They can't hurt +anybody. I wonder what idiot left that gate open?" + +"I did," admitted Nuwell. "I mean, one of them wanted in and I let him +in, and then he backed up against the switch so I couldn't close it, +until the others came in." + +"I don't know what sort of harebrained idea has gotten into their feeble +minds," said Placer. "But I can take care of it in short order." + +He stepped back into the room, and Nuwell heard him apologizing to the +others for the disturbance. Then Placer reappeared, two whips in his +hand, and closed the door behind him. He handed one of the whips to +Nuwell. + +"They're a lot more tractable than that woman of yours," said Placer. +"Let's go." + +Placer moved down the corridor toward the slowly advancing Jellies, and +Nuwell followed reluctantly, at a respectable distance. + +"Get back below!" shouted Placer at the Jellies as he neared them. "You +know better than to come up here without permission!" + +They stopped and milled as he approached them relentlessly, those in +front trying to hold back and those behind them pushing them on. Placer +moved straight up to them and began slashing right and left with his +whip. + +There was a sudden surge forward of the Jellies and Placer was engulfed. +He vanished in a mass of seething, translucent flesh. Nuwell stopped, +appalled, and began to edge backward. + +There was a flurry of movement in the forefront of the Jellies, and +Placer burst out of the group, his hair awry, his clothing torn, his +whip gone. He staggered toward Nuwell at a half run. + +"Get back to the room!" cried Placer. "I don't know what's stirred them +up, but they can't be frightened back with whips!" + +The two men ran back down the corridor and burst through the door, +startling a conference group of five of the other Masters. + +"Heatguns!" snapped Placer. "Something's stirred the Jellies up, and +they're up here causing trouble! I'll turn the Toughs loose on them." + +While two of the others hurried out another door for weapons and a third +bolted the door through which the two men had just come, Placer picked +up a microphone and switched on the amplifier system that covered every +area of all levels of the Canfell Hydroponic Farm. + +Into the microphone, he gave an animal call, a cry that started out on a +low crooning note and rose in volume and intensity until it hurt the +ears. He repeated this three times. Then he set the microphone down and +turned back to his colleagues, an expression of satisfaction on his +face. + +"That releases the Toughs," he said. "Every Tough in the place is free +to maim or kill any Jelly he sees, without fear of restraint or +punishment. That should bring them to heel pretty quickly!" + + + + +17 + + +Behind the locked door of the conference room, one of the Masters passed +out heatguns to Nuwell, Placer and the other four. + +"If we use these on them at half intensity, I think we can calm them +down without killing any of them," said Placer. "We'll probably have +more trouble beating down the Toughs and keeping them from killing all +the Jellies than we will subduing the Jellies in the first place." + +"I hope we warned the three at the other end of the hall in time," said +one of the others. "There hasn't been any word from them." + +Placer flicked a switch on the intercom system. + +"Touchstone, are you men safe?" he asked. + +"Yes, sir," replied a voice on the other end. "We locked ourselves in, +because there aren't any heatguns we can get to from here. The Jellies +haven't gotten this far down yet. They seem to be cowed by the Toughs at +the door to Miss Cara Nome's room, and the Toughs are strutting around +getting themselves in the mood for an attack. We've been watching them +through the window." + +"Good," said Placer. "Between the Toughs at that end and our heatguns at +this end, we ought to be able to force them back below without much +trouble. Are we ready to move out?" + +A different voice came in over the intercom, the voice of the tenth +Master, who was on duty in the farm's control room. + +"Placer, the screens show three groundcars moving up from the south," he +said. "I've tried to contact them by radio, but they don't answer." + +"We haven't been notified to expect any government visitors," said +Placer. "It may be a convoy of travelers off-course in the desert, or it +could be a wandering party of escaped rebels. Warn them away." + +"Yes, sir." + +Touchstone's voice came in from the other end of the hall. + +"The Toughs are attacking, Placer. Space, it's awful! Those poor Jellies +can't stand up to the Toughs." + +Suddenly his voice changed, and became shrill with excitement. + +"Placer! One of those Jellies has a heatgun! Two of the Toughs were just +burned down, and the others are falling back down the hall. The Jellies +are coming on, and I can see the gun in the hand of one of them." + +"Great space!" muttered Placer. "All right, Touchstone. Hold tight and +keep that door locked. We'll get to you." + +He turned to the others. + +"We've got to move out now," he said. "Use full intensity and shoot to +kill. We'll have to burn our way through those Jellies and get to the +other end of the hall." + +Leaving one of the Masters at the intercom in the control room, the +other six went out into the corridor, heatguns ready. The foremost +Jellies had advanced almost to the door, and now that they had spread +out along the corridor, they were not packed so closely together. + +The six men advanced steadily, leveling their guns. They fired, intense, +almost invisible beams stabbing into the group of Jellies. + +Jellies shrieked in pain, several of them collapsing to the floor with +smoking flesh. The others turned in panic and began to crowd back down +the corridor, the beams stabbing at them and picking them off one by +one. + +Then, from amid the Jellies, a beam struck forth, and one of the Masters +went down, his face burned away. Placer burned down the Jelly holding +the heatgun, and the five survivors moved grimly on. + +On the ramp ahead, Dark and Old Beard approached the open gate to the +corridor, Happy and Shadow following them. + +"I wish I had been able to find more heatguns at Ultra Vires," said Dark +to Old Beard. "Only three, besides our four, are spreading them out +pretty thin." + +"At least the Jellies made the break into the corridor, and we've +managed to discourage the Toughs below from following them up for a +while," said Old Beard. The bodies of a dozen Toughs at the foot of the +ramp behind them attested to the rear guard battle they had fought. That +was what had held them up so long. "If we can hold the corridor and keep +the Masters bottled up, your friends outside should be able to turn the +tide." + +"It will take them a while to break in," said Dark. "But I've already +contacted Cheng telepathically and told him to move in." + +They emerged into the corridor, into a scene of tremendous confusion. +All they could see in both directions were Jellies, milling about and +chattering. The mass seemed to be drifting gradually toward the left, +while from the right came shrieks of agony. + +"This way," said Dark, turning to the left. "We have to get Maya out of +here before we can do anything else." + +Forcing their way through the Jellies, they came to a door. Dark tried +it. It was locked. He burned the lock off and pushed it open. + +Maya was standing back against the wall on the other side of the room, +alarmed at the noise in the corridor, frightened at the opening of the +door. As Dark and Old Beard came in, and she recognized Dark, she ran +across the room to meet them, joy transforming her face. + +She threw herself into Dark's arms. + +"Oh, Dark!" she cried. "I knew you'd come!" + +He enfolded her in his arms and kissed her. Then he turned back to Old +Beard, his arm around Maya's shoulders. + +"Old Beard, this is Maya Cara Nome," said Dark. "Maya, this is my +father, the real Dark Kensington." + +"The older Dark Kensington," corrected Old Beard. "I am very happy to +meet you, Maya. My son, you have chosen a beautiful woman." + +Happy and Shadow had followed the other two into the room and were +standing against the door, holding it closed. + +"Maya, we're going to have to try to hold the corridor until the Phoenix +gets here," said Dark. "I want you to go with Shadow and Happy down to +the vats. You get into a marsuit, and they'll take you to one of the +entrance buildings. I'll tell Cheng to pick you up in one of the +groundcars, and then Happy and Shadow can come back here to help us." + +"I'll do nothing of the sort," said Maya flatly. "You need them up here +now, and I won't leave you. I'm going to stay here and help you. After +all, I can handle a heatgun better than any of these Jellies." + +"But, Maya, I want to know that you're safe." + +"I don't want to be safe until you are. Please let me stay, Dark." + +"All right," Dark surrendered. "Shadow, give her your heatgun." + +The five of them left the room together. + +They emerged into a scene of incredible carnage. The Jellies, with only +three heatguns which they were inept at using, had been no match for the +Masters. Almost all of the Jellies were lying dead on the floor of the +corridor, and the remaining few were backed up at the end of the hall to +their right. + +Three of the men were advancing toward these last Jellies. The other +two, returning to the conference room, already had passed Maya's door +and were picking their way back among the scorched, twitching bodies of +the Jellies. Dark and the others were between these two retreating +forces of Masters. + +"We'll have to try to save those Jellies," decided Dark at once. "Happy, +you and Shadow move back up the corridor and hold the line in case those +other two turn back to attack our rear. The rest of us will tackle the +three to the right." + +They split up and moved off. But they were too late. Dark, Maya and Old +Beard had advanced hastily no more than ten feet when the last of the +Jellies at the end of the corridor collapsed under the combined beams of +three heatguns. Immediately, the door beyond the dead Jellies opened and +three more Masters emerged. They joined the first three, and were given +the heatguns taken from the vanquished Jellies. + +Dark stopped and held up his hand, halting the advance of his little +group. + +"We're too badly outnumbered now," he said. "Let's collect Happy and +Shadow and get back down to the vats, where we can hide until the +Phoenix break in." + +The Masters had seen them now, and started to move up the corridor +toward them in a group, but were still ten or fifteen feet out of +heatgun range. Dark was not surprised to see that one of the group was +Nuwell. + +Dark and Maya turned back toward the entrance toward the underground +vats, but stopped as Old Beard emitted a growl of recognition. + +One of the three men who had emerged from the room was skinny, goateed +Goat Hennessey, and he was coming forward now in the forefront of the +group, a heatgun in his hand. + +"Dark, you and Maya go on without me," said Old Beard very quietly. "I +have a score to settle." + +Dark turned back, his mouth open to protest, but Old Beard had already +started swiftly down the corridor toward the oncoming group. + +"Wait!" cried Dark, and started to run after him. But, in his haste, +Dark tripped over the corpse of a Jelly and fell sprawling. In the +moments it took Dark to scramble to his feet and recover his dropped +heatgun from the floor, the drama ahead of him flashed like lightning to +its conclusion. + +Old Beard ran down the corridor toward the group of Masters, leaping +lightly over the bodies of Jellies in his path, his gray hair streaming +out behind him. + +"Goat Hennessey!" he thundered, his voice reverberating from the walls +of the corridor. "You betrayed me and killed my wife! Now the time has +come for you to pay for your crimes!" + +The Masters stopped in their tracks, frozen at the sight of this figure +of retribution charging down on them. In their forefront, Goat stood +staring, open-mouthed, not comprehending until the full impact of Old +Beard's words broke upon him. Then, recognition dawning, he squawled in +amazement and fear: + +"Dark Kensington!" + +With that cry, Goat turned in terror to escape. But Dark was now within +range, and the intense beam of his downward-chopping heatgun caught Goat +at the base of the skull and swept all the way down his back. Goat +Hennessey plunged forward to the floor, dead, his spine burned away. + +Even as Goat fell, his companions emerged from their paralysis. The +beams of five heatguns focussed on Old Beard, and he died in a burst of +flame that flared from wall to wall of the narrow corridor. + +Appalled at his father's sudden death, Dark almost leaped after him, to +attack the five survivors single-handed. But Maya grasped his arm. + +"No, Dark!" she urged. "Please don't!" + +Realizing on the instant that to die now would only leave Maya at the +mercy of the Masters and Nuwell, Dark turned back. He and Maya ran for +the door to the ramp leading underground, Dark calling to Happy and +Shadow to join them. + +But Happy, and presumably the invisible Shadow, were well up the +corridor and they, too, were under attack now. The two Masters who had +been heading for the conference room had turned back and were now in +range of Happy, their heatguns blasting. + +Happy had remained true to Dark's charge to hold the line against any +attack from the rear. Frightened but staunch, he was standing his +ground, waving his own heat beam at the approaching pair of Masters. + +But Happy was too unfamiliar with the weapon and too nervous to hit +either of his targets. The beams of both Masters found him at the same +time, and, with a woeful shriek that was cut off in a choking gurgle, +the unfortunate Jelly collapsed to a smoking heap on the floor, quivered +once and lay still. + +Apparently from out of nowhere, the unarmed Shadow descended like a +thunderbolt on one of Happy's killers. The surprised Master went +sprawling, his heatgun flying from his hand. + +Shadow might have vanquished the other, too, except that this startled +individual, waving his heat beam wildly in an attempt to catch the +elusive, vanishing and reappearing figure, scored a lucky hit. There was +a tremendous flare of flame, and the extraordinary form of Shadow +appeared for the last time, a charred, flat body lying on the floor of +the corridor like the shadow for which he had been named. + +The whole tragedy ran its course in less than a minute. In that time, +Dark and Maya reached the entrance to the ramp, ducked into it and ran +down the incline to the sheltering dimness of the labyrinthine vats. + + + + +18 + + +Moments later, the two groups of Masters converged at the gate, two from +one direction and five from the other. + +"After them!" commanded Placer. "But stay together. We'll have to try to +hunt them down in the vats, and maybe the Toughs can help us, but we +don't want to get separated so they can pick us off one by one." + +"Wait, Placer, there's something you ought to know," said one of the two +Masters who had come from the direction of the conference room. "Greyde +called out a few minutes ago to tell us he had word from Vidonati in the +control room. Those groundcars that were hanging around had attacked +one of the entrance buildings." + +"Space!" growled Placer. "There must be a conspiracy involved here +somewhere. We'd better stay up here, then." + +He pulled the lever beside the gate to the ramp, and it rumbled down and +crashed into place. + +"At least, those two are trapped below," he said with satisfaction. "We +can hunt them down at our leisure when we've repelled this attack from +outside. If we can take them alive, I'm of a mind to make them pay well +for their responsibility in our losing all our experimental Jellies." + +The seven of them went on to the conference room, picking their way +among the bodies of the Jellies. Placer took over the intercom from +Greyde. + +"Vidonati, this is Placer," he said. "What's the situation?" + +"The groundcars attacked the south building," replied Vidonati. "They +moved in and concentrated all three car beams on the airlock and burned +it through. I counted nine men in marsuits who left the groundcars and +went into the building. Of course, as soon as they started blasting the +airlocks, I closed the emergency barrier to block off the downward +ramp." + +"Obviously, since we still have air in the place," commented Placer +dryly. "You'd better call Mars City and get them to send help." + +"I've already done that," said Vidonati. "A jet squadron's on its way." + +"Good," said Placer. "They can be here in about five hours, and it will +take those rebels, or whoever they are, two or three times that long to +burn through one of the emergency barriers, even if they blast an +opening and bring their groundcars into the building to bring the +groundcars' big guns on it." + +"Should I stick it out here, or seal all the barriers and come below?" +asked Vidonati. The control room was in the north building. + +"Stay up there so you can report on what they're doing, unless they +start to move toward that building," instructed Placer. "If they do, +seal the other emergency barriers at once and come below. We can switch +to the emergency radio down here to keep in touch with the task force +from Mars City, and just wait it out underground until they clean up +these rebels." + +"Good enough," agreed Vidonati. "I won't take any chances." + +In the vats below, Dark and Maya made their way to Old Beard's hideout, +their heatguns ready, keeping a sharp lookout for Toughs. They reached +it without incident. + +Dark looked sadly around the little recess beneath the tangled +vegetation, where Old Beard had concealed himself successfully so long +from both Toughs and Masters. He had hoped that this reunion with his +father would mean many years of companionship between them, once they +were free of the Canfell Hydroponic Farm and had found a haven in the +Icaria Desert. + +But he knew that Old Beard had died in an act that had great meaning to +him, a savage revenge that had wiped out the bitter memory of the loss +of his wife and had repaid him for twenty-five long years of exile. Old +Beard had died nobly. + +Dark picked up one of the smaller marsuits. + +"We don't know what's going to happen above, and we can't help much by +staying inside, now that we can't hold that corridor and bottle them up +in a room until Cheng and the Phoenix break in," said Dark. "We'd best +get up to one of the exit buildings, get out through the airlock and get +picked up by one of the groundcars. I don't need a marsuit, but you can +put that on as soon as we get above in the building." + +"Have you been in telepathic touch with Cheng?" asked Maya. + +"Yes. They've already broken into the south building. That's the one I +came through when I left for Ultra Vires and when I came back. But the +Masters let down a heavy emergency barrier on the ramp when they +attacked the airlock, and we wouldn't be able to get through that. +There's a ramp near here that Old Beard told me opens onto the north +building. We'll go there, and I'll send a call to Cheng to move over +and meet us there." + +Dark sent out a call to Cheng and received an acknowledgement. He and +Maya started for the ramp, unaware that the building which was their +goal housed the farm's control room, and the watching Vidonati. + +Above, a few moments later, Vidonati called Placer on the intercom. + +"Placer, they've come back to the groundcars and turned them in this +direction," said Vidonati. "I'm going to let down the barriers on the +ramps from the east and west buildings, sabotage the controls so they +can't raise them again, and come on down. I'll lower the barrier to this +building from inside, as soon as I get past it on the ramp." + +"All right," said Placer. "We'll start getting the emergency radio in +operation down here. Do a good job, but do it fast, and don't get caught +up there by the rebels blasting the airlock." + +"I won't," promised Vidonati. "It'll only take me a few minutes, and I +can be down the ramp before they can focus their beams on the airlock." + +In the lead groundcar, as the three of them wheeled around and headed +slowly for the north building, Cheng turned to one of his companions +with a frown. + +"I've been trying to get through telepathically to Dark, but I can't +reach him," said Cheng. "He didn't give any instructions for getting +into the building, but they seem to have locked these airlocks by remote +control so they can't be operated. We'll have to blast this one as we +did the other one, because I don't imagine Dark will be able to open it +from inside. He seemed in rather a hurry to be picked up." + +Dark and Maya hurried up the ramp toward the north building. Dark had +been concentrating too heavily on finding his way through the vats to +receive Cheng's telepathic call. + +They passed the barred gate that opened into the corridors of the upper +level, and a few moments later reached the top of the ramp and the gate +to the north building. Dark had been prepared to open this by +telekinesis but, to his surprise, it was already open. + +They passed through it and emerged into the north building. + +Dark had never seen one of the ground-level buildings in daylight, as +both times he had passed through the south building it had been night. +He looked around the place curiously as they entered. + +It was about fifty feet square, bare except for the low, hard bunks on +which the Toughs slept at night. On three sides of it were windows, now +closed with heavy steel shutters. The airlock was across the room, +opposite the ramp entrance. The fourth wall was blank, and apparently +shut off a room at the end, because there was a closed door in the +center of it. + +They moved out into the room, and Dark said: + +"Slip into your marsuit, and we'll go out the airlock. I told Cheng to +bring the groundcars over this way, and they ought to be ready to pick +us up by the time we get out." + +"I don't see why we didn't stay down in the vats until the Phoenix break +in," said Maya. "We were well hidden down there, and there might have +been some way we could have helped the Phoenix from inside." + +"Primarily because I'm not sure now that the Phoenix can break in," +answered Dark. "I didn't know about that heavy emergency barrier the +Masters let down on the south ramp, and I was surprised and relieved to +find they hadn't dropped one on this ramp, too. If they had, we'd have +been trapped below. If they have those barriers on all four ramps, the +Phoenix can't stay around long enough to burn through them, because the +Masters have probably already called for help from Mars City." + +Maya had laid her marshelmet down on one of the bunks, and was pulling +the marsuit on over her tunic and trousers. + +The door at the other end of the room opened, and a man emerged, a +heatgun in his hand. + +Vidonati stopped in his tracks, startled, at the sight of Dark and Maya. +Dark grunted in surprise, and reached for his heatgun. + +Even as Dark freed his weapon, Vidonati fired. The beam missed them, +melting away the top of Maya's marshelmet and setting the bunk aflame. +Then, as the beam of Dark's gun swung toward him, Vidonati ducked +precipitately back into the control room. + +"He got your marshelmet!" exclaimed Dark. "We're going to have to go in +and flush him out of there, and just hope there's another marsuit in +there, before we can open the airlock." + +Heatgun in hand, Dark started for the door of the control room, Maya at +his heels. + +It was then that the Phoenix, the three groundcars drawn up with their +heavy guns focused, blasted the airlock of the north building. In +seconds, the airlock was burned through. + +There was no emergency barrier down on this ramp. The heavy, +Earth-pressured air of the north building whistled out into the desert. +As from a punctured balloon, the pressured atmosphere of the entire +Canfell Hydroponic Farm rushed after it, roaring up the ramp, in a +moment stripping the vats, the upper level and the north building. + +Caught in the tornadic blast, Dark could only cling to a bolted-down cot +with one hand, and hold onto Maya around the waist with the other. As +the pressure dropped precipitately and oxygen no longer touched his +lungs, he could actually feel his alternate metabolism shifting into +gear, he could feel his breathing stop and the glow of solar energy +begin to spread through his body. + +As the wind faded and died, Dark released Maya and rose exultantly to +his feet. Down below, he knew, Nuwell and the Masters were gasping out +their lives in the thin air, like beached fish. Their recent attacker, +Vidonati, lay half out of the door of the control room, his hands +clutching convulsively at the floor. + +"That's not the way I'd planned it, but it's just as good!" Dark +exclaimed. "We've taken the farm!" + +Then he remembered. Maya had no marshelmet! + +Appalled, struck to the heart, he turned in his tracks. + +Maya was standing behind him, calmly trying to rearrange her raven hair, +tangled by the raging rush of wind. + +"What's the matter?" she asked quietly, becoming aware of Dark's intent +gaze. + +"Maya! You don't have a helmet on! Are you breathing?" + +She was silent for a moment, apparently examining herself. + +"Why, no, I don't believe I am," she replied, just as calmly. + +"How can you ...? Wait a minute!" + +Dark sent his mind into the invisible. His probing thoughts fled over +desert and lowland, seeking. They found the Martian, Qril, and he +recognized that Qril responded immediately. + +_Qril, how is it that Maya is able to live in the Martian atmosphere +without breathing?_ asked Dark telepathically. + +_She is as you_, replied Qril. _When she was a child, living among the +Martians, we altered her physiological and genetic structure so that +she, also, is able to utilize solar energy and exist without oxygen_. + +_Why didn't you tell me this before, at Ultra Vires?_ demanded Dark. + +_You did not ask_, replied Qril, and the mental contact faded out. + +Dark turned to Maya, his face alight. + +"Darling," he said, "our children will need no embryonic alterations. +They will be born as we are, able to live under Martian conditions. And +never again will either of us ever have to wear a marsuit!" + +He felt the questing touch of Cheng's mind. + +Cheng: _Are you there, Dark?_ + +Dark: _Here._ + +Cheng: _Are you all right?_ + +Dark: _We're both fine! We're coming out. Then we'll take off at once +for the Icaria Desert, before the Mars City task force gets here._ + +He and Maya walked hand in hand through the blasted airlock. The three +groundcars were there, waiting. + +The two of them stood for a moment, before getting aboard the +groundcars, and looked out together across the red desert toward the +sinking sun. + +Death? Desolation? No, not for them. This was life, and free, bleak +beauty, for them and for their children. + +The future of Mars was theirs. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Rebels of the Red Planet, by Charles Louis Fontenay + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REBELS OF THE RED PLANET *** + +***** This file should be named 20739-8.txt or 20739-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/7/3/20739/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Janet Blenkinship and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Fontenay. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + div.centered {text-align: center;} /* work around for IE centering with CSS problem part 1 */ + div.centered table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;} /* work around for IE centering with CSS problem part 2 */ + + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's Rebels of the Red Planet, by Charles Louis Fontenay + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Rebels of the Red Planet + +Author: Charles Louis Fontenay + +Release Date: March 4, 2007 [EBook #20739] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REBELS OF THE RED PLANET *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Janet Blenkinship and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> + +<h1>REBELS OF THE RED PLANET</h1> + +<h3>by</h3> + +<h2>CHARLES L. FONTENAY<br /><br /></h2> + + + + + +<h3><i>Charles L. Fontenay has also written</i>:</h3> + +<h3>TWICE UPON A TIME (D-266)<br /><br /></h3> + +<p class='center'>Copyright ©, 1961, by Ace Books, Inc.<br /> +All Rights Reserved<br /><br /> +Printed in U.S.A.<br /> +ACE BOOKS, INC.<br /> +23 West 47th Street, New York 36, N.Y.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="MARS_FOR_THE_MARTIANS" id="MARS_FOR_THE_MARTIANS"></a>MARS FOR THE MARTIANS!</h2> + + +<blockquote><p><br />Dark Kensington had been dead for twenty-five years. It was a fact; +everyone knew it. Then suddenly he reappeared, youthful, brilliant, +ready to take over the Phoenix, the rebel group that worked to overthrow +the tyranny that gripped the settlers on Mars.</p> + +<p>The Phoenix had been destroyed not once, not twice, but three times! But +this time the resurrected Dark had new plans, plans which involved +dangerous experiments in mutation and psionics.</p> + +<p>And now the rebels realized they were in double jeopardy. Not only from +the government's desperate hatred of their movement, but also from the +growing possibility that the new breed of mutated monsters would get out +of hand and bring terrors never before known to man.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span></p> + +<p><br /><b>CHARLES L. FONTENAY</b> writes: "I was born in Brazil of a father who was by +birth English and by parentage German and French, and of a mother who +was by birth American and by parentage American and Scottish. This mess +of internationalism caused me some trouble in the army during World War +II as the government couldn't decide whether I was American, British, or +Brazilian; and both as an enlisted man and an officer I dealt in secret +work which required citizenship by birth. On three occasions I had to +dig into the lawbooks. Finally they gave up and admitted I was an +American citizen....</p> + +<p>"I was raised on a West Tennessee farm and distinguished myself in +school principally by being the youngest, smallest (and consequently the +fastest-running) child in my classes ... Newspaper work has been my +career since 1936. I have worked for three newspapers, including <i>The +Nashville Tennessean</i> for which I am now rewrite man, and before the war +for the Associated Press."</p> + +<p>Mr. Fontenay is married, lives in Madison, Tenn., and has had one other +novel published by Ace Books.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p></blockquote> + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<div class='centered'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="CONTENTS"> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_1">CHAPTER 1</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_2">CHAPTER 2</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_3">CHAPTER 3</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_4">CHAPTER 4</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_5">CHAPTER 5</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_6">CHAPTER 6</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_7">CHAPTER 7</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_8">CHAPTER 8</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_9">CHAPTER 9</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_10">CHAPTER 10</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_11">CHAPTER 11</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_12">CHAPTER 12</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_13">CHAPTER 13</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_14">CHAPTER 14</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_15">CHAPTER 15</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_16">CHAPTER 16</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_17">CHAPTER 17</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_18">CHAPTER 18</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span></p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_1" id="CHAPTER_1"></a>1</h2> + + +<p>It is a sea, though they call it sand.</p> + +<p>They call it sand because it is still and red and dense with grains. +They call it sand because the thin wind whips it, and whirls its dusty +skim away to the tight horizons of Mars.</p> + +<p>But only a sea could so brood with the memory of aeons. Only a sea, +lying so silent beneath the high skies, could hint the mystery of life +still behind its barren veil.</p> + +<p>To practical, rational man, it is the Xanthe Desert. Whatever else he +might unwittingly be, S. Nuwell Eli considered himself a practical, +rational man, and it was across the bumpy sands of the Xanthe Desert +that he guided his groundcar westward with that somewhat cautious +proficiency that mistrusts its own mastery of the machine. Maya Cara +Nome, his colleague in this mission to which he had addressed himself, +was a silent companion.</p> + +<p>Nuwell's liquid brown eyes, insistent upon their visual clarity, saw the +red sand as the blowing surface of unliving solidity. Only clarity was +admitted to Nuwell, and the only living clarity was man and beast and +vegetation, spotted in the dome cities and dome farms of the lowlands. +He and Maya scurried, transiting sparks of the only life, insecure and +hastening in the absence of the net of roads which eventually would bind +the Martian surface to human reality from the toeholds of the dome +cities.</p> + +<p>In that opposite world which was the other side of the groundcar's seat, +Maya Cara Nome's opaque black eyes struggled against the surface. They +struggled not from any rational motivation but from long stubbornness, +from habit, as a fly kicks six-legged and constant against the surface +tension of a trapping pool.</p> + +<p>Formally, Maya was allied to Newell's clarity and solidity, and she +could express this alliance with complete logic if called on. But behind +the casually blowing sand she sensed a depth. The shimmering atmosphere, +hostile to man, which sealed the red desert was a lens that distorted +and con<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span>cealed by its intervention. The groundcar was a mechanical bug, +an alienness with which timorous man had allied himself; allied with it +against reality, she and Nuwell were hastened by it through reality, +unseeing, toward the goal of a more comfortable unreality.</p> + +<p>The groundcar bumped and slithered, and an orange dust-cloud boiled up +from its broad tires and wafted away across the sculpted sand. The +desert stretched away, silent and empty, to the distant horizon; the +groundcar the only humming disturbance of its silence and emptiness. The +steel-blue sky shimmered above, a lens capping the red surface.</p> + +<p>The groundcar rolled westward, slashing toward its goal from the distant +lowland of Solis Lacus. Far away, two men, machineless, plodded this +same Xanthe Desert toward the same goal; but they plodded southward, +approaching on a different radius.</p> + +<p>They were naked. In a thin atmosphere without sufficient oxygen to +support animal life or even the higher forms of terrestrial plant life, +they wore no marsuits, no helmets, no oxygen tanks.</p> + +<p>The man who walked in front was tall, erect, powerfully muscled. His +features and short-clipped hair were coarse, but self-assured +intelligence shone in his smoky eyes. He moved across the loose sand, +barefoot, with easy grace.</p> + +<p>The—man?—that shambled behind him was as tall, but appeared shorter +and even more muscular because his shoulders and head were hunched +forward. His even coarser face was characterized by vacuously slack +mouth and blue eyes empty of any expression except an occasional brief +frown of puzzlement.</p> + +<p>Toward a focal point: from the east, two people; from the north, two +people. If in the efficient self-assurance of Adam Hennessey could be +paralleled a variant harmony with the insistent surfaceness of S. Nuwell +Eli, does any coincidental parallelism exist between Brute Hennessey and +Maya Cara Nome?</p> + +<p>Puzzlement was the climate of Brute's mind. This surface film of things +through which he ploughed his way, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> swarming currents below the +surface—all were chaos. He grasped vaguely at comprehension without +achieving, the effective coalescence of electric ideas always falling +short before reaching consciousness.</p> + +<p>The two men plodded, naked, through the loose sand. Above them in the +Mars-blue dome of day, the weak sun turned downward, warning of its +eventual departure.</p> + +<p>A two-passengered groundcar and two men, widely apart, and yet bound for +the same destination....</p> + +<p>The destination was a lone, sprawling building in the desert. It could +have been a huge warehouse, or a fortress, of black, almost windowless +Martian stone. The only outstanding feature of its virtually featureless +hulk was a tower which struck upward from its northern side.</p> + +<p>As the summer afternoon progressed, Dr. G. O. T. Hennessey paced the +windy summit of the tower, peered frequently into the desert north +beneath a sunshading hand, and waggled his goat beard in annoyance under +his transparent marshelmet.</p> + +<p>Had the helmet speaker been on or the air less thin, one might have +determined that Goat Hennessey was utilizing some choice profanity, +directed at those two absent personages whose names were, respectively, +Adam and Brute.</p> + +<p>The airlock to the tower elevator opened and a small creature—a +child?—emerged onto the roof. Distorted, humpbacked and +barrel-chested, it scuttled on reed-thin legs to Goat's side. It wore no +marsuit.</p> + +<p>"Father!" screeched this apparition, its thin voice curiously muffled by +the tenuous air. "Petway fell in the laundry vat!"</p> + +<p>"For the love of space!" muttered Goat in exasperation. "Is there water +in it?"</p> + +<p>When the newcomer gave no sign of hearing, Goat realized his helmet +speaker was off. He switched it on.</p> + +<p>"Is there water in the vat?" he repeated.</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir. It's full of suds and clothes."</p> + +<p>"Well, go fish him out before he soaks up all the water. The soap will +make him sick."</p> + +<p>The messenger turned, almost tripping over its own broad<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> feet, and went +back through the airlock. Goat returned to his northward vigil.</p> + +<p>Miles away, Nuwell slowed the groundcar as it approached the lip of that +precipitous slope bordering the short canal which connects Juventae Fons +with the Arorae Sinus Lowland. He consulted a rough chart, and turned +the groundcar southward. A drive of about a kilometer brought them to a +wide descending ledge down which they were able to drive into the canal.</p> + +<p>Here, on the flat lowland surface, the canal sage grew thick, a +gray-green expanse stretching unbroken to the distant cliff that was the +other side of the canal. Occasionally above its smoothness thrust the +giant barrel of a canal cactus.</p> + +<p>Nuwell headed the groundcar straight across the canal, for the chart +showed that the nearest upward ledge on the other side was conveniently +almost opposite. The big wheels bent and crushed the canal sage, leaving +a double trail.</p> + +<p>The canal sage brought with it the comforting feeling of surface life +once more. This feeling, for no reason that he could have determined +consciously, released Nuwell's tongue.</p> + +<p>"Maya," he said, in a voice that betrayed determination behind its +mildness, "I don't see any real reason for waiting. When we've cleared +up this matter at Ultra Vires and get back to Mars City, I think we +should get married."</p> + +<p>She glanced at his handsome profile and smiled affectionately.</p> + +<p>"I'm complimented by your impatience, Nuwell," she said. "But there is a +good reason for waiting, for me. When we're married, I want to be your +wife, completely. I want to keep your home and mother your children. +Don't you understand that?"</p> + +<p>"That's what I want, too," he said. "That's my idea of what marriage is. +But, Maya, if you insist on finishing this government assignment, that +could be a long time off."</p> + +<p>"I know, and I don't like it any better than you do, darling," said +Maya. "But it's cost the Earth government a great deal of trouble and +money to send me here, and you know how long it would take for them to +get a replacement to Mars for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> me. I don't feel that I can let them +down, and I don't think it would be much of a beginning to our marriage +for me to be running around ferreting out rebels during the first months +of it."</p> + +<p>"That's another thing I don't like, Maya," said Nuwell. "It's dangerous, +and I don't want anything to happen to you."</p> + +<p>"It's your work, too, and it's not absolutely safe for you, either. I'll +be sharing it with you when we're married, and for you it will go on for +a long time. I have a specific mission here, to locate the rebel +headquarters, and as soon as I've done that I'll be more than happy to +become just a contented housewife and leave the rest of it to you."</p> + +<p>Nuwell shrugged, a little disconsolately, and turned his attention to +the task of negotiating the groundcar up the ascending slope.</p> + +<p>She was a strange creature, this little Maya of his. She had been born +on Mars and, orphaned by some unknown disaster, had been cared for +during her first years by the mysterious, grotesque native Martians. +When they took her at last to one of the dome cities, she was sent to +Earth for rearing. And now she was back on Mars as an undercover agent +of the Earth government, seeking to ferret out the rebels known to be +engaging in widespread forbidden activities.</p> + +<p>Often he did not understand her, but he wanted her, nevertheless.</p> + +<p>Nuwell steered the groundcar slowly up the slope, over rubble and ruts, +avoiding the largest rocks. At last they reached the top, and the +groundcar arrowed out over the desert again, picking up speed.</p> + +<p>Far to the left and ahead of them there was another dust-cloud drifting +up, one that was not of the thin wind, but nearly stationary. Nuwell +found the binoculars in the storage compartment and handed them to Maya.</p> + +<p>"What's that over there?" he wondered. "Another groundcar? Take a look, +Maya."</p> + +<p>Maya trained the glasses in the direction indicated, through the +groundcar's transparent dome. It was difficult to get<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> them focused, for +the groundcar swayed and jolted, but at last she was able to make brief +identification.</p> + +<p>"They're Martians, Nuwell," she said. "Can we drive over that way?"</p> + +<p>"You've seen Martians before," he said.</p> + +<p>"But I'd like to speak with them," she said. "I talk their language, you +know."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I do know, darling, but that's utterly foolish. They're only +animals, after all, and we have to get to Ultra Vires before night, if +we can."</p> + +<p>He kept the groundcar on its course.</p> + +<p>Maya lapsed into disgruntled silence. Nuwell stole a sidelong glance +at her, his breath catching slightly at the curve of the petite, +perfectly feminine form beneath the loose Martian tunic and baggy +trousers. He reached over and patted her hand.</p> + +<p>But Maya was offended. She kept her black head turned away from him, +looking out of the groundcar dome across the desert.</p> + +<p>At their destination, Goat Hennessey peered eagerly into the distance, +searching.</p> + +<p>This time, his watery blue eyes picked up two tiny figures on the +horizon. He watched them as they approached, finally detailing +themselves into two naked, pink creatures of manshape and only slightly +more than mansize.</p> + +<p>"They made it," he muttered. "Both of them. Good!"</p> + +<p>He turned and entered the airlock. As soon as its air reached +terrestrial density and composition, he removed his marshelmet.</p> + +<p>Goat rode the elevator to the ground level, left it and hurried down a +corridor, reaching the outside airlock in time to admit the two figures.</p> + +<p>Adam entered first, easily confident, carrying his head like a king. +Brute shambled behind him.</p> + +<p>"Everything go all right?" asked Goat, his voice quavering in his +anxiety.</p> + +<p>"Fine, father," said Adam, smiling to reveal savage, even teeth.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Nothing unusual happen?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing at all, sir."</p> + +<p>"You forget, Adam?" mouthed Brute eagerly. "You forget you fall?"</p> + +<p>Adam spun on him ferociously, raising a heavy hand in threat. Brute did +not cringe.</p> + +<p>"I forget nothing!" snarled Adam. "You crazy Brute, I say it is +nothing!"</p> + +<p>"But, Adam—"</p> + +<p>"I say it is nothing!" howled Adam and sprang for him.</p> + +<p>"Stop it!" snapped Goat, like the crack of a whip, and they froze in the +moment of their grappling. Sheepishly, they parted and stood side by +side before him.</p> + +<p>"I'll listen to details after supper," said Goat. "The children are +hungry, and so am I."</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_2" id="CHAPTER_2"></a>2</h2> + + +<p>Adam and Brute followed Goat Hennessey down the corridor, towering over +him like Saint Bernards on the heels of a terrier. They turned into the +dining room, a big square room centered with a rude table and chairs, +one wall pierced by a fireplace in which a big cauldron steamed over +smouldering coals.</p> + +<p>The dining room swarmed with a dozen small creatures, human in their +pink flesh, more or less human in their twisted bodies. As soon as Goat +entered with Adam and Brute in tow, the assemblage set up a high-pitched +howling and twittering of anticipation and began beating utensils on the +dishes, table and walls.</p> + +<p>"Quiet!" squawked Goat over the tremendous clatter, and the noise +subsided. They stood where they were, bright eyes fixed on him.</p> + +<p>These were "the children." Some of them were humpbacked, like Evan, +the one who had carried the message to the tower. Some, like Evan, were +grotesquely barrel-chested, with or without the hump. Some were as thin +as skeletons,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> with huge heads; some were hulking miniatures of Brute. +One steatopygean girl was so bulky in legs and hindquarters that she +could waddle only a few inches with each step, yet her head and upper +torso were skinny and fragile.</p> + +<p>Goat sat down at the head of the table, and immediately there was a +tumbling rush for places. Most of the children sat, chattering, while +two of the larger girls moved around the table, taking bowls to the +cauldron, filling them with a brownish stew and returning them.</p> + +<p>They ate in silence. When supper was ended, the children scattered, some +to play, others to chores. Goat beckoned to Adam and Brute to follow +him. He led them down the corridor and into his study.</p> + +<p>Goat turned on the light, revealing a book-lined, paper-stacked room +focused on a huge desk. He removed his marsuit to stand in baggy +trousers and loose tunic. Adam and Brute stood near the door, shifting +uncomfortably, for the study was normally forbidden ground.</p> + +<p>Goat stood by a thick double window, looking out over the desert to the +west. The small sun disappeared beneath the horizon even as he looked, +leaving the fast-darkening sky a dull, faint red. Almost as though +released by the sunset, pale Phobos popped above the horizon and began +to climb its eastward way. The desert already was dark, but a stirring +above it bespoke a distant sandstorm.</p> + +<p>Goat turned from the window and faced the pair.</p> + +<p>"Well," he snapped harshly, "what happened?"</p> + +<p>Adam smiled confidently.</p> + +<p>"We did as you said, father," he answered. "We walked to the edge of the +canal, and we walked back. We had no water and we had no air. We did not +feel tired. We did not feel sick."</p> + +<p>"Fine! Fine!" murmured Goat.</p> + +<p>"Father ..." said Brute.</p> + +<p>Goat turned his eyes to Brute, and savage irritation swept over him. +With that word, at that moment, Brute gave him a feeling of guilty +foreboding.</p> + +<p>"Don't call me 'father!'" snapped Goat angrily.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But you say call you father," protested Brute, the puzzled frown +wrinkling his brow. "What I call you if I not call you father?"</p> + +<p>"Don't call me anything. Say 'sir.' What did you want to say?"</p> + +<p>"Father, sir," began Brute again, "Adam forget. Adam fall."</p> + +<p>With a muted roar, Adam swept his powerful arm in a backhanded arc that +caught Brute full on the side of his head. The blow would have felled an +ox, but Brute was not shaken. Apparently unhurt, he stood patiently, his +blue eyes on Goat with something of pleading in them.</p> + +<p>"Adam, let him alone!" commanded Goat sharply. "Brute, what do you mean, +Adam fell?"</p> + +<p>"We come back. We not far from canal. Adam fall. Adam sick. Adam turn +blue."</p> + +<p>"It is lies, father!" exclaimed Adam, glaring at Brute. "It is not +true."</p> + +<p>"Let him finish," instructed Goat. "I'll decide whether it's true. What +did you do, Brute?"</p> + +<p>"I find cactus, father," answered Brute. "I make hole in cactus. I put +Adam inside. I put hole back. Adam stay in cactus. Then Adam break +cactus and come out again. We come back."</p> + +<p>Goat cogitated. If Adam had shown, symptoms of oxygen starvation.... The +big canal cacti were hollow, and in their interiors they maintained +reserves of oxygen for their own use. More than once, such a cactus had +saved a Martian traveler's life when his oxygen supply ran short.</p> + +<p>He turned to Adam.</p> + +<p>"Well, Adam?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"I tell you, father, it is lies! I do not fall. Brute does not put me in +the cactus."</p> + +<p>"And why should he lie?" asked Goat blandly.</p> + +<p>This stumped Adam for a minute. Then he brightened.</p> + +<p>"Brute wants to be bigger and stronger than Adam," he said. "Brute knows +Adam is bigger and stronger than Brute, Brute does not like this. He +tells you lies so you will think Brute is bigger and stronger than +Adam."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I know you are bigger brother, Adam," objected Brute, almost +plaintively. "I not try to be bigger. Why you say you do not fall?"</p> + +<p>"I do not fall!" howled Adam. "I do not fall, you stupid Brute!"</p> + +<p>Goat held up a stern hand, enforcing silence.</p> + +<p>"I can't certainly settle this disagreement, but I'd be inclined to +accept what Brute says," said Goat thoughtfully. "You're smart enough to +lie, Adam. Brute isn't. The only thing I can do is to run the experiment +over. You shall go out again tomorrow, and this time I'll go with you."</p> + +<p>"You'll see, father," said Adam confidently. "Adam will not fall."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps not. But I must be sure. As much as I prefer your more human +characteristics, Adam, it's entirely possible that Brute has some +survival qualities that you lack."</p> + +<p>"Is true, father," said Brute eagerly. "Some things kill Adam, they not +kill Brute."</p> + +<p>"You lie!" cried Adam again, turning on him. "Why do you lie, Brute?"</p> + +<p>"No lie," insisted Brute. "You know, is true."</p> + +<p>"Lie! Lie!" shouted Adam. "Adam is bigger and stronger! What do you say +can kill Adam that does not kill Brute?"</p> + +<p>"This," replied Brute calmly.</p> + +<p>With an unhurried lunge, he picked up a heavy knife from Goat's desk. In +a single easy movement, he turned and slashed Adam's throat neatly.</p> + +<p>Choking and gurgling, Adam sank to his knees, bright blood spouting from +his neck, while Goat stood frozen in horror. Adam fell prone, he kicked +and threshed convulsively like a beheaded chicken, then twitched and lay +still in a spreading pool of blood.</p> + +<p>Brute calmly wiped the knife on his naked thigh and laid it back on the +desk.</p> + +<p>"Adam dead," he said without emotion. "Brute not lie."</p> + +<p>Dismayed fury erupted through Goat's veins and a red haze swept over his +eyes.</p> + +<p>"You idiot!" he squawked. "So that won't kill you?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p> + +<p>Goaded beyond endurance, Goat seized the knife and swung it as hard as +he could against Brute's neck. It thunked like an ax biting into a tree +trunk, biting halfway through the flesh. Brute recoiled at the impact, +tearing the handle from Goat's feeble hands and leaving the knife blade +stuck in his throat.</p> + +<p>Brute staggered momentarily. Then he reached up and jerked the knife +away. Blood spurted through his severed throat. Brute clapped a hand to +the wound, tightly.</p> + +<p>For a moment, blood oozed through his fingers. Then, pale but steady, +Brute dropped his hand.</p> + +<p>The wound had closed! Its edges already were sealed, leaving a raw, red +scar that no longer bled.</p> + +<p>"Brute not lie," said Brute, the words forced out with some difficulty. +"It not kill Brute."</p> + +<p>Stunned by astonishment and disbelief, Goat stared at him, his mouth +moving soundlessly.</p> + +<p>"Go away," he whispered hoarsely at last. "Go out of here, monster!"</p> + +<p>Obediently, Brute shambled out of the study. As he passed through the +door, Goat regained his voice and called after him:</p> + +<p>"Tell the children to come and take away Adam's body."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Kilometers away, Maya Cara Nome and S. Nuwell Eli rode a groundcar that +moved swiftly across the interminable waves of the red sand. It swayed +through hollows and jounced over multiple ridges, Nuwell steering it +with some difficulty. In the steely sky, the small sun moved downward, +its brightness unimpaired by the occasional thin clouds which moved +before it.</p> + +<p>The sun touched the western horizon, seemed to hesitate, dropped with +breathtaking suddenness, and the stars immediately began to appear in +the deepening twilight sky.</p> + +<p>They stopped and had a compact meal, heated in the groundcar's +short-wave cooker. Then Nuwell switched on the headlights and they went +on again.</p> + +<p>Soon afterward, a faint spot of light appeared in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> desert far ahead +of them. As they approached it, it became a yellow-lighted window in a +huge black mass rearing up against the night sky. They had reached Ultra +Vires.</p> + +<p>Nuwell announced their arrival over the groundcar radio and swung the +groundcar up beside the building's main entrance. He sealed the +groundcar's door to the building air-lock so they would not have to don +marsuits.</p> + +<p>After a few moments, the airlock opened. They passed through it and were +greeted by a skinny, shriveled little man with watery blue eyes and a +goatee.</p> + +<p>"I was expecting you, but not tonight," said this person, rather sourly. +"Well, come on in and I'll have the children fix you something to eat if +you haven't eaten."</p> + +<p>"I'm S. Nuwell Eli," said Nuwell, holding out a hand which the other +ignored. "This is the terrestrial agent, Miss Maya Cara Nome. You are +Dr. Hennessey, I assume."</p> + +<p>"That's right," said Goat. "Do you want supper?"</p> + +<p>"No, thank you, we ate on the way," said Nuwell. "I'd like to get +started with the inspection as soon as possible."</p> + +<p>"Inspection or investigation?" suggested Goat, sniffling. "Well, no +matter. I have nothing to hide."</p> + +<p>He led them down a dim, dusty corridor, stretching deep into the dark +bowels of the building, and turned aside into a paper-stacked room which +evidently was his study. He went straight to a big desk, sat down, +swivelled his chair around and waved them to seats. Nuwell shuffled a +little uncomfortably, then sank into a chair, but Maya remained standing +by the door, her small traveling bag in her hand, indignation rising in +her.</p> + +<p>"Before you settle down to charts and questions, Dr. Hennessey, do you +mind showing us to our rooms so we may wash away some of the travel +dust?" she asked icily, black eyes snapping.</p> + +<p>At this, Goat jumped to his feet, sincere contrition in his face wiping +out all traces of his irritated gruffness.</p> + +<p>"I'm very sorry!" he exclaimed. "I hope you will forgive my manners, but +I've lived and worked here alone in the desert so long that I had +forgotten the niceties of civilization."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></p> + +<p>This apology cleared the air. Goat showed them their overnight quarters, +adjoining rooms which were not luxurious but were reasonably +comfortable, and after a time the three of them congregated once more in +Goat's study, all of them in better humor.</p> + +<p>"Let us have some wine first," suggested Goat. "This is very good red +wine, imported from Earth."</p> + +<p>He went to the door and shouted into the corridor.</p> + +<p>"Petway!"</p> + +<p>Goat returned to his chair. A few moments later, a twittering noise +sounded in the corridor, then a horrible little apparition appeared in +the door. It was a child-sized creature, naked, grotesquely +barrel-chested and teetering on thin, twisted legs. Its hairless head +was skull-like, with gaping mouth and huge, round eyes.</p> + +<p>Maya gasped, profoundly shocked. The little creature looked more like a +miniature Martian native than a human, but the Martians themselves were +not so distorted. She saw her own shock reflected in Nuwell's face.</p> + +<p>"Petway, get us three glasses of wine," commanded Goat calmly.</p> + +<p>Petway vanished and Goat turned briskly back to his guests.</p> + +<p>"Now," he said, "I shall outline the progress of my experiments to you +and answer any questions you may have."</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_3" id="CHAPTER_3"></a>3</h2> + +<p>Maya's education was extensive, but it did not include the genetic +sciences. She was able to follow Goat's explanations and his references +to the charts he hung, one after another, on the wall of his study, but +she was able to follow them only in a general sense. The technical +details escaped her.</p> + +<p>Nuwell seemed to have a better grasp of the subject. He nodded his dark, +curly head frequently, and occasionally asked a question or two.</p> + +<p>"Surgery is performed with a concentrated electron stream on the cells +of the early embryo," said Goat. "I call it surgery,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> but actually it is +an alteration of the structure of certain specific genes which govern +the characteristics I am attempting to change. Such changes would, of +course, then be transmitted on down to any progeny.</p> + +<p>"The earlier the embryo is caught, the easier and surer the surgery, +because when it has divided into too many cells the very task of dealing +with each one separately makes the time requirement prohibitive, besides +multiplying the chance for error. The Martians have a method of altering +the physical structure and genetic composition of a full-grown adult, +but this is far beyond the stage I've reached."</p> + +<p>"The Martians?" repeated Nuwell in astonishment. "You mean the Martian +natives? They're nothing but degenerated animals!"</p> + +<p>"You're wrong," replied Goat. "I know that's the general opinion, but I +had considerable contact with them a good many years ago. Perhaps most +of them are little more than strange animals. No one really knows. They +live simple, animal-like lives, holed up in desert caves, and they're +rarely communicative in any way. But I know from my own experience that +some of them, at least, are still familiar with that ancient science +that they must have possessed when Earth was in an earlier stage of life +than the human."</p> + +<p>"This ... child ... that brought us the wine is one of the products of +your experiments?" asked Nuwell.</p> + +<p>"Yes. Petway's pretty representative of the children, I'm afraid. I've +been trying to determine what went wrong. It could be an inaccuracy in +dealing with the genetic structure itself, or a failure to follow +exactly the same pattern of change in moving from one cell to another in +the embryo. If I could only catch one at the single cell stage!</p> + +<p>"None of the children has turned out as well as my first two +experiments, Brute and Adam. Both of them were born about twenty-five +years ago—terrestrial years, that is—and developed into normal, even +superior physical specimens. Unfortunately, their mental development was +retarded. Adam was the brighter of the two, and Brute killed him +tonight, shortly before your arrival."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span></p> + +<p>Maya shivered.</p> + +<p>"Somehow, it seems horrible to me, experimenting with human lives this +way," she said.</p> + +<p>"It's being done for a good cause, Maya," said Nuwell. "Dr. Hennessey's +objective is to help man live better on Mars. After all, there is +nothing nobler than the individual's sacrifice of himself for his +fellows, whether it's voluntary or involuntary."</p> + +<p>"But what about the mothers of these children?" asked Maya.</p> + +<p>"The big problem is to reach them as soon as possible after conception," +said Goat, misinterpreting her question. "We do this by magnetic +detectors, which report instantly the conjunction of the positive and +negative. The surgery is performed, as quickly as possible, utilizing +the suspended animation technique which is being developed toward +interstellar travel."</p> + +<p>"I wasn't asking about the technical aspects," said Maya. "What I want +to know is, what sort of mothers will permit you to experiment this way +on their unborn children, especially seeing the results you've already +obtained?"</p> + +<p>Goat started to answer, but Nuwell forestalled him.</p> + +<p>"There are some things that are none of your business, darling," he +said. "The terrestrial government sent you here on a specific +assignment, and I don't think you should inquire into matters which are +classified as secret by the local government, which don't have anything +to do with that assignment. Now, Dr. Hennessey, just what sort of +survival qualities have you been able to develop in these experiments?"</p> + +<p>"There's no witchcraft involved," retorted Goat, with a sardonic +grimace.</p> + +<p>"I haven't accused you," said Nuwell quickly.</p> + +<p>"No, but I keep up with events, even out here, well enough to know that +you're the Mars City government's chief nemesis where there's any +suspicion of extrasensory perception. I doubt that you chose to make +this trip yourself without reason, Mr. Eli."</p> + +<p>"It's merely a routine inspection," murmured Nuwell.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span></p> + +<p>Goat indicated one of his charts, showing a diagram of genes and +chromosomes in different colors.</p> + +<p>"This is my original chart," he said. "I copied it from one belonging to +the Martians many years ago, and my genetic alteration of Brute and Adam +were based on it. But I must have miscopied it, or else the Martians +didn't have the objective I thought they did in it, because I could find +no alteration of genes affecting lung capacity or oxygen utilization. My +own subsequent charts, on which later experiments were based, are +alterations of this."</p> + +<p>"But just what is your objective, and how well have you succeeded?" +persisted Nuwell.</p> + +<p>"Ability to survive under Martian conditions."</p> + +<p>"I know. This is stated in all previous inspection reports. I want +something more specific."</p> + +<p>"Why, ability to survive in an almost oxygen-free atmosphere, of course. +As well as can be determined, the Martians do this by deriving oxygen +from surface solids and storing it in their humps under compression, +very much like an oxygen tank.</p> + +<p>"I've succeeded to some degree with my children. All of them can go an +hour or two without breathing. What I don't understand is that no +capacities like that were included in the genetic changes on Adam and +Brute, and yet they've gradually developed an ability to do much better. +Both of them were out on the desert the entire day today without +oxygen."</p> + +<p>Nuwell was silent for a moment, tapping the tips of his fingers +together, apparently in deep thought. Then he said:</p> + +<p>"Maya, I think we've reached the point where you had better retire to +your room and let us to talk privately. You can question Dr. Hennessey +in the morning about any attempts the rebels may have made to contact +him."</p> + +<p>Maya obeyed silently, rather glad to get away and think things over +alone. When she had come to Mars as an agent of the Earth government, it +had not occurred to her that there would be areas of information from +which the local government would bar her. She recognized that such a +pro<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>hibition was perfectly valid, but she was a little offended, +nevertheless.</p> + +<p>Her room was a spacious one on the ground level, and boasted one of +Ultra Vires' few large windows. Maya unpacked her bag, and gratefully +stripped off her boots and socks, her tunic and baggy trousers. In +underpants, she went into the small bathroom, washed cosmetics from her +face and brushed down her thick, short hair.</p> + +<p>Donning her light sleeping garment, she sat down on the edge of her bed. +She was very tired from the long drive and, almost without thinking, she +did not get up to turn out the light. She thought at it.</p> + +<p>The switch clicked and the light went out.</p> + +<p>She felt foolish and a little frightened. She had never told Nuwell of +this sort of thing. Can a woman ask her witch-hunting lover: "Do you +think I'm a witch?"</p> + +<p>With almost total recall, as though she heard it spoken, she remembered +the summation speech Nuwell had made the first time she had seen him in +action. He was prosecuting a man charged with conducting experiments +similar to the historic and outlawed Rhine experiments of Earth.</p> + +<p>"<i>Gentlemen, we sit here in a public building and conduct certain +necessary human affairs in a dignified and orderly manner. We follow a +way of life we brought with us from distant Earth. Apparently, we are as +safe here as we would be on Earth.</i></p> + +<p><i>"I say 'apparently.' Sometimes we forget the thin barriers here that +protect us against disaster, against extermination. A rent in this +city's dome, a failure in our oxygen machinery, a clogging of our +pumping system by the ever-present sand, and most of us would die before +help could reach us from our nearest neighbors.</i></p> + +<p><i>"We live here under certain restrictions that many of us do not like. +Certainly, no one likes to be unable to step out under the open sky +without wearing a bulky marsuit and an oxygen tank. Certainly, no one +likes to be rationed on water and meat throughout the foreseeable +future.</i></p> + +<p><i>"But what we have to remember is that absolute discipline<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> has always +been a requirement for those courageous souls in the vanguard of human +progress.</i></p> + +<p><i>"Witchcraft—the practice of extrasensory perception, if you prefer the +term—is forbidden on Mars because to practice it one must differ from +his fellow men when the inexorable dangers of our frontier demand that +we work together. To practice it, one must devote time and mental effort +to untried things when our thin margin of safety makes concentrated and +combined effort necessary for survival. That is why witchcraft is +forbidden on Mars.</i></p> + +<p><i>"Let those who yet cling to the wistful liberalism of Earth label us +conformists if they will. I say to you that until Mars is won for +humanity, we cannot afford the luxury of nonconformity.</i></p> + +<p><i>"Gentlemen, I give you the prosecution's case."</i></p> + +<p>Maya stared out the window. This whole side of Ultra Vires was dark, +except for a rectangle of light cast from a window a little distance +away—the window of Goat Hennessey's study. In this rectangle, the red +sand of the desert lay clear and stark.</p> + +<p>Near the end of the rectangle lay an indistinct, crumpled, oblong +figure. Puzzled, Maya studied it. It looked like a body to her.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>In the study, Nuwell gazed at the skinny doctor with angry brown eyes.</p> + +<p>"The bulletins sent to you, as well as other researchers, gave specific +instructions that research was to be directed toward human utilization +of certain foods now being developed," accused Nuwell.</p> + +<p>"I thought this was more important," replied Goat.</p> + +<p>"You thought! You're not on Earth, where scientists can get government +grants and go jaunting off on wild research projects of their own."</p> + +<p>"I still think this is more important," said Goat stubbornly. "I know +that all of us are expected to co-operate and stick to tried and +accepted lines so we won't be wasting time and material. Perhaps I was +wrong in not doing that initially.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> But now I've proved that this line +of research can be followed profitably, so its continuance now can't be +looked on as a waste of time."</p> + +<p>"Scientists should leave political direction to more experienced men," +said Nuwell in an exasperated tone. "This is not merely a matter of time +waste, or nonconformity. The Mars Corporation operates our sole supply +line to Earth, Dr. Hennessey, and that supply line brings to man on Mars +all the many things he needs to live here. The Earth-Mars run is an +expensive operation, and it's important that it remain economically +feasible for Marscorp to operate it.</p> + +<p>"No matter how altruistic you may be about it, you get man to the point +that he doesn't depend on atmospheric oxygen here, and domes, +pressurized houses and groundcars, oxygen equipment—a great many things +are going to be unnecessary. But there'll still be a lot of other things +we'll have to have from Earth. Don't you realize what a disaster it +would be if Marscorp decided to drop the only spaceship line to Earth +because its cargo fell off to the point that it was economically +unsound?"</p> + +<p>Goat looked at him with shrewd blue eyes.</p> + +<p>"I think I can jump to a conclusion," he remarked mildly. "Marscorp has +some sort of control over the 'foods' you're trying to make practical +for human consumption in the approved experiments, doesn't it?"</p> + +<p>"Well, yes. Marscorp wants to make man gradually self-sufficient on +Mars, and I think it's legitimate that Marscorp derive some economic +benefits from its efforts in that direction."</p> + +<p>"I've wondered for some time just how close Marscorp and the government +were tied together," said Goat dryly. "Obviously, if I don't do as you +say, my supplies here will be cut off. So I have no choice but to +discontinue this work and turn my attention to the approved line."</p> + +<p>"That isn't quite adequate now," said Nuwell. "You're going to have to +leave here and come to Mars City where you can do your research under +supervision. Your experimental humans here will be destroyed, of +course."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Destroyed?" There was an agonized note to Goat's voice. "All of them? +How about the two mothers I have who haven't given birth yet?"</p> + +<p>"You'd destroy them anyhow, as you have the others, not long after the +births. And that brings up another thing. When you get to Mars City, +watch your tongue. You almost revealed to Miss Cara Nome that the +government has been kidnapping an expectant mother now and then for your +experiments."</p> + +<p>"Years of work, gone to waste," mourned Goat somberly. "When must I do +this?"</p> + +<p>"As soon as possible. You'll be expected in Mars City within two weeks. +Now, I'd like to see these experimental humans."</p> + +<p>A few moments later, they made their way together through a large +dormitory in which all of Goat's charges were sleeping. Nuwell shuddered +at the sight of the small, deformed bodies.</p> + +<p>"I don't worry that you could ever take any of these to Mars City +undetected. But," he said, pointing to Brute, "that one looks too near +normal. I want to see him destroyed before I leave."</p> + +<p>"Brute? But he's the most successful one I have left!"</p> + +<p>"Exactly. That's why I want to see him destroyed, tonight."</p> + +<p>Goat awoke Brute, and the monster man sleepily followed them back to the +study.</p> + +<p>Goat picked up the huge knife, still stained with Adam's blood, and +looked Brute squarely in the face. Brute returned the gaze, no +comprehension in his dull blue eyes.</p> + +<p>"You think I can't kill you, Brute?" said Goat coldly. "I'll show you!"</p> + +<p>With a surgeon's precision, Goat plunged the sharp point between Brute's +ribs and into the heart.</p> + +<p><i>Shock swept over Brute's mind.</i></p> + +<p><i>Father kills me!</i></p> + +<p><i>Reject! Reject!</i></p> + +<p><i>Father, all kindness, all hope, all wisdom and love, wants me no more. +Father rejects me! Father kills me!</i></p> + +<p><i>Despair!</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span></p> + +<p><i>Reject! Reject!</i></p> + +<p><i>Blackness swept fading through Brute's despairing brain.</i></p> + +<p>One agonized note of pleading in the pale-blue eyes, and they closed in +acceptance. Brute swayed and fell forward, crashing to the floor, +driving the knife into his chest to the hilt.</p> + +<p>Brute shuddered and rolled over on his back. He lay sprawled, arms flung +out limply, the knife hilt protruding upward. He sighed, and his +breathing stopped.</p> + +<p>Goat stared down at him. He picked up Brute's wrist and held it. There +was no pulse.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Shortly after dawn, Maya awoke. Remembering what she had seen dimly the +night before, she went curiously to the window.</p> + +<p>There were two of them now. They were bodies, human bodies, naked and +unquestionably dead. In the night, the dry, vampirish Martian air had +dessicated them. They were skeletons, parchment skin stretched tightly +over the lifeless bones.</p> + +<p>Even as she stood and looked, a group of figures appeared on the horizon +and came slowly nearer. They were Martians—monstrous creatures, +huge-chested, humpbacked, with tremendously long, thin legs and arms, +their big-eyed, big-eared heads mere excrescences in front of their +humps.</p> + +<p>Trailing slowly through the desert toward Aurorae Sinus, they passed +near the skeleton bodies. One of the Martians saw them. He boomed +excitedly at the others, loudly enough for Maya to hear through the +double window.</p> + +<p>The Martians stopped and gathered around the bodies.</p> + +<p>What, she wondered, could interest them in two corpses? There was no +guessing. Martian motives and thought processes were alien and +incomprehensible, even to one who had lived among them and communicated +with them as a child.</p> + +<p>One of the Martians picked up one of the corpses, and the whole group +moved away toward the lowland, the Martian carrying the body easily with +one long-fingered hand. Wisps<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> of sandy dust trailed them as they +dwindled and slowly vanished.</p> + +<p>The second body lay where they had left it. A gaping wound in its throat +seemed to mock her.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_4" id="CHAPTER_4"></a>4</h2> + + +<p>Fancher Laddigan made his way down a long dim corridor in the rear +portion of the Childress Barber College, in Mars City's eastern quarter. +He stopped and hesitated, with some trepidation, before an unmarked door +near the end of the corridor.</p> + +<p>Completely bald, bespectacled and well up in years, Fancher looked like +a clerk and he had the instincts of a clerk. Yet he utilized that +appearance and those instincts in a perilous cause.</p> + +<p>Fancher knocked timidly on the door. On receiving an indistinct +invitation from inside, he pushed it open and entered.</p> + +<p>Fancher had a tendency to shiver every time he had occasion to see the +Chief, whose real name was unknown to Fancher and to most others here at +the barber college.</p> + +<p>Small as a child in body, wagging a thin-haired head larger than +lifesize, the Chief surveyed Fancher with icy green eyes. The eyes were +large and round as a child's, but there was nothing childlike about +their expression. As though to deny his physical smallness, he smoked +one of the fragrant, foot-long cigars produced only in the Hadriacum +Lowlands.</p> + +<p>"Sit down," commanded the Chief in a high, piping voice.</p> + +<p>Fancher swallowed and sat, facing his superior across the big desk. The +Chief opened a drawer, took out another of the long cigars, and handed +it to Fancher. Fancher did not like cigars, but he had never dared say +so to the Chief. He lit it gingerly, coughed at his first inhalation, +and smoked at it dutifully and unhappily.</p> + +<p>"You recognized this man certainly as Dark Kensington?" asked the Chief.</p> + +<p>"Well ..." Fancher began, and started coughing again.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> The Chief fixed +him with an unwinking green stare. When the coughing spell ended, +Fancher sat silent, his eyes stinging with tears, fumbling at what he +wanted to say.</p> + +<p>"You knew Dark Kensington before his disappearance twenty-five years +ago," said the Chief, with a trace of impatience in his tone. "I am told +that you saw this man and talked to him. You are qualified to recognize +Dark Kensington. Is this man Dark Kensington, or not?"</p> + +<p>"Well," said Fancher again, "the man was walking alone across the +desert, and when someone picked him up he asked how he could find the +Childress Barber College, and of course our men heard of it and went out +to—"</p> + +<p>"I have received a full report on the man's appearance and our initial +contact with him. I asked you a question."</p> + +<p>"Well, Chief, it's a peculiar thing. If this man, as he is now, had +reappeared twenty-five years ago, I'd <i>know</i> it was Dark Kensington. But +he looks exactly as Dark did when he disappeared, not one day older. And +he doesn't remember a thing beyond his disappearance except events of +the past two weeks, he says.</p> + +<p>"Yet his memories of Dark's activities before his disappearance are +unquestionably accurate and clear. It's as though Dark had been put on +ice at the time of his disappearance and just now thawed out, without +any aging or memory during the interim."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps he was," said the Chief dryly. "But is it possible that this +man, looking so much like Dark Kensington, could have studied +Kensington's personality and activities carefully and be posing as +Kensington?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir," said Fancher promptly. "Dark and I were very close friends at +one time. He remembers that, although he had difficulty recognizing me +since I'm so much older. We went through some experiences together that +I never told to anyone, and I'm sure he didn't. He remembers them in +every detail. Like the way we trapped a sage-rabbit once when we'd run +out of supplies out in Hadriacum."</p> + +<p>Fancher chuckled.</p> + +<p>"Then we couldn't eat the thing," he reminisced.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Very well, if you're sure of his identity, that's all I wish to know," +said the Chief. "I don't want to be trapped by a Marscorp trick with +plastic surgery. But if this man is Dark Kensington, it's the best +fortune the Phoenix has met with in a long time."</p> + +<p>He fell silent, and busied himself with papers on his desk, paying no +more attention to Fancher. Fancher waited, then concluded reasonably +that the interview was at an end. And, since the long cigar agonized +him, he rose and moved quietly toward the door.</p> + +<p>"I have not given you permission to leave," said the Chief, without +raising either his eyes or his voice. "Kensington is due to arrive in a +few moments, and I want you here when I talk to him. If any of his words +or actions appear inconsistent in any way to you, I want you to let me +know."</p> + +<p>Fancher sighed silently, returned to his chair and puffed disconsolately +on the cigar.</p> + +<p>Some five minutes passed. Then there was a firm rap on the door.</p> + +<p>"Come in!" called the Chief in his reedy voice.</p> + +<p>The door opened, and in walked a man whose entire presence radiated +strength, confidence and the potentiality of instant violence. Dark +Kensington was tall and broad-shouldered, clad in dark-blue tunic and +baggy trousers. His face was darkly tanned, strong, handsome. His hair +was black as midnight. His eyes were startlingly pale in the dark face; +eyes of pale blue, remote and filled with light.</p> + +<p>"I'm Dark Kensington," he said, striding up to the Chief's desk. "You're +the man known as the Chief?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," answered the Chief, and waited.</p> + +<p>Dark nodded to Fancher. Fancher, feeling rather green about the gills, +returned the greeting.</p> + +<p>Dark turned his attention back to the Chief, and he, also, waited. There +was a long silence. The Chief broke it first.</p> + +<p>"What do you know about Dr. G. O. T. Hennessey—Goat Hennessey?" asked +the Chief calmly.</p> + +<p>Fancher blinked at this unexpected line of questioning. A cloud passed +over Dark's face, as though the name had trig<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>gered something in him +that he could not quite remember.</p> + +<p>"He was a very good friend of mine," answered Dark, "although it seems +that something happened between us that I can't quite recollect. He was +one of the most brilliant geneticists of Earth, and came to Mars with an +experimental group that was to try to develop a human type that could +live more comfortably under Martian conditions. The project was backed +by the government."</p> + +<p>He stopped. It was the Chief who added:</p> + +<p>"Then Marscorp stepped in."</p> + +<p>The expression on Dark's face was blank.</p> + +<p>"You don't know what Marscorp is, do you?" asked the Chief curiously.</p> + +<p>"The name's familiar," replied Dark. "It's a spaceline, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>"If your amnesia is genuine, you might very well react in such a +fashion," said the Chief reflectively. "Marscorp is the Mars +Corporation, and it's the only spaceline that serves Mars now. It's a +giant combine on Earth which has a virtual monopoly on the spacelines +and exports and imports between Earth and all the colonized planets.</p> + +<p>"Marscorp is against any development of human beings who can live under +natural extraterrestrial conditions, because that would end the +colonies' dependence on Marscorp for supplies. As it is, the colonies +literally can't live without Marscorp. Marscorp controls enough senators +and delegates in the World Congress to block other important projects if +the Earth government refuses to co-operate with it, so the +government—that is to say, Marscorp—put a ban on the experiments by +Hennessey and other scientists here."</p> + +<p>"I remember the government ban on the projects, but I wasn't aware that +Marscorp had anything to do with it," said Dark. "Goat Hennessey was one +of a group of us who retired to the desert to continue work despite the +government ban."</p> + +<p>"Goat sold out," said the Chief. "Perhaps your memory doesn't include +that important point, but Fancher remembers it well. It was a little +before my time. Goat sold out, and be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>trayed the others to the +government in return for assistance in carrying out more limited +experiments. Some of the group escaped and formed the nucleus of the +rebel movement which now is centered here at the Childress Barber +College. We call ourselves the Order of the Phoenix."</p> + +<p>The Chief allowed himself the luxury of a very faint smile.</p> + +<p>"Marscorp and the government call us the Desert Rats," he said. "Very +appropriate. They consider us in the same category as rats."</p> + +<p>Dark had been standing, casually at ease, before the Chief's desk, with +the air of a man who does not tire from standing. Now he did something +Fancher would not have dared: without the Chief's invitation, Dark sat +down in a comfortable chair, leaned back and stretched out his legs in +relaxation.</p> + +<p>"It's a little hard for me to realize there's a twenty-five-year gap in +my memory," he said. "It seems to me that it has been less than a month +ago that Goat and I were together, with other refugees from the +government edict, in the Icaria Desert. Why did you ask me about Goat?"</p> + +<p>"Because the government brought him back to Mars City not three months +ago," answered the Chief. "None of us had any idea where he was, but it +turns out that the government has had him working under surveillance +some place in the Xanthe Desert north of Solis Lacus. Since it was not +far from Solis Lacus that you were picked up, I wondered if you had had +any contact with him."</p> + +<p>"Not that I remember," said Dark. "Do you have another of those cigars?"</p> + +<p>"Why, yes," answered the Chief, startled. He produced another Hadriacum +cigar and handed it to Dark. Dark lit it and puffed the fragrant smoke +with evident enjoyment.</p> + +<p>"As I say, the last time I remember seeing Goat was in the Icaria +Desert, in a dome we had set up there," said Dark. "The next thing I +remember is waking up in the midst of some sort of cave in a different +part of Icaria, surrounded by Martians.</p> + +<p>"I could communicate with them in a fashion—something I was never able +to do before—and they were able to write<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> the name of the Childress +Barber College so I could read it. But they evidently don't +differentiate our dome cities by name. I had no idea the college was +here in Mars City until your men contacted me; I just assumed it was at +Solis Lacus."</p> + +<p>"You'd have waged a merry search for it, clear on the other side of +Mars," remarked the Chief. "What was your purpose in finding it?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know that I had any specific purpose," replied Dark easily. "I +gathered from the Martians that here I could find someone who concurred +with my philosophy of resisting the government edict against seeking +self-sufficiency on Mars, and this was more or less confirmed by your +two men who contacted me at Solis Lacus."</p> + +<p>"I'll see to it that in the future they're not quite so frank until +they're sure of their man," said the Chief darkly. He looked quizzically +at Fancher, and Fancher nodded slightly. "But it's true. As a matter of +fact, the Phoenix follows the path toward self-sufficiency that you +recommended, rather than the one sought by Goat Hennessey."</p> + +<p>"That's the wrong way to approach it," said Dark promptly. "Goat and the +other scientists were following a line offering valid possibilities in +their genetic research. The only reason the rest of us chose to attempt +the extrasensory powers—particularly teleportation—was that we were +not qualified in genetic research and this seemed a field in which we +stood a chance to contribute along alternate lines. The effort should be +followed along both lines."</p> + +<p>"The government managed to capture all the scientists at the time of +your disappearance, and it was assumed that you had been captured, too," +said the Chief. "We don't have any scientists in the Phoenix who are +capable of doing Goat Hennessey's type of research."</p> + +<p>"You say he's in Mars City? I wonder if it would do any good for me to +contact him."</p> + +<p>"I told you that he was the one who betrayed the whole thing to the +government, and he's been working under government supervision these +last twenty-five years. I wouldn't trust him."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Chief surveyed Dark's strong face with speculative green eyes, then +added:</p> + +<p>"As a matter of fact, we've made a certain amount of progress following +your line of research. Since there are probably a good many things you +discovered in this work that we haven't stumbled on yet, we could use +your help in developing it, if you're interested."</p> + +<p>"Very definitely," answered Dark. "I'm interested in seeing what you've +done, and I'll be glad to help in any way I can."</p> + +<p>"There's one thing," said the Chief, measuring his words. "I've held +this organization together despite some pretty severe reverses for more +than fifteen years now. The reason I've been able to do it is that I +expect and must insist on absolute obedience to my orders."</p> + +<p>Dark smiled. "I said that I would be willing to help you," he replied +gently. "I follow no man's orders."</p> + +<p>The green eyes fixed themselves unwinkingly on the pale-blue ones for a +long moment. The blue ones did not waver.</p> + +<p>At last, to Fancher's utter amazement, the Chief nodded agreement.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_5" id="CHAPTER_5"></a>5</h2> + + +<p>Maya Cara Nome looked from her furnished room through cracked shutters +at the building across the street.</p> + +<p>A barber college. The building at 49 Sage Avenue, Mars City, was a +barber college.</p> + +<p>That surprised her. She didn't know exactly what she had expected: a +hospital, perhaps, or even a kindergarten. But a barber college!</p> + +<p>But the source of the information she had received that 49 Sage Avenue +was the address she sought was unimpeachable. She had ferreted it out, +after a long time and through devious ways, and she was sure she could +trust it.</p> + +<p>"The Childress Barber College" read the neatly lettered sign above the +door. Maya's landlady, moon-faced Mrs. Chan, had pointed out Oxvane +Childress to her as he left the build<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>ing one day: a big man, +comfortably stomached, with a heavy brown beard which, even at that +distance, she could see was shot with gray.</p> + +<p>As innocent as you please. Childress came out and went in, the students +went in and came out. Still, it was the address she had been given.</p> + +<p>Maya had to gain entrance to the building. She could learn nothing +watching it from outside. She was established here as a tourist from +Earth; besides, the position and activities of women were prescribed +rigidly by Martian colonial convention, and women did not study to +become barbers on Mars.</p> + +<p>She would have to have help. She, thought at once of Nuwell, and as +immediately rejected him.</p> + +<p>"Maya, I don't see why you insist on working alone," he had complained. +"I can set the whole machinery of government in motion to help you, +whenever you need it."</p> + +<p>"Primarily because you're well known and your activities are observed," +she had answered. "Your whole government machinery hasn't been effective +in tracking down the rebel headquarters yet, and it's reasonable to +assume that the rebels have a fairly effective intelligence network. My +job is to find that headquarters, and if I were seen very often with you +or tried to utilize your government machinery, they'd have me pinpointed +pretty soon."</p> + +<p>She left the window, filled a tiny basin with precious water, shrugged +out of her negligee and sponged her small, perfect body. She donned +form-fitting tunic, briefs and short skirt, pulled on knee-length socks +and laced up Martian walking shoes. She spent some time preparing her +hair and face.</p> + +<p>Then she left the room and the house and walked uptown. The walk was +about a kilometer, along sidewalks bordered by cubical, functional +houses and trim lawns of terrestrial grass and small trees. Above the +city, its dome was opalescent in the morning sun.</p> + +<p>The small houses gave way to larger business buildings, also cubical, +and the lawns dwindled and vanished. Farther down, the buildings were +even larger and the streets were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> wider and busier; but she was not +going into the heart of Mars City.</p> + +<p>She turned into an office building, and studied the directory in the +lobby. The offices were those of doctors and lawyers. On the directory +she found "Charlworth Scion, Attorney-at-Law, Room 207."</p> + +<p>There was no elevator. Maya walked up the stairs and down a corridor, +finding a door that had nothing on it but the number. She turned the +knob and went in.</p> + +<p>The small outer office was uninhabited. It was carpeted and desked, with +two straight chairs against a wall, for clients. Through a door, she +could see part of the inner office, cluttered and stacked with papers +and books.</p> + +<p>She stood there, hesitating. The outer door clicked shut behind her. At +the sound, a gray-haired, preoccupied man with spectacles and stooped +shoulders peered from the inner office.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" he said. "I'm sorry, my secretary went to lunch a bit early today. +Can I help you, Miss?"</p> + +<p>"I'm looking for Mr. Scion," she said.</p> + +<p>"I'm Charlworth Scion."</p> + +<p>"Terra outshines the Sun," said Maya.</p> + +<p>Scion's eyes were suddenly wary behind the spectacles.</p> + +<p>"Well, well," he murmured. "Come in, please."</p> + +<p>She went into the cluttered inner office, and Scion closed and locked +the door.</p> + +<p>"And you are ...?" said Scion behind his desk, his pale hands fumbling +aimlessly with papers.</p> + +<p>"Maya Cara Nome," she said.</p> + +<p>Scion found a paper and scanned it. He apparently found her name there.</p> + +<p>"I'm surprised to see you here," he admitted. "Our information was that +you would be working entirely alone."</p> + +<p>"I am," said Maya. "Or I was. I was told not to contact you unless I had +to, Mr. Scion, but it seems I'm going to need some help."</p> + +<p>Scion inclined his head, but said nothing.</p> + +<p>"As you may or may not know, my specific assignment is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> to locate the +nerve center of rebellious activity," said Maya. "It seems that the +rebels have an intelligence network about as effective as the +government's, and it was felt that a woman tourist from Earth might be +successful where any unusual probing by local agents might arouse +suspicion."</p> + +<p>"That's true," conceded Scion. "I doubt that they're really sure of the +identity of more than a few of our agents, but sometimes I think they +have a card file on every person on Mars. We have to be very careful +that movements of our agents are consistent with their pretended +occupations."</p> + +<p>"I have a reliable tip that their nerve center is the Childress Barber +College here," she said. "I can't find out anything, though, unless I +get into the building over a period of time. As a woman, I can't very +well apply to study barbering."</p> + +<p>"No," said Scion. "I see your problem."</p> + +<p>He turned to a filing cabinet, unlocked it and searched through it, +whistling tunelessly. He found a folder, pulled it out and studied it.</p> + +<p>"If it is, they've certainly kept it well covered," he said. "There's +not a mark of suspicion entered against the Childress Barber College. +But here's a possibility for getting you in. The barber college employs +one secretary, female. Now, if you could take her place...."</p> + +<p>Maya smiled.</p> + +<p>"I might as well apply as a barber student," she said. "You propose to +remove a trusted member of their own group from their midst and replace +her with a complete unknown?"</p> + +<p>"We don't know that she's a rebel," answered Scion. "If she isn't, she +can be lured away to another job at a much better salary. If she is, and +can't be lured ... well, there are other methods. The Mars City +Employment Agency is operated by one of our agents, and you'll be the +only secretary available when the barber college asks for a woman to +fill her place.</p> + +<p>"Believe me, Miss Cara Nome, as easy as it is for a woman to get married +on Mars, it is difficult to find women to do any<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> sort of business work. +It won't seem at all strange that you're the only one available."</p> + +<p>"The only trouble is that I'm known in the neighborhood as a tourist +from Earth," objected Maya.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Scion, "things have been more expensive than you planned +for on Mars. You've run short of money. You have to work for a while to +pay living expenses here until the next ship leaves for Earth."</p> + +<p>"My account at the bank?"</p> + +<p>"It will vanish quietly from the records," said Scion with a smile. "The +bank is a government institution."</p> + +<p>"Very well," said Maya, taking her purse from his desk. "Let me know +when I'm to apply."</p> + +<p>"You won't hear from me again," said Scion, shaking his head. "The +employment agency will notify you to appear at the barber college for an +interview."</p> + +<p>Maya knew of Scion only as her emergency contact on Mars. She did not +know what position he held in that underground network of terrestrial +agents which was largely unknown even to Nuwell Eli, the government +prosecutor. But, whatever his position, he got things done in a hurry.</p> + +<p>Within two weeks, Maya was typing up applications, examination reports +and supply orders in the Childress Barber College, joking and flirting +with barber students between classes, and naively declaiming to her +ostensible employer, phlegmatic Oxvane Childress, how lucky it was for +her that she was able to get a job right across the street from her +rooming house.</p> + +<p>"The work's easy," rumbled Childress, explaining her tasks to her. "Any +time you want to take a coffee break with any of the young men, or go +uptown shopping, go ahead, as long as the work gets done. Just one +thing: you have to stay up here in the front of the building, and don't +ever go back in the classrooms. The instructors are mighty strict about +that, and that's one rule I won't stand to be violated."</p> + +<p>This significant restriction convinced Maya she was on the right track. +But she needed to move cautiously, if she was not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> to arouse immediate +suspicion. So she adhered strictly to her role for nearly a month, +keeping her eyes open.</p> + +<p>If it was a rebel operation, it was almost perfectly disguised. +Childress performed the duties of the administrative head of a barber +college, and nothing more. The students, about fifty of them, went in +and out at regular school hours, and she became casually acquainted with +a good many of them. The half-dozen instructors, whom she also came to +know, were less regular in their movements, but she could detect nothing +suspicious about them.</p> + +<p>"We cut the hair of Mars," was the college's motto, and she learned that +it was the larger of only two barber colleges on the planet. Apparently, +it actually did supply graduate barbers to all the dome cities. It took +in customers for the students to practice on, and, although many of them +were strangers, some of them were prominent Mars City citizens whom she +knew by sight.</p> + +<p>There was no question about it: partially, at least, it was a legitimate +barber college, whatever other activities it might mask. The only thing +noticeably unusual on the surface was that it was extremely selective in +its approval of students who applied for courses in barbering. She +discerned that through her processing of the applications.</p> + +<p>If she was going to find out anything definite, she would have to get +into the forbidden rear portion of the building. But obviously there +were legitimate classrooms there, in addition to the activities she +suspected, and if she were caught nosing around the classrooms she would +be discharged at once for violation of the rules, without finding out +what she sought. She would have to hit it right the first time.</p> + +<p>Biding her time and watching, she was able to learn, almost intuitively, +from the movements of students, customers and instructors, that the +classrooms in which barbering was actually taught were all concentrated +on the western side of the building. If there were any more sinister +activities, they occurred on the opposite side. Having determined this, +she planned her course of action.</p> + +<p>Near the end of her first month at work, she chose her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> time one day +when Childress was downtown, leaving her alone in the business office. +The afternoon classes were in full swing.</p> + +<p>Taking along a filled-out order form as an excuse, Maya walked quickly +down the corridor that stretched across the front of the building. +Carefully and quietly, she pushed open the door at the extreme end of +the corridor—a little surprised, as a matter of fact, to find it +unlocked.</p> + +<p>She was in another corridor, that struck straight back to the rear of +the building.</p> + +<p>She hesitated. There were doors spaced all along both sides of this +corridor. Did she dare attempt to open one, on the chance that the room +behind it was unoccupied?</p> + +<p>Then she saw that one door, a little way down, stood half open. Quietly +she walked down the hall, not quite to the door, but near enough to it +to be able to see a large area of the room behind it.</p> + +<p>There were people in there. In the part she was able to see, there were +half a dozen students seated, and one of the instructors standing among +them. Fortunately, their backs were to her.</p> + +<p>Whatever they were studying, it was not barbering. There was an +occasional murmur of voices, but she could not make out the words.</p> + +<p>Then she saw! On the table at the front of the room, which the students +faced, there was a big barber's basin.</p> + +<p>As she watched, the basin slowly raised off the table and moved upward a +few inches. No one was near it, but it floated there, quivering and +tilting a little, in the air. And then, from it, slowly, the water +itself came up in a weird fountain, moved completely free of the basin +and hung above it in the air, gradually assuming the form of a globe.</p> + +<p>Telekinesis! This was a class in telekinesis! The students were +concentrating on the basin and water, and lifting them into the air by +the power of their minds.</p> + +<p>This was indeed the heart of the rebel movement. She had found what she +sought.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Aren't you where you shouldn't be, young lady?" asked a calm masculine +voice behind her.</p> + +<p>Shocked, terrified, she whirled. A tall, handsome, dark-haired man she +had never seen before was standing there, observing her quizzically. His +pale eyes seemed to look through her and beyond her.</p> + +<p>She forced herself to casual composure.</p> + +<p>"I don't believe I've met you," she said. "Are you one of the +instructors?"</p> + +<p>"I'm Dark Kensington, one of the supervisors," he replied. "And you're +Miss Cara Nome, the secretary, who shouldn't be back here."</p> + +<p>Had he noticed that she saw the telekinetic action? She glanced back at +the classroom. The basin was now comfortably ensconced back on the +table, full of water.</p> + +<p>"I had this order, which I thought was of an emergency nature," she +said, offering it to him. "Mr. Childress wasn't in, and I thought I'd +better find one of the instructors so it could be approved and go out +right away."</p> + +<p>Dark took it and glanced at it.</p> + +<p>"I doubt that its emergency nature is as grave as you may have thought," +he said soberly. "However, Mr. Childress would be better qualified to +judge that. You understand that I shall have to report this infraction +of the rules to him."</p> + +<p>Suddenly, Maya was overwhelmed by an utterly terrifying sensation. It +seemed that these pale-blue eyes were looking into her mind, searching, +seeking to determine her thoughts and her true intention.</p> + +<p>Instinctively, not knowing how she did it, she veiled her thoughts with +a psychic barrier. And, instinctively, she recognized that he detected +the barrier and could not penetrate it.</p> + +<p>Telepathy? Why not, if they were experimenting successfully with +telekinesis?</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry," she murmured hurriedly, and brushed past him. He did not +try to detain her.</p> + +<p>She hurried back to the office. She hurried, but as she hurried down +first the one corridor and then the other, she discovered that her steps +were slowing involuntarily. A<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> powerful force seemed to be detaining +her, attempting to draw her back.</p> + +<p>Frightened but curious, she attempted to analyze this force even as she +struggled against it. She could not be sure—it was disturbing, either +way, but she could not be sure whether it was a telepathic thing or +merely the magnetic force of this man's powerful masculine personality +that pulled at her.</p> + +<p>In a state of mental turmoil, she reached the office. Childress was not +yet back.</p> + +<p>Should she wait for him?</p> + +<p>Then, as suddenly as she had sensed Dark Kensington's telepathic +probing, she sensed something else. Somewhere in the back of the +building, he was talking to another man she had not seen before, and +within ten minutes Dark Kensington would be in this office. And the +prospect she faced was far more serious than mere discharge for +infringement of company rules.</p> + +<p>She had to get in touch with Nuwell at once. She recognized that if she +could get out of this building and across the street to her rooming +house, she would be safe for a little while. She could telephone Nuwell +from there.</p> + +<p>Grabbing her purse, she hastened out of the office.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_6" id="CHAPTER_6"></a>6</h2> + + +<p>The three men who stood by a table in the back lobby of the Childress +Barber College and checked off the departure of the men at regularly +spaced intervals were as different in appearance as they were in their +positions in the Order of the Phoenix.</p> + +<p>Oxvane Childress, big and bearded, was the "front," and directed the +very necessary task of administering the Childress Barber College as a +genuine barber college. Childress was a prominent member of two of Mars +City's civic and social clubs, and careful examination of his activities +over a period of years would have thrown no suspicion on him.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Chief, whose real name perhaps Childress knew but never spoke, was a +huge-headed midget who directed the far-flung activities of the Order of +the Phoenix as an underground rebel organization. He never left the +building, but reports were brought in to him from all over Mars. He knew +a great deal at any time about what the government and Marscorp were +doing, and he gave the orders for those moves aimed at maintaining the +secrecy of the Phoenix.</p> + +<p>Dark Kensington, tall and pale-eyed, had moved at once into the natural +position of guiding the experimental work of the organization in +extrasensory perception and telekinesis. He was able to add his +knowledge of earlier work to the progress that had been made since his +disappearance, and co-ordinated the studies in the various dome cities.</p> + +<p>A little behind the three stood Fancher Laddigan, doing the actual +checking with a pencil on a list in his hand.</p> + +<p>"I think it's all unnecessary," rumbled Childress unhappily. "I watched +the girl carefully while she was here, and the usual checks were made +into her background. It's true she had some social contacts with Nuwell +Eli when she first came to Mars, but there's nothing sinister about that +association and it seems the last thing a Marscorp agent would do +openly. As far as I could determine, she just realized she'd violated a +rule and would be discharged for it, so she left before she could be +discharged."</p> + +<p>"She hasn't returned to her rooming house," remarked the Chief in his +high, thin voice.</p> + +<p>"Looking for another job, or maybe just on a trip," said Childress. +"After all, she's a terrestrial tourist. If this is all a false alarm, +how am I going to explain suspending operation of the college for a +period?"</p> + +<p>"Remodeling," replied the Chief. "Work out the details and put a sign up +as soon as evacuation has progressed far enough."</p> + +<p>"It may be unnecessary, Oxvane," said Dark, "but it's best not to take +chances. This telepathy is a very uncertain thing, and sometimes it's +hard to differentiate true telepathic communication from one's own hopes +or fears. But it seemed to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> me that I had the very definite sense that +Miss Cara Nome was seeking something with hostile intent, and it's +entirely possible that she saw part of one of the experiments through +that open door."</p> + +<p>Two students appeared, gave their names to Fancher in an undertone, and +sauntered out the back door of the building.</p> + +<p>"What's the status now?" asked the Chief.</p> + +<p>"They were nineteen and twenty," answered Fancher precisely. "They're +part of Group C, which is going to Hesperidum. Group A goes to Regina, +Group B to Charax, Group D to Nuba and Group E to Ismenius."</p> + +<p>"None to Solis?" asked Childress in surprise.</p> + +<p>"No, sir, nor to Phoenicis, either," answered Fancher. "They're both so +far, and Solis is a resort, where they might be easier to detect. We're +using both public transport and private groundcars. All of them so far +have reported safely through the flower shop, except these last two, so +the government evidently hasn't thrown a ring around the building yet."</p> + +<p>"And I don't think they will, either," growled Childress. "I tell you, +it's all unnecessary."</p> + +<p>"Are things going smoothly here?" asked the Chief.</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir," replied Fancher. "The last five men scheduled to leave are +taking care of any customers who come in, and the rest of them are +packing supplies into the trucks. As soon as I get word from the flower +shop that the last pair has cleared, I give another pair the word to +leave."</p> + +<p>"It seems to be moving along well," said the Chief, and he turned his +green eyes upon Childress. "Is the business office manned?"</p> + +<p>"Why—why, there's no one there right now," said Childress, taken aback.</p> + +<p>"I think it would look extremely peculiar to any investigator if you +weren't there, frantically trying to locate a new secretary," said the +Chief quietly.</p> + +<p>Childress left, in confusion. The Chief turned to Dark.</p> + +<p>"I think Fancher's handling this very well without my help," he said. +"You know where your groundcar is, if we all have to make a run for +it?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes," answered Dark. "We won't be going together?"</p> + +<p>"No," replied the Chief, and his lips twisted in a faint smile. "I have +my own method of exit, which should give them other things to think +about."</p> + +<p>He left, moving with quick, short steps. Dark stayed for a few moments +more, then he too went back into the building to help with packing.</p> + +<p>The Lowland Flower Shop, on the other side of Mars City, near the west +airlock, was the clearance point for the evacuees. The flower shop was +operated by a Phoenix agent, and each pair that left the barber college +passed through there before leaving the city to let those behind know +that they had not been stopped by government men. Other Phoenix agents +watched the heliport and bus station for any evidence that the +government was trying to block these routes out of Mars City.</p> + +<p>The evacuation moved steadily, and it began to appear that Childress was +right. Singly, the first two of the five trucks moved out, and all of +the ESP instructors and thirty-two of the students had reported back +safe clearance from the flower shop, when....</p> + +<p>Dark was moving a stack of charts from one of the classrooms to the +basement when bells all over the building set up a tremendous clangor. +Immediately the quiet evacuation dissolved into an uproar, with men +running and shouting and the bell ringing incessantly.</p> + +<p>Dark knew what had happened. Childress, in the front office, had seen +government agents approaching, or perhaps they had actually entered the +building. He had pressed the alarm bell, then sought to delay them with +the righteous indignation suitable to the administrative head of a +barber college which is invaded by government officials.</p> + +<p>The bells stopped suddenly, and the scattered shouting sounded strange +and thin in the comparative silence. Then the piping voice of the Chief +came over the loudspeakers spread throughout the building.</p> + +<p>"Attention!" said the Chief. "We are temporarily safe. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> alarm +automatically sealed all doors to the building behind the front +corridor.</p> + +<p>"Kensington, please come to my office. The rest of you, tie up the +customers still here and leave them unharmed, and then leave the +building by the emergency exits. Scatter, and make your way by whatever +private transportation methods you can to the rendezvous assigned to +your respective group. Do not use public transportation, because +Marscorp will undoubtedly be checking public transport now."</p> + +<p>Dark set the charts down on the stairs and made his way back to the +Chief's office. The Chief was sitting, tiny behind his big desk, his +face as serene as ever. He was puffing casually on one of the long +Hadriacum cigars.</p> + +<p>Dark laughed.</p> + +<p>"You don't have another of those cigars, do you?" he asked.</p> + +<p>For the first time since he had been here, Dark saw the Chief's mouth +break into a full, broad smile.</p> + +<p>"I think so," said the Chief, an undertone of delight bubbling in his +voice. He reached into the desk and pulled one out. Dark accepted it +gravely, and lit it.</p> + +<p>"The last two evacuees haven't reported to the flower shop, and they're +overdue," said the Chief, his face getting serious. "Childress hasn't +reported back here by telephone, either, so the Marscorp gang probably +had already entered the building before he detected them and sounded the +alarm."</p> + +<p>"What about Childress?" asked Dark. "What will happen to him?"</p> + +<p>"He'll take the rap," answered the Chief. "His defense will be that if +there were any Phoenix activities going on here he didn't know about it. +He was just running a barber college in good faith. I don't think they +can prove otherwise."</p> + +<p>"Do we have any idea what our situation is?" asked Dark.</p> + +<p>"A very accurate idea. We have observers posted in the two houses at the +ends of our emergency exits, and they've been reporting to Fancher, in +the next room, by telephone. There's a force of about a hundred Mars +City policemen and plain-clothes agents in the streets all around the +building.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> They saw a squad go into the front, but evidently they didn't +have enough warning to let Childress know in time."</p> + +<p>"Will the doors hold?"</p> + +<p>The Chief's mouth quirked.</p> + +<p>"They'll need demolition equipment to break them down," he said. "All +these have are heatguns and tear gas. One of the observers farther +downtown said he saw a tank heading this way, but if they don't already +know there are innocent customers in here, Childress will tell them."</p> + +<p>"Then everybody gets away but Childress?"</p> + +<p>"We hope. They're not going to ignore these surrounding houses, +especially with men drifting out of them and moving away. That's why I +want to stress the importance of one thing to you, Kensington: you're +too important for us to lose at this juncture, with your knowledge of +the original work done. That house at the end of your exit will have a +dozen or so of our men in it, waiting to drift away one by one, but you +can't afford to worry about them. I want you to get in that groundcar, +alone, and take off like Phobos rising."</p> + +<p>"You're going out the other emergency exit?"</p> + +<p>"That's none of your business. But, as a matter of fact, no. If you want +to see something that will throw consternation into this Marscorp +outfit, watch the roof of this building. Now, get moving, Kensington, +and good luck. Fancher and I will be leaving as soon as he gets all the +records packed."</p> + +<p>The Chief held out his tiny hand, and Dark shook hands with him. Then +Dark left, went down into the basement and entered an underground door +in its eastern wall. He had to crawl through the tunnel driven through +the sand under the street.</p> + +<p>He emerged in the basement of a house across the street, which +ostensibly was owned by Manfall Kingron, a retired space engineer. He +went upstairs.</p> + +<p>About half the personnel of the barber college who had not been caught +by the alarm were roaming the rooms of the small house, drifting singly +out the back door at ten-minute intervals.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span></p> + +<p>Dark went to the front window and looked across the street at the barber +college.</p> + +<p>The street was full of men carrying heat pistols, moving restlessly, +facing the barber college. Some of them were in police uniform. Squads +of them moved about on the college grounds, and a few were in the yards +of houses on this side of the street.</p> + +<p>Dark watched the roof.</p> + +<p>As he did so, from its center a helicopter rose into the air, hovering +over the building, moving upward slowly.</p> + +<p>So that was the Chief's escape method. He had smuggled a helicopter into +the domed city itself! But how was he to get out of the city in it?</p> + +<p>The appearance of the copter threw the men outside into confused +excitement. They ran about, aiming their short-range heat beams futilely +up at the rising copter.</p> + +<p>A military tank, undoubtedly the one the Chief had been told about, spun +around the corner. It stopped, and its guns swung upward toward the +copter. But they remained silent. Heavy heat beams or artillery could +puncture the city's protecting dome.</p> + +<p>The copter went straight up, gathering speed. Up, and up, and it did not +stop!</p> + +<p>It hit the plastic dome near its zenith. It tilted and staggered. It +ripped through the dome and vanished.</p> + +<p>Immediately, sirens began to wail throughout the city. Doors clanged +shut automatically everywhere. Lights and warning signs flashed at every +street corner, advising citizens to run for the nearest airtight +shelter.</p> + +<p>The dome was punctured!</p> + +<p>Emergency crews would be up within minutes to repair the break, and very +little of the city's air would hiss away. But, in the meantime, every +activity in Mars City was snarled by the necessity to seek shelter. The +Chief had, indeed, created a situation of consternation in which it +would be easier for the Phoenix men to elude their enemies.</p> + +<p>The armed men of the government forces were already<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> running for the +houses in this area. Some of them were headed for the house from which +Dark watched.</p> + +<p>The Phoenix men were donning marsuits. They would admit the refugees, +after requiring them to lay down their arms, and then leave the house in +their marsuits.</p> + +<p>Dark grinned happily, and walked quickly through the house to the +attached garage. He climbed into the groundcar, started the engine, and +opened the garage door by the remote control mechanism on the dashboard.</p> + +<p>Accelerating at full power, Dark drove the groundcar out of the garage +and spun into the street. The men afoot, seeking entrance to the houses, +paid no attention. The tank began to turn ponderously in his direction, +but by the time it was in a position to bring its guns to bear, Dark's +groundcar had reached the corner and raced around it into the broad +thoroughfare leading to Mars City's east airlock.</p> + +<p>The airlock was only a dozen blocks away. The Chief's theory had been +that the government, depending on surprise in its move to surround the +Childress Barber College, would not attempt the complicated task of +checking all traffic passing through the airlock until it was realized +that some of the Phoenix men had escaped from the trap at the college.</p> + +<p>Dark reached the airlock in minutes. The Chief's theory proved correct. +There were no police at the airlock, and the maintenance employee +stationed there did not even look up as Dark's approach activated the +inner door.</p> + +<p>He drove the groundcar into the airlock. The inner door closed behind +him. The outer door opened, and Dark drove out onto the highway that +struck straight across the Syrtis Major Lowland toward the Aeria Desert +and Edom. It was as simple as that.</p> + +<p>About ten miles out was the circular bypass highway that surrounded Mars +City, and Dark proposed to turn right on that, for his destination was +Hesperidum. The highway he was on would take him eastward, and +Hesperidum was about 8,000 kilometers southwest of Mars City—a little +better than two-days' drive at groundcar speed on the straight, flat +highways.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span></p> + +<p>Dark reached over and set the groundcar's radio dial on the frequency +which had been agreed on for emergency Phoenix broadcasts during this +operation. If government monitors caught the broadcasts and jammed them, +there were alternate channels chosen. With only about two dozen radio +stations on all Mars, plus the official aircraft and groundcar band, +there was plenty of free room in the air.</p> + +<p>There was nothing on the Phoenix frequency now but a little disconsolate +static.</p> + +<p>The country through which he drove here was uninhabited lowland. The +human life on Mars, agricultural, industrial and commercial, was +concentrated under the domes of the cities. Except for a few tiny +individual domes at the edge of Mars City, there were no human +structures close to it except the airport and the spaceport, and these +were west and north of the city, respectively.</p> + +<p>The highway struck straight and lonely through a faintly rippling sea of +gray-green canal sage, spotted occasionally with the tall trunk of a +canal cactus, rising above it. Later he would see infrequent dome farms, +but he could expect no more than two or three score of these in the +entire long drive to Hesperidum.</p> + +<p>Dark slowed and entered the cloverleaf that took him onto the bypass +expressway. Even as he did so, the radio crackled and the thin voice of +the Chief sounded over the groundcar loudspeaker.</p> + +<p>"Attention, Phoenix," said the Chief intensely. "Attention, Phoenix. +Emergency instructions. We have monitored reports that the government is +checking airlocks at all cities. Repeat: the government is checking +airlocks at all cities.</p> + +<p>"Some Phoenix have been captured attempting to leave Mars City. +Instructions: those in Mars City do not attempt to leave but find +shelter with Phoenix friends. Those beyond dome without credentials, go +to assigned emergency rendezvous spots <i>outside</i> dome cities. Repeat +instructions: those...."</p> + +<p>Swearing under his breath, Dark pulled the groundcar to a stop beside +the highway. It was so simple! They should have foreseen that the +government would take such a step<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> as soon as it was realized that the +Phoenix men were leaving Mars City. He himself evidently had gotten +through the airlock just in time.</p> + +<p>But he had been assigned no outside rendezvous! Whether it was an +oversight or not, he did not know, but the only place he had been +instructed to go was Hesperidum. The only Phoenix contact he knew was +the South Ausonia Art Shop in Hesperidum; and now he could not enter the +city without being captured.</p> + +<p>He had only one alternative: the Martians, in the Icaria Desert, halfway +around Mars. They would remember him and shelter him, and he was sure he +could find the spot.</p> + +<p>He looked at his fuel gauge. The tank was full. It would not take him +quite there, but he could chance refueling at Solis Lacus, some 20,000 +kilometers from Mars City. He could take the highway, turning out into +the desert to go around Edom, Aram and Ophir.</p> + +<p>He put the groundcar in drive again, and made a U-turn in the highway. +He entered the cloverleaf and was halfway through it when he saw the +copter.</p> + +<p>It was a red-and-white government copter, and it was descending at a +shallow angle toward him from the direction of Mars City. Dark switched +his radio to the official channel.</p> + +<p>" ... await check. Repeat: groundcar in cloverleaf, stop at once and +await check."</p> + +<p>Dark braked the groundcar to a stop. As soon as the copter grounded, he +could accelerate and escape.</p> + +<p>But the copter did not ground. It hovered, directly over him. Then Dark +realized it was awaiting a patrol car from Mars City to check and take +him in custody if necessary.</p> + +<p>Immediately, he put the groundcar in drive and whipped out of the +cloverleaf under full acceleration. If he could only achieve top speed, +350 kilometers-an-hour, the copter couldn't match it.</p> + +<p>But the copter was on his tail at once as he swerved out of the tight +curve. Its guns spat fire.</p> + +<p>There was a terrific impact, and the groundcar dome shattered above him. +Unprotected, he felt the air explode from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> the groundcar, from his +lungs. Oxygenless death poured in through the broken dome.</p> + +<p>It all happened in an instant. Even as the dome shattered under the +copter's shell and Dark recognized the imminence of death, the groundcar +twisted out of control and careened from the highway. He felt it +spinning over and over, and then blackness closed in around him.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_7" id="CHAPTER_7"></a>7</h2> + + +<p>Maya had never seen Nuwell in such a state of sustained rage.</p> + +<p>He strode back and forth in the private dining room of the Syrtis Major +Club, near the western edge of Mars City, slapping his fist into his +hand. His face usually was engaging and boyish, the wave of his dark +hair setting it off handsomely, but now it was flushed like that of a +petulant child and the lock of hair hung down over his forehead. Maya, +the only other person in the room, sat quietly and watched him pace.</p> + +<p>"They had plenty of time and all the information they needed," stormed +Nuwell, "and yet they didn't get a single one of the key men! Most of +the rebels slipped out easily, right under their noses!"</p> + +<p>Maya watched him detachedly. This was the man she had promised to marry, +and, as she had once or twice before, she was undergoing pangs of doubt. +After all, she had known Nuwell Eli only during the few months she had +been on Mars.</p> + +<p>She had fallen in love with him for his charm, his intelligence, his +good-humored gentleness, but she did not like this display of temper. It +was not a controlled anger, but had something of the irrational in it.</p> + +<p>"Childress was captured," she reminded him.</p> + +<p>"Childress! A figurehead! He says he didn't know about the rebel +activities going on in the college, and he's so stupid I may not be able +to make a case against him."</p> + +<p>Maya recognized that this element, the success of his prosecution, was a +very important factor to Nuwell.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Are the twelve I identified the only ones captured?" asked Maya.</p> + +<p>"Yes. Twelve captured, seven killed, and every one of them small fry. +The leaders undoubtedly got away in that copter. We blockaded the +airlocks fast, so most of the others are probably still in the city, but +we don't have any idea where to look for them."</p> + +<p>"I may be able to help in that, when I get back from my swing around the +other cities," said Maya.</p> + +<p>"I don't want you to go on that jaunt, Maya!" exclaimed Nuwell, swinging +around to face her with fierce emphasis. "You said when you had found +the headquarters, you'd resign the service and marry me. Now you want to +go all over Mars looking for rebels!"</p> + +<p>"Nuwell, I can identify almost all of those who were at the barber +college," Maya remonstrated. "They've picked up some men at the airlocks +and others on the roads at several cities, and even Martian law won't +permit you to uproot those people and send them to Mars City just on +suspicion. They can't be sent here for me to identify: I'll have to go +there."</p> + +<p>"We can work out some charges to get them extradited to Mars City," +snapped Nuwell angrily. "I don't want you to go, Maya. I want you to +stay here and marry me, immediately."</p> + +<p>"Aren't you being a little dictatorial, Nuwell?" she suggested coolly.</p> + +<p>The warning implied in her remoteness seemed to trigger a polarized +reaction in Nuwell. The furious dark eyes melted suddenly, the stubborn +anger of the face altered on the instant to a sentimental, wistful smile +of appeal.</p> + +<p>"Don't be angry, Maya," he pleaded, half-ruefully, half-humorously. +"It's just that I love you so much. It's just that I'm impatient for you +to be my wife."</p> + +<p>Changeability is attributed to the feminine, but Maya was not able to +shift her mood as facilely as her fiance.</p> + +<p>"If I'm worth marrying, I'm worth waiting for a little longer," she +said, with an edge to her voice. She was angry at Nuwell for acting so +like a spoiled child. "I'm going to see<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> this job finished. I'm leaving +for Solis Lacus on the jetliner tonight."</p> + +<p>"Solis Lacus!" he exclaimed in astonishment. "Why, Maya, that's halfway +around Mars!"</p> + +<p>"That's exactly why the rebels might be more likely to go there. In +spite of the patrols, you know they haven't picked up all of the rebels +who escaped Mars City by groundcar. Any of them who headed for Solis +Lacus will be arriving there within the next two or three days. Then +I'll make a swing around and spend as much time as necessary at each of +the dome cities before coming back here."</p> + +<p>The angry, stubborn expression swept across Nuwell's face again.</p> + +<p>"Maya, I won't—" he began.</p> + +<p>But at that moment, their guests began arriving. As the judge of Mars +City's superior court and his wife entered the room, Nuwell cut himself +off sharp and turned to greet them. His face cleared instantly, his lips +curved into a delighted smile and he welcomed them with such natural, +innocent charm that one would have thought he was incapable of frowning.</p> + +<p>The presence of the guests seemed to intoxicate him with good-humor, and +when he had to leave in the midst of the party to drive Maya to the +airport he did not resume his argument. He merely kissed her good-bye +tenderly before she boarded the plane and begged her with melting eyes +to hurry back because he would be lonely every moment she was away.</p> + +<p>So it was that Maya stretched in a reclining chair on the sundeck of the +Chateau Nectaris the next afternoon and permitted herself to be +disgusted with the entire planet Mars.</p> + +<p>Maya's small, perfect body was kept minimally modest by one of those +scanty Martian sunsuits. A huge straw hat, woven of dried canal sage, +hid her beautiful face.</p> + +<p>A disappointing resort area for an Earthwoman, this Solis Lacus Lowland. +No swimming, no boating, no skiing. No water and no snow. Just a vast +expanse of salty ground, blanketed with gray-green canal sage and dotted +with the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> plastic domes of the resort chateaus. Nothing to do but hike +in a marsuit or sun oneself under a dome.</p> + +<p>She had chosen the Chateau Nectaris because it was the largest of the +resort spots, and therefore the most likely one to be chosen by men who +sought to hide out for a while. She had contacted the managers of all +the resort chateaus and all had agreed to let her know of the arrival of +any new guests.</p> + +<p>There had been three of them during the morning, two arriving by +groundcar and one by copter, at three different chateaus. She had driven +to each one and circumspectly inspected the new guest, but none had been +anyone she recognized from the Childress Barber College.</p> + +<p>In a way, she wished she had yielded to Nuwell's importunities. There +was much more of interest to do in Mars City. And Nuwell <i>was</i> charming +and intelligent and rather dashing, and she did love him, and she did +want to marry him. But....</p> + +<p>But she was right in wanting to help identify those rebels who had been +captured before she considered her task finished. And perhaps Nuwell had +been right in his implied disagreement with her idea of coming first to +Solis Lacus, so far from Mars City. Logically, would it not be harder to +lose oneself in a fashionable resort area than in a good-sized city? But +something within her had urged her to come here first. It was a hunch, +and she intended to play it.</p> + +<p>With a sigh, Maya pushed the hat off her face and stared with exotically +slanted black eyes at the shining blur of the dome hundreds of feet +above her. She sat up, hugging her knees with her arms.</p> + +<p>A score of other guests were sunning themselves here also. At her +movement, the unmarried men turned their eyes on her frankly; the +married ones did so furtively, to be promptly yanked back to attention +by their wives.</p> + +<p>Maya's onyx eyes surveyed this dullness aloofly, then lifted over the +nearby parapet and across the sparse terrestrial lawn which would grow +only under the dome. The far cliffs<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> of the Thaumasia Foelix Desert +loomed darkly, distorted through the dome's sides.</p> + +<p>The dome's airlock opened to admit a groundcar. She watched it, +interestedly, as it scurried like a huge, glassy bug along the curving +road and disappeared under the parapet in front of the chateau. Mail +from Mars City, perhaps, or supplies. Maybe even a new guest.</p> + +<p>Something struck her, now that the groundcar was no longer in sight. It +had been a little too far away to discern its details clearly, but there +was something strange about the appearance of that groundcar. A glassy +bug, but not entirely sleek and shiny. Rather like a bug that had come +out second best in an argument with another bug.</p> + +<p>Maya arose, purposefully. She stretched lithely, to the delight of the +assembled viewers, and padded gracefully toward the chateau's +second-floor entrance, trailing the huge hat in one hand.</p> + +<p>She walked lightly along the balcony over the lobby, toward her room. As +she turned its corner, passing the grand stairway, she could see the +chateau entrance and the registration desk.</p> + +<p>The groundcar had brought a new guest. He was signing the registration +book, a tall, broad-shouldered man in a marsuit, holding his marshelmet +under his arm. Why would he be wearing a marsuit in a groundcar?</p> + +<p>As she looked, he laid down the pen and turned. His face was darkly +tanned, strong, handsome. His hair was black as midnight, his eyes +startlingly pale in the dark face.</p> + +<p>His gaze lifted to the balcony, and Maya ducked behind the big hat just +in time.</p> + +<p>Dark Kensington!</p> + +<p>Triumph swept through her. She had been right in coming here! This was +Dark Kensington, the man she had met once, just before the raid on the +college. This was one of the leaders!</p> + +<p>The hat held casually to conceal her face, Maya walked on to her room.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span></p> + +<p>The telephone was ringing as she entered. She dropped the hat on the +bed, and answered it.</p> + +<p>"Miss Cara Nome, this is Quelman Gren, the manager," said the male voice +on the line. "You asked me to notify you about any new guests. One has +just registered."</p> + +<p>"I saw him," she said. "What can you tell me about him?"</p> + +<p>"He is registered as D. Kensington, from Hesperidum," answered Gren. "He +is just staying overnight. His groundcar dome was broken in an accident, +and he wants to have it replaced and the groundcar refueled."</p> + +<p>"Thank you," said Maya. "Now, please put in a call for me to S. Nuwell +Eli in Mars City."</p> + +<p>She had bathed and dressed for dinner by the time the call came through.</p> + +<p>"Nuwell," she said, when he had identified himself on the other end of +the line, "I knew I was right in coming here. One of the rebel leaders +just registered."</p> + +<p>"Are you sure?" he asked excitedly.</p> + +<p>"Certainly I am. He was one of those who stayed hidden in the back of +the barber college, and I saw him for the first time the day of the +raid. He identified himself then as a supervisor. But he's just staying +overnight."</p> + +<p>"That's long enough! I'll get a jet and be up in a few hours. Get the +police to take him in custody and hold him for me."</p> + +<p>"Darling, there aren't any police at Solis Lacus," Maya reminded him. +"This is a private resort area. The nearest police are at Ophir."</p> + +<p>There was a silence while Nuwell digested this.</p> + +<p>"You say he's staying overnight?" Nuwell said then. "I can be there +before midnight with some men to take him in custody."</p> + +<p>"I'm a trained agent," said Maya. "I can take him in custody for you."</p> + +<p>"You'll do no such thing!" squawked Nuwell in alarm. "It's, too +dangerous! Now you listen to me, Maya. You stay out of sight of this man +and wait till I get there!"</p> + +<p>"All right, darling, I'll use my own judgment," replied Maya demurely, +and hung up.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span></p> + +<p>She sat and cogitated for a time. She was dressed for dinner, and she +had been looking forward to appearing in the dining room in the somewhat +sensational moulded, flame-red gown she had bought recently in Mars +City. She didn't relish the idea of having dinner sent to her room, and +sitting up here alone to eat it.</p> + +<p>With sudden decision, she arose. She donned dark glasses and tossed a +powder-red veil over her dark hair. Kensington had only seen her once +and would not be expecting to see her here. If he saw her now, he +wouldn't recognize her.</p> + +<p>Fifteen minutes later, she was sipping an extremely expensive martini in +the dining room when she raised her eyes to see Dark Kensington enter, +wearing a dark-red, form-fitting evening suit.</p> + +<p>He paused just inside the door and stood there, slowly surveying the +room. His eyes fell on Maya and paused. Then he walked straight to her +table.</p> + +<p>"May I join you, Miss Cara Nome?" he asked in a deep, controlled voice, +a rather sardonic smile on his lips.</p> + +<p>She felt trapped, and irrationally angry at him for recognizing her.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid you've made a mistake," she said coldly. "That isn't my +name."</p> + +<p>At this juncture, a helpful waiter appeared at Maya's elbow and asked in +an appallingly distinct tone:</p> + +<p>"Would you care for another drink, Miss Cara Nome, or do you wish to eat +now?"</p> + +<p>"An understandable mistake, since it's such a common name," said Dark, +sitting down opposite her. He turned pale-blue eyes, remote and filled +with light, on the waiter, and added: "She'll have another drink, and +bring me one of the same."</p> + +<p>The waiter left, and Maya removed her dark glasses to level furious +black eyes at Dark.</p> + +<p>"I could call the manager and complain that you're annoying me, you +know," she said.</p> + +<p>"You could," he agreed somberly. "You seem to be a very efficient +tattletale. Or are you going to try to pretend that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> you weren't the one +responsible for the raid on the college?"</p> + +<p>She recognized that she was well in for it. He was not going to play a +game of pretense. Well, she had tried—partly, anyway—to do as Nuwell +wanted.</p> + +<p>Very deliberately, she opened her purse, realizing that Dark was +watching her closely, all his muscles tense. She took out a cigarette +case and a lighter, laying them side by side on the table, and he +relaxed visibly.</p> + +<p>Maya extracted a cigarette and placed it between her lips casually. She +picked up the lighter and balanced it in her hand.</p> + +<p>"I assume that you're not armed, Mr. Kensington," she said.</p> + +<p>He shrugged and smiled, revealing strong white teeth.</p> + +<p>"Hardly, in this suit," he replied. "I'm glad to see you've decided to +recognize me."</p> + +<p>"I am," she said grimly. "Armed, I mean. This is not a cigarette +lighter, but a very efficient and deadly heatgun. You're under arrest, +Mr. Kensington, so I suppose you're having dinner with me whether you +like it or not. Now, do you mind being a gentleman and lighting my +cigarette, since this is not very good for the purpose?"</p> + +<p>He looked at her face, then dropped his eyes to the lighter, still +smiling.</p> + +<p>"You'd better take my word for it," she advised. "I don't want to kill +you, Mr. Kensington, but I won't hesitate. I'm an agent of the +terrestrial government."</p> + +<p>Dark shrugged again. He produced a lighter and leaned forward to light +her cigarette, without a tremor.</p> + +<p>The waiter returned with their drinks and an announcement.</p> + +<p>"There's a telephone call for you from Mars City, Miss Cara Nome," he +said.</p> + +<p>Maya kept her eyes on Dark.</p> + +<p>"Can you bring a telephone to the table?" she asked the waiter.</p> + +<p>"Certainly, Miss," he replied. He left, and returned a moment later with +a telephone. He set it before her and plugged it in under the table.</p> + +<p>Juggling the lighter-gun gently in one hand, Maya picked<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> up the phone. +As soon as she answered it, her ears were assailed by Nuwell's agonized +voice.</p> + +<p>"Maya, I can't get up there tonight!" he said. "There aren't any jets +here, and these idiots refuse to bring one in from Hesperidum or Cynia +for me to use. I'll have to come up by groundcar."</p> + +<p>Maya sat silent, stunned. It had not seemed too great a feat to her to +hold Dark captive with her disguised heatgun when she was anticipating +Nuwell's arrival within hours. But suddenly she felt like a hunter who +has snared a lion in a rabbit trap.</p> + +<p>"Maya, are you there?" demanded Nuwell querulously. "We'll spell each +other at the wheel and drive up without stopping, but it will still take +two and a half days to get there."</p> + +<p>Maya took a deep breath.</p> + +<p>"Come ahead," she said in a steady voice. "I'll have your man waiting +for you when you get here."</p> + +<p>"You'll what? But I thought you said he was only staying overnight! +Maya, don't you do anything rash!"</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid I already have," she said, a little ruefully. "I have him +under arrest right now."</p> + +<p>The noise at the other end of the line sounded like a dismayed shriek.</p> + +<p>"You little fool!" he shrilled. "I told you not to do anything like +that! How can you hold a man like that for two days, single-handed? Call +in the police!"</p> + +<p>"It seems to me that I already mentioned there aren't any around here," +she reminded him patiently.</p> + +<p>There was a long silence on the other end of the line. Then Nuwell said, +with forced calm:</p> + +<p>"I'm leaving immediately. In the name of space, Maya, be careful!"</p> + +<p>Maya put the telephone quietly back in its cradle and looked across the +table at the Tartar she had caught. Dark smiled at her, easily.</p> + +<p>"So the reinforcements you were expecting won't get here tonight, after +all," he remarked softly.</p> + +<p>"He didn't say that at all!" she retorted, too quickly.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span></p> + +<p>"There's hardly any point in trying to deceive me about it is there?" he +pointed out. "I can tell a great deal from your conversation and the +expression on your face, and I'd estimate that your help is going to +have to come from Mars City by groundcar—a trip I've just made, so I +know exactly how long it takes. Do you plan for us to spend these two +nights in your room, or mine?"</p> + +<p>She looked at him silently, stricken.</p> + +<p>"I see our waiter returning," said Dark equably. "I trust you'll enjoy +your meal as much as I'm going to enjoy mine, Miss Cara Nome."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_8" id="CHAPTER_8"></a>8</h2> + + +<p>The waiter unplugged the telephone and lifted it from their table.</p> + +<p>"We're ready to order now," Maya said to him. "And please ask Mr. Gren +to come in here."</p> + +<p>A few moments after the waiter left, the manager came to their table. +Quelman Gren was dark and thin-faced, with sleek, oily hair.</p> + +<p>"When I told you I was here in an official capacity for the government, +Mr. Gren, you said you would co-operate with me in every way possible," +said Maya.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Miss Cara Nome, I have made every effort to do so," replied Gren. +"Is there some way I can help you now?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, there is," she said. "This man is my prisoner, and I'm going to +have to keep him in custody here for two days and a half, until help +arrives from Mars City. I'd like for you to arm a couple of dependable +men with heatguns and assign them to help me guard him."</p> + +<p>Gren shook his head.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry, Miss Cara Nome, but none of the employees of the Chateau +Nectaris was employed for that sort of work, and I'm not going to ask +them to do it. What you should have is police help."</p> + +<p>"As you know very well, there are no police nearer than<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> Ophir," she +said in an exasperated tone. "Surely, you have some semi-official +officers employed in the chateau in case of trouble among the guests."</p> + +<p>"I have a house detective, but his duties are to intervene only when +some crime has been committed against a guest or against the chateau. +You told me that you were seeking political rebels, and I assume that +that is your charge against Mr. Kensington. My house detective has no +authority to act in such cases, and I do not intend to get the chateau +mixed up in these affairs.</p> + +<p>"I've co-operated with you to the extent of giving you information you +wanted, Miss Cara Nome, and I'll continue to co-operate insofar as I am +not asked to do something I have no authority to do. It occurs to me +that if you came here seeking rebels, you should have come equipped to +handle them if you found them."</p> + +<p>"It occurs to me that you act very much as though you were in sympathy +with the rebel cause," retorted Maya angrily.</p> + +<p>"My sympathies are not the government's affair, as long as I take no +illegal actions," said Gren. "Good evening, Miss Cara Nome."</p> + +<p>Maya gazed after him furiously as he left the dining room. Dark, sitting +completely relaxed, smiled pleasantly at her.</p> + +<p>"Please be assured," he said, "that I'm going to try to avoid injuring +you in any way when I escape your custody."</p> + +<p>"I'm not worried, because you aren't going to escape," she said. "But I +appreciate the thought. You seem to be a very mild-mannered person, +for...."</p> + +<p>She stopped.</p> + +<p>"For a rebel?" he finished for her. "I really don't know what sort of +indoctrination you must have had, Maya—if I may call you Maya, and +there's no point in being formal under the circumstances. The students +at the barber college were all rebels, and the reports I received were +that you got along nicely with most of them."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes, I did. I don't suppose it should surprise me to find that rebels +are human beings, too."</p> + +<p>"Merely a matter of a difference in orientation. And a question for you +to consider is, which orientation actually is correct?"</p> + +<p>Maya did not like the direction the conversation was taking. She was +relieved by the appearance of the waiter with their meals of thick, +steaming steaks, with all the necessary trimmings.</p> + +<p>"It will be a long time before we can be served anything like this by +teleportation," she said, laughing. "But, Mr. Kensington—"</p> + +<p>"Dark, if you don't mind."</p> + +<p>"Very well. Dark, you say that you drove here from Mars City. How did +you avoid the copter patrols that were out trying to intercept the +escaping rebels?"</p> + +<p>"As a matter of fact, I didn't, and that's a very peculiar thing," he +said thoughtfully. "One of them got me just outside Mars City and +blasted the dome of my groundcar."</p> + +<p>"I noticed you were wearing a marsuit when you registered here, and Gren +said you were having the dome repaired."</p> + +<p>"That's what's peculiar about it. I wasn't wearing the marsuit when the +copter broke my dome. I didn't have any protection at all. The groundcar +went off the road and overturned. I don't know how long I was +unconscious, but it was evidently long enough for the copter to look me +over, decide I was dead, and move on out of sight. What I can't +understand is why I didn't asphyxiate."</p> + +<p>"You mean that you were protected by no oxygen equipment at all?"</p> + +<p>"None. I returned to consciousness and I was lying there with the dome +broken wide open and my face bare to the Martian air. I got into my +marsuit right away, of course, but that took a few minutes in addition +to the time I was unconscious. And I didn't feel restricted by the lack +of air. I wasn't even breathing. And I felt that I didn't need to!"</p> + +<p>"That is peculiar," she said meditatively. "Tell me, do you know a man +named Goat Hennessey?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You're the second person who's asked me that recently," said Dark. "I +knew him well, many years ago, but I haven't seen him in years. Why do +you ask?"</p> + +<p>"Because the only case I've heard about of any human being able to live +without oxygen in the Martian atmosphere involved some genetic +experiments of Goat Hennessey, before the government made him stop them +and destroy the creatures he'd been experimenting with."</p> + +<p>Dark laughed.</p> + +<p>"I can assure you I'm not one of Goat's genetic experiments," he said. +"Goat and I were colleagues in this rebel movement twenty-five years +ago, before I was hit by a period of amnesia that I've just come out +of."</p> + +<p>She stared at him.</p> + +<p>"A twenty-five year period of amnesia? Impossible! You're not more than +twenty-five years old," she said positively.</p> + +<p>"If what people tell me is correct, I'm nearer sixty," said Dark. +"Terrestrial years, of course."</p> + +<p>"Of course. But I don't believe it."</p> + +<p>Dark shrugged, and cut another bite of steak. He seemed to be enjoying +his meal quite as much as though he were not her prisoner and she his +captor—as, indeed, she was, too.</p> + +<p>They chatted pleasantly throughout the meal and Maya found, somewhat to +her surprise, that she was talking about herself a great deal to this +pale-eyed man. She told him of her childhood on Mars, among the +Martians, and of going to Earth to live with her uncle, a World Senator +who had had close and profitable connections with Marscorp.</p> + +<p>She went on to tell of her decision to become an agent of the +terrestrial government, despite her uncle's objections but as a result +of his often-expressed enthusiasm for the government's role in +developing the planetary colonies; and of her assignment to Mars to +ferret out a rebel headquarters which had eluded the best efforts of the +Martian government. She even told him how she had met Nuwell and fallen +in love with him.</p> + +<p>Some time after the meal's conclusion, she suddenly stopped in +mid-sentence.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span></p> + +<p>"What's the matter?" asked Dark.</p> + +<p>"I just realized that you're my prisoner," she answered, smiling at him. +"Frankly, I'm not sure what to do with you. We can't just sit here in +the dining room all night."</p> + +<p>"Why not go out and sit on the terrace?" he suggested. "They say that +Solis Lacus is a beautiful sight when Phobos is up and moving."</p> + +<p>"And a shadowed terrace is a very convenient place from which to attempt +an escape," she countered.</p> + +<p>"Look," he said, "there's no point in making the evening more difficult +than it is. I very definitely intend to get away from you and get out of +here during the next two days if I can, but I'm enjoying this +conversation. If I promise that I won't attempt an escape in the next +two hours, are you willing to go up on the terrace for a while?"</p> + +<p>She studied his face carefully. It was a handsome, earnest face, full of +strength, full of wisdom, with a touch of weariness.</p> + +<p>"All right," she said at last. "But I warn you that if my trust is +misplaced and you do attempt to escape, I'll burn you down without +compunction."</p> + +<p>They went up together, quite as casually as might any two guests +relaxing at the resort, and found chairs in the semi-darkness +overlooking the moonlit lowland.</p> + +<p>Deimos hung near the zenith, a tiny globe of light, virtually +stationary. Phobos, larger and brighter, was not long risen, and it +moved swiftly and smoothly across the sky, like the cold searchlight of +some giant aircraft. Touched and transformed by the shifting shadows, +Maya and Dark sat and chatted like old friends.</p> + +<p>Dark talked now, and he told her of his past life, of his coming to +Mars, of his joining the rebel movement upon realizing how the +government was holding back man's progress toward Martian +self-sufficiency. He spoke soberly, with intense conviction, and Maya, +listening, began to realize that there was another side to this conflict +than the one she had been taught.</p> + +<p>She began to waver and to wonder, for the grave voice of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> this man was +like a deep music she had never heard before but seemed to remember from +some time before there was hearing, a music that touched the depths of +her being.</p> + +<p>Then his arm slid around her waist and he drew her gently toward him. +For an instant, she responded, turning her face upward.</p> + +<p>And, on that instant, she remembered.</p> + +<p>With a lightning twist, she was free, and on her feet before him. She +stepped back, and the lighter-gun was in her hand.</p> + +<p>"I thought you said I could trust you," she said coldly. "Evidently, I +was foolish to do so."</p> + +<p>He looked up at her, and there was nothing but surprise on his face. +Then, slowly, he smiled at her.</p> + +<p>"It depends on your interpretation of the word," he said. "I was merely +attempting to kiss you, my dear."</p> + +<p>She let her hand sag, feeling rather foolish.</p> + +<p>"Well, don't," she said, her sharpness covering her confusion. "We +aren't lovers, Mr. Kensington."</p> + +<p>"No," he said, quite seriously. "And I find that I rather regret that we +aren't."</p> + +<p>She stood looking at him, fighting off a sneaking regret of her own that +he hadn't succeeded in his intention.</p> + +<p>"I think this moonlight has had an unfortunate effect on us both," she +said. "We'd better go inside. Besides, if I'm to keep watch over you all +night, I want to get into something more practical than an evening +gown."</p> + +<p>Without protest, Dark preceded her inside. They went to the manager's +office, and Maya issued instructions to Gren.</p> + +<p>"Have a maid move my things from my third-floor room to a room on the +top floor," she ordered. "We'll wait here until it's done."</p> + +<p>When the maid brought Maya the key to the new room, she and Dark took +the elevator to it. As soon as they were inside, she locked the door +behind them.</p> + +<p>"I'm going into the bathroom to change clothes," she said precisely. +"The window to this room is six floors above a stone courtyard and I +don't think you can jump that far<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> without being killed, even on Mars. +Since these windows don't open, I'll hear you if you break it to get +out, and I can burn you long before you can climb down the face of the +wall."</p> + +<p>The lighter-gun in her hand, she went into the bathroom and closed the +door behind her.</p> + +<p>She had just stripped off the evening gown when she heard the bathroom +door lock from the outside. A moment later, there was the crashing sound +of breaking glass.</p> + +<p>Calmly, Maya burned off the lock of the bathroom door with the little +heatgun. She pushed it open and went out into the room in her underwear. +Dark was in the process of gingerly climbing through the broken window.</p> + +<p>"It's a long fall, Dark," she said.</p> + +<p>He looked back over his shoulder. He smiled ruefully, and came back into +the room.</p> + +<p>"Well, it was worth a try," he said philosophically.</p> + +<p>He surveyed her with frankly admiring eyes and added:</p> + +<p>"And it was worth failing, for the view."</p> + +<p>She turned pink. But, without taking her eyes off him, she reached back +into the bathroom, got the tunic and trousers she had laid out, and +slipped them on.</p> + +<p>"I think it would be better if we go down and sit in the middle of the +lobby," she said, unlocking the door to the room. "That way, you'll have +farther to run if you try to get away."</p> + +<p>They went down and found comfortable seats. They sat there, talking, to +all casual appearance two of the chateau's guests. Gradually, the +conversation moved back to its earlier informal and friendly terms.</p> + +<p>How long they sat chatting, Maya did not know, for she was wrapped up in +her enjoyment of the things Dark said and his attitude toward life. But +after a time she realized that no more guests were sitting in the lobby +or moving through it. They were the only ones there, except for Gren, +sitting morosely behind the registration desk.</p> + +<p>"Just how do you propose to get any sleep and watch me at the same +time?" asked Dark.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I don't," she answered, smiling. "If you can stay awake for two nights, +so can I."</p> + +<p>"You forget, young lady," he retorted. "I don't have to."</p> + +<p>With that, he stretched out unceremoniously on the sofa on which he had +been sitting, clasped his hands behind his head and closed his eyes. +Within a very short time, he was obviously and genuinely sound asleep.</p> + +<p>Maya sat and watched him, piqued and a little nonplussed. She could +hardly afford to go to sleep, too. Her only course was to stay awake, to +sit there and watch him sleeping comfortably and soundly. It was not a +pleasant prospect, for two nights.</p> + +<p>She sat, heavy-eyed, and racked her brain for some solution, and +silently cursed Gren for refusing to give her the help she needed. Dark +slept on, and a faint smile touched his lips. Then Maya found herself +thinking pleasantly over the things they had talked about during the +long evening, and admiring this man and liking him....</p> + +<p>She woke up.</p> + +<p>With a start, she woke up, realizing that she had been asleep. She was +not sitting in the chair any more, but curled up comfortably on a sofa, +her head pillowed like a child's against—against what?</p> + +<p>Against Dark's chest! He was awake, sitting up, smiling down at her, and +she was cradled in the curve of his arm. And the little lighter-gun was +no longer in her hand.</p> + +<p>She did not react violently to the sudden realization. She sighed, +almost happily, and murmured to him:</p> + +<p>"So you win, after all. I think I'm glad, Dark. Now you can go, if you +want to."</p> + +<p>He shook his head.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad you feel that way about it, Maya, but I'm afraid it's too +late. I really shouldn't have stayed around to serve as your pillow till +you awoke."</p> + +<p>There was something in his face that caused her to sit up suddenly.</p> + +<p>Two uniformed men stood there in the lobby before them, relaxed but +watchful, regulation heatguns dangling from their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> hands. As she sat up, +one of them touched his cap and spoke to her:</p> + +<p>"We're police officers from Ophir, Miss Cara Nome. Mr. Eli called from +Mars City and directed us to drive over here and help you guard the +prisoner until his arrival."</p> + +<p>She rose angrily.</p> + +<p>"I didn't ask for your help, so you may go," she said, aware of Dark's +surprised gaze on her. "I made a mistake in identification."</p> + +<p>The policeman who had spoken shook his head.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry," he said. "We're acting on Mr. Eli's orders, not yours. +We'll have to hold Mr. Kensington until Mr. Eli arrives."</p> + +<p>She glared at them. The one who had spoken was big and burly and +efficient-looking. The other was sallow and silent, with a deadly cast +to his thin face.</p> + +<p>Then she saw her lighter-gun, lying on the lobby floor beside the chair +in which she had gone to sleep.</p> + +<p>She bent down, casually, and picked it up. She straightened, the little +instrument ready in her hand.</p> + +<p>"This is not a cigaret lighter, but a heatgun," she said flatly. "I'm in +charge here, and I say Mr. Kensington is to be permitted to go free. If +any effort is made to stop him, I'll burn you down."</p> + +<p>Both police heatguns swung up in short arcs and trained on her. The +burly policeman spoke gently.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry, Miss Cara Nome, but we're under orders from Mr. Eli, and we +intend to follow them," he said. "I'd hate to see you injured, but if +you blast either of us the other one will burn off your hand."</p> + +<p>"No, Maya!" exclaimed Dark, getting to his feet. "Don't! There's no +point in your getting hurt for my sake."</p> + +<p>She ignored him.</p> + +<p>"Drop those heatguns, both of you, or I blast!" she snapped, almost +hysterically.</p> + +<p>Then Dark hurled himself bodily at the two men.</p> + +<p>The thin-faced man swung his heatgun around to meet Dark's charge. Maya +twisted the lighter-gun toward him, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> at the same moment the burly +policeman threw himself against her. Her heat beam singed the thin-faced +one's shoulder, then she collapsed under the impact of the other's body.</p> + +<p>As she fell, she saw the almost invisible beam of the thin-faced +policeman's heatgun strike Dark directly in the stomach, burning away +the cloth, burning a great gaping hole in his abdomen. Dark slid to the +floor, writhing, gasping, clutching his stomach.</p> + +<p>Her lighter-gun knocked from her hand, Maya struggled, half-dazed, to +her feet. The burly policeman had swung his own gun on the prostrate +Dark, but the other one, grimacing with the pain of his wounded +shoulder, stopped him.</p> + +<p>"Let him be," he said. "I like to watch them die."</p> + +<p>With a wail, Maya dropped to Dark's side. She cradled his head against +her breast and sobbed as he died in her arms.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_9" id="CHAPTER_9"></a>9</h2> + + +<p>From the time she saw Dark Kensington die until Nuwell's arrival at the +Chateau Nectaris a day later, Maya remained in her room, half in shock, +half in an agony of sorrow and remorse.</p> + +<p>She was so exhausted by her ordeal that she did sleep, but it was +fitfully and without genuine rest. She had her meals sent up to her +room, and ate automatically, not tasting the food.</p> + +<p>Rationally, she could in no way blame herself for Dark's death, but that +did not prevent her feeling strongly that her insistence on tracking +down the fugitives from the Childress Barber College had made her, +directly, his slayer. Her feeling of distress was much deeper and more +personal than normal regret at having brought about the death of a +friendly enemy while in pursuit of her duty.</p> + +<p>Maya realized that in those few hours she had been with Dark and talked +to him, something had taken root and flowered that had changed her whole +outlook on existence.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> She did not want to call it love; she was a very +practical young woman and did not believe in love on such short notice. +But, in examining her feelings, she was at a loss as to what else to +call it.</p> + +<p>She had felt a powerful attraction to this man, a tremendous admiration +and liking for him, a feeling of <i>belonging</i> in his presence. She had +sensed his strength. It had appalled her when she had had to oppose +herself to him in keeping him captive, but in other circumstances she +felt it was the sort of strength she could depend on. Willingly, she +thought now, she, could have dispensed with everything else in her life, +and followed Dark Kensington wherever he chose to wander, a fugitive, +among the deserts and lowlands.</p> + +<p>And Nuwell? Her feeling for him had not changed. She was still attracted +to him and she still admired him. But the admiration she had felt for +his sharp, sardonic handling of his opponents in a court of law seemed a +little shallow and a little immature in comparison to the sudden onrush +of what she sensed about Dark.</p> + +<p>Since her early teens, she had been an eager enemy of those rebels whom +she conceived to be disrupting the orderly settlement of Mars, and her +desire to contribute to the defeat of those rebels had been a +disciplining, integrating force in her personality. Yet, in only a few +short hours of quiet talk, Dark had cut the foundation from that force +and dissipated it.</p> + +<p>If only she had not delayed, if only she had made up her mind decisively +to what she felt now ... Dark need not have died, she could have freed +him, and together they could have left Solis Lacus. With him, she would +have fought as hard for the rebel cause as, in the past, she had fought +against it.</p> + +<p>But now it was too late. And, moping tearfully in her room, she found +that she didn't care any more, one way or another, about the struggle +between Marscorp and the rebels.</p> + +<p>By the time Nuwell arrived from Mars City, she had regained control over +her feelings. When he telephoned her in her room, she went down to the +lobby to meet him, pale but composed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span></p> + +<p>She had a strange feeling as she came out into the big lobby, arching up +above its balconies, a feeling as though she had been away in a distant +land for a very long time and was just returning to the world she had +known all her life. In this returning, she looked upon things with new +ideas, and they did not appear the same as before.</p> + +<p>This was the same spacious lobby across which she had walked to register +when she came to Solis Lacus from Mars City a few days ago. It was the +same lobby in which, looking down from the balcony, she had seen Dark +Kensington arriving. It was the same lobby in which she had sat with +Dark and talked for so long. But it seemed a strange place, a different +place, one that looked like the lobby she remembered but in which she +had never walked before.</p> + +<p>Nuwell was standing across the lobby with the two police officers from +Ophir, beside a long wooden box that rested on the floor next to the +registration counter. Behind the counter, Quelman Gren, the manager of +Chateau Nectaris, was sorting the day's mail.</p> + +<p>Nuwell saw her, detached himself from the others and came across the +lobby to meet her. As he approached, she experienced the same feeling +toward him that she had felt toward the lobby: he was like someone she +had known, but a different person.</p> + +<p>There was a worried frown on Nuwell's face, and he managed to get +something of disapproval in his greeting kiss.</p> + +<p>"It's lucky I called Ophir and had those men sent over here," were his +first words. "If they hadn't gotten here when they did, that rebel might +have killed you and escaped. I told you, Maya, not to try to handle a +situation like that."</p> + +<p>"It was very astute of you to send them over," answered Maya dryly. "I +should have thought of it myself."</p> + +<p>"That's exactly why you shouldn't try to handle such things alone," said +Nuwell, apparently somewhat mollified.</p> + +<p>Maya looked into his face, a handsome, youthful face bearing a slightly +peeved expression, and she thought two things: she thought of the long +and intensive training she had undergone as a terrestrial agent, and she +contemplated just how<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> effectively Nuwell might have handled Dark's +capture, had Nuwell been in her place.</p> + +<p>"Come on, Maya, let's clear this up, so we can get out of here and get +back to Mars City," said Nuwell, and led her across the lobby to the two +policemen and the wooden box.</p> + +<p>The two men from Ophir greeted her with a certain embarrassment, and +seemed relieved when she smiled wanly at them.</p> + +<p>"These men have told me how the rebel had turned the tables and gained +the advantage of you before their arrival," said Nuwell. "They say that +before he was killed, he confessed to them that he was Dark Kensington, +one of the major rebel leaders who escaped from the Childress Barber +College. I believe that coincides with your identification of him, +doesn't it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," answered Maya in a low voice. "He was Dark Kensington. I saw him +once at the college, and he identified himself to me then as a +supervisor."</p> + +<p>She did not feel called on to say anything more, and to tell Nuwell what +Dark himself had told her about the rebellion and his part in it.</p> + +<p>"Very good," said Nuwell with satisfaction. "We've captured the Chief, +the peculiar-looking individual who escaped by driving his copter +through the city dome. All the indications are that he and Kensington +were the two top figures in the rebellion. I think all that's needed now +is for you to identify the body positively as Kensington, Maya."</p> + +<p>He indicated the wooden box, which lay, lidless, on the floor. +Reluctantly, Maya stepped up to it, and looked down into it.</p> + +<p>The pain which distorted Dark's face when he lay writhing from the +heatgun blast was gone from his features. They were calm and peaceful in +death.</p> + +<p>Maya gazed down at his face wistfully, sorrowfully, then turned away.</p> + +<p>"Well?" asked Nuwell impatiently.</p> + +<p>"Yes," she murmured. "That's Dark Kensington."</p> + +<p>"Very good," said Nuwell, and turned to the two men.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> "We'll take the +body to the hydroponic farm for the vats," he said. "There'll be others +after the trials and executions of the rebels we've captured."</p> + +<p>"Do you have to do that?" protested Maya. "Why can't you give the man a +decent burial out here in the lowland?"</p> + +<p>"Don't interfere in matters which are none of your affair," replied +Nuwell brusquely. "Bodies of criminals are always sent to the vats. +They're constantly short of bodies, as it is, and we can't very well +send them corpses of law-abiding citizens."</p> + +<p>He turned away. As Maya accompanied him across the corridor, the two men +from Ophir began nailing the lid on the wooden box that contained Dark +Kensington's remains.</p> + +<p>At the elevator, Nuwell said:</p> + +<p>"Get your things packed as soon as you can. I want to go back to Mars +City right away by copter. I have some things I want to talk to you +about, very seriously, but they can wait until we're airborne."</p> + +<p>"Why by copter?" asked Maya. "Groundcar is faster."</p> + +<p>For the first time, Nuwell's face broke into a genuine smile, and his +ordinary charming self shone through.</p> + +<p>"Because," he replied drolly, "I've just made that trip by groundcar, +and every bone in my body aches. It may be slower, but I want to go back +by air, where there aren't as many bumps!"</p> + +<p>Maya was able to laugh at this. She went up to her room.</p> + +<p>It did not take her long to pack, and to dress in a tunic and trousers +for travel. When she came back down to the lobby, Nuwell was waiting, +and they took a groundcar from the chateau to the dome airlock.</p> + +<p>The three government agents who had come with Nuwell from Mars City had +the helicopter ready for them on the flat lowland just beyond the +airlock. As the groundcar emerged onto the sage-covered plain, the men +were helping the two policemen from Ophir unload the box containing Dark +Kensington's remains from another groundcar and load it into the baggage +bay of the copter.</p> + +<p>Nuwell and Maya slipped into their marsuits, secured the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> helmets and +climbed out of the groundcar. Nuwell gave his men some final +instructions to follow before returning to Mars City by groundcar. Then +he and Maya went aboard the copter.</p> + +<p>They strapped themselves in the seats. Nuwell sealed the copter door, +and released oxygen from the tanks into the interior. When the dials +showed the air to be breathable, he and Maya removed their helmets, +Nuwell started the motor and the craft lifted slowly and smoothly into +the air above the Solis Lacus Lowland.</p> + +<p>Nuwell headed the copter northwestward. As soon as they were well on +course, he turned to Maya with a stern expression on his face.</p> + +<p>"There's one thing I can't understand at all," he said severely. "What +madness possessed you to resist those men I sent over from Ophir, and +attempt to help Kensington escape?"</p> + +<p>She looked at him steadily without replying.</p> + +<p>What should she answer? Could she say, "I discovered that I had fallen +in love with Dark Kensington. I found that his reasons for the rebellion +made sense to me, and that you and the government and Marscorp are +wrong"?</p> + +<p>What would Nuwell's reaction be if she told this truth?</p> + +<p>But it could do no good to say that. It could do the rebels no good, +because now they were scattered and defeated. It could do Dark no good, +because he was dead. She did not think she would suffer personally from +such a revelation, but it could only hurt Nuwell, who loved her.</p> + +<p>So, at last, she said:</p> + +<p>"Nuwell, I'd rather not talk about that. I didn't succeed, so can we +forget it?"</p> + +<p>"I think it's best that we do," agreed Nuwell. "The only thing I can +think is that you were slightly hysterical over Kensington's having +gained the upper hand, after the strain of guarding him for so long, and +your action was an unconscious expression of resentment at their having +to take over his custody where you had failed. But we might have learned +a great deal through questioning the man at length,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> and that action of +yours made it necessary for them to kill him."</p> + +<p>Nuwell could not know how deeply those words struck her. She turned her +face away from him, and the tears came to her eyes.</p> + +<p>"At any rate," went on Nuwell, unaware, "I think this demonstrates that +these espionage activities have been far too much of a strain for you, +and I think it's time you stopped. We have one of the two major leaders +captured and the other one dead, and I don't think they're going to give +us much more trouble even if we don't locate all the fugitives. So I +want you to give up this idea of wandering around from city to city, +helping identify rebels."</p> + +<p>"I think you're right," she agreed in a choked voice. She had no more +interest now, certainly, in tracking down rebels.</p> + +<p>"And," continued Nuwell, even more firmly, "marry me when we get back to +Mars City."</p> + +<p>Well, why not? Nuwell loved her. What else was there for her?</p> + +<p>"Yes, I'll do that, too," she said. "As soon as we get back, I'll make +out my report, and send my resignation with it back on the first ship to +Earth. Then I'll marry you, Nuwell."</p> + +<p>His face was radiant and triumphant as he turned to her. He put his arm +around her shoulders, drew her to him and kissed her.</p> + +<p>The helicopter flew northwestward. Passing over the Solis Lacus Lowland, +it crossed the Thaumasia Desert and the Tithonius Lacus Lowland, and +whirred above the Desert of Candor. Ahead of it, after a time, there +rose on the horizon the white stone forms of a distant group of +buildings.</p> + +<p>Nuwell dropped the helicopter lower. He angled it down, and in a short +time landed it on the desert near one of the four buildings of the +Canfell Hydroponic Farm.</p> + +<p>As he and Maya donned their marshelmets, a group of marsuited men +emerged from the building's airlock and came across the sand toward +them.</p> + +<p>Maya stared curiously out the copter window. She had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> heard of this +government experimental station, but had not visited it before.</p> + +<p>"This is another reason I wanted to take a copter," explained Nuwell, +releasing the air from the copter's interior. "There aren't any roads to +this place, and I didn't want to drive a groundcar across the desert to +bring Kensington's body here."</p> + +<p>They emerged from the copter as the group from the building approached. +Nuwell greeted the five of them and introduced them to Maya. Four of +them were strangers to her, but the fifth she remembered: Goat +Hennessey, white-bearded and watery-eyed.</p> + +<p>"How are you adjusting to your new work here, Dr. Hennessey?" Nuwell +asked him.</p> + +<p>"Very well," answered Goat in his cracked voice. "They're using a +different approach from mine, but I find it extremely interesting."</p> + +<p>Remembering Goat's earlier experiments at Ultra Vires, it occurred to +Maya to be grateful that Dark had not fallen alive into the hands of +these people at the Canfell Hydroponic Farm.</p> + +<p>Their entire stop lasted only a few minutes. Nuwell refused an +invitation to remain overnight, explaining that he was anxious to get on +to Mars City. The others unloaded Dark's coffin and moved with it back +toward the building. Nuwell and Maya climbed back into the copter, and +shortly they were airborne again and the buildings of the Canfell +Hydroponic Farm were receding behind and below them.</p> + +<p>Nuwell guided the copter almost straight westward now. It passed over +Candor and buzzed out over the broad Xanthe Desert.</p> + +<p>And here trouble developed. Without warning, the engine coughed and +stopped. Nuwell worked frantically at the controls, to no avail. As the +big blades slowed in their rotation, the copter sank, slowly at first, +then ever more swiftly, to the surface of the desert. They donned +marshelmets hurriedly.</p> + +<p>It struck with a terrific crash, which would have hurled them through +the windows had they not been strapped down.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> The entire body of the +copter crumpled in on itself, and it came to rest, a collapsed wreck, +with the two of them sitting in its midst, miraculously uninjured.</p> + +<p>There was no question of trying to start the engines or fly the machine. +It was a total wreck. Nuwell tried the radio without success.</p> + +<p>"What in space went wrong with the thing?" he demanded angrily. "I know +it wasn't short of fuel. There's nothing left for us to do but walk, I'm +afraid, Maya."</p> + +<p>"Back to the hydroponic farm?"</p> + +<p>"No, we've come too far. By my chart, we're not far from Ultra Vires. I +think we'd better try to make it for the night, and if Goat left his +radio equipment in working order we'll call for help. If not, the only +thing I know to do is to head for Ophir."</p> + +<p>Ultra Vires—Maya remembered it with a shudder. The grim, black bastion +in the desert where Goat Hennessey had worked with grotesque, twisted +caricatures of humans.</p> + +<p>They fumbled about the wreck to find the minimum emergency supplies they +thought they would need, and started westward on foot.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_10" id="CHAPTER_10"></a>10</h2> + + +<p>Happy Thurbelow finished sweeping the long barracks and leaned wearily +on his broom. That is, he didn't lean on it, or it would have collapsed +him to the floor, but he made the gesture. Why, he wondered, didn't the +Masters make the Toughs sweep their own barracks? Perhaps the Toughs +couldn't be made, or perhaps the Masters did it just from an excess of +cruelty.</p> + +<p>Happy's monstrously bloated body sagged, and his skin felt dangerously +dry and tight. Happy was so adipose that his hands engulfed the broom +handle like a toothpick; under the transparent skin, his flesh was clear +and translucent, and there could be seen the tiny red lines of the +branching veins. Happy was like a jellyfish, in huge human form.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Shadow!" he called in a high, grating voice. "I'm going below."</p> + +<p>Shadow appeared disconcertingly, ten feet away. Dark-skinned Shadow +looked at him silently with white-rimmed eyes. Then Shadow turned and +disappeared, as only Shadow could.</p> + +<p>Hanging up the broom, Happy waddled to the iron-barred gate that +prevented entrance to a downward-plunging ramp. He pressed a button +beside it and waited.</p> + +<p>He looked out the window beside the gate. The sands of the Desert of +Candor stretched orange and bleak under the bronze sky. Somewhere out +there to the south, across those sands, under that sky, lay the shining +dome of Ophir.</p> + +<p>The window would be easily broken, and it was large enough for even +Happy's bulky body to pass through. But the oxygen-scant air of Mars +would sear his lungs to quick death without a helmet; and even if it +would not, Happy's skin would dry and crack in a few hours of that +outside air, and he would die in slower agony.</p> + +<p>"What is the purpose of your call?" asked an impersonal voice from the +loudspeaker beside the barred gate.</p> + +<p>"I have finished my task, Master," said Happy, puffing a little. "I seek +your grace to go below."</p> + +<p>The loudspeaker said no more, but after a moment the gate stirred and +lifted into the ceiling. Happy went through it gratefully, and waddled +down the gently sloping ramp. The gate descended behind him.</p> + +<p>Happy did not know whether Shadow had come through the open gate with +him, but it didn't matter. Shadow could slip easily through the bars +when he wished.</p> + +<p>At the foot of the ramp was a vast, low cavern, stretching out of sight +in all directions. It was dim, shading into the darkness of distance. +Its floor was water, flat water, subdivided into large rectangular vats. +In most of the vats vegetation grew in various stages, greening under +the ultraviolet rays that radiated from the low roof. Between the vats +ran straight, narrow walkways of packed earth.</p> + +<p>Happy waddled along one of the walkways until he found<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> an empty vat. He +lowered himself over its edge and sank happily into the still, cool +water, like a hippopotamus submerging. He immersed himself completely, +then lay back in the water, with only his face floating barely above the +surface.</p> + +<p>Shadow appeared, apparently out of nowhere, and sat down on the edge of +the vat, letting his flat legs dangle into the water.</p> + +<p>"Nothing like it," proclaimed Happy, splashing a little. "Nothing on +Mars like it. You ought to come on in, Shadow. As flat as you are, you +ought to float on the surface without any trouble at all."</p> + +<p>Shadow nodded silently, but made no move.</p> + +<p>"I don't see why the Toughs can't take care of their own barracks," +complained Happy, returning to the subject closest to his displeasure. +"You reckon the Toughs are actually the rebels, and the Masters can't +make them do anything?"</p> + +<p>Shadow shook his head, but whether in negation or disclaimer of +knowledge, Happy could not interpret.</p> + +<p>Happy flinched, and shifted in the vat.</p> + +<p>"There's still part of a skeleton in here," he announced. "I thought +this was an empty one."</p> + +<p>Moving, he flinched again. With purpose, he aroused himself and ploughed +to the edge of the vat.</p> + +<p>"I've got to find another vat," he said. "I can't take a nap if I'm +going to get punched in the fanny with bones every five minutes."</p> + +<p>He heaved himself over the edge onto the walkway with difficulty, and +got slowly to his feet. Shadow lifted his feet out of the vat, stood up +and vanished.</p> + +<p>Happy knew how Shadow was able to disappear so suddenly, and it did not +disturb him. Seen directly from front or rear, Shadow had the dimensions +of a normal, black-skinned man. But Shadow was flat, no thicker than +half an inch. When Shadow turned sidewise, he vanished to the sight.</p> + +<p>Occasionally, Happy wondered how Shadow happened to be, and why he was +here in the caverns, but it was not the sort of thing to bother his mind +for very long.</p> + +<p>Happy moved along the walkways, peering into the vats<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> which appeared to +be empty. He assumed Shadow was following him; Shadow always did.</p> + +<p>Around corners, he came upon blubbery creatures like himself, tending +the plants. They nodded greeting at him, and Happy nodded back.</p> + +<p>His search was discouraging. All the vats not filled with plants seemed +to have corpses in them, in varying stages of decomposition.</p> + +<p>Around one corner, Happy came upon a Tough, lounging in the walkway. The +Tough was a compact, muscular youth, with bullet head, sullen eyes and +hard mouth. He looked as though he lounged with hands in pockets, but, +like Happy and all the others, he was naked, so that was just an +impression.</p> + +<p>Happy stopped. He and his soft kind avoided the Toughs when they could. +The Tough looked at him with disinterested eyes, then looked away.</p> + +<p>Happy was uncertain what to do or say. His impulse was to turn and go +back, but he did not quite dare.</p> + +<p>"Are you a rebel, Tough?" he burbled the first thing in his mind, for +lack of something else to say.</p> + +<p>The Tough looked at him contemptuously. Then, suddenly, the Tough's hard +eyes flared with savage excitement and he moved swiftly on Happy. As he +began to turn in panic, Happy saw from the corner of his eye another +Tough racing around the corner of the walkway to come upon him from +behind.</p> + +<p>The Tough in front of him reached him and began pummeling him viciously +with his fists, the hard fists sinking like painful hammers deep into +Happy's flesh with every blow. Happy bleated in fright and distress, +trying ineffectually to ward off his attacker.</p> + +<p>Then, out of nowhere, Shadow flashed in like a lightning bolt on the +other Tough as he had almost reached Happy. There was a brief, squalling +tangle and the Tough pitched headlong into a plant-choked vat.</p> + +<p>Shadow vanished and reappeared, intermittently, like a flashing light. +The first Tough, seeing what had happened to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> his cohort, ceased +pummeling Happy abruptly and took to his heels. He vanished around a +corner.</p> + +<p>The vanquished Tough climbed out of the vat, sputtering and cursing, and +fled in the other direction.</p> + +<p>"Oh, my! Oh, my!" exclaimed Happy to the now-invisible Shadow. "What +wicked creatures!"</p> + +<p>Sore and shaken, he moved on down the walkway, his search now +intensified by the need for wetness to soothe his injured flesh.</p> + +<p>He came upon a vat without vegetation and, at first joyous glance, +thought it empty. Then, disappointment, a comparatively fresh body +floated in it, just under the surface.</p> + +<p>It was the body of a man. Naked, it was smooth and plump with the water +that had seeped into its tissues, and it was a uniform dead-white all +over, like the belly of a fish. The face and lips were monochrome white, +the hair was bleached, and when it opened its eyes, they were so +colorless that the action was almost unnoticeable.</p> + +<p>Realizing, Happy was paralyzed with shock.</p> + +<p>The dead creature's eyes moved from side to side, then stopped, fixing +on Happy. Its chest began to rise and fall slowly, with +breathing—<i>under water</i>.</p> + +<p>"Shadow!" squeaked Happy helplessly.</p> + +<p>Shadow appeared beside him.</p> + +<p>"Shadow, it's alive," whispered Happy, desperately frightened.</p> + +<p>The two stood side by side, staring breathlessly down into the water. +The creature in the vat moved its hands tentatively, it opened its mouth +and closed it. Then it stirred with purpose, turned and climbed up over +the side of the vat, dripping like a weird creature from the depths of +the sea.</p> + +<p>It stood up before them, dripping.</p> + +<p>The man bent slightly and belched forth a great quantity of water from +his lungs. He straightened, and breathed in the air in great, satisfied +gasps.</p> + +<p>"I'm Dark Kensington," he said in a rusty voice. "Where is this?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span></p> + +<p>At his words, Shadow disappeared.</p> + +<p>Dark Kensington. Had Maya seen him now, she could not possibly have +recognized him. The muscular body and dark, handsome face were bloated +and pale. The black hair was bleached to pale seaweed, and the blue eyes +were completely colorless now.</p> + +<p>"This is the Canfell Hydroponic Farm," answered Happy, gaining a little +courage. "Under the surface of the Desert of Candor."</p> + +<p>"The Desert of Candor?" repeated Dark, and the pale lips twisted in a +smile. "They hauled me quite a way. I was at Solis Lacus."</p> + +<p>"How did you get here?" asked Happy with sudden eagerness. "Only dead +people are thrown in the vats, to make chemicals for the plants. How +could you stay alive under water?"</p> + +<p>"I imagine I can breathe water for the same reason I can still live +after a heat beam burned my guts out, but I don't know what that reason +is. I imagine that the first step in finding out is to get out of this +place."</p> + +<p>"You can't get away from here," said Happy positively. "Nobody ever +has."</p> + +<p>"We'll see," said Dark confidently. "I gather you and your companion are +some sort of prisoners."</p> + +<p>"Slaves," corrected Happy with unaccustomed bitterness. "The Jellies are +slaves, to work in the vats. I don't know if the Toughs are slaves, too, +but the Masters let them sleep in barracks on the surface. Shadow's not +either a Jelly or a Tough, and I don't know if he's a slave. Shadow's +just Shadow."</p> + +<p>"Before you go on," interrupted Dark, "I seem to be extraordinarily +hungry."</p> + +<p>Happy twittered and quivered. He moved hurriedly around a corner to one +of the storage vats, and returned in a moment with a supply of the +tasteless gelatin that was their food here. Dark fell to greedily, and +Happy, his tongue loosed by this new companionship, started feeding him +information in a steady stream.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I don't know how they get us here," said Happy. "We aren't born here, +but something happens to our memories. We can't stay up in the dry air +very long, or our skin cracks and our flesh collapses. You see, our +tissues are mostly water.</p> + +<p>"Everybody down here's like me. Everybody but the Toughs. You'll see +them. I don't know how they got here, either, or what use they are. They +don't work like we do.</p> + +<p>"And Shadow. He's different. Shadow likes me. He stays with me all the +time. And then there's Old Beard. He hides down here, and I don't think +the Masters know he's here. He's very old and very wise."</p> + +<p>"Who are the Masters?" asked Dark curiously, between mouthfuls. "And +what sort of work do you do for them?"</p> + +<p>"They're the people who run the hydroponic farm. They're normal men, +like you—I mean, like you would be if you weren't swollen up and pale +like the bodies that are thrown in the vats.</p> + +<p>"Old Beard knows; he's very wise. He calls the Masters 'Marscorp.' I +don't know why, but it seems that before I lost my memory I knew a +language where <i>corp</i> meant <i>body</i>. Like <i>corpse</i>, you know. Maybe it +has something to do with the bodies they put in the vats.</p> + +<p>"Old Beard says that the Masters are developing Martian foods that we +can eat without dying, and he must be right, because sometimes they +bring down some hard foods and make some of us eat them instead of +gelatin. But those who eat the hard foods always die, so I don't suppose +they've succeeded yet, except some of the Toughs. Some of the Toughs +have eaten the hard food without dying, sometimes, but they got pretty +sick. And then—"</p> + +<p>"Hold on! Wait a minute!" exclaimed Dark, holding up a restraining hand. +"I know what Marscorp is, and I'm not surprised they're behind it. But +I'm trying to digest all this you're throwing at me."</p> + +<p>Happy fell silent, reluctantly, and Dark cogitated deeply.</p> + +<p>Happy fidgeted, anxious to speak but afraid to interrupt Dark's +thoughts.</p> + +<p>And then Shadow reappeared. Shadow appeared out of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> nowhere, and made +gestures at Happy. Happy glanced at Dark, timidly. At last, he gained +courage to speak.</p> + +<p>"Shadow tells me—" he began, then cringed when Dark looked up in +surprise. Dark gestured to him to go on.</p> + +<p>"Shadow tells me," said Happy, "that Old Beard wants to see you. Will +you go with us to Old Beard?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly," agreed Dark. "From what you tell me, I'm rather anxious to +meet Old Beard, too."</p> + +<p>He followed Happy and the alternately visible and invisible Shadow along +the paths that twisted among the vats for some distance. At last they +ducked into some luxuriant foliage that hung over to form a bower above +the space between two vats.</p> + +<p>Old Beard sat there, in a corner of the dimness, pale eyes fixed +silently on the trio. Old Beard was not so very old. He appeared to be +in robust middle age, although his skin was very pale from long +existence underground. His hair and heavy beard were long and untrimmed, +and were a deep iron-gray.</p> + +<p>"Thank you for coming," said Old Beard in a deep, resonant voice that +bespoke strength and bore an undertone of bitter determination. "It is +safer for me not to move around too much in the open except at certain +hours."</p> + +<p>"I was glad to come, because I'm sure you can help me and I may be able +to help you, too," said Dark. "I'm Dark Kensington."</p> + +<p>"So Shadow told me. I find this extremely interesting."</p> + +<p>"You've heard of me, then?" asked Dark.</p> + +<p>Old Beard laughed, deeply.</p> + +<p>"More interesting than that," he said. "Once, before I was marooned here +and Happy's people came to know me as Old Beard, I had a name of my +own."</p> + +<p>He stroked his beard, and favored Dark with a shrewd look from his pale +eyes.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Old Beard, "I've heard of Dark Kensington, and there never +was but one Dark Kensington, as far as I knew. That's why I find it so +interesting. You see, I'm Dark Kensington!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_11" id="CHAPTER_11"></a>11</h2> + + +<p>The Xanthe Desert stretched red and barren on all sides of the plodding +couple, the sands unbroken by the form of plant or stone or any living +thing, all the way to the tight horizon of Mars. Above them, the small, +glittering sun slid down the copper-hued sky slowly toward the west.</p> + +<p>It was remarkable, thought Maya, how smooth and flat the desert looked +from the air, and how rough and rolling it was when one had to walk +across the packed sand. They had been walking for hours and, despite the +gentle gravity of Mars, she was getting very tired.</p> + +<p>"It's farther than I thought," said Nuwell, his voice distorted by the +marshelmet speaker. "Distances on the chart are deceptive. We may not +reach Ultra Vires by night."</p> + +<p>Maya did not answer. Again, as she had many weeks before, she was in the +grip of a sensation that this desert through which they walked was only +a surface thing, a shimmering mask to the reality which lay behind it. +That reality seemed very deep, very significant, and she felt that she +was on the verge of comprehending it, but could not quite grasp it.</p> + +<p>She was a little irritated at Nuwell for speaking when he did. If his +voice had not interrupted her probing emotions, she felt, she might have +broken through to that reality she sensed.</p> + +<p>"Nuwell," she said, giving it up, "I'm going to have to rest a while. If +we don't make it by night, we don't make it. There's always tomorrow, +and I'm tired."</p> + +<p>Reluctantly, he consented, and they sat down together on the sand. +Nuwell pulled a chart out of his marsuit pocket and began to study it. +Maya lay back, clasped her hands behind her helmet and closed her eyes, +gratefully feeling the tired muscles relax and the perspiration that +bathed her begin to dissolve in the gentle circulation of the marsuit's +temperature-control system.</p> + +<p>"Maya!" exclaimed Nuwell suddenly. "Look! We're going to be rescued!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span></p> + +<p>She sat up and looked in the direction of his pointing finger. On the +horizon to the northeast was a cloud of dust, too placid and stationary +to be a sandstorm.</p> + +<p>They stood up, and Nuwell spoke hastily into his helmet radio on the +conventional emergency band.</p> + +<p>"Attention, groundcar! Attention, groundcar! We're afoot and in trouble. +We're afoot, due southwest from your position. Help, please. Attention, +groundcar!"</p> + +<p>There was no radio reply in the ensuing silence. But all at once it was +as though a deep and alien voice spoke within the depths of Maya's mind:</p> + +<p>"<i>We see you.</i>"</p> + +<p>Startled, she looked curiously at Nuwell. But he evidently had not had +the same experience. He was chattering into the radio frantically again.</p> + +<p>"They're evidently not tuned in on the emergency band, Nuwell," she said +to him. "But they're coming almost directly toward us. They're bound to +see us soon, if they haven't already."</p> + +<p>"That's true," said Nuwell, and added sourly: "But they ought to be +tuned in. It's required by law."</p> + +<p>The dustcloud moved closer slowly, too slowly for a groundcar. They were +able to discern a dark nucleus below and in front of it. Then Nuwell +said:</p> + +<p>"In the name of space! It isn't a groundcar, Maya. It's a band of +Martians! Let's get out of here!"</p> + +<p>He started to walk on swiftly, but Maya stood her ground.</p> + +<p>"Don't be silly," she said. "Martians won't hurt us. I was raised among +them."</p> + +<p>Nuwell stopped and returned reluctantly to her side.</p> + +<p>"They may not hurt us, but why wait for them?" he demanded, and there +was a touch of hysterical fright to his tone. "Let's go on, Maya!"</p> + +<p>"We may very well have gotten off course in trying to go straight to +Ultra Vires," replied Maya logically. "That may be why we've not sighted +it yet. The Martians will know where it is, and meeting them may prevent +us from getting lost in the desert."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p> + +<p>Nuwell subsided, but she could see from the expression on his face that +he was in a blue funk. This puzzled her. She could not understand why +anyone would be afraid of Martians. They were huge, and ugly, and alien, +but they were not inimical to humans.</p> + +<p>When the Martians came near enough, Maya waved her arms at them and +started off to meet them, Nuwell following her at a little distance. The +Martians changed course slightly and came toward them.</p> + +<p>Maya called childhood memories to her aid. She turned her helmet speaker +to its maximum volume, and spoke to them in their own language, in the +deepest tones possible to her.</p> + +<p>"Children of the past, we seek that place in the desert which is called +'Ultra Vires' by humans," she said. "Can you show us the direction in +which we must travel?"</p> + +<p>The Martians gathered around her, towering over her. There were four of +them. Their huge chests moved slowly, mixing oxygen from their great +humps with the surrounding air. Their thin arms hung limp at their +sides, and their big ears were pricked forward toward her. Their huge, +dark eyes seemed to look through her and beyond her.</p> + +<p>"The sun moves toward this place, but there are no humans there now," +boomed one of the Martians. "Nothing lives there now except small +animals in the walls and corridors."</p> + +<p>"This we know," answered Maya. "We wish to go there that we may +communicate with other humans and have them come and get us."</p> + +<p>She wanted to say that the supplies of oxygen in their marsuit tanks +were inadequate to take them anywhere other than Ultra Vires, but she +did not know how to say this properly in the Martian language.</p> + +<p>But, to her astonishment, the Martian answered as though she had said +it.</p> + +<p>"If the breathing chemicals which you carry are at such a depleted +stage, you cannot chance going astray," said the creature. "Rather than +tell you the direction of this place, we shall accompany you there."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span></p> + +<p>Throughout this conversation, Nuwell had been standing at Maya's side, +his face bearing an expression of mingled curiosity, irritation and awe. +Maya turned to him.</p> + +<p>"The Martians say they will go with us to Ultra Vires, so we won't get +lost," she told him.</p> + +<p>"No!" he exclaimed vehemently. "Tell them we don't want them along. Tell +them just to show us the way, and we'll go alone."</p> + +<p>"Don't be ridiculous," replied Maya coldly, and indicated to the Martian +that they were ready to accompany the group.</p> + +<p>They moved off together toward the west, the four Martians and the two +humans. Maya, feeling somewhat relieved that now they had expert help in +reaching their goal, attempted to talk to Nuwell, but he refused to +answer except in monosyllables. He was angry that she had agreed for the +Martians to accompany them, and obviously was still very nervous at +their presence.</p> + +<p>So she talked instead with the Martian who had acted as spokesman for +the group. Its name, she learned, was Qril.</p> + +<p>"The place to which you go lies under an evil atmosphere," said Qril. +"The human who abode there many years attempted to do things wrongly."</p> + +<p>"We were there in the season before this one," answered Maya. "This was +just before that human left."</p> + +<p>"I already had read this in you," said Qril. "I also read in you that, +as a child, you lived among us who are children of the past. Therefore, +perhaps you knew before I spoke that an evil atmosphere remains at this +place and has not yet been washed away by time."</p> + +<p>"No, I was not taught such matters as a child," answered Maya. "But tell +me, it is true that this man tried to do evil things, by human +standards, but were Goat Hennessey's genetic experiments also evil by +Martian standards?"</p> + +<p>"You do not read what I have said quite correctly," replied Qril. "The +evil atmosphere is left by the man, because what he did was evil by his +own standards. I said only that he attempted to do things wrongly."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?" asked Maya.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span></p> + +<p>"To explain to you, I must speak to you about things about which you +already know partially," answered Qril. "Before you were born, the human +you call Goat was one of a group of humans who sought ways to make +humans independent of the spaceships which bring materials from Earth to +Mars and create small islands of terrestrial conditions in the midst of +the Martian environment. When they met the natural resistance of those +humans who gain material advantage through operation of the spaceships, +they came into the desert to be free to work.</p> + +<p>"Seeking to get far from the men who resisted their work, this group of +humans went to that area which you know as the Icaria Desert. Some of us +who are children of the past live at that place sometimes, and these +humans sought our help, knowing that we possess many remnants of the +knowledge that our forefathers had.</p> + +<p>"But we had difficulty helping them. They were attempting to follow two +courses simultaneously, and both of them were wrong."</p> + +<p>"I know something of those two courses," said Maya. "Some of them were +trying to develop human extrasensory powers so that materials could be +teleported from Earth, and the others were trying to change the human +body physiologically so that humans could live under Martian conditions. +But you say they were both wrong?"</p> + +<p>"In each way that they followed, they sought to make humans partly like +us, the children of the past," said Qril. "We have the power to +communicate with our minds over a distance, and some of us are able to +transport things with our minds over a distance. We do not need your +rich terrestrial air, because we take oxygen directly from the soil and +store it in our bodies for combustion purposes.</p> + +<p>"But humans and the children of the past are different forms of life, +and they cannot be made so much alike. It is possible for humans to +develop mental powers similar to ours, but this course would leave them +dependent upon importing materials from Earth, even though this would be +by mind transmission instead of by spaceship. The other course they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> +followed could not succeed, because the human body cannot be altered so +that it is able to take oxygen from the soil and store it for later +use."</p> + +<p>"But you're wrong!" exclaimed Maya. "Goat Hennessey had succeeded in +developing some humans who could live without oxygen in the air for a +time. His experiments were imperfect, it's true, but they were able to +do that."</p> + +<p>"The imperfect humans that the human called Goat had developed were not +what he thought," replied Qril. "We tried to help the humans to find the +right course, but they could not understand us well. We tried to show +them, by charts and example, that the proper way to adapt a human to +Martian conditions was a different way.</p> + +<p>"Because Earth is nearer the Sun, humans have a possibility that we do +not have. What we tried to show these humans was a method whereby they +could change the embryonic physiology so that the adult human would be +able to use the energy of solar radiations directly, instead of +depending on the energy of combustion of those chemicals you call oxygen +and carbon. This makes the body independent of both air and food, and +has the advantage also of giving a far superior regenerative power to +the bodily tissues.</p> + +<p>"The human, Goat, for reasons that are not known, stole some of our +charts and two of the pregnant female humans, and continued his work at +this place to which we are going. But he thought he was still attempting +to change the physiology so that oxygen could be stored, and therefore +his experiments went wrongly."</p> + +<p>"But he had your charts," objected Maya. "Even though he was not making +the alterations he thought he was, how could he go wrong if he followed +the charts?"</p> + +<p>"The charts showed the changes to be made in the embryonic cells, but +they could not show the method whereby the changes are made," replied +Qril. "The human, Goat, attempted to make these changes by mechanical, +surgical methods but these are too crude to be successful. The method we +utilize to make such changes, which is the only right method,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> is to +focus the mental forces upon the embryo. I believe you would call it +psychokinesis."</p> + +<p>Maya was vastly excited at this revelation.</p> + +<p>"Then Goat's oldest experiments, the ones he called Brute and Adam, were +actually the ones on whom you children of the past had performed the +embryonic changes!" she exclaimed. "They must have been the sons of the +pregnant women he kidnapped. That's why they were more successful than +the others!"</p> + +<p>"That is true," said Qril. "We had completed the change on only one of +the two, therefore only that one would develop into an adult who could +live in complete independence of air and food, if necessary. The other +one would never be able to do it for more than a short period without +returning to terrestrial conditions."</p> + +<p>The party now came over a long low ridge, and the mass of Ultra Vires +rose from the desert ahead of them. The sun was near setting, and the +black walls of the stronghold huddled sullenly under its crimson rays.</p> + +<p>The Martians left them here, and Nuwell and Maya went on alone toward +their goal. Nuwell expelled an audible sigh of relief.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad we're free of those monsters," he said. "I don't understand +how you could carry on a conversation with such creatures, Maya. It +sounded like a series of animal grunts and cries to me. I caught an +occasional word, like 'oxygen' and 'psychokinesis.' What were you +talking about?"</p> + +<p>"He was telling me about Goat Hennessey's experiments, and how they +differed from the rebels' experiments before Goat came to Ultra Vires," +answered Maya.</p> + +<p>"That kind of talk serves no good purpose," said Nuwell irritably. "The +rebel movement has been broken now, and there's no point in thinking +about the illegal things they tried to do."</p> + +<p>They came down the slope and approached the southern airlock of Ultra +Vires. The airlock was still sealed. Nuwell activated it, and they went +through it into the big building.</p> + +<p>It was dark inside. Nuwell fumbled around a wall and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> found a light +switch. He pressed it, but nothing happened.</p> + +<p>"The electrical system isn't operating," he said. "We'll have to use our +marsuit torches."</p> + +<p>He switched on his flashlight. It cast a long beam down the dusty +corridor. Far ahead of them, a small animal scurried across the faint +light and vanished into the darkness.</p> + +<p>Nuwell checked his atmosphere dial.</p> + +<p>"The oxygen in here is all right," he said. "The air has been +maintained, anyhow. We can take off our helmets."</p> + +<p>They took off the marshelmets and walked down the corridor. They checked +each side door, looking for the communications room, but found only +empty chambers or abandoned rooms in which books, papers and broken +furniture were scattered in complete disorganization.</p> + +<p>It took them nearly an hour to find the communications room. And there +they met disappointment.</p> + +<p>Ultra Vires' radio transmitter and receiver had been dismantled. There +was nothing there but a jumble of broken tubes, discarded parts and bare +wire ends dangling from the walls. Nothing but an overturned table and +two bent metal chairs.</p> + +<p>"That settles that," said Nuwell, more philosophically then Maya would +have expected. "Our only hope is to find a groundcar."</p> + +<p>That necessitated another search, but at last they found the motor pool. +And there were three groundcars, all in various stages of breakdown or +dismantlement.</p> + +<p>"It looks like we'll have to walk, Nuwell," said Maya.</p> + +<p>Nuwell shook his head.</p> + +<p>"I checked the chart carefully," he said. "The oxygen supply of a +marsuit won't take us either back to the Canfell Farm or to Ophir, even +with extra tanks. We're just going to have to cannibalize two of these +machines and repair us a groundcar."</p> + +<p>"But, Nuwell, how long will that take?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know," he admitted. "It looks like it may be quite a job. I +expect it will take two or three weeks, but that's the only way we're +going to get out of here."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span></p> + +<p>He looked at her speculatively.</p> + +<p>"It's a shame we aren't already married," he said. "This would provide +us with a honeymoon, of a sort, out here by ourselves in the desert."</p> + +<p>"Well, we aren't," she said flatly. "And we won't be until we get back +to Mars City."</p> + +<p>"That's true," he said. "Well, the only thing we can do for tonight is +to have supper and find the rooms that Goat assigned us when we were +here before. I hope he left some beds intact in those, or some of the +other rooms. If not, we may have some uncomfortable nights ahead of us."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_12" id="CHAPTER_12"></a>12</h2> + + +<p>The two Dark Kensingtons and Happy Thurbelow walked along one of the +pathways between the vats, Happy trailing a bit behind. Somewhere near +them, they knew, Shadow accompanied them.</p> + +<p>The place was dim, with the moist dimness of a swamp. The source of the +light that filtered through the faint mist and seemed to permeate the +air was not discernible, and the roof of this underground world was lost +in the darkness above them. The placid surface of the water gleamed +vaguely in the vats they passed, and the pale-green tangle of vegetation +rose above and around them, sometimes drooping over the paths like +skinny arms that sought to detain them.</p> + +<p>"What I don't understand," said Dark the younger, "is that our memories +coincide exactly, up to a point which you say is a time twenty-five +years ago. My memories are just as genuine as you say yours are; they +aren't something someone told me, but real memories of things that +happened to me, things I felt and did. If they're both genuine sets of +memories, how can it be explained? Are we the same person, who was +somehow split into two distinct individuals?"</p> + +<p>"I can only guess at the explanation, but I have a theory," answered Old +Beard. "You are much younger than I am. I would estimate that you're +twenty-five years younger than I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> am. My memories are consecutive and +complete: I remember not only the earlier things you say you remember, +but the events of these past twenty-five years, without a break. You say +you suffered a period of amnesia, and your next consecutive memory is of +being with Martians in the Icaria Desert."</p> + +<p>"That would appear to give you an advantage in claiming to be the real +Dark Kensington," agreed Dark with a smile. "But, if you are, who am I? +How is it that I remember being Dark Kensington?"</p> + +<p>"It's entirely possible that, for some reason, my earlier memories were +grafted onto you as your own," replied Old Beard. "I don't know how this +would be done, perhaps through very deep and extensive hypnosis. The +Martians, as well as we can tell anything about them at all, are experts +in such mental fields, a relic of the ancient science they're legended +to have had when their civilizations covered Mars.</p> + +<p>"I worked with Martians very closely for long periods during the early +days of the rebellion—the Phoenix, as you say they call it now—and +they may very well have recorded my memory pattern through some means I +don't know anything about and for reasons I can't imagine."</p> + +<p>"That sounds reasonable," conceded Dark. "But that still leaves +unanswered the questions: Who am I, and what's happened to my memories +of the past twenty-five years?"</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid I can't answer that," replied Old Beard.</p> + +<p>In the dimness ahead of them, they discerned a group of nude Toughs +approaching, swaggering down the path. They turned aside and found a +recess in the vegetation in which they could wait until the Toughs +passed and went on their way. The Toughs were aggressive, and +insensately brutal, and a meeting with them could only mean trouble.</p> + +<p>"Happy's explained the situation here, as well as he could, but I'm +afraid it wasn't a very adequate explanation," said Dark as they huddled +in the shadowed recess. "Could you tell me more about it, and explain +how you happen to be here?"</p> + +<p>"Happy is very intelligent, for a Jelly, but none of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> Jellies are +exceptionally bright," answered Old Beard, with a touch of affection in +his voice. "I'll outline it to you as briefly as I can.</p> + +<p>"As your memories—or transplanted memories—indicate, I was one of a +group of Martian colonists who joined forces to work at what, at first, +appeared to be a theoretical and fantastic project: the development of +the ability to live under natural Martian conditions, without dependence +on the regular importation of extremely expensive imports from Earth. As +you know, this project very shortly began to lose its fantastic +qualities and appear to be definitely within the realm of possible +realization.</p> + +<p>"Because of the differing background and orientation of those of us who +attempted this project, two approaches were adopted. One, based on +advancing terrestrial research into the field of extrasensory +perception, was aimed at developing telepathic and telekinetic powers so +that food, oxygen, machinery and other essentials could be teleported +directly from Earth into the martian domes without dependence on the +spacelines. The other, based on more orthodox science, was aimed at +genetic development of a human type that could live <i>without</i> these +importations, on native Martian food and in the Martian atmosphere.</p> + +<p>"As you know, the government banned these experiments and we retreated +into the desert to carry them on despite the ban. From what you tell me +of the extent of your memories, what you do not know is the reason +behind the ban, which we discovered—or, at least, I did—only after we +had been betrayed and the government had raided and broken up our +experimental colony.</p> + +<p>"The spacelines, as one might have guessed, were responsible. They saw +that the success of the experiments would destroy their lucrative +business. These spacelines, led by the Mars Corporation, which later +absorbed the others and gained a monopoly, brought political pressure to +bear and got the project banned.</p> + +<p>"I had heard reports that a great many of my colleagues escaped and +formed a rebel organization that carried on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> work secretly and +illegally, but I was never able to learn details of it until you came +and told me of the activities in which you have been engaged. You see, I +haven't been out of these caves in a quarter of a century."</p> + +<p>Shadow appeared at the recess to report to them that the Toughs had +passed on. How he did it, Dark was unable to determine surely, for he +could hear no words spoken. Either Shadow communicated by subtle +gestures or by tones beyond Dark's powers of hearing, but both Old Beard +and Happy seemed to understand him readily.</p> + +<p>"How do you happen to be here, Old Beard?" asked Dark as they left the +recess and resumed their progress down the walkways.</p> + +<p>"I was captured when the government broke up the experimental groups," +answered Old Beard. "I was the leader of the section of the experiments +dealing with extrasensory perception, and, instead of executing me at +once, they tried to persuade me to continue this work for the government +along specific lines and under supervision. I refused, because I knew +that anything I helped them develop would not be used for the benefit of +the Martian colonists, but for greater profits for the spacelines.</p> + +<p>"At last I was able to escape into these underground caverns where they +grow food plants hydroponically and sell them to supplement the produce +of the dome farms and the gardens in the dome cities. These caverns are +extensive and, with the friendship and help of the Jellies, I've evaded +discovery for twenty-five years."</p> + +<p>"Just who and what are the Jellies?" asked Dark. "I haven't been able to +get a very satisfactory answer to that question from Happy."</p> + +<p>"They're human experimental animals," answered Old Beard. "The +terrestrial food plants grown hydroponically and sold in the dome cities +actually are a supplemental sideline to the real purpose of this place. +Marscorp is conducting its own experiments here, with a crew of expert +geneticists.</p> + +<p>"What Marscorp is trying to do is to breed native Martian plants, that +will grow in the open lowlands without expensive<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> oxygenation and +irrigation, that are not poisonous to humans and can be used for food. +At the same time, they're approaching the problem from the other side, +and the Jellies are men and women whose glandular structure has been +altered in an effort to make their physiology more receptive to native +Martian vegetation. If they succeed, of course, Marscorp has just as +complete a monopoly over such a food supply as it does over imports from +Earth, but at considerably less expense."</p> + +<p>"And the Toughs?"</p> + +<p>"They're human experimental animals, too, based on a different type of +glandular alteration. They're neither as docile nor as intelligent as +the Jellies, so they can't be used for slave labour as the Jellies can. +About the only way they're ever used is as occasional goon squads to +terrorize the Jellies and keep them in line."</p> + +<p>"You've been here twenty-five years and have never been able to escape?" +asked Dark incredulously.</p> + +<p>"This place isn't guarded," replied Old Beard, with a wry smile. "They +don't have to guard it. All they have to guard are the supply room where +the marsuits are kept and the motor pool of groundcars. This place is in +the middle of the Desert of Candor, and no one can live in the Martian +desert without oxygen."</p> + +<p>They came now to one of the walls of the underground cavern, and Old +Beard led them suddenly into a fissure that was well concealed from the +walkways by a tangled screen of vegetation. They stumbled along a narrow +passageway for a few feet, and emerged into a rude shaft, around the +walls of which a roughly-chiseled and steep stairway led upward into +pitch darkness. Here Old Beard halted.</p> + +<p>"When I told you there's no way of escape here, it was not that I +haven't tried many times," he said to Dark.</p> + +<p>"This shaft leads up into the walls of the structure above—above, +although it is still underground—and I have been up there often at +night. It has long been my hope that I might be able to get a marsuit or +a groundcar and make my escape,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> but they are kept locked up and always +guarded, against the Jellies and the Toughs.</p> + +<p>"I want to take you up and give you an idea of the place now, and later +perhaps you will have some ideas to contribute. Happy and Shadow will +stay down here until we get back."</p> + +<p>Old Beard mounted the steep steps slowly, and Dark followed at his +heels. Although the bottom of the "well" was lighted with the same dim +light as that which spread throughout the entire underground area, there +was no light at all higher up, and they had to feel their way carefully +lest they fall off the narrow steps.</p> + +<p>At the top, Old Beard stopped and Dark bumped sharply into him.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to move down the space between the walls," Old Beard +whispered. "Hold onto my hand and follow me. But don't say anything or +make any more noise than you can help, because anyone beyond the wall +may be able to hear you."</p> + +<p>They moved ahead. The way was very narrow, very dark and very difficult, +and frequently was choked with ventilator pipes or tangles of wiring. +They had gone some forty or fifty feet, when Old Beard stopped.</p> + +<p>By Old Beard's movements, Dark knew he was working at something. Then a +section of ventilator pipe came away from a ventilator grill, and faint +light illuminated the space in which they crouched. In this dimness, Old +Beard gestured to Dark to look through the ventilator.</p> + +<p>Peering out, Dark saw that they were near the ceiling of a large, +high-ceilinged room. In it, under glaring lights, a group of half a +dozen white-clad men were working with knives and other instruments on +the body of a man, either anaesthetized or dead, which lay on a surgical +table.</p> + +<p>Old Beard put his face against the grill next to Dark's, and the two men +watched the scene below for a few moments. Then one of the men around +the table raised his head, revealing a thin face, with watery blue eyes +and a straggly goatee.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span></p> + +<p>The two men inside the wall gasped as one man.</p> + +<p>"<i>Father!</i>"</p> + +<p>The single loud word was torn from Dark's throat without his volition, +without his actually realizing he had spoken.</p> + +<p>The heads of the men in the room jerked up at the cry, and they looked +around and at each other, with puzzled expressions. Old Beard clapped a +firm hand over Dark's mouth and hissed in his ear:</p> + +<p>"Fool! Let's get out of here!"</p> + +<p>As quietly as possible, they made their way back. Through the ventilator +behind them came the murmur of querulous voices.</p> + +<p>When they had climbed back down the stairs and, with Happy and Shadow, +made their way back through the fissure, Old Beard fixed penetrating +eyes on Dark and said:</p> + +<p>"I told you to keep quiet up there! What was that exclamation all +about?"</p> + +<p>"It's something very strange," murmured Dark, his face thoughtful and +bemused. "But you evidently recognized that man, too. Who is he?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know him very well," answered Old Beard, with deep bitterness in +his tone. "That's Goat Hennessey. But that's the first time I've seen +him in twenty-five years. He must have just come here recently."</p> + +<p>"Goat Hennessey? I heard of him when I was in Mars City."</p> + +<p>"Goat Hennessey was one of my most trusted friends," said Old Beard. "If +you bear my earlier memories, I'm surprised you didn't recognize him as +Goat Hennessey, too."</p> + +<p>"I recognized him as someone else," said Dark in a low voice.</p> + +<p>"We worked together," went on Old Beard. "I was a leader in the effort +to solve our problem through extrasensory perception, and he was the +major scientist in the group attempting to solve it by genetic change. +We worked together and we went into the desert together with the others +when the government banned our experiments.</p> + +<p>"But Goat was the man who sold out. He betrayed us to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> the +government—for what price I don't know. And when government agents +raided us and broke up our organization and captured me, Goat Hennessey +kidnapped my young and pregnant wife, and I never saw her again.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad Goat Hennessey is here, because now I can get to him. And when +I can reach him, I'm going to kill him. I'd like to kill him as slowly +and painfully as he killed the heart inside of me!"</p> + +<p>As Old Beard spoke these last words, his face was tense, his fists +clenched and a somber fire burned in his pale eyes. Then, slowly, the +fire died out and he turned his eyes, once more cool and rational, a +little quizzical, on Dark.</p> + +<p>"Didn't you call him 'father'?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Dark in a low voice. "But I'd rather not talk about it right +now."</p> + +<p>He looked at Old Beard, and seemed to be ridding himself, with an +effort, of a deep introversion.</p> + +<p>"There's one thing that I've remembered as a result of seeing Goat +Hennessey," said Dark in a firmer voice. "This place isn't too far from +a place in the Xanthe Desert where Goat conducted some significant +experiments. If he left any of his records there—and I'm thinking of +some in particular—they might go a long way toward solving the problem +we've all be working on for so long. So now I know what to do next: I'm +going to Ultra Vires."</p> + +<p>Old Beard smiled sadly.</p> + +<p>"Have you forgotten we can't get out of this place?" he reminded. "We +can't get at either the marsuits or the groundcars."</p> + +<p>It was Dark's turn to smile.</p> + +<p>"I believe you said there aren't any guards on the airlocks to stop one +from walking out at night?" he said.</p> + +<p>"That's true, but—"</p> + +<p>"There's something you don't know," continued Dark. "You were wondering +at the basis of the regenerative power that permitted me to revive here +after being shot in the stomach with a heatgun. I don't know what it is, +but whatever it is, it's something that also permits me to live without +oxygen.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Happy can testify that I was fully alive and conscious underwater. I +discovered, before I was shot, that I can operate just as well outside, +in the Martian atmosphere, without a helmet. And that's why Goat's +records may solve our problem.</p> + +<p>"So tonight I'll leave this place and go to Ultra Vires. If there are +any marsuits and groundcars left there, I'll come back here with them, +and you and Happy and Shadow can escape with me. If not, you may have to +wait a while longer.</p> + +<p>"But I'll be back!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_13" id="CHAPTER_13"></a>13</h2> + + +<p>Brute Hennessey plodded westward through the Xanthe Desert, naked, +wearing no marsuit, his head bare to the thin, oxygen-poor Martian air. +The two small moons shone in the star-spangled sky above the lone +figure, casting fantastic shadows on the sands.</p> + +<p>But this was not the stupid, shambling Brute Hennessey of a few months +past. He walked surely and proudly, and the light of intelligence shone +in his eyes.</p> + +<p>He called himself, now, Dark Kensington.</p> + +<p>Dark's muscular body had not regained, quite, the firmness and tone it +had had before he was shot down at Solis Lacus, but he had recovered +greatly from the bloated flabbiness of a few days ago. Most of that had +been water in his tissues, and resumption of normal physical activity +had wrung it out in short order.</p> + +<p>As he plodded through the Martian night toward Ultra Vires, Dark was +remembering, with something of awe, that emotional explosion within him +that had occurred on his first sight of Goat Hennessey at the Canfell +Hydroponic Farm. It was this sudden, overwhelming recognition that had +wrung from his lips the cry: "<i>Father!</i>"</p> + +<p>In that moment, memory had returned with terrible impact and he had been +overwhelmed by the re-experience of those moments when he had stood +before the man he admired and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> loved as his father and had seen the +bitter realization of rejection by that man written with the point of a +knife.</p> + +<p>Now he remembered it all. He remembered his childhood at Ultra Vires, he +remembered Adam and their experiences together, he remembered their +treks through the desert at Goat Hennessey's command, he remembered his +slaying of Adam and his acceptance of death at Goat's hands. He +remembered that he, Dark Kensington, was Brute Hennessey, somehow +brought to life once before in the Icaria Desert even as he had himself +regained life a second time in the vats of the Canfell Hydroponic Farm.</p> + +<p>So Goat Hennessey was his father, apparently. And Old Beard, the real +Dark Kensington, vowed vengeance on Goat. Dark was able to view this +with equanimity. He no longer felt any admiration or affection for Goat, +whatever relationship might exist between them.</p> + +<p>But, since he was Brute Hennessey and thus not old enough to be the real +Dark Kensington, how and why had he acquired the memories of Dark +Kensington? That question remained unanswered.</p> + +<p>Phobos was setting for the first time that night when Dark reached the +great hulk of Ultra Vires, manipulated one of the airlocks and entered +its dark corridors. There was no light, and a test of the light switch +proved that the electrical system was no longer operating. But Dark knew +every inch of this place from early childhood. He felt his way through +the pitch darkness to Goat Hennessey's old bedroom.</p> + +<p>Probing about in the darkness, he discovered that Goat's bed was still +supplied with mattress and crumpled blankets. This surprised him +somewhat, as any item of cloth on Mars had to be imported from Earth and +was far too valuable to abandon. But, apparently, these things had been +left temporarily in Goat's abandonment of Ultra Vires and would be +picked up by truck later.</p> + +<p>Deriving a certain humorous satisfaction from taking over the master's +chamber, Dark curled up on Goat's bed and went to sleep.</p> + +<p>He awoke the next morning with the glare of the desert<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> sunlight +reflected into the room. He arose, stretched and yawned. The room was a +mess. Goat had left the bed clothing intact, but he had turned +everything else upside down in packing his personal effects to leave the +place.</p> + +<p>There was still water in the reservoir, and Ultra Vires' plumbing system +was still in operation. Dark bathed. He felt ruefully at the thick +stubble of beard that had overgrown his face in the past few days, but +Goat had left no shaving equipment behind.</p> + +<p>Dark made his way down to the big kitchen. There were supplies of canned +food there, and he found utensils and ate. He was hungry, but not +ravenous, and this surprised him a little, because he had had no food +since he started out afoot from the Canfell Hydroponic Farm, four nights +ago. But he was no hungrier than he would normally be after a night's +sleep.</p> + +<p>As he ate, his eye fell on dishes stacked beside the sink. He was +startled to notice that water still sparkled on them.</p> + +<p>He arose and checked them. Yes, they were still wet.</p> + +<p>There were remnants of fresh food in the garbage can.</p> + +<p>People, here? Camping out? Or, more likely, someone passing through the +desert who had taken shelter here for the night? But he thought he would +have heard the roar of a groundcar leaving.</p> + +<p>Thoughtfully, Dark finished his breakfast. It occurred to him that +perhaps some members of the Phoenix had taken refuge here after fleeing +Mars City. But most of them did not even know of the existence of Ultra +Vires, much less its location.</p> + +<p>At any rate, there was no reason to assume that anyone who happened to +be here would be unfriendly to him, in case they met by chance. He saw +no reason to worry about it.</p> + +<p>Finishing breakfast, Dark went down to the storeroom and picked out +three marsuits, for Old Beard, Happy and Shadow. There was a large-sized +suit there that he thought might accommodate Happy's bulk, but he +wondered how Shadow, with his flat build, was going to manage one.</p> + +<p>Nakedness felt quite natural to Dark, especially since he remembered his +identity as Brute, but it occurred to him that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> it would look peculiar +to anyone he might meet before leaving Ultra Vires—or, for that matter, +on his way back to the Canfell Hydroponic Farm. So he donned a marsuit +himself, leaving off the helmet.</p> + +<p>Carrying the other three marsuits, he went down the corridor to the +motor pool.</p> + +<p>Dark remembered that Goat had always kept four groundcars on hand. There +were three here now, all in advanced stages of dismantlement.</p> + +<p>At one of them, a small figure in black tunic and loose trousers was +bending over, head and arms plunged into the bowels of the engine.</p> + +<p>Dark hesitated. He had found his intruder, perhaps a traveler who had +run into engine trouble in the desert and had fortuitously been near +enough to take shelter here while making repairs. But, again, there was +no reason to anticipate unfriendliness.</p> + +<p>Carrying his marsuits, Dark walked up to the groundcar, overhearing a +muffled bit of profanity as he approached. The unfortunate mechanic +evidently heard his footsteps, because he was greeted with:</p> + +<p>"I wish to Phobos you'd stay down here and <i>try</i> to help me, instead of +spending all your time snooping around this deserted shack!"</p> + +<p>The voice was muffled, but it was definitely feminine and definitely +irritated. Dark grinned and replied drolly:</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry, but this is the first time you've asked me to help you."</p> + +<p>With an audible gasp, the woman disentangled herself, in dangerous +haste, from the groundcar engine and faced Dark.</p> + +<p>They stared at each other, in mutual shocked recognition.</p> + +<p>There was Dark Kensington, bearded, his arms full of marsuits, and there +was Maya Cara Nome, sleeves rolled up, her lovely face streaked with +grease.</p> + +<p>Dark's jaw dropped. Maya's lips formed a round, astonished O.</p> + +<p>Then, with a squeal, she hurled herself on him, throwing her arms around +his neck. Dark staggered back, overwhelmed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> by marsuits, an abundance of +wriggling femininity and a babble of happy and-completely unintelligible +words gushed against his bearded cheek.</p> + +<p>He managed to disentangle himself by the dual process of dropping the +marsuits and holding Maya forcibly at arm's length. She gazed up into +his face, her own awed and radiant, and was able to reduce her own words +to connected sentences.</p> + +<p>"You're not here," she said positively. "You can't be here. You're dead. +I saw you killed. You must be one of the ghosts of Ultra Vires."</p> + +<p>She wriggled free and threw her arms around his neck again, announcing +happily, "But you're a solid, <i>comfortable</i> ghost, and I love you!"</p> + +<p>Again, Dark managed to get her at arm's length and looked down seriously +into her face.</p> + +<p>"Did I hear you correctly?" he asked soberly. "Did you say you love me?"</p> + +<p>"I did. And I mean it. Oh, Dark, how I mean it!"</p> + +<p>He pulled her to him. He kissed her gravely. Then he held her close in +his arms, while she rested her head contentedly against his shoulder.</p> + +<p>"What," he asked at last, "are you doing here, tinkering with a +groundcar?"</p> + +<p>"Nuwell and I were on our way to Mars City by helicopter, when it failed +and crashed," she explained. "This was the only place near enough for us +to make it afoot, and the marsuit radios don't have the range to call +for help. We've been here more than two weeks now, trying to repair +these groundcars."</p> + +<p>She looked at the machine she had been working on and shook her head +ruefully.</p> + +<p>"I don't think any of them can be fixed," she said. "Nuwell, it turns +out, doesn't know a damn thing about machinery, but I was taught a good +deal about mechanics when I was trained as a terrestrial agent. Even +with three groundcars to supply parts, there are some things missing +that I don't think I can jury-rig substitutes for."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span></p> + +<p>She turned back to Dark.</p> + +<p>"But you're dead!" she exclaimed. "I know you are, because we carried +your body with us to the Canfell Hydroponic Farm. How in space can you +be here, alive and kissing, when you made such a beautiful corpse?"</p> + +<p>Dark explained the circumstances to her; how he had awakened in the vat, +how he had been able to breathe underwater, how the sight of Goat +Hennessey had revived in him the memory of his identity as Brute, how he +had been able to walk across the desert without a marsuit.</p> + +<p>"If you're Brute Hennessey, I know why you aren't dead," she said when +he had finished. "We fell in with a party of Martians on our way here, +and they told me about certain embryonic changes they made on you and +Adam before Goat kidnapped your mothers and brought them to Ultra Vires. +Qril—he's the Martian I talked to—said that these alterations not only +permit you to live in a free Martian environment, but give you +extraordinary regenerative powers."</p> + +<p>"They must be extraordinary, if they permit me to come to life again +after being stabbed in the heart and having my belly burned out with a +heatgun," observed Dark.</p> + +<p>"That's because your tissues aren't dependent on oxygen-carbon +combustion," explained Maya. "According to Qril, when oxygen is no +longer available to you, your cells utilize direct solar energy. That +would prevent your tissues from dying while the damaged area of your +body is under repair."</p> + +<p>She looked at him in sudden awed realization.</p> + +<p>"It would seem, darling, that you're virtually indestructible!" she +said.</p> + +<p>Dark laughed.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps so," he said. "But I don't hanker to experiment along those +lines any more than necessary. Dying is a very unpleasant experience, +even if I do come to life again."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Dark," said Maya, remembering. "I'd like for Qril to see you, and +maybe he'll give us some more information. They came back here three +days ago and, for some reason, have just been hanging around outside, +under the walls. Let me get on a marsuit, and I'll take you to him."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Here, put on one of these," suggested Dark, picking up the one he had +selected for Old Beard.</p> + +<p>Maya wriggled into it. The Martians, she said, were on the other side of +Ultra Vires, so they left the motor pool and walked down one of the long +corridors together, Maya clinging to Dark's arm with one hand and +carrying her marshelmet under her other arm.</p> + +<p>They were halfway across the big building when Nuwell Eli appeared +around a corner about thirty feet ahead of them. He stopped, staring, at +the sight of Maya's companion.</p> + +<p>"Maya," he began, as they neared him. "Who ...?"</p> + +<p>Then he recognized Dark.</p> + +<p>With a terrified yelp, Nuwell turned and raced back down the side +corridor at top speed. They heard the clack-clack of his heels on the +stone floor, fading in the distance.</p> + +<p>Dark and Maya stopped and looked at each other.</p> + +<p>"It must have been quite a shock to him, too, to see you risen from the +dead," she said. "I don't believe he's as happy to see you as I was, +Dark."</p> + +<p>"No, his joy seemed considerably mitigated," replied Dark gravely. "But, +Maya, this raises a rather serious question which hadn't occurred to me +before, in the happiness of our reunion."</p> + +<p>"What's that, darling?"</p> + +<p>"You're a terrestrial agent and, as such, you put me under arrest. It's +true, you tried to free me later. But didn't you tell me that night that +you were engaged to marry this man, Nuwell Eli?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," she admitted in a small voice. "But—"</p> + +<p>"I haven't had the pleasure of meeting the gentleman before," continued +Dark, still in the same grave tone. "But you and he were going back to +Mars City together, and, for some reason, it occurs to me that you and +he planned to be married as soon as you could get there."</p> + +<p>Maya was somewhat stunned at this evidence of mind reading.</p> + +<p>"That's true," she said in a very small voice.</p> + +<p>"Now," said Dark, "you tell me that you love me. You must<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> admit that +the question raised by this is rather serious. Does this declaration of +love—which, I assure you, is reciprocated completely—imply a radical +change in your past course of action? Or, since you're still a +terrestrial agent, can I expect to be arrested again as a preliminary to +your joining Mr. Eli in the holy state of matrimony?"</p> + +<p>Maya looked up into his face, and burst out laughing.</p> + +<p>"I may have put it jokingly," protested Dark, a little taken aback, "but +I'm serious, Maya."</p> + +<p>"I know you are!" she giggled. "That's what makes it so funny. Answering +you in the same vein, Mr. Kensington, I don't intend to put you in +double jeopardy!"</p> + +<p>Dark raised his eyebrows quizzically.</p> + +<p>"I arrested you and you were killed resisting arrest," she explained +mischievously. "I've discharged that duty as a terrestrial agent, so I +don't think I'm either required or entitled to arrest you again. And as +for the other, well, I am a little sorry for Nuwell, but I do love you, +and I won't marry Nuwell, since you're alive. But I can't marry you, +Dark."</p> + +<p>Dark was stunned at this.</p> + +<p>"Why not, Maya? You mean, because you're a terrestrial agent?"</p> + +<p>"No, it isn't that. I'm planning to resign as an agent, as soon as I get +back to Mars City, and that wouldn't stop me, anyway. The reason I can't +marry you is simply that you haven't asked me."</p> + +<p>Dark laughed, a rollicking, relieved laugh, and swept her into his arms.</p> + +<p>"Maya, darling, I ask you now!" he exclaimed. "Will you marry me?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Dark," she answered demurely.</p> + +<p>She leaned back in the circle of his arms and looked up into his face, +seriously.</p> + +<p>"Whither thou goest, I will go," she said, very quietly. "If you're a +rebel, Dark, I'll be a rebel, too. I want to be with you, and help you +in whatever you do."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_14" id="CHAPTER_14"></a>14</h2> + + +<p>Dark and Maya sat with their backs against the wall of Ultra Vires, and +Qril squatted before them, towering huge above them. A little distance +away the other three Martians were grouped, playing some sort of game, +doing some sort of work or participating in some sort of joint +demonstration. Dark could not be sure which.</p> + +<p>Qril boomed out a long, rolling sentence and Maya broke into laughter. +She turned to Dark and translated:</p> + +<p>"He said he didn't understand why I'm wearing a helmet, when you aren't. +I explained that I have to wear a helmet to breathe, and he said that, +since you and I are alike, it appears that we'd dress alike. So you see, +darling, even the Martians recognize that we're made for each other."</p> + +<p>Dark shook his head in wonderment.</p> + +<p>"No human has ever been able to figure out Martian thinking processes, +and I doubt that one ever will," he remarked. "This is the Martian who +explained to you the physiological structure that permits me to live +without oxygen, and yet he asks a question like that!"</p> + +<p>"There's one thing that puzzles me," said Maya curiously. "Without a +helmet, you can't use your marsuit heater, and you said you walked here +naked. But the temperature out here right now is well below freezing. +Aren't you cold?"</p> + +<p>"No," answered Dark. "I get cold in temperatures that are uncomfortable +to anyone else when I'm in a dome or a building and breathing. But out +here, when I'm not breathing, I'm aware of temperature changes but they +don't cause me any discomfort. It must be that switching to direct +utilization of solar power alters my reactions to temperature."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Maya, "I can understand that utilization of solar power +when you're in the sunshine. But how can you keep operating when you're +in shadow, or at night, and not breathing?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know. Maybe Qril does."</p> + +<p>Maya asked the Martian, and relayed his answer to Dark:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Qril says that you store excess energy in the tissues, very much as the +Martians store oxygen. In a sense, direct sunlight's your generator, and +it charges your batteries for power when it isn't operating. Now, Dark, +why don't you ask him anything you want to know about your origin, and +I'll act as translator."</p> + +<p>"All right," agreed Dark. "But first, it was among Martians that I awoke +when I returned to life the first time in the Icaria Desert. That's +pretty far away, but I understand Martians have a weird sort of +sympathetic communication among themselves. Does he know anything about +how I got there?"</p> + +<p>Maya talked with Qril and translated:</p> + +<p>"Qril is one of the Martians I saw come by here and pick up your body +the morning after Goat killed you and threw your body out in the desert. +Qril says they recognized you from your genetic pattern—and don't ask +me how they did this!—as being the one they had completed embryonic +alteration on years before, so they picked you up and took you with them +to give you a chance to regenerate and revive."</p> + +<p>"But how and why did I turn up after my revival with Dark Kensington's +memories?"</p> + +<p>"He says they gave you a memory pattern by a deep telepathic process," +answered Maya after talking with Qril, "because your memory pattern as +Brute was of no value to you in meeting a new environment. It seems that +there was some blockage in the operation of your brain as Brute, because +of a slight fault in the embryonic alteration, and they corrected that +before you revived."</p> + +<p>"But why Dark Kensington's memory pattern?" asked Dark. "It turned out +to be a valuable one for me, but I've met the real Dark Kensington since +then, and he's a much older man. Why did they choose his memory +pattern?"</p> + +<p>Maya talked with Qril.</p> + +<p>"He says names mean very little to them," she said then. "That's +something I learned as a child: that Martians often interchange their +names, and the names evidently refer to a state of experience and being +rather than to a specific in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span>dividual. But he says that the memory +pattern they chose to give you was that of your father!"</p> + +<p>Dark stared at her, stunned.</p> + +<p>"Then," he said slowly, "Old Beard is my father. I should have known! I +think I felt it."</p> + +<p>"I'm not surprised if you did," said Maya. "From what Qril tells me, +Dark, this prenatal alteration they performed on you gave you even more +extensive powers than we realized. He says that you have extraordinary +extrasensory ability, if you would only make an effort to use it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I do, do I?" murmured Dark thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>He looked over at the other Martians, seated in a circle in the morning +sunshine. They were taking turns tossing some small polygons, and +evidently the objective of whatever they were doing lay in the way the +polygons fell.</p> + +<p>Dark felt a sudden surge of power in his brain. He concentrated it, he +focused it, and one of the polygons rose slowly from the ground and +drifted into the air above the Martians' heads.</p> + +<p>Dark could feel the strength that went out and raised the polygon, like +an invisible extension of himself. Then he felt another force seize the +polygon, and it was drawn back firmly and without hesitation to its +former place.</p> + +<p>Dark turned his head back to look into Qril's huge eyes, and at once he +was in mental contact with the Martian.</p> + +<p>Qril was laughing at him. There was no change of expression on Qril's +face, but in his mind was the atmosphere of high humor. Qril's thoughts +came to him without words, in no language, silently but clearly:</p> + +<p><i>You have not practised your power. Experience will be necessary before +you can compete with the simplest effort of one of our race.</i></p> + +<p>Dark turned to Maya.</p> + +<p>"He's right," said Dark. "I do have extrasensory powers, but they'll +need some development."</p> + +<p>"I know," said Maya. "The telepathic voltage in the atmosphere must be +very high right now, because even I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> sensed your effort in lifting that +object, and I understood Qril's communication to you."</p> + +<p>Maya and Dark took their leave of Qril, and went back into Ultra Vires. +As they did so, Qril and the other Martians arose and began to drift +away into the desert, as though they had had a mission in staying here, +which was now accomplished.</p> + +<p>"I hope you know something about mechanics," said Maya as they walked +down the corridor together. "Because if you don't, it looks like we're +stuck here for a while. At least I am, unless you can run one of these +groundcars with psychokinetic power."</p> + +<p>"No, apparently I'm not that good at it yet," said Dark. "Maybe I could +teleport in any parts you need. No wait! I just remembered something! +Come with me."</p> + +<p>They turned off into a side corridor, found stairs and climbed to the +top floor of the building. There they followed another corridor until +Dark stopped and opened a door.</p> + +<p>It was the door to a small airlock. Dark led Maya through it into a huge +room.</p> + +<p>A helicopter stood in its center.</p> + +<p>"Goat <i>did</i> leave it here!" exclaimed Dark joyfully. "I'd forgotten that +he had this. He must have just packed the most necessary things when he +left the place, planning to send trucks and a crew back and clean it out +later at his leisure. Now, if this copter's only in good flying shape, +we're set."</p> + +<p>He checked the machine over. Everything was in order.</p> + +<p>"How do we get it out of here?" asked Maya curiously, looking around the +room. "That little airlock's too small for a copter to go through it."</p> + +<p>"The roof rolls back," said Dark. "Put on your helmet, and I'll show +you."</p> + +<p>Maya donned her marshelmet. Dark went to the wall and pulled a switch. +Nothing happened.</p> + +<p>"I forgot," he said. "The electricity's off. Well, let's try something."</p> + +<p>Dark concentrated his mind intensely on the movable ceiling. For a +moment, there was resistance, then, very slowly,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> it began to open. A +crack appeared in its center, and the air of the room hissed out with +the swish of a minor tempest. After that, it was easier. The crack +widened swiftly, and the roof rolled back to the walls, leaving the room +open to the heavens.</p> + +<p>"All we have to do now is to climb into it and go," said Dark with +satisfaction. "You fill the fuel tanks, and I'll run down to the motor +pool and pick up those other two marsuits. One of them is for my friend +Happy, who is very fat, and he couldn't wear either of the emergency +suits in the copter."</p> + +<p>Maya uncoiled the hose from one of the fuel drums in the room and poked +it into the copter's tank. Dark left the room, walked down the corridor +and descended the stairs.</p> + +<p>He made his way to the motor pool. Maya was wearing one of the three +marsuits he had brought down, but the other two were still lying on the +floor. He picked them up and started back.</p> + +<p>He was walking down the first floor corridor, carrying the marsuits, +when there crashed in on his mind a terrifying, silent scream:</p> + +<p><i>Help!</i></p> + +<p>Dark stopped, appalled. It took him a moment to realize that he was +still standing in the corridor. It took him a moment to realize that he +actually had heard nothing.</p> + +<p>The corridor stretched away ahead of him, dim and dusty. There was no +movement in it, no sound. It was utterly silent. He stood there, in a +dim, dusty corridor, in waiting silence, holding two marsuits under his +arms.</p> + +<p><i>Help!</i></p> + +<p>It was a cry that shrieked in his mind, reverberated in his mind, +touching nothing around him, touching not the silent corridor.</p> + +<p><i>Maya!</i></p> + +<p>Dark's mind went out to her, rode up on swift wings to the room above +where she had waited for his return.</p> + +<p>He was there, in that room, and there was the helicopter. There was no +Maya there.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span></p> + +<p>But there were figures in the copter, moving.</p> + +<p>He was in the copter, and there was Maya, struggling and writhing, as +Nuwell Eli, in a furious concentration of savage energy, bound her into +one of its seats with a length of rope.</p> + +<p>Dark touched her mind, and her mind grasped his, desperately.</p> + +<p><i>Dark, he followed us up here, and hid until you left. He crept up +behind me and seized me. Hurry, Dark, he's taking me away!</i></p> + +<p>Hurry? Down those corridors, up those steps, when Nuwell already was +sliding into the pilot's seat of the copter?</p> + +<p>Frantically, Dark grasped at his only chance of reaching her in time. +Teleportation.</p> + +<p>He clamped down with his mind on himself. With a frenzied burst of +strength, he sought to lift himself bodily, to be there in the copter +with them. He put every ounce of energy he possessed into the effort.</p> + +<p>And he failed.</p> + +<p>He was standing in the dim, dusty corridor, two marsuits under his arm, +straining futilely toward a place he could not reach. And now he +actually heard, with his ears, the muted vibration above him as the +copter's engines roared to life.</p> + +<p>Dark started running.</p> + +<p>He dropped the marsuits, and ran down the corridor. He leaped up the +stairs, two and three at a time. Breathless, his heart pounding, he +staggered down the upper corridor and impatiently went through the +seemingly interminable process of negotiating the airlock.</p> + +<p>He emerged into the big room.</p> + +<p>It was empty.</p> + +<p>The ceiling was open to the Martian sky. The sunlight poured into the +roofless room.</p> + +<p>In the sky, a small, teetering object rose and moved away from Ultra +Vires, its blades whirring a sparkling circle in the thin air.</p> + +<p>Dark reached out to it with his mind, and again he was in the copter. +Nuwell sat tensely at the controls, guiding it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> Maya was in the other +seat, her arms bound down by her sides, her expression agonized.</p> + +<p>Nuwell was unaware of Dark's mental presence. Maya sensed it and her +mind turned toward him.</p> + +<p><i>Dark, Dark, what can we do? I should have been watching for him. I +should have known, after he saw us together, that he would do +something.</i></p> + +<p>Dark: <i>It was my fault, Maya. I shouldn't have left you alone. I just +didn't consider him a factor to be reckoned with, and I should have +known better.</i></p> + +<p>Maya: <i>What can we do?</i></p> + +<p>Nuwell turned to Maya, and his face was bitter and sullen. His brown +eyes were flat with anger.</p> + +<p>"You treacherous witch, I should have known better than to trust you +after that trick of trying to help Kensington escape. I wanted to give +you a chance, because I thought that, with him dead, you might have +recovered from your madness," he said.</p> + +<p>A change came over his face: a mixture of fear, disbelief and utter lack +of comprehension.</p> + +<p>"He <i>was</i> dead," said Nuwell, a hysterical note underlying his tone. "I +saw him. You saw him dead, too, didn't you, Maya? How could he be back +there with you?"</p> + +<p>Maya's only answer was a defiant smile.</p> + +<p>"There's some explanation for this," said Nuwell, more positively. "I +don't know what it is, but I'll find it. That man back there isn't Dark +Kensington, because Kensington's dead. Maya, I promise you, I'm going to +find out what the answer is, but first I'm going to make sure that you +don't cause me any more trouble."</p> + +<p>Dark touched Maya's mind.</p> + +<p><i>Maya, I'm going to try something here.</i></p> + +<p>He moved back. He was outside the copter, near it, keeping pace with it +as it flew. It was tilted slightly forward, falling forward through the +sky at the pull of its blades.</p> + +<p>Dark seized the copter with his mind. He tried to drag it back.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span></p> + +<p>It hesitated. It quivered. Then it jerked forward and went on. He felt +his mental grasp slipping from it.</p> + +<p>Suddenly he was completely in the big room in Ultra Vires, the room with +its roof open to the sky. He could no longer touch the copter. He could +no longer be in it. He could no longer touch Maya's mind.</p> + +<p>He tried. He reached out again. But he failed. He was where he was.</p> + +<p>He realized he was almost exhausted. The tremendous drain of his efforts +on his energy told on him at last. He no longer had the strength to try +any more, and Nuwell and Maya were gone away from him into the Martian +sky.</p> + +<p>Wearily, he turned back and went through the airlock, down the corridor +and down the stairs.</p> + +<p>There was nothing more he could do now. Nuwell undoubtedly would take +Maya to Mars City. And then?</p> + +<p>Maya would refuse to marry Nuwell now, and Dark doubted that Nuwell +could force her. What Nuwell would do with her, he did not know. +Probably some sort of confinement, eventually perhaps a trial. But +Nuwell had no ground or reason to do her any real harm.</p> + +<p>He would have to try to get to Maya as soon as he could, and that meant +intensification of his efforts. But there was only one course he could +hope to follow successfully, and that was the course he had planned when +he started out for Ultra Vires.</p> + +<p>Only now he <i>could</i> speed it up.</p> + +<p>He had to have some rest. Then he would pick up three marsuits and walk +back across the desert to the Canfell Hydroponic Farm.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_15" id="CHAPTER_15"></a>15</h2> + + +<p>Dark walked across the desert toward the Canfell Hydroponic Farm.</p> + +<p>He had discarded the marsuit he had been wearing, and substituted for it +a light loincloth torn from one of Goat Hen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span>nessey's sheets. This +reverse reaction, in a temperature that would be uncomfortably chilly +for a fully clothed man and descended far below zero at night, resulted +from his recognition that he gained a tremendously greater direct influx +of energy from the total exposure of his skin to the sunlight. He could +feel the energy penetrating his flesh, building up in him. And, with +this energy, the low temperature did not bother him.</p> + +<p>Behind him, by a rope, he dragged a little two-wheeled cart he had +constructed from groundcar parts. It rolled and bumped over the sandy +terrain, containing all the marsuits and all the seven heatguns that he +had been able to find at Ultra Vires.</p> + +<p>It also contained a supply of water, in cans. Dark had found that, while +he was operating directly on solar energy, he did not need food at all +and he did not need as much water as he did under ordinary +circumstances. He probably could have survived two weeks without any +water at all. But some water did make him much more efficient. His +independence of food and oxygen did not prevent the slow dessication if +his tissues in the dry Martian air.</p> + +<p>As he walked, only part of his mind was devoted to the routine task of +moving across the desert. The remainder of it was free of the limitation +of distance, touching and interacting with the minds of three other men.</p> + +<p>These men were members of the Phoenix. At the Childress Barber College, +they had been among the instructors, struggling to develop the ESP +potentialities of their students so that a psychic community of purpose +and action might be developed toward the goal of teleporting materials +from Earth to Mars.</p> + +<p>These were the men whose ability at telepathy and psychokinesis had been +most fully developed, to the point of practical demonstration. Now, +newly aware of the extent of his own inner powers, Dark had conceived a +bold plan of action to which these men's comparable abilities was a +necessary contribution.</p> + +<p>There were three of them: Mantar Falusaine at Hesperi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span>dum, Pietro +Corrallani at Mars City and Cheng I K'an at Ophir. Among them, by a vast +intangible network of communication, they discussed strategy and the +situation on which it was based.</p> + +<p>Mantar: <i>We knew of the existence of the Canfell Hydroponic Farm. It was +on our charts as a Marscorp industry, supported by the government. But +we thought it was only an industry, producing food. We did not know it +was an experimental center.</i></p> + +<p>Cheng: <i>We did not know Marscorp was conducting genetic experiments at +all, except those of Goat Hennessey. We kept a casual observation on +Goat's work. Our intention was that, if he ever succeeded completely in +what he was trying to do, we would make a fast raid with a task force +and appropriate his work to our own purposes.</i></p> + +<p>Dark chuckled.</p> + +<p>Dark: <i>That would have dismayed Marscorp! But it appears that, as things +have developed, this sort of raid must be directed now at the Canfell +Hydroponic Farm, to free my father and the Marscorp slaves there. Old +Beard is, after all, the real leader of the Phoenix. If we succeed in +kidnapping Goat, we can put him to work for us, but that is not the +primary objective.</i></p> + +<p>Pietro: <i>Do you plan to take over the Canfell Hydroponic Farm, and make +it our base of operation?</i></p> + +<p>Dark: <i>No. When we attack the Farm, they will radio Mars City for help +and we don't possess the force to fight off an all-out government +counterattack. I have been in communication with a Martian friend, Qril, +and I am informed that the domes in the Icaria Desert, which were used +by the original rebels a quarter of a century ago, are still usable, +although they will have to be supplied with oxygen, food and water. I +intend for the Phoenix to congregate there and utilize the help of the +Martians in carrying out the embryonic changes which will make your +children and mine as I am. A new race, capable of living in the natural +Martian environment.</i></p> + +<p>Pietro: <i>Will these characteristics of which you speak be in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span>herited, or +must the embryonic changes be made in each generation?</i></p> + +<p>Dark: <i>They will be inherited, because they are changes of the genetic +structure. The changes will have to be made on each individual embryo of +your children, but their children will be born with these qualities +naturally.</i></p> + +<p>Cheng: <i>What are your instructions?</i></p> + +<p>Dark: <i>How many Phoenix are at each of your places?</i></p> + +<p>Cheng: <i>Twelve at Ophir.</i></p> + +<p>Mantar: <i>I would have to count. About twice that many at Hesperidum.</i></p> + +<p>Pietro: <i>About seventy-five here, as well as the wives of most of the +Phoenix who are married</i>.</p> + +<p>Dark: <i>Seventy-five! That's more than we had in school!</i></p> + +<p>Pietro: <i>Don't forget that the school was there for a long time before +you came, and it had many graduates. The government captured between a +third and a half of us who were in the school at that time, but there +are still probably three to four hundred Phoenix scattered about Mars.</i></p> + +<p>Dark: <i>Where are the other three instructors, whom I was unable to +contact with this telepathic call?</i></p> + +<p>Pietro: <i>They are at Charax, Nuba and Ismenius. Their telepathic powers +are not as well developed as ours, and they would not hear you unless +they were expecting the call.</i></p> + +<p>Dark: <i>Cheng, I thought your group was to go to Regina.</i></p> + +<p>Cheng: <i>It was, but the Regina airlocks were more effectively blockaded +to us than at the other cities. Those who went to the other cities, +except those who were caught, had identification establishing them as +legitimate residents of those cities. Regina has a peculiar social +structure which makes this virtually impossible, except for the Phoenix +who are already there and have been for a long time. We thought of +stopping at Zur, but there were no arrangements to care for us there. We +went to a dome farm operated by a friend of the Phoenix in Pandorae +Fretum, and stayed there until we could trickle gradually into Ophir.</i></p> + +<p>Dark: <i>You had quite an odyssey. Cheng, I want you to bring your twelve +in groundcars, with what weapons you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> can get, and attack the Canfell +Hydroponic Farm. I'll try to break it open from inside.</i></p> + +<p>Pietro: <i>Shall I bring my group from Mars City as reinforcements?</i></p> + +<p>Dark: <i>No, twelve will be enough, and the conquest of the farm will +depend on speed. Before you can get there with your group by groundcar, +the government will have a well-armed force there by jet. I want you to +load trucks with supplies, gather all the wives and go straight to the +Icaria Desert to establish our colony. I'll direct you telepathically +when you reach Icaria, if we aren't already there. Cut across the +deserts and lowlands, and stay away from the roads and cities.</i></p> + +<p>Pietro: <i>Very well. But we'll have to leave the city vehicle by vehicle, +and rendezvous somewhere in the lowland. It will take some time.</i></p> + +<p>Dark: <i>Whatever is necessary. Do you know where the Chief is?</i></p> + +<p>Pietro: <i>He's here in jail in Mars City. His trial is due in twenty +days, and we had planned to rescue him sometime during the trial.</i></p> + +<p>Dark: <i>Leave a few good men there to rescue him as soon as you've +cleared Mars City and are on the way to Icaria. Has Nuwell Eli gotten +back to Mars City yet?</i></p> + +<p>Pietro: <i>I don't know. We can find out.</i></p> + +<p>Dark: <i>He has Maya Cara Nome with him. She's the girl who was the +secretary at the barber college when it was raided, and she's one of the +Phoenix now. I want her rescued, at the same time, if possible. If not, +I'll go to Mars City and do it myself later, but I want to get all of +you cleared of the city first.</i></p> + +<p>Mantar: <i>What do you want me to do?</i></p> + +<p>Dark: <i>The most difficult thing of all. I want you to stay in +Hesperidum, and send out all the Phoenix you have with you to contact +those in other Martian cities. They are to rendezvous at Hesperidum, and +then you will gather supplies and form another caravan to join the rest +of us in Icaria.</i></p> + +<p>Cheng: <i>When shall I move out?</i></p> + +<p>Dark: <i>As soon as you can gather your men and material<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> together. But +stay out of sight of the farm and don't attack until you hear from me. I +should be there within the next forty-eight hours.</i></p> + +<p>The instructions given, the telepathic conference faded out, and Dark +was a solitary man plodding across the desert, pulling a loaded cart +behind him.</p> + +<p>He came in sight of the Canfell Hydroponic Farm in just about the time +that he had predicted to Cheng, but waited until nightfall to approach +it. Phobos was abroad in the east at sunset, so Dark waited a little +longer, until the nearer moon plunged beneath the eastern horizon. +Deimos was not in the sky this night, and Phobos' disappearance left it +near pitch-dark.</p> + +<p>Dark moved across the starlit desert, pulling his cart, to the walls of +the farm. The farm was not a massive, sprawling fortress like Ultra +Vires, because most of it was underground. The upper floor, in which +Happy's "Masters" lived and worked, was just below the ground level and +the underground vats were below it, extending considerably beyond it in +all directions. The only parts of the farm that projected above ground +were its four entrances, small buildings of white stone, each with its +own airlock.</p> + +<p>Dark went through the airlock of the nearest one. These entrance +buildings were the barracks of the Toughs, in which they slept at night, +secure from the possibility of escape because no marsuits were available +to them. Dark had moved quietly through a barracks of sleeping Toughs +the night he had left the farm for Ultra Vires, but this time he had his +cart with him.</p> + +<p>There was no alternative but a bold course. Spearing the light of an +electric torch before him, he walked down the aisle toward the barred +gate leading into the regions below, pulling the metal-wheeled cart +across the stone floor behind him.</p> + +<p>Its clatter brought the whole barracks awake. On all sides of him arose +an angry growling and shouting, an upsurge from many throats of the +animal noises that were the Toughs' nearest approach to human language. +Dark moved forward<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> steadily, keeping a telepathic "radar" out to warn +him of any impending attack.</p> + +<p>The very boldness of his action paid off. Its openness apparently +convinced the Toughs that this was merely another, unusually noisy case +of one of the Masters returning to the farm at night—as Dark sensed had +occurred often before. Dark was not molested.</p> + +<p>The barred gate had no controls on this side. Dark operated it +psychokinetically. It raised slowly, he pulled his cart through, and he +lowered it behind him and went on down the ramp into the underground +cavern.</p> + +<p>He went straight to Old Beard's hiding place, and awoke him. Old Beard +greeted him joyously.</p> + +<p>"I was afraid something had happened to you, you were gone so long," +said Old Beard.</p> + +<p>"I had to walk back," said Dark. "None of the groundcars at Ultra Vires +was in operating condition."</p> + +<p>"Then there's no chance of the rest of us escaping," said Old Beard +disappointedly. "We can't get at the groundcars here, and the marsuits +you brought won't help. The oxygen supply of a marsuit isn't adequate to +take us from here to the nearest civilization."</p> + +<p>"I think we can get to the groundcars," answered Dark confidently. "I +brought heatguns, as well as marsuits. Besides, I have a larger plan now +than merely escape."</p> + +<p>He related to Old Beard all the things that had happened, including the +fact that Old Beard was his father.</p> + +<p>"I am very happy," said Old Beard simply, tears in his pale eyes. "I +liked you very much from the first, Dark, and I'm glad that you can bear +the name of Dark Kensington rightfully."</p> + +<p>When Dark told him of the plan for the conquest of the farm, Old Beard +stroked his beard thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid that the attack from within will depend largely on you and +me, although Shadow probably will be able to help effectively," said Old +Beard. "The Jellies aren't very aggressive and, even with a few +heatguns, I'm afraid they won't be of much use."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span></p> + +<p>"How about the Toughs?"</p> + +<p>"The Toughs would be fine, if you want to wipe out all the Masters and +all the Jellies, and possibly us, too. They're vicious and +unintelligent, and they can't be disciplined or depended upon."</p> + +<p>"With the attack from the outside timed right, I think the three of us +can handle it," said Dark. "How many of the Masters are there?"</p> + +<p>"Only ten," answered Old Beard. "And they aren't soldiers, but +scientists. But they do have weapons, and they know how to handle them. +They have to, in order to keep the Toughs from getting out of line."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps we can whip the Jellies up to the point of causing a good deal +of initial trouble and confusion, and then the three of us move in at +the proper moment after the attack from outside is under way," said +Dark. "We might even turn the Toughs loose on them, without weapons."</p> + +<p>Old Beard gave him a steady gaze from beneath bushy eyebrows.</p> + +<p>"I don't think we want to use the Toughs," he said slowly. "I said there +are ten Masters, and that is correct. But they have a visitor who +arrived by copter several days ago. A visitor and a prisoner."</p> + +<p>"A prisoner?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, a prisoner who wasn't sent down to the vats, but is kept on the +upper floor. This prisoner is a black-haired, black-eyed woman."</p> + +<p>"Maya!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I think the visitor is Nuwell Eli and the prisoner is your friend, +Maya."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_16" id="CHAPTER_16"></a>16</h2> + + +<p>Nuwell Eli sat with Placer Viceroy, director of the Canfell Hydroponic +Farm, in its large underground dining room, eating lunch. This meal was +not the tasteless, gelatin-like food that was fed to the Jellies and +Toughs and sold on the Mar<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>tian market. It was a meal of thick, juicy +steaks from the dome farms around Hesperidum and vegetables from the +gardens inside the Mars City dome.</p> + +<p>"We've been here better than a week, and she's still stubborn," Nuwell +said morosely. "Surely she has the intelligence to realize how +ridiculous and impractical is her sudden conversion to a lost rebel +cause. I'm half convinced that this Kensington fellow put her under some +sort of a hypnotic spell."</p> + +<p>"You've been very gentle in your methods of conversion," said Placer. +"It isn't like you, Nuwell. If you want quick results, we could turn her +over to the Toughs for a while."</p> + +<p>"No, I don't want her hurt. I love the woman and intend to marry her. +The whippings and humiliations are as far as I'm willing to go."</p> + +<p>"A peculiar sort of love, if you don't mind my saying so," remarked +Placer.</p> + +<p>Nuwell stared at him coldly.</p> + +<p>"I do mind your saying so," he said. "My personal emotions are not +subject to your interpretation. But Martian wives are expected to obey +their husbands with deference and, by Saturn, I'm going to break her of +that liberal terrestrial training!"</p> + +<p>"You'd have the legal right to take the steps necessary for that, if she +were married to you," Placer pointed out.</p> + +<p>"But the little fool refuses to marry me now!" exclaimed Nuwell in +exasperation. "If she hadn't refused, do you think I'd have brought her +here? But I couldn't take her to one of the cities, except as a prisoner +to be tried for sedition and treason, as long as she expresses this +violent and open support of the rebel cause. Whether you consider it +love or not, I want the woman for myself. I don't want her imprisoned or +executed."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps if she were presented with that alternative, she'd be more +reasonable about it," murmured Placer.</p> + +<p>"Don't you think I've threatened her with it? She just says that she'd +rather die or go to prison than go back on her con<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span>victions and knuckle +under to me. If she could only forget that she'd ever met that man +Kensington!"</p> + +<p>"Well, as for that, it might not be so hard to arrange," suggested +Placer quietly.</p> + +<p>Nuwell stared at him.</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"You're not familiar with the details of our work here, are you, +Nuwell?"</p> + +<p>"I thought I was, pretty well. But what you just said doesn't strike a +chord."</p> + +<p>"As you know, the Toughs and Jellies are originally criminals and +vagabonds you have smuggled to us for experimental purposes. One major +effect of our initial glandular experiments with them, which makes them +into Toughs and Jellies, is that they lose all memory of their past."</p> + +<p>"I don't want a flabby woman, like a Jelly!" exclaimed Nuwell with a +shudder.</p> + +<p>"I think we could eliminate the memory, permanently, without any +physical changes at all," said Placer. "There are some pretty good +scientists here. I expect the operation would cut down her thinking +ability pretty heavily, though. I think it would still be slightly +higher than that of the Jellies, but you couldn't ever expect her again +to get above the intellectual level of a child of six or eight +terrestrial years."</p> + +<p>"I don't care anything about an intelligent woman," answered Nuwell +ruthlessly. "If she weren't so proud of her intelligence now, I wouldn't +have so much trouble with her. I want her as a beautiful woman, which is +all a woman has a right to expect from a man, and if she were less +intelligent and more tractable I might be able to train her to become +the sort of wife a man of my profession and position requires."</p> + +<p>Placer speared a bite of steak, casually, with his fork.</p> + +<p>"Any time you say the word," he said carelessly.</p> + +<p>"I'll give her the rest of today," said Nuwell with decision. "I'll work +her over again with the whip this afternoon, and if she doesn't break +I'll tell her what she can expect. Then, if<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> that doesn't do the trick, +I'll turn her over to you the first thing tomorrow."</p> + +<p>"Tonight would be better," suggested Placer. "The initial surgery takes +only about thirty minutes, and she'd do better to rest a night after +that. It alone will remove a great deal of her volitional power. The +entire series of operations will require about three days."</p> + +<p>"Tonight it is, then," said Nuwell, "if she doesn't break this +afternoon."</p> + +<p>Maya sat in her locked room, her tunic and trousers covering the red +welts on her back and legs. The tasteless gelatin which had been her +only food since their arrival almost gagged her with every spoonful, but +she had eaten all her lunch. She needed all the strength she could get +to maintain her defiance.</p> + +<p>She was in the grip of dull, unrelenting pain, physically and +emotionally. Her flesh ached from yesterday's beating, and she was sick +at heart at the revelation of Nuwell's essential brutality and +callousness. She had thought him a sensitive and intelligent man, and +she had admired him for this even after some of his exhibitions of +childish temper had disillusioned her as to the glowing nobility which +she had at first attributed to him.</p> + +<p>She had felt a warm attraction to him and, when she thought Dark was +dead, she had been willing to marry him on the basis, not of the +passionate love she now felt for Dark, but of a mellow tenderness which +she conceived a sound basis for an understanding life together.</p> + +<p>But now! She shuddered at the thought that she might have married him, +and perhaps lived all her life with him, thinking him to be gentle and +kind. Whatever happened to her, she felt fortunate that this crisis had +brought to her view the hidden side of him, that heretofore had been +seen only by his partners in political manipulation and by the +unfortunate victims of his prosecution.</p> + +<p>Her shoulders drooped wearily. She stared across the room. It was as +bare as a prison cell, which intrinsically it was.</p> + +<p>There was a glass on the washbasin. It was made of heavy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> metal, with no +sharp edges. Did Nuwell think she would commit suicide? Not as long as +she knew Dark was alive!</p> + +<p>Her mind touched the glass. It quivered. It tilted and fell to the floor +with a clang.</p> + +<p>She looked at it with mild curiosity as it rolled into a corner. She +hadn't done that for a long time, not since she suppressed it because of +Nuwell's hatred of witchcraft.</p> + +<p>It was telekinesis. She had had the power since she was a child. It +seemed that she remembered using it often, and in rather startling ways, +when she was a small child with the Martians. But when she went to +Earth, she gradually stopped playing with it, except in small ways when +she was alone, because it seemed to make her elders very uncomfortable.</p> + +<p>Telekinesis was ESP. It did not mean that she had any other ESP powers. +But there was her experience in the copter....</p> + +<p>Her mind reached out. At once, like a shock, she was in contact with +Dark. His mind turned to hers at once.</p> + +<p>Dark: <i>Maya! Where are you?</i></p> + +<p>Maya: <i>Come into my room, darling. I'm at the Canfell Hydroponic Farm. +Are you still at Ultra Vires?</i></p> + +<p>Dark: <i>No, I'm in the vats below you. I knew you were here, but I didn't +know where. I can see your room now, though, and its place in the +building.</i></p> + +<p>Maya: <i>Can you free me?</i></p> + +<p>Dark: <i>Not now. There are four Toughs outside your door, guarding it. I +can't attack them without arousing the Masters. Soon, though.</i></p> + +<p>Maya: <i>I don't know how I'm doing this. I didn't know I had telepathic +powers.</i></p> + +<p>Dark: <i>A good many people have them, potentially. They don't have to +have been "changed," as I was. But they usually require development.</i></p> + +<p>Maya: <i>I'm just glad I can, to know that you're here.</i></p> + +<p>Dark: <i>Maya, why are you in pain?</i></p> + +<p>Maya: <i>Nuwell has been whipping me, to try to get me to recant on my +expressions of support for the rebel cause.</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span></p> + +<p>There was a white-hot explosion in her brain that almost literally +seared her mind. Staggered at its impact, she recognized it as the +explosion of Dark's sudden anger. Then she was no longer in contact with +him.</p> + +<p>A hundred feet away, in another room, Nuwell pulled on a pair of black +gloves and picked up a short, thick-lashed whip. Coiling the whip, he +stepped out into the corridor, and turned toward Maya's room.</p> + +<p>He met Placer, walking in the opposite direction.</p> + +<p>"You're going to make your last try, now?" asked Placer.</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Nuwell. "I hope it works. Actually, her spirit and quick +wit are among the reasons I like the girl. But I don't intend to be +defied in this."</p> + +<p>He proceeded on down the hall.</p> + +<p>As he started past the barred gate to one of the ramps leading down into +the vats below, the buzzer beside it sounded. A Jelly was standing +behind the gate, fat, pathetic face pressed against the bars.</p> + +<p>Nuwell stopped. No one else was in sight in the corridor.</p> + +<p>"What do you want?" he asked the Jelly.</p> + +<p>"Master, I seek entry in answer to the summons," replied the Jelly in a +voice that quavered with fright.</p> + +<p>"What summons?"</p> + +<p>"It was ordered that one of us come above and do a task for the +Masters," replied the Jelly. "I am one of those who must work today, and +I have come in answer to the summons."</p> + +<p>Nuwell looked up and down the corridor. He saw no one.</p> + +<p>"What sort of task?" he asked, reluctant to accept the responsibility of +admitting the Jelly.</p> + +<p>"I don't know, Master."</p> + +<p>"Look," said Nuwell, "I'm not a Master. I don't know anything about the +summons. Someone else will have to let you in."</p> + +<p>"If I'm late, they'll let the Toughs whip me!" wailed the Jelly +pathetically. "Please let me in, Master!"</p> + +<p>Nuwell, the whip coiled in his hand, impatient to get to Maya's room, +was moved to pity at the creature's plight. Be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>sides, the Jellies were +harmless, and this one certainly wouldn't be seeking admittance without +having been called.</p> + +<p>"All right, then," said Nuwell, and flipped the switch.</p> + +<p>The bars grated open and the Jelly came into the corridor. But as Nuwell +reached out to activate the switch and close the gate, the Jelly, with +surprising agility, slipped between him and the switch.</p> + +<p>"What in space?" growled Nuwell. "Get out of the way!"</p> + +<p>The Jelly did not move.</p> + +<p>"I said get out of the way!" snapped Nuwell, shaking out the whip.</p> + +<p>The Jelly cringed and its eyes were terrified, but it still stood +against the switch, its huge, translucent body barring Nuwell.</p> + +<p>"No, Master," it whimpered. "Don't shut the gate!"</p> + +<p>Viciously, Nuwell slashed the whip across its naked shoulders, and the +Jelly squealed with pain. Nuwell raised the whip again.</p> + +<p>But then through the open gate there poured a solid mass of translucent +flesh, a horde of naked Jellies. Silently, they tumbled into the +corridor, filling it from wall to wall, and others behind them pushed to +enter as they paused.</p> + +<p>Wide-eyed, Nuwell stared at them for the briefest of moments. Then he +dropped the whip and fled back up the hall, shouting at the top of his +voice.</p> + +<p>The door at the end of the corridor opened as Nuwell neared it, and +Placer appeared in it. He held up a restraining hand.</p> + +<p>"Don't make so much noise!" he snapped. "There's a conference going on +in there. What's the—"</p> + +<p>Voiceless now, Nuwell grasped Placer's arm and pointed, trembling, back +down the corridor.</p> + +<p>"What in space?" demanded Placer irritably, peering at the mass of +Jellies pouring out of the gate and beginning to move hesitantly along +the corridor in both directions.</p> + +<p>"Jellies!" croaked Nuwell. "The Jellies are loose! They're attacking +us!"</p> + +<p>"Soft hunks of blubber!" said Placer contemptously. "They<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> can't hurt +anybody. I wonder what idiot left that gate open?"</p> + +<p>"I did," admitted Nuwell. "I mean, one of them wanted in and I let him +in, and then he backed up against the switch so I couldn't close it, +until the others came in."</p> + +<p>"I don't know what sort of harebrained idea has gotten into their feeble +minds," said Placer. "But I can take care of it in short order."</p> + +<p>He stepped back into the room, and Nuwell heard him apologizing to the +others for the disturbance. Then Placer reappeared, two whips in his +hand, and closed the door behind him. He handed one of the whips to +Nuwell.</p> + +<p>"They're a lot more tractable than that woman of yours," said Placer. +"Let's go."</p> + +<p>Placer moved down the corridor toward the slowly advancing Jellies, and +Nuwell followed reluctantly, at a respectable distance.</p> + +<p>"Get back below!" shouted Placer at the Jellies as he neared them. "You +know better than to come up here without permission!"</p> + +<p>They stopped and milled as he approached them relentlessly, those in +front trying to hold back and those behind them pushing them on. Placer +moved straight up to them and began slashing right and left with his +whip.</p> + +<p>There was a sudden surge forward of the Jellies and Placer was engulfed. +He vanished in a mass of seething, translucent flesh. Nuwell stopped, +appalled, and began to edge backward.</p> + +<p>There was a flurry of movement in the forefront of the Jellies, and +Placer burst out of the group, his hair awry, his clothing torn, his +whip gone. He staggered toward Nuwell at a half run.</p> + +<p>"Get back to the room!" cried Placer. "I don't know what's stirred them +up, but they can't be frightened back with whips!"</p> + +<p>The two men ran back down the corridor and burst through the door, +startling a conference group of five of the other Masters.</p> + +<p>"Heatguns!" snapped Placer. "Something's stirred the Jel<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span>lies up, and +they're up here causing trouble! I'll turn the Toughs loose on them."</p> + +<p>While two of the others hurried out another door for weapons and a third +bolted the door through which the two men had just come, Placer picked +up a microphone and switched on the amplifier system that covered every +area of all levels of the Canfell Hydroponic Farm.</p> + +<p>Into the microphone, he gave an animal call, a cry that started out on a +low crooning note and rose in volume and intensity until it hurt the +ears. He repeated this three times. Then he set the microphone down and +turned back to his colleagues, an expression of satisfaction on his +face.</p> + +<p>"That releases the Toughs," he said. "Every Tough in the place is free +to maim or kill any Jelly he sees, without fear of restraint or +punishment. That should bring them to heel pretty quickly!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_17" id="CHAPTER_17"></a>17</h2> + + +<p>Behind the locked door of the conference room, one of the Masters passed +out heatguns to Nuwell, Placer and the other four.</p> + +<p>"If we use these on them at half intensity, I think we can calm them +down without killing any of them," said Placer. "We'll probably have +more trouble beating down the Toughs and keeping them from killing all +the Jellies than we will subduing the Jellies in the first place."</p> + +<p>"I hope we warned the three at the other end of the hall in time," said +one of the others. "There hasn't been any word from them."</p> + +<p>Placer flicked a switch on the intercom system.</p> + +<p>"Touchstone, are you men safe?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir," replied a voice on the other end. "We locked ourselves in, +because there aren't any heatguns we can get to from here. The Jellies +haven't gotten this far down yet. They seem to be cowed by the Toughs at +the door to Miss Cara Nome's room, and the Toughs are strutting around +getting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> themselves in the mood for an attack. We've been watching them +through the window."</p> + +<p>"Good," said Placer. "Between the Toughs at that end and our heatguns at +this end, we ought to be able to force them back below without much +trouble. Are we ready to move out?"</p> + +<p>A different voice came in over the intercom, the voice of the tenth +Master, who was on duty in the farm's control room.</p> + +<p>"Placer, the screens show three groundcars moving up from the south," he +said. "I've tried to contact them by radio, but they don't answer."</p> + +<p>"We haven't been notified to expect any government visitors," said +Placer. "It may be a convoy of travelers off-course in the desert, or it +could be a wandering party of escaped rebels. Warn them away."</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir."</p> + +<p>Touchstone's voice came in from the other end of the hall.</p> + +<p>"The Toughs are attacking, Placer. Space, it's awful! Those poor Jellies +can't stand up to the Toughs."</p> + +<p>Suddenly his voice changed, and became shrill with excitement.</p> + +<p>"Placer! One of those Jellies has a heatgun! Two of the Toughs were just +burned down, and the others are falling back down the hall. The Jellies +are coming on, and I can see the gun in the hand of one of them."</p> + +<p>"Great space!" muttered Placer. "All right, Touchstone. Hold tight and +keep that door locked. We'll get to you."</p> + +<p>He turned to the others.</p> + +<p>"We've got to move out now," he said. "Use full intensity and shoot to +kill. We'll have to burn our way through those Jellies and get to the +other end of the hall."</p> + +<p>Leaving one of the Masters at the intercom in the control room, the +other six went out into the corridor, heatguns ready. The foremost +Jellies had advanced almost to the door, and now that they had spread +out along the corridor, they were not packed so closely together.</p> + +<p>The six men advanced steadily, leveling their guns. They fired, intense, +almost invisible beams stabbing into the group of Jellies.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span></p> + +<p>Jellies shrieked in pain, several of them collapsing to the floor with +smoking flesh. The others turned in panic and began to crowd back down +the corridor, the beams stabbing at them and picking them off one by +one.</p> + +<p>Then, from amid the Jellies, a beam struck forth, and one of the Masters +went down, his face burned away. Placer burned down the Jelly holding +the heatgun, and the five survivors moved grimly on.</p> + +<p>On the ramp ahead, Dark and Old Beard approached the open gate to the +corridor, Happy and Shadow following them.</p> + +<p>"I wish I had been able to find more heatguns at Ultra Vires," said Dark +to Old Beard. "Only three, besides our four, are spreading them out +pretty thin."</p> + +<p>"At least the Jellies made the break into the corridor, and we've +managed to discourage the Toughs below from following them up for a +while," said Old Beard. The bodies of a dozen Toughs at the foot of the +ramp behind them attested to the rear guard battle they had fought. That +was what had held them up so long. "If we can hold the corridor and keep +the Masters bottled up, your friends outside should be able to turn the +tide."</p> + +<p>"It will take them a while to break in," said Dark. "But I've already +contacted Cheng telepathically and told him to move in."</p> + +<p>They emerged into the corridor, into a scene of tremendous confusion. +All they could see in both directions were Jellies, milling about and +chattering. The mass seemed to be drifting gradually toward the left, +while from the right came shrieks of agony.</p> + +<p>"This way," said Dark, turning to the left. "We have to get Maya out of +here before we can do anything else."</p> + +<p>Forcing their way through the Jellies, they came to a door. Dark tried +it. It was locked. He burned the lock off and pushed it open.</p> + +<p>Maya was standing back against the wall on the other side of the room, +alarmed at the noise in the corridor, frightened at the opening of the +door. As Dark and Old Beard came in,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> and she recognized Dark, she ran +across the room to meet them, joy transforming her face.</p> + +<p>She threw herself into Dark's arms.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Dark!" she cried. "I knew you'd come!"</p> + +<p>He enfolded her in his arms and kissed her. Then he turned back to Old +Beard, his arm around Maya's shoulders.</p> + +<p>"Old Beard, this is Maya Cara Nome," said Dark. "Maya, this is my +father, the real Dark Kensington."</p> + +<p>"The older Dark Kensington," corrected Old Beard. "I am very happy to +meet you, Maya. My son, you have chosen a beautiful woman."</p> + +<p>Happy and Shadow had followed the other two into the room and were +standing against the door, holding it closed.</p> + +<p>"Maya, we're going to have to try to hold the corridor until the Phoenix +gets here," said Dark. "I want you to go with Shadow and Happy down to +the vats. You get into a marsuit, and they'll take you to one of the +entrance buildings. I'll tell Cheng to pick you up in one of the +groundcars, and then Happy and Shadow can come back here to help us."</p> + +<p>"I'll do nothing of the sort," said Maya flatly. "You need them up here +now, and I won't leave you. I'm going to stay here and help you. After +all, I can handle a heatgun better than any of these Jellies."</p> + +<p>"But, Maya, I want to know that you're safe."</p> + +<p>"I don't want to be safe until you are. Please let me stay, Dark."</p> + +<p>"All right," Dark surrendered. "Shadow, give her your heatgun."</p> + +<p>The five of them left the room together.</p> + +<p>They emerged into a scene of incredible carnage. The Jellies, with only +three heatguns which they were inept at using, had been no match for the +Masters. Almost all of the Jellies were lying dead on the floor of the +corridor, and the remaining few were backed up at the end of the hall to +their right.</p> + +<p>Three of the men were advancing toward these last Jellies. The other +two, returning to the conference room, already had passed Maya's door +and were picking their way back among<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> the scorched, twitching bodies of +the Jellies. Dark and the others were between these two retreating +forces of Masters.</p> + +<p>"We'll have to try to save those Jellies," decided Dark at once. "Happy, +you and Shadow move back up the corridor and hold the line in case those +other two turn back to attack our rear. The rest of us will tackle the +three to the right."</p> + +<p>They split up and moved off. But they were too late. Dark, Maya and Old +Beard had advanced hastily no more than ten feet when the last of the +Jellies at the end of the corridor collapsed under the combined beams of +three heatguns. Immediately, the door beyond the dead Jellies opened and +three more Masters emerged. They joined the first three, and were given +the heatguns taken from the vanquished Jellies.</p> + +<p>Dark stopped and held up his hand, halting the advance of his little +group.</p> + +<p>"We're too badly outnumbered now," he said. "Let's collect Happy and +Shadow and get back down to the vats, where we can hide until the +Phoenix break in."</p> + +<p>The Masters had seen them now, and started to move up the corridor +toward them in a group, but were still ten or fifteen feet out of +heatgun range. Dark was not surprised to see that one of the group was +Nuwell.</p> + +<p>Dark and Maya turned back toward the entrance toward the underground +vats, but stopped as Old Beard emitted a growl of recognition.</p> + +<p>One of the three men who had emerged from the room was skinny, goateed +Goat Hennessey, and he was coming forward now in the forefront of the +group, a heatgun in his hand.</p> + +<p>"Dark, you and Maya go on without me," said Old Beard very quietly. "I +have a score to settle."</p> + +<p>Dark turned back, his mouth open to protest, but Old Beard had already +started swiftly down the corridor toward the oncoming group.</p> + +<p>"Wait!" cried Dark, and started to run after him. But, in his haste, +Dark tripped over the corpse of a Jelly and fell sprawling. In the +moments it took Dark to scramble to his feet and recover his dropped +heatgun from the floor, the drama ahead of him flashed like lightning to +its conclusion.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span></p> + +<p>Old Beard ran down the corridor toward the group of Masters, leaping +lightly over the bodies of Jellies in his path, his gray hair streaming +out behind him.</p> + +<p>"Goat Hennessey!" he thundered, his voice reverberating from the walls +of the corridor. "You betrayed me and killed my wife! Now the time has +come for you to pay for your crimes!"</p> + +<p>The Masters stopped in their tracks, frozen at the sight of this figure +of retribution charging down on them. In their forefront, Goat stood +staring, open-mouthed, not comprehending until the full impact of Old +Beard's words broke upon him. Then, recognition dawning, he squawled in +amazement and fear:</p> + +<p>"Dark Kensington!"</p> + +<p>With that cry, Goat turned in terror to escape. But Dark was now within +range, and the intense beam of his downward-chopping heatgun caught Goat +at the base of the skull and swept all the way down his back. Goat +Hennessey plunged forward to the floor, dead, his spine burned away.</p> + +<p>Even as Goat fell, his companions emerged from their paralysis. The +beams of five heatguns focussed on Old Beard, and he died in a burst of +flame that flared from wall to wall of the narrow corridor.</p> + +<p>Appalled at his father's sudden death, Dark almost leaped after him, to +attack the five survivors single-handed. But Maya grasped his arm.</p> + +<p>"No, Dark!" she urged. "Please don't!"</p> + +<p>Realizing on the instant that to die now would only leave Maya at the +mercy of the Masters and Nuwell, Dark turned back. He and Maya ran for +the door to the ramp leading underground, Dark calling to Happy and +Shadow to join them.</p> + +<p>But Happy, and presumably the invisible Shadow, were well up the +corridor and they, too, were under attack now. The two Masters who had +been heading for the conference room had turned back and were now in +range of Happy, their heatguns blasting.</p> + +<p>Happy had remained true to Dark's charge to hold the line against any +attack from the rear. Frightened but staunch, he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> was standing his +ground, waving his own heat beam at the approaching pair of Masters.</p> + +<p>But Happy was too unfamiliar with the weapon and too nervous to hit +either of his targets. The beams of both Masters found him at the same +time, and, with a woeful shriek that was cut off in a choking gurgle, +the unfortunate Jelly collapsed to a smoking heap on the floor, quivered +once and lay still.</p> + +<p>Apparently from out of nowhere, the unarmed Shadow descended like a +thunderbolt on one of Happy's killers. The surprised Master went +sprawling, his heatgun flying from his hand.</p> + +<p>Shadow might have vanquished the other, too, except that this startled +individual, waving his heat beam wildly in an attempt to catch the +elusive, vanishing and reappearing figure, scored a lucky hit. There was +a tremendous flare of flame, and the extraordinary form of Shadow +appeared for the last time, a charred, flat body lying on the floor of +the corridor like the shadow for which he had been named.</p> + +<p>The whole tragedy ran its course in less than a minute. In that time, +Dark and Maya reached the entrance to the ramp, ducked into it and ran +down the incline to the sheltering dimness of the labyrinthine vats.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_18" id="CHAPTER_18"></a>18</h2> + + +<p>Moments later, the two groups of Masters converged at the gate, two from +one direction and five from the other.</p> + +<p>"After them!" commanded Placer. "But stay together. We'll have to try to +hunt them down in the vats, and maybe the Toughs can help us, but we +don't want to get separated so they can pick us off one by one."</p> + +<p>"Wait, Placer, there's something you ought to know," said one of the two +Masters who had come from the direction of the conference room. "Greyde +called out a few minutes ago to tell us he had word from Vidonati in the +control room.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> Those groundcars that were hanging around had attacked +one of the entrance buildings."</p> + +<p>"Space!" growled Placer. "There must be a conspiracy involved here +somewhere. We'd better stay up here, then."</p> + +<p>He pulled the lever beside the gate to the ramp, and it rumbled down and +crashed into place.</p> + +<p>"At least, those two are trapped below," he said with satisfaction. "We +can hunt them down at our leisure when we've repelled this attack from +outside. If we can take them alive, I'm of a mind to make them pay well +for their responsibility in our losing all our experimental Jellies."</p> + +<p>The seven of them went on to the conference room, picking their way +among the bodies of the Jellies. Placer took over the intercom from +Greyde.</p> + +<p>"Vidonati, this is Placer," he said. "What's the situation?"</p> + +<p>"The groundcars attacked the south building," replied Vidonati. "They +moved in and concentrated all three car beams on the airlock and burned +it through. I counted nine men in marsuits who left the groundcars and +went into the building. Of course, as soon as they started blasting the +airlocks, I closed the emergency barrier to block off the downward +ramp."</p> + +<p>"Obviously, since we still have air in the place," commented Placer +dryly. "You'd better call Mars City and get them to send help."</p> + +<p>"I've already done that," said Vidonati. "A jet squadron's on its way."</p> + +<p>"Good," said Placer. "They can be here in about five hours, and it will +take those rebels, or whoever they are, two or three times that long to +burn through one of the emergency barriers, even if they blast an +opening and bring their groundcars into the building to bring the +groundcars' big guns on it."</p> + +<p>"Should I stick it out here, or seal all the barriers and come below?" +asked Vidonati. The control room was in the north building.</p> + +<p>"Stay up there so you can report on what they're doing, unless they +start to move toward that building," instructed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> Placer. "If they do, +seal the other emergency barriers at once and come below. We can switch +to the emergency radio down here to keep in touch with the task force +from Mars City, and just wait it out underground until they clean up +these rebels."</p> + +<p>"Good enough," agreed Vidonati. "I won't take any chances."</p> + +<p>In the vats below, Dark and Maya made their way to Old Beard's hideout, +their heatguns ready, keeping a sharp lookout for Toughs. They reached +it without incident.</p> + +<p>Dark looked sadly around the little recess beneath the tangled +vegetation, where Old Beard had concealed himself successfully so long +from both Toughs and Masters. He had hoped that this reunion with his +father would mean many years of companionship between them, once they +were free of the Canfell Hydroponic Farm and had found a haven in the +Icaria Desert.</p> + +<p>But he knew that Old Beard had died in an act that had great meaning to +him, a savage revenge that had wiped out the bitter memory of the loss +of his wife and had repaid him for twenty-five long years of exile. Old +Beard had died nobly.</p> + +<p>Dark picked up one of the smaller marsuits.</p> + +<p>"We don't know what's going to happen above, and we can't help much by +staying inside, now that we can't hold that corridor and bottle them up +in a room until Cheng and the Phoenix break in," said Dark. "We'd best +get up to one of the exit buildings, get out through the airlock and get +picked up by one of the groundcars. I don't need a marsuit, but you can +put that on as soon as we get above in the building."</p> + +<p>"Have you been in telepathic touch with Cheng?" asked Maya.</p> + +<p>"Yes. They've already broken into the south building. That's the one I +came through when I left for Ultra Vires and when I came back. But the +Masters let down a heavy emergency barrier on the ramp when they +attacked the airlock, and we wouldn't be able to get through that. +There's a ramp near here that Old Beard told me opens onto the north +building.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> We'll go there, and I'll send a call to Cheng to move over +and meet us there."</p> + +<p>Dark sent out a call to Cheng and received an acknowledgement. He and +Maya started for the ramp, unaware that the building which was their +goal housed the farm's control room, and the watching Vidonati.</p> + +<p>Above, a few moments later, Vidonati called Placer on the intercom.</p> + +<p>"Placer, they've come back to the groundcars and turned them in this +direction," said Vidonati. "I'm going to let down the barriers on the +ramps from the east and west buildings, sabotage the controls so they +can't raise them again, and come on down. I'll lower the barrier to this +building from inside, as soon as I get past it on the ramp."</p> + +<p>"All right," said Placer. "We'll start getting the emergency radio in +operation down here. Do a good job, but do it fast, and don't get caught +up there by the rebels blasting the airlock."</p> + +<p>"I won't," promised Vidonati. "It'll only take me a few minutes, and I +can be down the ramp before they can focus their beams on the airlock."</p> + +<p>In the lead groundcar, as the three of them wheeled around and headed +slowly for the north building, Cheng turned to one of his companions +with a frown.</p> + +<p>"I've been trying to get through telepathically to Dark, but I can't +reach him," said Cheng. "He didn't give any instructions for getting +into the building, but they seem to have locked these airlocks by remote +control so they can't be operated. We'll have to blast this one as we +did the other one, because I don't imagine Dark will be able to open it +from inside. He seemed in rather a hurry to be picked up."</p> + +<p>Dark and Maya hurried up the ramp toward the north building. Dark had +been concentrating too heavily on finding his way through the vats to +receive Cheng's telepathic call.</p> + +<p>They passed the barred gate that opened into the corridors of the upper +level, and a few moments later reached the top of the ramp and the gate +to the north building. Dark had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> been prepared to open this by +telekinesis but, to his surprise, it was already open.</p> + +<p>They passed through it and emerged into the north building.</p> + +<p>Dark had never seen one of the ground-level buildings in daylight, as +both times he had passed through the south building it had been night. +He looked around the place curiously as they entered.</p> + +<p>It was about fifty feet square, bare except for the low, hard bunks on +which the Toughs slept at night. On three sides of it were windows, now +closed with heavy steel shutters. The airlock was across the room, +opposite the ramp entrance. The fourth wall was blank, and apparently +shut off a room at the end, because there was a closed door in the +center of it.</p> + +<p>They moved out into the room, and Dark said:</p> + +<p>"Slip into your marsuit, and we'll go out the airlock. I told Cheng to +bring the groundcars over this way, and they ought to be ready to pick +us up by the time we get out."</p> + +<p>"I don't see why we didn't stay down in the vats until the Phoenix break +in," said Maya. "We were well hidden down there, and there might have +been some way we could have helped the Phoenix from inside."</p> + +<p>"Primarily because I'm not sure now that the Phoenix can break in," +answered Dark. "I didn't know about that heavy emergency barrier the +Masters let down on the south ramp, and I was surprised and relieved to +find they hadn't dropped one on this ramp, too. If they had, we'd have +been trapped below. If they have those barriers on all four ramps, the +Phoenix can't stay around long enough to burn through them, because the +Masters have probably already called for help from Mars City."</p> + +<p>Maya had laid her marshelmet down on one of the bunks, and was pulling +the marsuit on over her tunic and trousers.</p> + +<p>The door at the other end of the room opened, and a man emerged, a +heatgun in his hand.</p> + +<p>Vidonati stopped in his tracks, startled, at the sight of Dark and Maya. +Dark grunted in surprise, and reached for his heatgun.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span></p> + +<p>Even as Dark freed his weapon, Vidonati fired. The beam missed them, +melting away the top of Maya's marshelmet and setting the bunk aflame. +Then, as the beam of Dark's gun swung toward him, Vidonati ducked +precipitately back into the control room.</p> + +<p>"He got your marshelmet!" exclaimed Dark. "We're going to have to go in +and flush him out of there, and just hope there's another marsuit in +there, before we can open the airlock."</p> + +<p>Heatgun in hand, Dark started for the door of the control room, Maya at +his heels.</p> + +<p>It was then that the Phoenix, the three groundcars drawn up with their +heavy guns focused, blasted the airlock of the north building. In +seconds, the airlock was burned through.</p> + +<p>There was no emergency barrier down on this ramp. The heavy, +Earth-pressured air of the north building whistled out into the desert. +As from a punctured balloon, the pressured atmosphere of the entire +Canfell Hydroponic Farm rushed after it, roaring up the ramp, in a +moment stripping the vats, the upper level and the north building.</p> + +<p>Caught in the tornadic blast, Dark could only cling to a bolted-down cot +with one hand, and hold onto Maya around the waist with the other. As +the pressure dropped precipitately and oxygen no longer touched his +lungs, he could actually feel his alternate metabolism shifting into +gear, he could feel his breathing stop and the glow of solar energy +begin to spread through his body.</p> + +<p>As the wind faded and died, Dark released Maya and rose exultantly to +his feet. Down below, he knew, Nuwell and the Masters were gasping out +their lives in the thin air, like beached fish. Their recent attacker, +Vidonati, lay half out of the door of the control room, his hands +clutching convulsively at the floor.</p> + +<p>"That's not the way I'd planned it, but it's just as good!" Dark +exclaimed. "We've taken the farm!"</p> + +<p>Then he remembered. Maya had no marshelmet!</p> + +<p>Appalled, struck to the heart, he turned in his tracks.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span></p> + +<p>Maya was standing behind him, calmly trying to rearrange her raven hair, +tangled by the raging rush of wind.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter?" she asked quietly, becoming aware of Dark's intent +gaze.</p> + +<p>"Maya! You don't have a helmet on! Are you breathing?"</p> + +<p>She was silent for a moment, apparently examining herself.</p> + +<p>"Why, no, I don't believe I am," she replied, just as calmly.</p> + +<p>"How can you ...? Wait a minute!"</p> + +<p>Dark sent his mind into the invisible. His probing thoughts fled over +desert and lowland, seeking. They found the Martian, Qril, and he +recognized that Qril responded immediately.</p> + +<p><i>Qril, how is it that Maya is able to live in the Martian atmosphere +without breathing?</i> asked Dark telepathically.</p> + +<p><i>She is as you</i>, replied Qril. <i>When she was a child, living among the +Martians, we altered her physiological and genetic structure so that +she, also, is able to utilize solar energy and exist without oxygen</i>.</p> + +<p><i>Why didn't you tell me this before, at Ultra Vires?</i> demanded Dark.</p> + +<p><i>You did not ask</i>, replied Qril, and the mental contact faded out.</p> + +<p>Dark turned to Maya, his face alight.</p> + +<p>"Darling," he said, "our children will need no embryonic alterations. +They will be born as we are, able to live under Martian conditions. And +never again will either of us ever have to wear a marsuit!"</p> + +<p>He felt the questing touch of Cheng's mind.</p> + +<p>Cheng: <i>Are you there, Dark?</i></p> + +<p>Dark: <i>Here.</i></p> + +<p>Cheng: <i>Are you all right?</i></p> + +<p>Dark: <i>We're both fine! We're coming out. Then we'll take off at once +for the Icaria Desert, before the Mars City task force gets here.</i></p> + +<p>He and Maya walked hand in hand through the blasted airlock. The three +groundcars were there, waiting.</p> + +<p>The two of them stood for a moment, before getting aboard<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> the +groundcars, and looked out together across the red desert toward the +sinking sun.</p> + +<p>Death? Desolation? No, not for them. This was life, and free, bleak +beauty, for them and for their children.</p> + +<p>The future of Mars was theirs.</p> + + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Rebels of the Red Planet, by Charles Louis Fontenay + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REBELS OF THE RED PLANET *** + +***** This file should be named 20739-h.htm or 20739-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/7/3/20739/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Janet Blenkinship and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> diff --git a/20739-page-images.zip b/20739-page-images.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c7cd5b7 --- /dev/null +++ b/20739-page-images.zip diff --git a/20739.txt b/20739.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..116ee03 --- /dev/null +++ b/20739.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6508 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Rebels of the Red Planet, by Charles Louis Fontenay + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Rebels of the Red Planet + +Author: Charles Louis Fontenay + +Release Date: March 4, 2007 [EBook #20739] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REBELS OF THE RED PLANET *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Janet Blenkinship and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + +REBELS OF THE RED PLANET + +by + +CHARLES L. FONTENAY + + + +_Charles L. Fontenay has also written_: + +TWICE UPON A TIME (D-266) + + + +Copyright (C), 1961, by Ace Books, Inc. +All Rights Reserved + +Printed in U.S.A. +ACE BOOKS, INC. +23 West 47th Street, New York 36, N.Y. + + + + + MARS FOR THE MARTIANS! + + + Dark Kensington had been dead for twenty-five years. It was a fact; + everyone knew it. Then suddenly he reappeared, youthful, brilliant, + ready to take over the Phoenix, the rebel group that worked to + overthrow the tyranny that gripped the settlers on Mars. + + The Phoenix had been destroyed not once, not twice, but three times! + But this time the resurrected Dark had new plans, plans which + involved dangerous experiments in mutation and psionics. + + And now the rebels realized they were in double jeopardy. Not only + from the government's desperate hatred of their movement, but also + from the growing possibility that the new breed of mutated monsters + would get out of hand and bring terrors never before known to man. + + + CHARLES L. FONTENAY writes: "I was born in Brazil of a father who + was by birth English and by parentage German and French, and of a + mother who was by birth American and by parentage American and + Scottish. This mess of internationalism caused me some trouble in + the army during World War II as the government couldn't decide + whether I was American, British, or Brazilian; and both as an + enlisted man and an officer I dealt in secret work which required + citizenship by birth. On three occasions I had to dig into the + lawbooks. Finally they gave up and admitted I was an American + citizen.... + + "I was raised on a West Tennessee farm and distinguished myself in + school principally by being the youngest, smallest (and consequently + the fastest-running) child in my classes ... Newspaper work has been + my career since 1936. I have worked for three newspapers, including + _The Nashville Tennessean_ for which I am now rewrite man, and + before the war for the Associated Press." + + Mr. Fontenay is married, lives in Madison, Tenn., and has had one + other novel published by Ace Books. + + + * * * * * + + + +1 + + +It is a sea, though they call it sand. + +They call it sand because it is still and red and dense with grains. +They call it sand because the thin wind whips it, and whirls its dusty +skim away to the tight horizons of Mars. + +But only a sea could so brood with the memory of aeons. Only a sea, +lying so silent beneath the high skies, could hint the mystery of life +still behind its barren veil. + +To practical, rational man, it is the Xanthe Desert. Whatever else he +might unwittingly be, S. Nuwell Eli considered himself a practical, +rational man, and it was across the bumpy sands of the Xanthe Desert +that he guided his groundcar westward with that somewhat cautious +proficiency that mistrusts its own mastery of the machine. Maya Cara +Nome, his colleague in this mission to which he had addressed himself, +was a silent companion. + +Nuwell's liquid brown eyes, insistent upon their visual clarity, saw the +red sand as the blowing surface of unliving solidity. Only clarity was +admitted to Nuwell, and the only living clarity was man and beast and +vegetation, spotted in the dome cities and dome farms of the lowlands. +He and Maya scurried, transiting sparks of the only life, insecure and +hastening in the absence of the net of roads which eventually would bind +the Martian surface to human reality from the toeholds of the dome +cities. + +In that opposite world which was the other side of the groundcar's seat, +Maya Cara Nome's opaque black eyes struggled against the surface. They +struggled not from any rational motivation but from long stubbornness, +from habit, as a fly kicks six-legged and constant against the surface +tension of a trapping pool. + +Formally, Maya was allied to Newell's clarity and solidity, and she +could express this alliance with complete logic if called on. But behind +the casually blowing sand she sensed a depth. The shimmering atmosphere, +hostile to man, which sealed the red desert was a lens that distorted +and concealed by its intervention. The groundcar was a mechanical bug, +an alienness with which timorous man had allied himself; allied with it +against reality, she and Nuwell were hastened by it through reality, +unseeing, toward the goal of a more comfortable unreality. + +The groundcar bumped and slithered, and an orange dust-cloud boiled up +from its broad tires and wafted away across the sculpted sand. The +desert stretched away, silent and empty, to the distant horizon; the +groundcar the only humming disturbance of its silence and emptiness. The +steel-blue sky shimmered above, a lens capping the red surface. + +The groundcar rolled westward, slashing toward its goal from the distant +lowland of Solis Lacus. Far away, two men, machineless, plodded this +same Xanthe Desert toward the same goal; but they plodded southward, +approaching on a different radius. + +They were naked. In a thin atmosphere without sufficient oxygen to +support animal life or even the higher forms of terrestrial plant life, +they wore no marsuits, no helmets, no oxygen tanks. + +The man who walked in front was tall, erect, powerfully muscled. His +features and short-clipped hair were coarse, but self-assured +intelligence shone in his smoky eyes. He moved across the loose sand, +barefoot, with easy grace. + +The--man?--that shambled behind him was as tall, but appeared shorter +and even more muscular because his shoulders and head were hunched +forward. His even coarser face was characterized by vacuously slack +mouth and blue eyes empty of any expression except an occasional brief +frown of puzzlement. + +Toward a focal point: from the east, two people; from the north, two +people. If in the efficient self-assurance of Adam Hennessey could be +paralleled a variant harmony with the insistent surfaceness of S. Nuwell +Eli, does any coincidental parallelism exist between Brute Hennessey and +Maya Cara Nome? + +Puzzlement was the climate of Brute's mind. This surface film of things +through which he ploughed his way, the swarming currents below the +surface--all were chaos. He grasped vaguely at comprehension without +achieving, the effective coalescence of electric ideas always falling +short before reaching consciousness. + +The two men plodded, naked, through the loose sand. Above them in the +Mars-blue dome of day, the weak sun turned downward, warning of its +eventual departure. + +A two-passengered groundcar and two men, widely apart, and yet bound for +the same destination.... + +The destination was a lone, sprawling building in the desert. It could +have been a huge warehouse, or a fortress, of black, almost windowless +Martian stone. The only outstanding feature of its virtually featureless +hulk was a tower which struck upward from its northern side. + +As the summer afternoon progressed, Dr. G. O. T. Hennessey paced the +windy summit of the tower, peered frequently into the desert north +beneath a sunshading hand, and waggled his goat beard in annoyance under +his transparent marshelmet. + +Had the helmet speaker been on or the air less thin, one might have +determined that Goat Hennessey was utilizing some choice profanity, +directed at those two absent personages whose names were, respectively, +Adam and Brute. + +The airlock to the tower elevator opened and a small creature--a +child?--emerged onto the roof. Distorted, humpbacked and +barrel-chested, it scuttled on reed-thin legs to Goat's side. It wore no +marsuit. + +"Father!" screeched this apparition, its thin voice curiously muffled by +the tenuous air. "Petway fell in the laundry vat!" + +"For the love of space!" muttered Goat in exasperation. "Is there water +in it?" + +When the newcomer gave no sign of hearing, Goat realized his helmet +speaker was off. He switched it on. + +"Is there water in the vat?" he repeated. + +"Yes, sir. It's full of suds and clothes." + +"Well, go fish him out before he soaks up all the water. The soap will +make him sick." + +The messenger turned, almost tripping over its own broad feet, and went +back through the airlock. Goat returned to his northward vigil. + +Miles away, Nuwell slowed the groundcar as it approached the lip of that +precipitous slope bordering the short canal which connects Juventae Fons +with the Arorae Sinus Lowland. He consulted a rough chart, and turned +the groundcar southward. A drive of about a kilometer brought them to a +wide descending ledge down which they were able to drive into the canal. + +Here, on the flat lowland surface, the canal sage grew thick, a +gray-green expanse stretching unbroken to the distant cliff that was the +other side of the canal. Occasionally above its smoothness thrust the +giant barrel of a canal cactus. + +Nuwell headed the groundcar straight across the canal, for the chart +showed that the nearest upward ledge on the other side was conveniently +almost opposite. The big wheels bent and crushed the canal sage, leaving +a double trail. + +The canal sage brought with it the comforting feeling of surface life +once more. This feeling, for no reason that he could have determined +consciously, released Nuwell's tongue. + +"Maya," he said, in a voice that betrayed determination behind its +mildness, "I don't see any real reason for waiting. When we've cleared +up this matter at Ultra Vires and get back to Mars City, I think we +should get married." + +She glanced at his handsome profile and smiled affectionately. + +"I'm complimented by your impatience, Nuwell," she said. "But there is a +good reason for waiting, for me. When we're married, I want to be your +wife, completely. I want to keep your home and mother your children. +Don't you understand that?" + +"That's what I want, too," he said. "That's my idea of what marriage is. +But, Maya, if you insist on finishing this government assignment, that +could be a long time off." + +"I know, and I don't like it any better than you do, darling," said +Maya. "But it's cost the Earth government a great deal of trouble and +money to send me here, and you know how long it would take for them to +get a replacement to Mars for me. I don't feel that I can let them +down, and I don't think it would be much of a beginning to our marriage +for me to be running around ferreting out rebels during the first months +of it." + +"That's another thing I don't like, Maya," said Nuwell. "It's dangerous, +and I don't want anything to happen to you." + +"It's your work, too, and it's not absolutely safe for you, either. I'll +be sharing it with you when we're married, and for you it will go on for +a long time. I have a specific mission here, to locate the rebel +headquarters, and as soon as I've done that I'll be more than happy to +become just a contented housewife and leave the rest of it to you." + +Nuwell shrugged, a little disconsolately, and turned his attention to +the task of negotiating the groundcar up the ascending slope. + +She was a strange creature, this little Maya of his. She had been born +on Mars and, orphaned by some unknown disaster, had been cared for +during her first years by the mysterious, grotesque native Martians. +When they took her at last to one of the dome cities, she was sent to +Earth for rearing. And now she was back on Mars as an undercover agent +of the Earth government, seeking to ferret out the rebels known to be +engaging in widespread forbidden activities. + +Often he did not understand her, but he wanted her, nevertheless. + +Nuwell steered the groundcar slowly up the slope, over rubble and ruts, +avoiding the largest rocks. At last they reached the top, and the +groundcar arrowed out over the desert again, picking up speed. + +Far to the left and ahead of them there was another dust-cloud drifting +up, one that was not of the thin wind, but nearly stationary. Nuwell +found the binoculars in the storage compartment and handed them to Maya. + +"What's that over there?" he wondered. "Another groundcar? Take a look, +Maya." + +Maya trained the glasses in the direction indicated, through the +groundcar's transparent dome. It was difficult to get them focused, for +the groundcar swayed and jolted, but at last she was able to make brief +identification. + +"They're Martians, Nuwell," she said. "Can we drive over that way?" + +"You've seen Martians before," he said. + +"But I'd like to speak with them," she said. "I talk their language, you +know." + +"Yes, I do know, darling, but that's utterly foolish. They're only +animals, after all, and we have to get to Ultra Vires before night, if +we can." + +He kept the groundcar on its course. + +Maya lapsed into disgruntled silence. Nuwell stole a sidelong glance +at her, his breath catching slightly at the curve of the petite, +perfectly feminine form beneath the loose Martian tunic and baggy +trousers. He reached over and patted her hand. + +But Maya was offended. She kept her black head turned away from him, +looking out of the groundcar dome across the desert. + +At their destination, Goat Hennessey peered eagerly into the distance, +searching. + +This time, his watery blue eyes picked up two tiny figures on the +horizon. He watched them as they approached, finally detailing +themselves into two naked, pink creatures of manshape and only slightly +more than mansize. + +"They made it," he muttered. "Both of them. Good!" + +He turned and entered the airlock. As soon as its air reached +terrestrial density and composition, he removed his marshelmet. + +Goat rode the elevator to the ground level, left it and hurried down a +corridor, reaching the outside airlock in time to admit the two figures. + +Adam entered first, easily confident, carrying his head like a king. +Brute shambled behind him. + +"Everything go all right?" asked Goat, his voice quavering in his +anxiety. + +"Fine, father," said Adam, smiling to reveal savage, even teeth. + +"Nothing unusual happen?" + +"Nothing at all, sir." + +"You forget, Adam?" mouthed Brute eagerly. "You forget you fall?" + +Adam spun on him ferociously, raising a heavy hand in threat. Brute did +not cringe. + +"I forget nothing!" snarled Adam. "You crazy Brute, I say it is +nothing!" + +"But, Adam--" + +"I say it is nothing!" howled Adam and sprang for him. + +"Stop it!" snapped Goat, like the crack of a whip, and they froze in the +moment of their grappling. Sheepishly, they parted and stood side by +side before him. + +"I'll listen to details after supper," said Goat. "The children are +hungry, and so am I." + + + + +2 + + +Adam and Brute followed Goat Hennessey down the corridor, towering over +him like Saint Bernards on the heels of a terrier. They turned into the +dining room, a big square room centered with a rude table and chairs, +one wall pierced by a fireplace in which a big cauldron steamed over +smouldering coals. + +The dining room swarmed with a dozen small creatures, human in their +pink flesh, more or less human in their twisted bodies. As soon as Goat +entered with Adam and Brute in tow, the assemblage set up a high-pitched +howling and twittering of anticipation and began beating utensils on the +dishes, table and walls. + +"Quiet!" squawked Goat over the tremendous clatter, and the noise +subsided. They stood where they were, bright eyes fixed on him. + +These were "the children." Some of them were humpbacked, like Evan, +the one who had carried the message to the tower. Some, like Evan, were +grotesquely barrel-chested, with or without the hump. Some were as thin +as skeletons, with huge heads; some were hulking miniatures of Brute. +One steatopygean girl was so bulky in legs and hindquarters that she +could waddle only a few inches with each step, yet her head and upper +torso were skinny and fragile. + +Goat sat down at the head of the table, and immediately there was a +tumbling rush for places. Most of the children sat, chattering, while +two of the larger girls moved around the table, taking bowls to the +cauldron, filling them with a brownish stew and returning them. + +They ate in silence. When supper was ended, the children scattered, some +to play, others to chores. Goat beckoned to Adam and Brute to follow +him. He led them down the corridor and into his study. + +Goat turned on the light, revealing a book-lined, paper-stacked room +focused on a huge desk. He removed his marsuit to stand in baggy +trousers and loose tunic. Adam and Brute stood near the door, shifting +uncomfortably, for the study was normally forbidden ground. + +Goat stood by a thick double window, looking out over the desert to the +west. The small sun disappeared beneath the horizon even as he looked, +leaving the fast-darkening sky a dull, faint red. Almost as though +released by the sunset, pale Phobos popped above the horizon and began +to climb its eastward way. The desert already was dark, but a stirring +above it bespoke a distant sandstorm. + +Goat turned from the window and faced the pair. + +"Well," he snapped harshly, "what happened?" + +Adam smiled confidently. + +"We did as you said, father," he answered. "We walked to the edge of the +canal, and we walked back. We had no water and we had no air. We did not +feel tired. We did not feel sick." + +"Fine! Fine!" murmured Goat. + +"Father ..." said Brute. + +Goat turned his eyes to Brute, and savage irritation swept over him. +With that word, at that moment, Brute gave him a feeling of guilty +foreboding. + +"Don't call me 'father!'" snapped Goat angrily. + +"But you say call you father," protested Brute, the puzzled frown +wrinkling his brow. "What I call you if I not call you father?" + +"Don't call me anything. Say 'sir.' What did you want to say?" + +"Father, sir," began Brute again, "Adam forget. Adam fall." + +With a muted roar, Adam swept his powerful arm in a backhanded arc that +caught Brute full on the side of his head. The blow would have felled an +ox, but Brute was not shaken. Apparently unhurt, he stood patiently, his +blue eyes on Goat with something of pleading in them. + +"Adam, let him alone!" commanded Goat sharply. "Brute, what do you mean, +Adam fell?" + +"We come back. We not far from canal. Adam fall. Adam sick. Adam turn +blue." + +"It is lies, father!" exclaimed Adam, glaring at Brute. "It is not +true." + +"Let him finish," instructed Goat. "I'll decide whether it's true. What +did you do, Brute?" + +"I find cactus, father," answered Brute. "I make hole in cactus. I put +Adam inside. I put hole back. Adam stay in cactus. Then Adam break +cactus and come out again. We come back." + +Goat cogitated. If Adam had shown, symptoms of oxygen starvation.... The +big canal cacti were hollow, and in their interiors they maintained +reserves of oxygen for their own use. More than once, such a cactus had +saved a Martian traveler's life when his oxygen supply ran short. + +He turned to Adam. + +"Well, Adam?" he asked. + +"I tell you, father, it is lies! I do not fall. Brute does not put me in +the cactus." + +"And why should he lie?" asked Goat blandly. + +This stumped Adam for a minute. Then he brightened. + +"Brute wants to be bigger and stronger than Adam," he said. "Brute knows +Adam is bigger and stronger than Brute, Brute does not like this. He +tells you lies so you will think Brute is bigger and stronger than +Adam." + +"I know you are bigger brother, Adam," objected Brute, almost +plaintively. "I not try to be bigger. Why you say you do not fall?" + +"I do not fall!" howled Adam. "I do not fall, you stupid Brute!" + +Goat held up a stern hand, enforcing silence. + +"I can't certainly settle this disagreement, but I'd be inclined to +accept what Brute says," said Goat thoughtfully. "You're smart enough to +lie, Adam. Brute isn't. The only thing I can do is to run the experiment +over. You shall go out again tomorrow, and this time I'll go with you." + +"You'll see, father," said Adam confidently. "Adam will not fall." + +"Perhaps not. But I must be sure. As much as I prefer your more human +characteristics, Adam, it's entirely possible that Brute has some +survival qualities that you lack." + +"Is true, father," said Brute eagerly. "Some things kill Adam, they not +kill Brute." + +"You lie!" cried Adam again, turning on him. "Why do you lie, Brute?" + +"No lie," insisted Brute. "You know, is true." + +"Lie! Lie!" shouted Adam. "Adam is bigger and stronger! What do you say +can kill Adam that does not kill Brute?" + +"This," replied Brute calmly. + +With an unhurried lunge, he picked up a heavy knife from Goat's desk. In +a single easy movement, he turned and slashed Adam's throat neatly. + +Choking and gurgling, Adam sank to his knees, bright blood spouting from +his neck, while Goat stood frozen in horror. Adam fell prone, he kicked +and threshed convulsively like a beheaded chicken, then twitched and lay +still in a spreading pool of blood. + +Brute calmly wiped the knife on his naked thigh and laid it back on the +desk. + +"Adam dead," he said without emotion. "Brute not lie." + +Dismayed fury erupted through Goat's veins and a red haze swept over his +eyes. + +"You idiot!" he squawked. "So that won't kill you?" + +Goaded beyond endurance, Goat seized the knife and swung it as hard as +he could against Brute's neck. It thunked like an ax biting into a tree +trunk, biting halfway through the flesh. Brute recoiled at the impact, +tearing the handle from Goat's feeble hands and leaving the knife blade +stuck in his throat. + +Brute staggered momentarily. Then he reached up and jerked the knife +away. Blood spurted through his severed throat. Brute clapped a hand to +the wound, tightly. + +For a moment, blood oozed through his fingers. Then, pale but steady, +Brute dropped his hand. + +The wound had closed! Its edges already were sealed, leaving a raw, red +scar that no longer bled. + +"Brute not lie," said Brute, the words forced out with some difficulty. +"It not kill Brute." + +Stunned by astonishment and disbelief, Goat stared at him, his mouth +moving soundlessly. + +"Go away," he whispered hoarsely at last. "Go out of here, monster!" + +Obediently, Brute shambled out of the study. As he passed through the +door, Goat regained his voice and called after him: + +"Tell the children to come and take away Adam's body." + + * * * * * + +Kilometers away, Maya Cara Nome and S. Nuwell Eli rode a groundcar that +moved swiftly across the interminable waves of the red sand. It swayed +through hollows and jounced over multiple ridges, Nuwell steering it +with some difficulty. In the steely sky, the small sun moved downward, +its brightness unimpaired by the occasional thin clouds which moved +before it. + +The sun touched the western horizon, seemed to hesitate, dropped with +breathtaking suddenness, and the stars immediately began to appear in +the deepening twilight sky. + +They stopped and had a compact meal, heated in the groundcar's +short-wave cooker. Then Nuwell switched on the headlights and they went +on again. + +Soon afterward, a faint spot of light appeared in the desert far ahead +of them. As they approached it, it became a yellow-lighted window in a +huge black mass rearing up against the night sky. They had reached Ultra +Vires. + +Nuwell announced their arrival over the groundcar radio and swung the +groundcar up beside the building's main entrance. He sealed the +groundcar's door to the building air-lock so they would not have to don +marsuits. + +After a few moments, the airlock opened. They passed through it and were +greeted by a skinny, shriveled little man with watery blue eyes and a +goatee. + +"I was expecting you, but not tonight," said this person, rather sourly. +"Well, come on in and I'll have the children fix you something to eat if +you haven't eaten." + +"I'm S. Nuwell Eli," said Nuwell, holding out a hand which the other +ignored. "This is the terrestrial agent, Miss Maya Cara Nome. You are +Dr. Hennessey, I assume." + +"That's right," said Goat. "Do you want supper?" + +"No, thank you, we ate on the way," said Nuwell. "I'd like to get +started with the inspection as soon as possible." + +"Inspection or investigation?" suggested Goat, sniffling. "Well, no +matter. I have nothing to hide." + +He led them down a dim, dusty corridor, stretching deep into the dark +bowels of the building, and turned aside into a paper-stacked room which +evidently was his study. He went straight to a big desk, sat down, +swivelled his chair around and waved them to seats. Nuwell shuffled a +little uncomfortably, then sank into a chair, but Maya remained standing +by the door, her small traveling bag in her hand, indignation rising in +her. + +"Before you settle down to charts and questions, Dr. Hennessey, do you +mind showing us to our rooms so we may wash away some of the travel +dust?" she asked icily, black eyes snapping. + +At this, Goat jumped to his feet, sincere contrition in his face wiping +out all traces of his irritated gruffness. + +"I'm very sorry!" he exclaimed. "I hope you will forgive my manners, but +I've lived and worked here alone in the desert so long that I had +forgotten the niceties of civilization." + +This apology cleared the air. Goat showed them their overnight quarters, +adjoining rooms which were not luxurious but were reasonably +comfortable, and after a time the three of them congregated once more in +Goat's study, all of them in better humor. + +"Let us have some wine first," suggested Goat. "This is very good red +wine, imported from Earth." + +He went to the door and shouted into the corridor. + +"Petway!" + +Goat returned to his chair. A few moments later, a twittering noise +sounded in the corridor, then a horrible little apparition appeared in +the door. It was a child-sized creature, naked, grotesquely +barrel-chested and teetering on thin, twisted legs. Its hairless head +was skull-like, with gaping mouth and huge, round eyes. + +Maya gasped, profoundly shocked. The little creature looked more like a +miniature Martian native than a human, but the Martians themselves were +not so distorted. She saw her own shock reflected in Nuwell's face. + +"Petway, get us three glasses of wine," commanded Goat calmly. + +Petway vanished and Goat turned briskly back to his guests. + +"Now," he said, "I shall outline the progress of my experiments to you +and answer any questions you may have." + + + + +3 + + +Maya's education was extensive, but it did not include the genetic +sciences. She was able to follow Goat's explanations and his references +to the charts he hung, one after another, on the wall of his study, but +she was able to follow them only in a general sense. The technical +details escaped her. + +Nuwell seemed to have a better grasp of the subject. He nodded his dark, +curly head frequently, and occasionally asked a question or two. + +"Surgery is performed with a concentrated electron stream on the cells +of the early embryo," said Goat. "I call it surgery, but actually it is +an alteration of the structure of certain specific genes which govern +the characteristics I am attempting to change. Such changes would, of +course, then be transmitted on down to any progeny. + +"The earlier the embryo is caught, the easier and surer the surgery, +because when it has divided into too many cells the very task of dealing +with each one separately makes the time requirement prohibitive, besides +multiplying the chance for error. The Martians have a method of altering +the physical structure and genetic composition of a full-grown adult, +but this is far beyond the stage I've reached." + +"The Martians?" repeated Nuwell in astonishment. "You mean the Martian +natives? They're nothing but degenerated animals!" + +"You're wrong," replied Goat. "I know that's the general opinion, but I +had considerable contact with them a good many years ago. Perhaps most +of them are little more than strange animals. No one really knows. They +live simple, animal-like lives, holed up in desert caves, and they're +rarely communicative in any way. But I know from my own experience that +some of them, at least, are still familiar with that ancient science +that they must have possessed when Earth was in an earlier stage of life +than the human." + +"This ... child ... that brought us the wine is one of the products of +your experiments?" asked Nuwell. + +"Yes. Petway's pretty representative of the children, I'm afraid. I've +been trying to determine what went wrong. It could be an inaccuracy in +dealing with the genetic structure itself, or a failure to follow +exactly the same pattern of change in moving from one cell to another in +the embryo. If I could only catch one at the single cell stage! + +"None of the children has turned out as well as my first two +experiments, Brute and Adam. Both of them were born about twenty-five +years ago--terrestrial years, that is--and developed into normal, even +superior physical specimens. Unfortunately, their mental development was +retarded. Adam was the brighter of the two, and Brute killed him +tonight, shortly before your arrival." + +Maya shivered. + +"Somehow, it seems horrible to me, experimenting with human lives this +way," she said. + +"It's being done for a good cause, Maya," said Nuwell. "Dr. Hennessey's +objective is to help man live better on Mars. After all, there is +nothing nobler than the individual's sacrifice of himself for his +fellows, whether it's voluntary or involuntary." + +"But what about the mothers of these children?" asked Maya. + +"The big problem is to reach them as soon as possible after conception," +said Goat, misinterpreting her question. "We do this by magnetic +detectors, which report instantly the conjunction of the positive and +negative. The surgery is performed, as quickly as possible, utilizing +the suspended animation technique which is being developed toward +interstellar travel." + +"I wasn't asking about the technical aspects," said Maya. "What I want +to know is, what sort of mothers will permit you to experiment this way +on their unborn children, especially seeing the results you've already +obtained?" + +Goat started to answer, but Nuwell forestalled him. + +"There are some things that are none of your business, darling," he +said. "The terrestrial government sent you here on a specific +assignment, and I don't think you should inquire into matters which are +classified as secret by the local government, which don't have anything +to do with that assignment. Now, Dr. Hennessey, just what sort of +survival qualities have you been able to develop in these experiments?" + +"There's no witchcraft involved," retorted Goat, with a sardonic +grimace. + +"I haven't accused you," said Nuwell quickly. + +"No, but I keep up with events, even out here, well enough to know that +you're the Mars City government's chief nemesis where there's any +suspicion of extrasensory perception. I doubt that you chose to make +this trip yourself without reason, Mr. Eli." + +"It's merely a routine inspection," murmured Nuwell. + +Goat indicated one of his charts, showing a diagram of genes and +chromosomes in different colors. + +"This is my original chart," he said. "I copied it from one belonging to +the Martians many years ago, and my genetic alteration of Brute and Adam +were based on it. But I must have miscopied it, or else the Martians +didn't have the objective I thought they did in it, because I could find +no alteration of genes affecting lung capacity or oxygen utilization. My +own subsequent charts, on which later experiments were based, are +alterations of this." + +"But just what is your objective, and how well have you succeeded?" +persisted Nuwell. + +"Ability to survive under Martian conditions." + +"I know. This is stated in all previous inspection reports. I want +something more specific." + +"Why, ability to survive in an almost oxygen-free atmosphere, of course. +As well as can be determined, the Martians do this by deriving oxygen +from surface solids and storing it in their humps under compression, +very much like an oxygen tank. + +"I've succeeded to some degree with my children. All of them can go an +hour or two without breathing. What I don't understand is that no +capacities like that were included in the genetic changes on Adam and +Brute, and yet they've gradually developed an ability to do much better. +Both of them were out on the desert the entire day today without +oxygen." + +Nuwell was silent for a moment, tapping the tips of his fingers +together, apparently in deep thought. Then he said: + +"Maya, I think we've reached the point where you had better retire to +your room and let us to talk privately. You can question Dr. Hennessey +in the morning about any attempts the rebels may have made to contact +him." + +Maya obeyed silently, rather glad to get away and think things over +alone. When she had come to Mars as an agent of the Earth government, it +had not occurred to her that there would be areas of information from +which the local government would bar her. She recognized that such a +prohibition was perfectly valid, but she was a little offended, +nevertheless. + +Her room was a spacious one on the ground level, and boasted one of +Ultra Vires' few large windows. Maya unpacked her bag, and gratefully +stripped off her boots and socks, her tunic and baggy trousers. In +underpants, she went into the small bathroom, washed cosmetics from her +face and brushed down her thick, short hair. + +Donning her light sleeping garment, she sat down on the edge of her bed. +She was very tired from the long drive and, almost without thinking, she +did not get up to turn out the light. She thought at it. + +The switch clicked and the light went out. + +She felt foolish and a little frightened. She had never told Nuwell of +this sort of thing. Can a woman ask her witch-hunting lover: "Do you +think I'm a witch?" + +With almost total recall, as though she heard it spoken, she remembered +the summation speech Nuwell had made the first time she had seen him in +action. He was prosecuting a man charged with conducting experiments +similar to the historic and outlawed Rhine experiments of Earth. + +"_Gentlemen, we sit here in a public building and conduct certain +necessary human affairs in a dignified and orderly manner. We follow a +way of life we brought with us from distant Earth. Apparently, we are as +safe here as we would be on Earth._ + +_"I say 'apparently.' Sometimes we forget the thin barriers here that +protect us against disaster, against extermination. A rent in this +city's dome, a failure in our oxygen machinery, a clogging of our +pumping system by the ever-present sand, and most of us would die before +help could reach us from our nearest neighbors._ + +_"We live here under certain restrictions that many of us do not like. +Certainly, no one likes to be unable to step out under the open sky +without wearing a bulky marsuit and an oxygen tank. Certainly, no one +likes to be rationed on water and meat throughout the foreseeable +future._ + +_"But what we have to remember is that absolute discipline has always +been a requirement for those courageous souls in the vanguard of human +progress._ + +_"Witchcraft--the practice of extrasensory perception, if you prefer the +term--is forbidden on Mars because to practice it one must differ from +his fellow men when the inexorable dangers of our frontier demand that +we work together. To practice it, one must devote time and mental effort +to untried things when our thin margin of safety makes concentrated and +combined effort necessary for survival. That is why witchcraft is +forbidden on Mars._ + +_"Let those who yet cling to the wistful liberalism of Earth label us +conformists if they will. I say to you that until Mars is won for +humanity, we cannot afford the luxury of nonconformity._ + +_"Gentlemen, I give you the prosecution's case."_ + +Maya stared out the window. This whole side of Ultra Vires was dark, +except for a rectangle of light cast from a window a little distance +away--the window of Goat Hennessey's study. In this rectangle, the red +sand of the desert lay clear and stark. + +Near the end of the rectangle lay an indistinct, crumpled, oblong +figure. Puzzled, Maya studied it. It looked like a body to her. + + * * * * * + +In the study, Nuwell gazed at the skinny doctor with angry brown eyes. + +"The bulletins sent to you, as well as other researchers, gave specific +instructions that research was to be directed toward human utilization +of certain foods now being developed," accused Nuwell. + +"I thought this was more important," replied Goat. + +"You thought! You're not on Earth, where scientists can get government +grants and go jaunting off on wild research projects of their own." + +"I still think this is more important," said Goat stubbornly. "I know +that all of us are expected to co-operate and stick to tried and +accepted lines so we won't be wasting time and material. Perhaps I was +wrong in not doing that initially. But now I've proved that this line +of research can be followed profitably, so its continuance now can't be +looked on as a waste of time." + +"Scientists should leave political direction to more experienced men," +said Nuwell in an exasperated tone. "This is not merely a matter of time +waste, or nonconformity. The Mars Corporation operates our sole supply +line to Earth, Dr. Hennessey, and that supply line brings to man on Mars +all the many things he needs to live here. The Earth-Mars run is an +expensive operation, and it's important that it remain economically +feasible for Marscorp to operate it. + +"No matter how altruistic you may be about it, you get man to the point +that he doesn't depend on atmospheric oxygen here, and domes, +pressurized houses and groundcars, oxygen equipment--a great many things +are going to be unnecessary. But there'll still be a lot of other things +we'll have to have from Earth. Don't you realize what a disaster it +would be if Marscorp decided to drop the only spaceship line to Earth +because its cargo fell off to the point that it was economically +unsound?" + +Goat looked at him with shrewd blue eyes. + +"I think I can jump to a conclusion," he remarked mildly. "Marscorp has +some sort of control over the 'foods' you're trying to make practical +for human consumption in the approved experiments, doesn't it?" + +"Well, yes. Marscorp wants to make man gradually self-sufficient on +Mars, and I think it's legitimate that Marscorp derive some economic +benefits from its efforts in that direction." + +"I've wondered for some time just how close Marscorp and the government +were tied together," said Goat dryly. "Obviously, if I don't do as you +say, my supplies here will be cut off. So I have no choice but to +discontinue this work and turn my attention to the approved line." + +"That isn't quite adequate now," said Nuwell. "You're going to have to +leave here and come to Mars City where you can do your research under +supervision. Your experimental humans here will be destroyed, of +course." + +"Destroyed?" There was an agonized note to Goat's voice. "All of them? +How about the two mothers I have who haven't given birth yet?" + +"You'd destroy them anyhow, as you have the others, not long after the +births. And that brings up another thing. When you get to Mars City, +watch your tongue. You almost revealed to Miss Cara Nome that the +government has been kidnapping an expectant mother now and then for your +experiments." + +"Years of work, gone to waste," mourned Goat somberly. "When must I do +this?" + +"As soon as possible. You'll be expected in Mars City within two weeks. +Now, I'd like to see these experimental humans." + +A few moments later, they made their way together through a large +dormitory in which all of Goat's charges were sleeping. Nuwell shuddered +at the sight of the small, deformed bodies. + +"I don't worry that you could ever take any of these to Mars City +undetected. But," he said, pointing to Brute, "that one looks too near +normal. I want to see him destroyed before I leave." + +"Brute? But he's the most successful one I have left!" + +"Exactly. That's why I want to see him destroyed, tonight." + +Goat awoke Brute, and the monster man sleepily followed them back to the +study. + +Goat picked up the huge knife, still stained with Adam's blood, and +looked Brute squarely in the face. Brute returned the gaze, no +comprehension in his dull blue eyes. + +"You think I can't kill you, Brute?" said Goat coldly. "I'll show you!" + +With a surgeon's precision, Goat plunged the sharp point between Brute's +ribs and into the heart. + +_Shock swept over Brute's mind._ + +_Father kills me!_ + +_Reject! Reject!_ + +_Father, all kindness, all hope, all wisdom and love, wants me no more. +Father rejects me! Father kills me!_ + +_Despair!_ + +_Reject! Reject!_ + +_Blackness swept fading through Brute's despairing brain._ + +One agonized note of pleading in the pale-blue eyes, and they closed in +acceptance. Brute swayed and fell forward, crashing to the floor, +driving the knife into his chest to the hilt. + +Brute shuddered and rolled over on his back. He lay sprawled, arms flung +out limply, the knife hilt protruding upward. He sighed, and his +breathing stopped. + +Goat stared down at him. He picked up Brute's wrist and held it. There +was no pulse. + + * * * * * + +Shortly after dawn, Maya awoke. Remembering what she had seen dimly the +night before, she went curiously to the window. + +There were two of them now. They were bodies, human bodies, naked and +unquestionably dead. In the night, the dry, vampirish Martian air had +dessicated them. They were skeletons, parchment skin stretched tightly +over the lifeless bones. + +Even as she stood and looked, a group of figures appeared on the horizon +and came slowly nearer. They were Martians--monstrous creatures, +huge-chested, humpbacked, with tremendously long, thin legs and arms, +their big-eyed, big-eared heads mere excrescences in front of their +humps. + +Trailing slowly through the desert toward Aurorae Sinus, they passed +near the skeleton bodies. One of the Martians saw them. He boomed +excitedly at the others, loudly enough for Maya to hear through the +double window. + +The Martians stopped and gathered around the bodies. + +What, she wondered, could interest them in two corpses? There was no +guessing. Martian motives and thought processes were alien and +incomprehensible, even to one who had lived among them and communicated +with them as a child. + +One of the Martians picked up one of the corpses, and the whole group +moved away toward the lowland, the Martian carrying the body easily with +one long-fingered hand. Wisps of sandy dust trailed them as they +dwindled and slowly vanished. + +The second body lay where they had left it. A gaping wound in its throat +seemed to mock her. + + + + +4 + + +Fancher Laddigan made his way down a long dim corridor in the rear +portion of the Childress Barber College, in Mars City's eastern quarter. +He stopped and hesitated, with some trepidation, before an unmarked door +near the end of the corridor. + +Completely bald, bespectacled and well up in years, Fancher looked like +a clerk and he had the instincts of a clerk. Yet he utilized that +appearance and those instincts in a perilous cause. + +Fancher knocked timidly on the door. On receiving an indistinct +invitation from inside, he pushed it open and entered. + +Fancher had a tendency to shiver every time he had occasion to see the +Chief, whose real name was unknown to Fancher and to most others here at +the barber college. + +Small as a child in body, wagging a thin-haired head larger than +lifesize, the Chief surveyed Fancher with icy green eyes. The eyes were +large and round as a child's, but there was nothing childlike about +their expression. As though to deny his physical smallness, he smoked +one of the fragrant, foot-long cigars produced only in the Hadriacum +Lowlands. + +"Sit down," commanded the Chief in a high, piping voice. + +Fancher swallowed and sat, facing his superior across the big desk. The +Chief opened a drawer, took out another of the long cigars, and handed +it to Fancher. Fancher did not like cigars, but he had never dared say +so to the Chief. He lit it gingerly, coughed at his first inhalation, +and smoked at it dutifully and unhappily. + +"You recognized this man certainly as Dark Kensington?" asked the Chief. + +"Well ..." Fancher began, and started coughing again. The Chief fixed +him with an unwinking green stare. When the coughing spell ended, +Fancher sat silent, his eyes stinging with tears, fumbling at what he +wanted to say. + +"You knew Dark Kensington before his disappearance twenty-five years +ago," said the Chief, with a trace of impatience in his tone. "I am told +that you saw this man and talked to him. You are qualified to recognize +Dark Kensington. Is this man Dark Kensington, or not?" + +"Well," said Fancher again, "the man was walking alone across the +desert, and when someone picked him up he asked how he could find the +Childress Barber College, and of course our men heard of it and went out +to--" + +"I have received a full report on the man's appearance and our initial +contact with him. I asked you a question." + +"Well, Chief, it's a peculiar thing. If this man, as he is now, had +reappeared twenty-five years ago, I'd _know_ it was Dark Kensington. But +he looks exactly as Dark did when he disappeared, not one day older. And +he doesn't remember a thing beyond his disappearance except events of +the past two weeks, he says. + +"Yet his memories of Dark's activities before his disappearance are +unquestionably accurate and clear. It's as though Dark had been put on +ice at the time of his disappearance and just now thawed out, without +any aging or memory during the interim." + +"Perhaps he was," said the Chief dryly. "But is it possible that this +man, looking so much like Dark Kensington, could have studied +Kensington's personality and activities carefully and be posing as +Kensington?" + +"No, sir," said Fancher promptly. "Dark and I were very close friends at +one time. He remembers that, although he had difficulty recognizing me +since I'm so much older. We went through some experiences together that +I never told to anyone, and I'm sure he didn't. He remembers them in +every detail. Like the way we trapped a sage-rabbit once when we'd run +out of supplies out in Hadriacum." + +Fancher chuckled. + +"Then we couldn't eat the thing," he reminisced. + +"Very well, if you're sure of his identity, that's all I wish to know," +said the Chief. "I don't want to be trapped by a Marscorp trick with +plastic surgery. But if this man is Dark Kensington, it's the best +fortune the Phoenix has met with in a long time." + +He fell silent, and busied himself with papers on his desk, paying no +more attention to Fancher. Fancher waited, then concluded reasonably +that the interview was at an end. And, since the long cigar agonized +him, he rose and moved quietly toward the door. + +"I have not given you permission to leave," said the Chief, without +raising either his eyes or his voice. "Kensington is due to arrive in a +few moments, and I want you here when I talk to him. If any of his words +or actions appear inconsistent in any way to you, I want you to let me +know." + +Fancher sighed silently, returned to his chair and puffed disconsolately +on the cigar. + +Some five minutes passed. Then there was a firm rap on the door. + +"Come in!" called the Chief in his reedy voice. + +The door opened, and in walked a man whose entire presence radiated +strength, confidence and the potentiality of instant violence. Dark +Kensington was tall and broad-shouldered, clad in dark-blue tunic and +baggy trousers. His face was darkly tanned, strong, handsome. His hair +was black as midnight. His eyes were startlingly pale in the dark face; +eyes of pale blue, remote and filled with light. + +"I'm Dark Kensington," he said, striding up to the Chief's desk. "You're +the man known as the Chief?" + +"Yes," answered the Chief, and waited. + +Dark nodded to Fancher. Fancher, feeling rather green about the gills, +returned the greeting. + +Dark turned his attention back to the Chief, and he, also, waited. There +was a long silence. The Chief broke it first. + +"What do you know about Dr. G. O. T. Hennessey--Goat Hennessey?" asked +the Chief calmly. + +Fancher blinked at this unexpected line of questioning. A cloud passed +over Dark's face, as though the name had triggered something in him +that he could not quite remember. + +"He was a very good friend of mine," answered Dark, "although it seems +that something happened between us that I can't quite recollect. He was +one of the most brilliant geneticists of Earth, and came to Mars with an +experimental group that was to try to develop a human type that could +live more comfortably under Martian conditions. The project was backed +by the government." + +He stopped. It was the Chief who added: + +"Then Marscorp stepped in." + +The expression on Dark's face was blank. + +"You don't know what Marscorp is, do you?" asked the Chief curiously. + +"The name's familiar," replied Dark. "It's a spaceline, isn't it?" + +"If your amnesia is genuine, you might very well react in such a +fashion," said the Chief reflectively. "Marscorp is the Mars +Corporation, and it's the only spaceline that serves Mars now. It's a +giant combine on Earth which has a virtual monopoly on the spacelines +and exports and imports between Earth and all the colonized planets. + +"Marscorp is against any development of human beings who can live under +natural extraterrestrial conditions, because that would end the +colonies' dependence on Marscorp for supplies. As it is, the colonies +literally can't live without Marscorp. Marscorp controls enough senators +and delegates in the World Congress to block other important projects if +the Earth government refuses to co-operate with it, so the +government--that is to say, Marscorp--put a ban on the experiments by +Hennessey and other scientists here." + +"I remember the government ban on the projects, but I wasn't aware that +Marscorp had anything to do with it," said Dark. "Goat Hennessey was one +of a group of us who retired to the desert to continue work despite the +government ban." + +"Goat sold out," said the Chief. "Perhaps your memory doesn't include +that important point, but Fancher remembers it well. It was a little +before my time. Goat sold out, and betrayed the others to the +government in return for assistance in carrying out more limited +experiments. Some of the group escaped and formed the nucleus of the +rebel movement which now is centered here at the Childress Barber +College. We call ourselves the Order of the Phoenix." + +The Chief allowed himself the luxury of a very faint smile. + +"Marscorp and the government call us the Desert Rats," he said. "Very +appropriate. They consider us in the same category as rats." + +Dark had been standing, casually at ease, before the Chief's desk, with +the air of a man who does not tire from standing. Now he did something +Fancher would not have dared: without the Chief's invitation, Dark sat +down in a comfortable chair, leaned back and stretched out his legs in +relaxation. + +"It's a little hard for me to realize there's a twenty-five-year gap in +my memory," he said. "It seems to me that it has been less than a month +ago that Goat and I were together, with other refugees from the +government edict, in the Icaria Desert. Why did you ask me about Goat?" + +"Because the government brought him back to Mars City not three months +ago," answered the Chief. "None of us had any idea where he was, but it +turns out that the government has had him working under surveillance +some place in the Xanthe Desert north of Solis Lacus. Since it was not +far from Solis Lacus that you were picked up, I wondered if you had had +any contact with him." + +"Not that I remember," said Dark. "Do you have another of those cigars?" + +"Why, yes," answered the Chief, startled. He produced another Hadriacum +cigar and handed it to Dark. Dark lit it and puffed the fragrant smoke +with evident enjoyment. + +"As I say, the last time I remember seeing Goat was in the Icaria +Desert, in a dome we had set up there," said Dark. "The next thing I +remember is waking up in the midst of some sort of cave in a different +part of Icaria, surrounded by Martians. + +"I could communicate with them in a fashion--something I was never able +to do before--and they were able to write the name of the Childress +Barber College so I could read it. But they evidently don't +differentiate our dome cities by name. I had no idea the college was +here in Mars City until your men contacted me; I just assumed it was at +Solis Lacus." + +"You'd have waged a merry search for it, clear on the other side of +Mars," remarked the Chief. "What was your purpose in finding it?" + +"I don't know that I had any specific purpose," replied Dark easily. "I +gathered from the Martians that here I could find someone who concurred +with my philosophy of resisting the government edict against seeking +self-sufficiency on Mars, and this was more or less confirmed by your +two men who contacted me at Solis Lacus." + +"I'll see to it that in the future they're not quite so frank until +they're sure of their man," said the Chief darkly. He looked quizzically +at Fancher, and Fancher nodded slightly. "But it's true. As a matter of +fact, the Phoenix follows the path toward self-sufficiency that you +recommended, rather than the one sought by Goat Hennessey." + +"That's the wrong way to approach it," said Dark promptly. "Goat and the +other scientists were following a line offering valid possibilities in +their genetic research. The only reason the rest of us chose to attempt +the extrasensory powers--particularly teleportation--was that we were +not qualified in genetic research and this seemed a field in which we +stood a chance to contribute along alternate lines. The effort should be +followed along both lines." + +"The government managed to capture all the scientists at the time of +your disappearance, and it was assumed that you had been captured, too," +said the Chief. "We don't have any scientists in the Phoenix who are +capable of doing Goat Hennessey's type of research." + +"You say he's in Mars City? I wonder if it would do any good for me to +contact him." + +"I told you that he was the one who betrayed the whole thing to the +government, and he's been working under government supervision these +last twenty-five years. I wouldn't trust him." + +The Chief surveyed Dark's strong face with speculative green eyes, then +added: + +"As a matter of fact, we've made a certain amount of progress following +your line of research. Since there are probably a good many things you +discovered in this work that we haven't stumbled on yet, we could use +your help in developing it, if you're interested." + +"Very definitely," answered Dark. "I'm interested in seeing what you've +done, and I'll be glad to help in any way I can." + +"There's one thing," said the Chief, measuring his words. "I've held +this organization together despite some pretty severe reverses for more +than fifteen years now. The reason I've been able to do it is that I +expect and must insist on absolute obedience to my orders." + +Dark smiled. "I said that I would be willing to help you," he replied +gently. "I follow no man's orders." + +The green eyes fixed themselves unwinkingly on the pale-blue ones for a +long moment. The blue ones did not waver. + +At last, to Fancher's utter amazement, the Chief nodded agreement. + + + + +5 + + +Maya Cara Nome looked from her furnished room through cracked shutters +at the building across the street. + +A barber college. The building at 49 Sage Avenue, Mars City, was a +barber college. + +That surprised her. She didn't know exactly what she had expected: a +hospital, perhaps, or even a kindergarten. But a barber college! + +But the source of the information she had received that 49 Sage Avenue +was the address she sought was unimpeachable. She had ferreted it out, +after a long time and through devious ways, and she was sure she could +trust it. + +"The Childress Barber College" read the neatly lettered sign above the +door. Maya's landlady, moon-faced Mrs. Chan, had pointed out Oxvane +Childress to her as he left the building one day: a big man, +comfortably stomached, with a heavy brown beard which, even at that +distance, she could see was shot with gray. + +As innocent as you please. Childress came out and went in, the students +went in and came out. Still, it was the address she had been given. + +Maya had to gain entrance to the building. She could learn nothing +watching it from outside. She was established here as a tourist from +Earth; besides, the position and activities of women were prescribed +rigidly by Martian colonial convention, and women did not study to +become barbers on Mars. + +She would have to have help. She, thought at once of Nuwell, and as +immediately rejected him. + +"Maya, I don't see why you insist on working alone," he had complained. +"I can set the whole machinery of government in motion to help you, +whenever you need it." + +"Primarily because you're well known and your activities are observed," +she had answered. "Your whole government machinery hasn't been effective +in tracking down the rebel headquarters yet, and it's reasonable to +assume that the rebels have a fairly effective intelligence network. My +job is to find that headquarters, and if I were seen very often with you +or tried to utilize your government machinery, they'd have me pinpointed +pretty soon." + +She left the window, filled a tiny basin with precious water, shrugged +out of her negligee and sponged her small, perfect body. She donned +form-fitting tunic, briefs and short skirt, pulled on knee-length socks +and laced up Martian walking shoes. She spent some time preparing her +hair and face. + +Then she left the room and the house and walked uptown. The walk was +about a kilometer, along sidewalks bordered by cubical, functional +houses and trim lawns of terrestrial grass and small trees. Above the +city, its dome was opalescent in the morning sun. + +The small houses gave way to larger business buildings, also cubical, +and the lawns dwindled and vanished. Farther down, the buildings were +even larger and the streets were wider and busier; but she was not +going into the heart of Mars City. + +She turned into an office building, and studied the directory in the +lobby. The offices were those of doctors and lawyers. On the directory +she found "Charlworth Scion, Attorney-at-Law, Room 207." + +There was no elevator. Maya walked up the stairs and down a corridor, +finding a door that had nothing on it but the number. She turned the +knob and went in. + +The small outer office was uninhabited. It was carpeted and desked, with +two straight chairs against a wall, for clients. Through a door, she +could see part of the inner office, cluttered and stacked with papers +and books. + +She stood there, hesitating. The outer door clicked shut behind her. At +the sound, a gray-haired, preoccupied man with spectacles and stooped +shoulders peered from the inner office. + +"Oh!" he said. "I'm sorry, my secretary went to lunch a bit early today. +Can I help you, Miss?" + +"I'm looking for Mr. Scion," she said. + +"I'm Charlworth Scion." + +"Terra outshines the Sun," said Maya. + +Scion's eyes were suddenly wary behind the spectacles. + +"Well, well," he murmured. "Come in, please." + +She went into the cluttered inner office, and Scion closed and locked +the door. + +"And you are ...?" said Scion behind his desk, his pale hands fumbling +aimlessly with papers. + +"Maya Cara Nome," she said. + +Scion found a paper and scanned it. He apparently found her name there. + +"I'm surprised to see you here," he admitted. "Our information was that +you would be working entirely alone." + +"I am," said Maya. "Or I was. I was told not to contact you unless I had +to, Mr. Scion, but it seems I'm going to need some help." + +Scion inclined his head, but said nothing. + +"As you may or may not know, my specific assignment is to locate the +nerve center of rebellious activity," said Maya. "It seems that the +rebels have an intelligence network about as effective as the +government's, and it was felt that a woman tourist from Earth might be +successful where any unusual probing by local agents might arouse +suspicion." + +"That's true," conceded Scion. "I doubt that they're really sure of the +identity of more than a few of our agents, but sometimes I think they +have a card file on every person on Mars. We have to be very careful +that movements of our agents are consistent with their pretended +occupations." + +"I have a reliable tip that their nerve center is the Childress Barber +College here," she said. "I can't find out anything, though, unless I +get into the building over a period of time. As a woman, I can't very +well apply to study barbering." + +"No," said Scion. "I see your problem." + +He turned to a filing cabinet, unlocked it and searched through it, +whistling tunelessly. He found a folder, pulled it out and studied it. + +"If it is, they've certainly kept it well covered," he said. "There's +not a mark of suspicion entered against the Childress Barber College. +But here's a possibility for getting you in. The barber college employs +one secretary, female. Now, if you could take her place...." + +Maya smiled. + +"I might as well apply as a barber student," she said. "You propose to +remove a trusted member of their own group from their midst and replace +her with a complete unknown?" + +"We don't know that she's a rebel," answered Scion. "If she isn't, she +can be lured away to another job at a much better salary. If she is, and +can't be lured ... well, there are other methods. The Mars City +Employment Agency is operated by one of our agents, and you'll be the +only secretary available when the barber college asks for a woman to +fill her place. + +"Believe me, Miss Cara Nome, as easy as it is for a woman to get married +on Mars, it is difficult to find women to do any sort of business work. +It won't seem at all strange that you're the only one available." + +"The only trouble is that I'm known in the neighborhood as a tourist +from Earth," objected Maya. + +"Well," said Scion, "things have been more expensive than you planned +for on Mars. You've run short of money. You have to work for a while to +pay living expenses here until the next ship leaves for Earth." + +"My account at the bank?" + +"It will vanish quietly from the records," said Scion with a smile. "The +bank is a government institution." + +"Very well," said Maya, taking her purse from his desk. "Let me know +when I'm to apply." + +"You won't hear from me again," said Scion, shaking his head. "The +employment agency will notify you to appear at the barber college for an +interview." + +Maya knew of Scion only as her emergency contact on Mars. She did not +know what position he held in that underground network of terrestrial +agents which was largely unknown even to Nuwell Eli, the government +prosecutor. But, whatever his position, he got things done in a hurry. + +Within two weeks, Maya was typing up applications, examination reports +and supply orders in the Childress Barber College, joking and flirting +with barber students between classes, and naively declaiming to her +ostensible employer, phlegmatic Oxvane Childress, how lucky it was for +her that she was able to get a job right across the street from her +rooming house. + +"The work's easy," rumbled Childress, explaining her tasks to her. "Any +time you want to take a coffee break with any of the young men, or go +uptown shopping, go ahead, as long as the work gets done. Just one +thing: you have to stay up here in the front of the building, and don't +ever go back in the classrooms. The instructors are mighty strict about +that, and that's one rule I won't stand to be violated." + +This significant restriction convinced Maya she was on the right track. +But she needed to move cautiously, if she was not to arouse immediate +suspicion. So she adhered strictly to her role for nearly a month, +keeping her eyes open. + +If it was a rebel operation, it was almost perfectly disguised. +Childress performed the duties of the administrative head of a barber +college, and nothing more. The students, about fifty of them, went in +and out at regular school hours, and she became casually acquainted with +a good many of them. The half-dozen instructors, whom she also came to +know, were less regular in their movements, but she could detect nothing +suspicious about them. + +"We cut the hair of Mars," was the college's motto, and she learned that +it was the larger of only two barber colleges on the planet. Apparently, +it actually did supply graduate barbers to all the dome cities. It took +in customers for the students to practice on, and, although many of them +were strangers, some of them were prominent Mars City citizens whom she +knew by sight. + +There was no question about it: partially, at least, it was a legitimate +barber college, whatever other activities it might mask. The only thing +noticeably unusual on the surface was that it was extremely selective in +its approval of students who applied for courses in barbering. She +discerned that through her processing of the applications. + +If she was going to find out anything definite, she would have to get +into the forbidden rear portion of the building. But obviously there +were legitimate classrooms there, in addition to the activities she +suspected, and if she were caught nosing around the classrooms she would +be discharged at once for violation of the rules, without finding out +what she sought. She would have to hit it right the first time. + +Biding her time and watching, she was able to learn, almost intuitively, +from the movements of students, customers and instructors, that the +classrooms in which barbering was actually taught were all concentrated +on the western side of the building. If there were any more sinister +activities, they occurred on the opposite side. Having determined this, +she planned her course of action. + +Near the end of her first month at work, she chose her time one day +when Childress was downtown, leaving her alone in the business office. +The afternoon classes were in full swing. + +Taking along a filled-out order form as an excuse, Maya walked quickly +down the corridor that stretched across the front of the building. +Carefully and quietly, she pushed open the door at the extreme end of +the corridor--a little surprised, as a matter of fact, to find it +unlocked. + +She was in another corridor, that struck straight back to the rear of +the building. + +She hesitated. There were doors spaced all along both sides of this +corridor. Did she dare attempt to open one, on the chance that the room +behind it was unoccupied? + +Then she saw that one door, a little way down, stood half open. Quietly +she walked down the hall, not quite to the door, but near enough to it +to be able to see a large area of the room behind it. + +There were people in there. In the part she was able to see, there were +half a dozen students seated, and one of the instructors standing among +them. Fortunately, their backs were to her. + +Whatever they were studying, it was not barbering. There was an +occasional murmur of voices, but she could not make out the words. + +Then she saw! On the table at the front of the room, which the students +faced, there was a big barber's basin. + +As she watched, the basin slowly raised off the table and moved upward a +few inches. No one was near it, but it floated there, quivering and +tilting a little, in the air. And then, from it, slowly, the water +itself came up in a weird fountain, moved completely free of the basin +and hung above it in the air, gradually assuming the form of a globe. + +Telekinesis! This was a class in telekinesis! The students were +concentrating on the basin and water, and lifting them into the air by +the power of their minds. + +This was indeed the heart of the rebel movement. She had found what she +sought. + +"Aren't you where you shouldn't be, young lady?" asked a calm masculine +voice behind her. + +Shocked, terrified, she whirled. A tall, handsome, dark-haired man she +had never seen before was standing there, observing her quizzically. His +pale eyes seemed to look through her and beyond her. + +She forced herself to casual composure. + +"I don't believe I've met you," she said. "Are you one of the +instructors?" + +"I'm Dark Kensington, one of the supervisors," he replied. "And you're +Miss Cara Nome, the secretary, who shouldn't be back here." + +Had he noticed that she saw the telekinetic action? She glanced back at +the classroom. The basin was now comfortably ensconced back on the +table, full of water. + +"I had this order, which I thought was of an emergency nature," she +said, offering it to him. "Mr. Childress wasn't in, and I thought I'd +better find one of the instructors so it could be approved and go out +right away." + +Dark took it and glanced at it. + +"I doubt that its emergency nature is as grave as you may have thought," +he said soberly. "However, Mr. Childress would be better qualified to +judge that. You understand that I shall have to report this infraction +of the rules to him." + +Suddenly, Maya was overwhelmed by an utterly terrifying sensation. It +seemed that these pale-blue eyes were looking into her mind, searching, +seeking to determine her thoughts and her true intention. + +Instinctively, not knowing how she did it, she veiled her thoughts with +a psychic barrier. And, instinctively, she recognized that he detected +the barrier and could not penetrate it. + +Telepathy? Why not, if they were experimenting successfully with +telekinesis? + +"I'm sorry," she murmured hurriedly, and brushed past him. He did not +try to detain her. + +She hurried back to the office. She hurried, but as she hurried down +first the one corridor and then the other, she discovered that her steps +were slowing involuntarily. A powerful force seemed to be detaining +her, attempting to draw her back. + +Frightened but curious, she attempted to analyze this force even as she +struggled against it. She could not be sure--it was disturbing, either +way, but she could not be sure whether it was a telepathic thing or +merely the magnetic force of this man's powerful masculine personality +that pulled at her. + +In a state of mental turmoil, she reached the office. Childress was not +yet back. + +Should she wait for him? + +Then, as suddenly as she had sensed Dark Kensington's telepathic +probing, she sensed something else. Somewhere in the back of the +building, he was talking to another man she had not seen before, and +within ten minutes Dark Kensington would be in this office. And the +prospect she faced was far more serious than mere discharge for +infringement of company rules. + +She had to get in touch with Nuwell at once. She recognized that if she +could get out of this building and across the street to her rooming +house, she would be safe for a little while. She could telephone Nuwell +from there. + +Grabbing her purse, she hastened out of the office. + + + + +6 + + +The three men who stood by a table in the back lobby of the Childress +Barber College and checked off the departure of the men at regularly +spaced intervals were as different in appearance as they were in their +positions in the Order of the Phoenix. + +Oxvane Childress, big and bearded, was the "front," and directed the +very necessary task of administering the Childress Barber College as a +genuine barber college. Childress was a prominent member of two of Mars +City's civic and social clubs, and careful examination of his activities +over a period of years would have thrown no suspicion on him. + +The Chief, whose real name perhaps Childress knew but never spoke, was a +huge-headed midget who directed the far-flung activities of the Order of +the Phoenix as an underground rebel organization. He never left the +building, but reports were brought in to him from all over Mars. He knew +a great deal at any time about what the government and Marscorp were +doing, and he gave the orders for those moves aimed at maintaining the +secrecy of the Phoenix. + +Dark Kensington, tall and pale-eyed, had moved at once into the natural +position of guiding the experimental work of the organization in +extrasensory perception and telekinesis. He was able to add his +knowledge of earlier work to the progress that had been made since his +disappearance, and co-ordinated the studies in the various dome cities. + +A little behind the three stood Fancher Laddigan, doing the actual +checking with a pencil on a list in his hand. + +"I think it's all unnecessary," rumbled Childress unhappily. "I watched +the girl carefully while she was here, and the usual checks were made +into her background. It's true she had some social contacts with Nuwell +Eli when she first came to Mars, but there's nothing sinister about that +association and it seems the last thing a Marscorp agent would do +openly. As far as I could determine, she just realized she'd violated a +rule and would be discharged for it, so she left before she could be +discharged." + +"She hasn't returned to her rooming house," remarked the Chief in his +high, thin voice. + +"Looking for another job, or maybe just on a trip," said Childress. +"After all, she's a terrestrial tourist. If this is all a false alarm, +how am I going to explain suspending operation of the college for a +period?" + +"Remodeling," replied the Chief. "Work out the details and put a sign up +as soon as evacuation has progressed far enough." + +"It may be unnecessary, Oxvane," said Dark, "but it's best not to take +chances. This telepathy is a very uncertain thing, and sometimes it's +hard to differentiate true telepathic communication from one's own hopes +or fears. But it seemed to me that I had the very definite sense that +Miss Cara Nome was seeking something with hostile intent, and it's +entirely possible that she saw part of one of the experiments through +that open door." + +Two students appeared, gave their names to Fancher in an undertone, and +sauntered out the back door of the building. + +"What's the status now?" asked the Chief. + +"They were nineteen and twenty," answered Fancher precisely. "They're +part of Group C, which is going to Hesperidum. Group A goes to Regina, +Group B to Charax, Group D to Nuba and Group E to Ismenius." + +"None to Solis?" asked Childress in surprise. + +"No, sir, nor to Phoenicis, either," answered Fancher. "They're both so +far, and Solis is a resort, where they might be easier to detect. We're +using both public transport and private groundcars. All of them so far +have reported safely through the flower shop, except these last two, so +the government evidently hasn't thrown a ring around the building yet." + +"And I don't think they will, either," growled Childress. "I tell you, +it's all unnecessary." + +"Are things going smoothly here?" asked the Chief. + +"Yes, sir," replied Fancher. "The last five men scheduled to leave are +taking care of any customers who come in, and the rest of them are +packing supplies into the trucks. As soon as I get word from the flower +shop that the last pair has cleared, I give another pair the word to +leave." + +"It seems to be moving along well," said the Chief, and he turned his +green eyes upon Childress. "Is the business office manned?" + +"Why--why, there's no one there right now," said Childress, taken aback. + +"I think it would look extremely peculiar to any investigator if you +weren't there, frantically trying to locate a new secretary," said the +Chief quietly. + +Childress left, in confusion. The Chief turned to Dark. + +"I think Fancher's handling this very well without my help," he said. +"You know where your groundcar is, if we all have to make a run for +it?" + +"Yes," answered Dark. "We won't be going together?" + +"No," replied the Chief, and his lips twisted in a faint smile. "I have +my own method of exit, which should give them other things to think +about." + +He left, moving with quick, short steps. Dark stayed for a few moments +more, then he too went back into the building to help with packing. + +The Lowland Flower Shop, on the other side of Mars City, near the west +airlock, was the clearance point for the evacuees. The flower shop was +operated by a Phoenix agent, and each pair that left the barber college +passed through there before leaving the city to let those behind know +that they had not been stopped by government men. Other Phoenix agents +watched the heliport and bus station for any evidence that the +government was trying to block these routes out of Mars City. + +The evacuation moved steadily, and it began to appear that Childress was +right. Singly, the first two of the five trucks moved out, and all of +the ESP instructors and thirty-two of the students had reported back +safe clearance from the flower shop, when.... + +Dark was moving a stack of charts from one of the classrooms to the +basement when bells all over the building set up a tremendous clangor. +Immediately the quiet evacuation dissolved into an uproar, with men +running and shouting and the bell ringing incessantly. + +Dark knew what had happened. Childress, in the front office, had seen +government agents approaching, or perhaps they had actually entered the +building. He had pressed the alarm bell, then sought to delay them with +the righteous indignation suitable to the administrative head of a +barber college which is invaded by government officials. + +The bells stopped suddenly, and the scattered shouting sounded strange +and thin in the comparative silence. Then the piping voice of the Chief +came over the loudspeakers spread throughout the building. + +"Attention!" said the Chief. "We are temporarily safe. The alarm +automatically sealed all doors to the building behind the front +corridor. + +"Kensington, please come to my office. The rest of you, tie up the +customers still here and leave them unharmed, and then leave the +building by the emergency exits. Scatter, and make your way by whatever +private transportation methods you can to the rendezvous assigned to +your respective group. Do not use public transportation, because +Marscorp will undoubtedly be checking public transport now." + +Dark set the charts down on the stairs and made his way back to the +Chief's office. The Chief was sitting, tiny behind his big desk, his +face as serene as ever. He was puffing casually on one of the long +Hadriacum cigars. + +Dark laughed. + +"You don't have another of those cigars, do you?" he asked. + +For the first time since he had been here, Dark saw the Chief's mouth +break into a full, broad smile. + +"I think so," said the Chief, an undertone of delight bubbling in his +voice. He reached into the desk and pulled one out. Dark accepted it +gravely, and lit it. + +"The last two evacuees haven't reported to the flower shop, and they're +overdue," said the Chief, his face getting serious. "Childress hasn't +reported back here by telephone, either, so the Marscorp gang probably +had already entered the building before he detected them and sounded the +alarm." + +"What about Childress?" asked Dark. "What will happen to him?" + +"He'll take the rap," answered the Chief. "His defense will be that if +there were any Phoenix activities going on here he didn't know about it. +He was just running a barber college in good faith. I don't think they +can prove otherwise." + +"Do we have any idea what our situation is?" asked Dark. + +"A very accurate idea. We have observers posted in the two houses at the +ends of our emergency exits, and they've been reporting to Fancher, in +the next room, by telephone. There's a force of about a hundred Mars +City policemen and plain-clothes agents in the streets all around the +building. They saw a squad go into the front, but evidently they didn't +have enough warning to let Childress know in time." + +"Will the doors hold?" + +The Chief's mouth quirked. + +"They'll need demolition equipment to break them down," he said. "All +these have are heatguns and tear gas. One of the observers farther +downtown said he saw a tank heading this way, but if they don't already +know there are innocent customers in here, Childress will tell them." + +"Then everybody gets away but Childress?" + +"We hope. They're not going to ignore these surrounding houses, +especially with men drifting out of them and moving away. That's why I +want to stress the importance of one thing to you, Kensington: you're +too important for us to lose at this juncture, with your knowledge of +the original work done. That house at the end of your exit will have a +dozen or so of our men in it, waiting to drift away one by one, but you +can't afford to worry about them. I want you to get in that groundcar, +alone, and take off like Phobos rising." + +"You're going out the other emergency exit?" + +"That's none of your business. But, as a matter of fact, no. If you want +to see something that will throw consternation into this Marscorp +outfit, watch the roof of this building. Now, get moving, Kensington, +and good luck. Fancher and I will be leaving as soon as he gets all the +records packed." + +The Chief held out his tiny hand, and Dark shook hands with him. Then +Dark left, went down into the basement and entered an underground door +in its eastern wall. He had to crawl through the tunnel driven through +the sand under the street. + +He emerged in the basement of a house across the street, which +ostensibly was owned by Manfall Kingron, a retired space engineer. He +went upstairs. + +About half the personnel of the barber college who had not been caught +by the alarm were roaming the rooms of the small house, drifting singly +out the back door at ten-minute intervals. + +Dark went to the front window and looked across the street at the barber +college. + +The street was full of men carrying heat pistols, moving restlessly, +facing the barber college. Some of them were in police uniform. Squads +of them moved about on the college grounds, and a few were in the yards +of houses on this side of the street. + +Dark watched the roof. + +As he did so, from its center a helicopter rose into the air, hovering +over the building, moving upward slowly. + +So that was the Chief's escape method. He had smuggled a helicopter into +the domed city itself! But how was he to get out of the city in it? + +The appearance of the copter threw the men outside into confused +excitement. They ran about, aiming their short-range heat beams futilely +up at the rising copter. + +A military tank, undoubtedly the one the Chief had been told about, spun +around the corner. It stopped, and its guns swung upward toward the +copter. But they remained silent. Heavy heat beams or artillery could +puncture the city's protecting dome. + +The copter went straight up, gathering speed. Up, and up, and it did not +stop! + +It hit the plastic dome near its zenith. It tilted and staggered. It +ripped through the dome and vanished. + +Immediately, sirens began to wail throughout the city. Doors clanged +shut automatically everywhere. Lights and warning signs flashed at every +street corner, advising citizens to run for the nearest airtight +shelter. + +The dome was punctured! + +Emergency crews would be up within minutes to repair the break, and very +little of the city's air would hiss away. But, in the meantime, every +activity in Mars City was snarled by the necessity to seek shelter. The +Chief had, indeed, created a situation of consternation in which it +would be easier for the Phoenix men to elude their enemies. + +The armed men of the government forces were already running for the +houses in this area. Some of them were headed for the house from which +Dark watched. + +The Phoenix men were donning marsuits. They would admit the refugees, +after requiring them to lay down their arms, and then leave the house in +their marsuits. + +Dark grinned happily, and walked quickly through the house to the +attached garage. He climbed into the groundcar, started the engine, and +opened the garage door by the remote control mechanism on the dashboard. + +Accelerating at full power, Dark drove the groundcar out of the garage +and spun into the street. The men afoot, seeking entrance to the houses, +paid no attention. The tank began to turn ponderously in his direction, +but by the time it was in a position to bring its guns to bear, Dark's +groundcar had reached the corner and raced around it into the broad +thoroughfare leading to Mars City's east airlock. + +The airlock was only a dozen blocks away. The Chief's theory had been +that the government, depending on surprise in its move to surround the +Childress Barber College, would not attempt the complicated task of +checking all traffic passing through the airlock until it was realized +that some of the Phoenix men had escaped from the trap at the college. + +Dark reached the airlock in minutes. The Chief's theory proved correct. +There were no police at the airlock, and the maintenance employee +stationed there did not even look up as Dark's approach activated the +inner door. + +He drove the groundcar into the airlock. The inner door closed behind +him. The outer door opened, and Dark drove out onto the highway that +struck straight across the Syrtis Major Lowland toward the Aeria Desert +and Edom. It was as simple as that. + +About ten miles out was the circular bypass highway that surrounded Mars +City, and Dark proposed to turn right on that, for his destination was +Hesperidum. The highway he was on would take him eastward, and +Hesperidum was about 8,000 kilometers southwest of Mars City--a little +better than two-days' drive at groundcar speed on the straight, flat +highways. + +Dark reached over and set the groundcar's radio dial on the frequency +which had been agreed on for emergency Phoenix broadcasts during this +operation. If government monitors caught the broadcasts and jammed them, +there were alternate channels chosen. With only about two dozen radio +stations on all Mars, plus the official aircraft and groundcar band, +there was plenty of free room in the air. + +There was nothing on the Phoenix frequency now but a little disconsolate +static. + +The country through which he drove here was uninhabited lowland. The +human life on Mars, agricultural, industrial and commercial, was +concentrated under the domes of the cities. Except for a few tiny +individual domes at the edge of Mars City, there were no human +structures close to it except the airport and the spaceport, and these +were west and north of the city, respectively. + +The highway struck straight and lonely through a faintly rippling sea of +gray-green canal sage, spotted occasionally with the tall trunk of a +canal cactus, rising above it. Later he would see infrequent dome farms, +but he could expect no more than two or three score of these in the +entire long drive to Hesperidum. + +Dark slowed and entered the cloverleaf that took him onto the bypass +expressway. Even as he did so, the radio crackled and the thin voice of +the Chief sounded over the groundcar loudspeaker. + +"Attention, Phoenix," said the Chief intensely. "Attention, Phoenix. +Emergency instructions. We have monitored reports that the government is +checking airlocks at all cities. Repeat: the government is checking +airlocks at all cities. + +"Some Phoenix have been captured attempting to leave Mars City. +Instructions: those in Mars City do not attempt to leave but find +shelter with Phoenix friends. Those beyond dome without credentials, go +to assigned emergency rendezvous spots _outside_ dome cities. Repeat +instructions: those...." + +Swearing under his breath, Dark pulled the groundcar to a stop beside +the highway. It was so simple! They should have foreseen that the +government would take such a step as soon as it was realized that the +Phoenix men were leaving Mars City. He himself evidently had gotten +through the airlock just in time. + +But he had been assigned no outside rendezvous! Whether it was an +oversight or not, he did not know, but the only place he had been +instructed to go was Hesperidum. The only Phoenix contact he knew was +the South Ausonia Art Shop in Hesperidum; and now he could not enter the +city without being captured. + +He had only one alternative: the Martians, in the Icaria Desert, halfway +around Mars. They would remember him and shelter him, and he was sure he +could find the spot. + +He looked at his fuel gauge. The tank was full. It would not take him +quite there, but he could chance refueling at Solis Lacus, some 20,000 +kilometers from Mars City. He could take the highway, turning out into +the desert to go around Edom, Aram and Ophir. + +He put the groundcar in drive again, and made a U-turn in the highway. +He entered the cloverleaf and was halfway through it when he saw the +copter. + +It was a red-and-white government copter, and it was descending at a +shallow angle toward him from the direction of Mars City. Dark switched +his radio to the official channel. + +" ... await check. Repeat: groundcar in cloverleaf, stop at once and +await check." + +Dark braked the groundcar to a stop. As soon as the copter grounded, he +could accelerate and escape. + +But the copter did not ground. It hovered, directly over him. Then Dark +realized it was awaiting a patrol car from Mars City to check and take +him in custody if necessary. + +Immediately, he put the groundcar in drive and whipped out of the +cloverleaf under full acceleration. If he could only achieve top speed, +350 kilometers-an-hour, the copter couldn't match it. + +But the copter was on his tail at once as he swerved out of the tight +curve. Its guns spat fire. + +There was a terrific impact, and the groundcar dome shattered above him. +Unprotected, he felt the air explode from the groundcar, from his +lungs. Oxygenless death poured in through the broken dome. + +It all happened in an instant. Even as the dome shattered under the +copter's shell and Dark recognized the imminence of death, the groundcar +twisted out of control and careened from the highway. He felt it +spinning over and over, and then blackness closed in around him. + + + + +7 + + +Maya had never seen Nuwell in such a state of sustained rage. + +He strode back and forth in the private dining room of the Syrtis Major +Club, near the western edge of Mars City, slapping his fist into his +hand. His face usually was engaging and boyish, the wave of his dark +hair setting it off handsomely, but now it was flushed like that of a +petulant child and the lock of hair hung down over his forehead. Maya, +the only other person in the room, sat quietly and watched him pace. + +"They had plenty of time and all the information they needed," stormed +Nuwell, "and yet they didn't get a single one of the key men! Most of +the rebels slipped out easily, right under their noses!" + +Maya watched him detachedly. This was the man she had promised to marry, +and, as she had once or twice before, she was undergoing pangs of doubt. +After all, she had known Nuwell Eli only during the few months she had +been on Mars. + +She had fallen in love with him for his charm, his intelligence, his +good-humored gentleness, but she did not like this display of temper. It +was not a controlled anger, but had something of the irrational in it. + +"Childress was captured," she reminded him. + +"Childress! A figurehead! He says he didn't know about the rebel +activities going on in the college, and he's so stupid I may not be able +to make a case against him." + +Maya recognized that this element, the success of his prosecution, was a +very important factor to Nuwell. + +"Are the twelve I identified the only ones captured?" asked Maya. + +"Yes. Twelve captured, seven killed, and every one of them small fry. +The leaders undoubtedly got away in that copter. We blockaded the +airlocks fast, so most of the others are probably still in the city, but +we don't have any idea where to look for them." + +"I may be able to help in that, when I get back from my swing around the +other cities," said Maya. + +"I don't want you to go on that jaunt, Maya!" exclaimed Nuwell, swinging +around to face her with fierce emphasis. "You said when you had found +the headquarters, you'd resign the service and marry me. Now you want to +go all over Mars looking for rebels!" + +"Nuwell, I can identify almost all of those who were at the barber +college," Maya remonstrated. "They've picked up some men at the airlocks +and others on the roads at several cities, and even Martian law won't +permit you to uproot those people and send them to Mars City just on +suspicion. They can't be sent here for me to identify: I'll have to go +there." + +"We can work out some charges to get them extradited to Mars City," +snapped Nuwell angrily. "I don't want you to go, Maya. I want you to +stay here and marry me, immediately." + +"Aren't you being a little dictatorial, Nuwell?" she suggested coolly. + +The warning implied in her remoteness seemed to trigger a polarized +reaction in Nuwell. The furious dark eyes melted suddenly, the stubborn +anger of the face altered on the instant to a sentimental, wistful smile +of appeal. + +"Don't be angry, Maya," he pleaded, half-ruefully, half-humorously. +"It's just that I love you so much. It's just that I'm impatient for you +to be my wife." + +Changeability is attributed to the feminine, but Maya was not able to +shift her mood as facilely as her fiance. + +"If I'm worth marrying, I'm worth waiting for a little longer," she +said, with an edge to her voice. She was angry at Nuwell for acting so +like a spoiled child. "I'm going to see this job finished. I'm leaving +for Solis Lacus on the jetliner tonight." + +"Solis Lacus!" he exclaimed in astonishment. "Why, Maya, that's halfway +around Mars!" + +"That's exactly why the rebels might be more likely to go there. In +spite of the patrols, you know they haven't picked up all of the rebels +who escaped Mars City by groundcar. Any of them who headed for Solis +Lacus will be arriving there within the next two or three days. Then +I'll make a swing around and spend as much time as necessary at each of +the dome cities before coming back here." + +The angry, stubborn expression swept across Nuwell's face again. + +"Maya, I won't--" he began. + +But at that moment, their guests began arriving. As the judge of Mars +City's superior court and his wife entered the room, Nuwell cut himself +off sharp and turned to greet them. His face cleared instantly, his lips +curved into a delighted smile and he welcomed them with such natural, +innocent charm that one would have thought he was incapable of frowning. + +The presence of the guests seemed to intoxicate him with good-humor, and +when he had to leave in the midst of the party to drive Maya to the +airport he did not resume his argument. He merely kissed her good-bye +tenderly before she boarded the plane and begged her with melting eyes +to hurry back because he would be lonely every moment she was away. + +So it was that Maya stretched in a reclining chair on the sundeck of the +Chateau Nectaris the next afternoon and permitted herself to be +disgusted with the entire planet Mars. + +Maya's small, perfect body was kept minimally modest by one of those +scanty Martian sunsuits. A huge straw hat, woven of dried canal sage, +hid her beautiful face. + +A disappointing resort area for an Earthwoman, this Solis Lacus Lowland. +No swimming, no boating, no skiing. No water and no snow. Just a vast +expanse of salty ground, blanketed with gray-green canal sage and dotted +with the plastic domes of the resort chateaus. Nothing to do but hike +in a marsuit or sun oneself under a dome. + +She had chosen the Chateau Nectaris because it was the largest of the +resort spots, and therefore the most likely one to be chosen by men who +sought to hide out for a while. She had contacted the managers of all +the resort chateaus and all had agreed to let her know of the arrival of +any new guests. + +There had been three of them during the morning, two arriving by +groundcar and one by copter, at three different chateaus. She had driven +to each one and circumspectly inspected the new guest, but none had been +anyone she recognized from the Childress Barber College. + +In a way, she wished she had yielded to Nuwell's importunities. There +was much more of interest to do in Mars City. And Nuwell _was_ charming +and intelligent and rather dashing, and she did love him, and she did +want to marry him. But.... + +But she was right in wanting to help identify those rebels who had been +captured before she considered her task finished. And perhaps Nuwell had +been right in his implied disagreement with her idea of coming first to +Solis Lacus, so far from Mars City. Logically, would it not be harder to +lose oneself in a fashionable resort area than in a good-sized city? But +something within her had urged her to come here first. It was a hunch, +and she intended to play it. + +With a sigh, Maya pushed the hat off her face and stared with exotically +slanted black eyes at the shining blur of the dome hundreds of feet +above her. She sat up, hugging her knees with her arms. + +A score of other guests were sunning themselves here also. At her +movement, the unmarried men turned their eyes on her frankly; the +married ones did so furtively, to be promptly yanked back to attention +by their wives. + +Maya's onyx eyes surveyed this dullness aloofly, then lifted over the +nearby parapet and across the sparse terrestrial lawn which would grow +only under the dome. The far cliffs of the Thaumasia Foelix Desert +loomed darkly, distorted through the dome's sides. + +The dome's airlock opened to admit a groundcar. She watched it, +interestedly, as it scurried like a huge, glassy bug along the curving +road and disappeared under the parapet in front of the chateau. Mail +from Mars City, perhaps, or supplies. Maybe even a new guest. + +Something struck her, now that the groundcar was no longer in sight. It +had been a little too far away to discern its details clearly, but there +was something strange about the appearance of that groundcar. A glassy +bug, but not entirely sleek and shiny. Rather like a bug that had come +out second best in an argument with another bug. + +Maya arose, purposefully. She stretched lithely, to the delight of the +assembled viewers, and padded gracefully toward the chateau's +second-floor entrance, trailing the huge hat in one hand. + +She walked lightly along the balcony over the lobby, toward her room. As +she turned its corner, passing the grand stairway, she could see the +chateau entrance and the registration desk. + +The groundcar had brought a new guest. He was signing the registration +book, a tall, broad-shouldered man in a marsuit, holding his marshelmet +under his arm. Why would he be wearing a marsuit in a groundcar? + +As she looked, he laid down the pen and turned. His face was darkly +tanned, strong, handsome. His hair was black as midnight, his eyes +startlingly pale in the dark face. + +His gaze lifted to the balcony, and Maya ducked behind the big hat just +in time. + +Dark Kensington! + +Triumph swept through her. She had been right in coming here! This was +Dark Kensington, the man she had met once, just before the raid on the +college. This was one of the leaders! + +The hat held casually to conceal her face, Maya walked on to her room. + +The telephone was ringing as she entered. She dropped the hat on the +bed, and answered it. + +"Miss Cara Nome, this is Quelman Gren, the manager," said the male voice +on the line. "You asked me to notify you about any new guests. One has +just registered." + +"I saw him," she said. "What can you tell me about him?" + +"He is registered as D. Kensington, from Hesperidum," answered Gren. "He +is just staying overnight. His groundcar dome was broken in an accident, +and he wants to have it replaced and the groundcar refueled." + +"Thank you," said Maya. "Now, please put in a call for me to S. Nuwell +Eli in Mars City." + +She had bathed and dressed for dinner by the time the call came through. + +"Nuwell," she said, when he had identified himself on the other end of +the line, "I knew I was right in coming here. One of the rebel leaders +just registered." + +"Are you sure?" he asked excitedly. + +"Certainly I am. He was one of those who stayed hidden in the back of +the barber college, and I saw him for the first time the day of the +raid. He identified himself then as a supervisor. But he's just staying +overnight." + +"That's long enough! I'll get a jet and be up in a few hours. Get the +police to take him in custody and hold him for me." + +"Darling, there aren't any police at Solis Lacus," Maya reminded him. +"This is a private resort area. The nearest police are at Ophir." + +There was a silence while Nuwell digested this. + +"You say he's staying overnight?" Nuwell said then. "I can be there +before midnight with some men to take him in custody." + +"I'm a trained agent," said Maya. "I can take him in custody for you." + +"You'll do no such thing!" squawked Nuwell in alarm. "It's, too +dangerous! Now you listen to me, Maya. You stay out of sight of this man +and wait till I get there!" + +"All right, darling, I'll use my own judgment," replied Maya demurely, +and hung up. + +She sat and cogitated for a time. She was dressed for dinner, and she +had been looking forward to appearing in the dining room in the somewhat +sensational moulded, flame-red gown she had bought recently in Mars +City. She didn't relish the idea of having dinner sent to her room, and +sitting up here alone to eat it. + +With sudden decision, she arose. She donned dark glasses and tossed a +powder-red veil over her dark hair. Kensington had only seen her once +and would not be expecting to see her here. If he saw her now, he +wouldn't recognize her. + +Fifteen minutes later, she was sipping an extremely expensive martini in +the dining room when she raised her eyes to see Dark Kensington enter, +wearing a dark-red, form-fitting evening suit. + +He paused just inside the door and stood there, slowly surveying the +room. His eyes fell on Maya and paused. Then he walked straight to her +table. + +"May I join you, Miss Cara Nome?" he asked in a deep, controlled voice, +a rather sardonic smile on his lips. + +She felt trapped, and irrationally angry at him for recognizing her. + +"I'm afraid you've made a mistake," she said coldly. "That isn't my +name." + +At this juncture, a helpful waiter appeared at Maya's elbow and asked in +an appallingly distinct tone: + +"Would you care for another drink, Miss Cara Nome, or do you wish to eat +now?" + +"An understandable mistake, since it's such a common name," said Dark, +sitting down opposite her. He turned pale-blue eyes, remote and filled +with light, on the waiter, and added: "She'll have another drink, and +bring me one of the same." + +The waiter left, and Maya removed her dark glasses to level furious +black eyes at Dark. + +"I could call the manager and complain that you're annoying me, you +know," she said. + +"You could," he agreed somberly. "You seem to be a very efficient +tattletale. Or are you going to try to pretend that you weren't the one +responsible for the raid on the college?" + +She recognized that she was well in for it. He was not going to play a +game of pretense. Well, she had tried--partly, anyway--to do as Nuwell +wanted. + +Very deliberately, she opened her purse, realizing that Dark was +watching her closely, all his muscles tense. She took out a cigarette +case and a lighter, laying them side by side on the table, and he +relaxed visibly. + +Maya extracted a cigarette and placed it between her lips casually. She +picked up the lighter and balanced it in her hand. + +"I assume that you're not armed, Mr. Kensington," she said. + +He shrugged and smiled, revealing strong white teeth. + +"Hardly, in this suit," he replied. "I'm glad to see you've decided to +recognize me." + +"I am," she said grimly. "Armed, I mean. This is not a cigarette +lighter, but a very efficient and deadly heatgun. You're under arrest, +Mr. Kensington, so I suppose you're having dinner with me whether you +like it or not. Now, do you mind being a gentleman and lighting my +cigarette, since this is not very good for the purpose?" + +He looked at her face, then dropped his eyes to the lighter, still +smiling. + +"You'd better take my word for it," she advised. "I don't want to kill +you, Mr. Kensington, but I won't hesitate. I'm an agent of the +terrestrial government." + +Dark shrugged again. He produced a lighter and leaned forward to light +her cigarette, without a tremor. + +The waiter returned with their drinks and an announcement. + +"There's a telephone call for you from Mars City, Miss Cara Nome," he +said. + +Maya kept her eyes on Dark. + +"Can you bring a telephone to the table?" she asked the waiter. + +"Certainly, Miss," he replied. He left, and returned a moment later with +a telephone. He set it before her and plugged it in under the table. + +Juggling the lighter-gun gently in one hand, Maya picked up the phone. +As soon as she answered it, her ears were assailed by Nuwell's agonized +voice. + +"Maya, I can't get up there tonight!" he said. "There aren't any jets +here, and these idiots refuse to bring one in from Hesperidum or Cynia +for me to use. I'll have to come up by groundcar." + +Maya sat silent, stunned. It had not seemed too great a feat to her to +hold Dark captive with her disguised heatgun when she was anticipating +Nuwell's arrival within hours. But suddenly she felt like a hunter who +has snared a lion in a rabbit trap. + +"Maya, are you there?" demanded Nuwell querulously. "We'll spell each +other at the wheel and drive up without stopping, but it will still take +two and a half days to get there." + +Maya took a deep breath. + +"Come ahead," she said in a steady voice. "I'll have your man waiting +for you when you get here." + +"You'll what? But I thought you said he was only staying overnight! +Maya, don't you do anything rash!" + +"I'm afraid I already have," she said, a little ruefully. "I have him +under arrest right now." + +The noise at the other end of the line sounded like a dismayed shriek. + +"You little fool!" he shrilled. "I told you not to do anything like +that! How can you hold a man like that for two days, single-handed? Call +in the police!" + +"It seems to me that I already mentioned there aren't any around here," +she reminded him patiently. + +There was a long silence on the other end of the line. Then Nuwell said, +with forced calm: + +"I'm leaving immediately. In the name of space, Maya, be careful!" + +Maya put the telephone quietly back in its cradle and looked across the +table at the Tartar she had caught. Dark smiled at her, easily. + +"So the reinforcements you were expecting won't get here tonight, after +all," he remarked softly. + +"He didn't say that at all!" she retorted, too quickly. + +"There's hardly any point in trying to deceive me about it is there?" he +pointed out. "I can tell a great deal from your conversation and the +expression on your face, and I'd estimate that your help is going to +have to come from Mars City by groundcar--a trip I've just made, so I +know exactly how long it takes. Do you plan for us to spend these two +nights in your room, or mine?" + +She looked at him silently, stricken. + +"I see our waiter returning," said Dark equably. "I trust you'll enjoy +your meal as much as I'm going to enjoy mine, Miss Cara Nome." + + + + +8 + + +The waiter unplugged the telephone and lifted it from their table. + +"We're ready to order now," Maya said to him. "And please ask Mr. Gren +to come in here." + +A few moments after the waiter left, the manager came to their table. +Quelman Gren was dark and thin-faced, with sleek, oily hair. + +"When I told you I was here in an official capacity for the government, +Mr. Gren, you said you would co-operate with me in every way possible," +said Maya. + +"Yes, Miss Cara Nome, I have made every effort to do so," replied Gren. +"Is there some way I can help you now?" + +"Yes, there is," she said. "This man is my prisoner, and I'm going to +have to keep him in custody here for two days and a half, until help +arrives from Mars City. I'd like for you to arm a couple of dependable +men with heatguns and assign them to help me guard him." + +Gren shook his head. + +"I'm sorry, Miss Cara Nome, but none of the employees of the Chateau +Nectaris was employed for that sort of work, and I'm not going to ask +them to do it. What you should have is police help." + +"As you know very well, there are no police nearer than Ophir," she +said in an exasperated tone. "Surely, you have some semi-official +officers employed in the chateau in case of trouble among the guests." + +"I have a house detective, but his duties are to intervene only when +some crime has been committed against a guest or against the chateau. +You told me that you were seeking political rebels, and I assume that +that is your charge against Mr. Kensington. My house detective has no +authority to act in such cases, and I do not intend to get the chateau +mixed up in these affairs. + +"I've co-operated with you to the extent of giving you information you +wanted, Miss Cara Nome, and I'll continue to co-operate insofar as I am +not asked to do something I have no authority to do. It occurs to me +that if you came here seeking rebels, you should have come equipped to +handle them if you found them." + +"It occurs to me that you act very much as though you were in sympathy +with the rebel cause," retorted Maya angrily. + +"My sympathies are not the government's affair, as long as I take no +illegal actions," said Gren. "Good evening, Miss Cara Nome." + +Maya gazed after him furiously as he left the dining room. Dark, sitting +completely relaxed, smiled pleasantly at her. + +"Please be assured," he said, "that I'm going to try to avoid injuring +you in any way when I escape your custody." + +"I'm not worried, because you aren't going to escape," she said. "But I +appreciate the thought. You seem to be a very mild-mannered person, +for...." + +She stopped. + +"For a rebel?" he finished for her. "I really don't know what sort of +indoctrination you must have had, Maya--if I may call you Maya, and +there's no point in being formal under the circumstances. The students +at the barber college were all rebels, and the reports I received were +that you got along nicely with most of them." + +"Yes, I did. I don't suppose it should surprise me to find that rebels +are human beings, too." + +"Merely a matter of a difference in orientation. And a question for you +to consider is, which orientation actually is correct?" + +Maya did not like the direction the conversation was taking. She was +relieved by the appearance of the waiter with their meals of thick, +steaming steaks, with all the necessary trimmings. + +"It will be a long time before we can be served anything like this by +teleportation," she said, laughing. "But, Mr. Kensington--" + +"Dark, if you don't mind." + +"Very well. Dark, you say that you drove here from Mars City. How did +you avoid the copter patrols that were out trying to intercept the +escaping rebels?" + +"As a matter of fact, I didn't, and that's a very peculiar thing," he +said thoughtfully. "One of them got me just outside Mars City and +blasted the dome of my groundcar." + +"I noticed you were wearing a marsuit when you registered here, and Gren +said you were having the dome repaired." + +"That's what's peculiar about it. I wasn't wearing the marsuit when the +copter broke my dome. I didn't have any protection at all. The groundcar +went off the road and overturned. I don't know how long I was +unconscious, but it was evidently long enough for the copter to look me +over, decide I was dead, and move on out of sight. What I can't +understand is why I didn't asphyxiate." + +"You mean that you were protected by no oxygen equipment at all?" + +"None. I returned to consciousness and I was lying there with the dome +broken wide open and my face bare to the Martian air. I got into my +marsuit right away, of course, but that took a few minutes in addition +to the time I was unconscious. And I didn't feel restricted by the lack +of air. I wasn't even breathing. And I felt that I didn't need to!" + +"That is peculiar," she said meditatively. "Tell me, do you know a man +named Goat Hennessey?" + +"You're the second person who's asked me that recently," said Dark. "I +knew him well, many years ago, but I haven't seen him in years. Why do +you ask?" + +"Because the only case I've heard about of any human being able to live +without oxygen in the Martian atmosphere involved some genetic +experiments of Goat Hennessey, before the government made him stop them +and destroy the creatures he'd been experimenting with." + +Dark laughed. + +"I can assure you I'm not one of Goat's genetic experiments," he said. +"Goat and I were colleagues in this rebel movement twenty-five years +ago, before I was hit by a period of amnesia that I've just come out +of." + +She stared at him. + +"A twenty-five year period of amnesia? Impossible! You're not more than +twenty-five years old," she said positively. + +"If what people tell me is correct, I'm nearer sixty," said Dark. +"Terrestrial years, of course." + +"Of course. But I don't believe it." + +Dark shrugged, and cut another bite of steak. He seemed to be enjoying +his meal quite as much as though he were not her prisoner and she his +captor--as, indeed, she was, too. + +They chatted pleasantly throughout the meal and Maya found, somewhat to +her surprise, that she was talking about herself a great deal to this +pale-eyed man. She told him of her childhood on Mars, among the +Martians, and of going to Earth to live with her uncle, a World Senator +who had had close and profitable connections with Marscorp. + +She went on to tell of her decision to become an agent of the +terrestrial government, despite her uncle's objections but as a result +of his often-expressed enthusiasm for the government's role in +developing the planetary colonies; and of her assignment to Mars to +ferret out a rebel headquarters which had eluded the best efforts of the +Martian government. She even told him how she had met Nuwell and fallen +in love with him. + +Some time after the meal's conclusion, she suddenly stopped in +mid-sentence. + +"What's the matter?" asked Dark. + +"I just realized that you're my prisoner," she answered, smiling at him. +"Frankly, I'm not sure what to do with you. We can't just sit here in +the dining room all night." + +"Why not go out and sit on the terrace?" he suggested. "They say that +Solis Lacus is a beautiful sight when Phobos is up and moving." + +"And a shadowed terrace is a very convenient place from which to attempt +an escape," she countered. + +"Look," he said, "there's no point in making the evening more difficult +than it is. I very definitely intend to get away from you and get out of +here during the next two days if I can, but I'm enjoying this +conversation. If I promise that I won't attempt an escape in the next +two hours, are you willing to go up on the terrace for a while?" + +She studied his face carefully. It was a handsome, earnest face, full of +strength, full of wisdom, with a touch of weariness. + +"All right," she said at last. "But I warn you that if my trust is +misplaced and you do attempt to escape, I'll burn you down without +compunction." + +They went up together, quite as casually as might any two guests +relaxing at the resort, and found chairs in the semi-darkness +overlooking the moonlit lowland. + +Deimos hung near the zenith, a tiny globe of light, virtually +stationary. Phobos, larger and brighter, was not long risen, and it +moved swiftly and smoothly across the sky, like the cold searchlight of +some giant aircraft. Touched and transformed by the shifting shadows, +Maya and Dark sat and chatted like old friends. + +Dark talked now, and he told her of his past life, of his coming to +Mars, of his joining the rebel movement upon realizing how the +government was holding back man's progress toward Martian +self-sufficiency. He spoke soberly, with intense conviction, and Maya, +listening, began to realize that there was another side to this conflict +than the one she had been taught. + +She began to waver and to wonder, for the grave voice of this man was +like a deep music she had never heard before but seemed to remember from +some time before there was hearing, a music that touched the depths of +her being. + +Then his arm slid around her waist and he drew her gently toward him. +For an instant, she responded, turning her face upward. + +And, on that instant, she remembered. + +With a lightning twist, she was free, and on her feet before him. She +stepped back, and the lighter-gun was in her hand. + +"I thought you said I could trust you," she said coldly. "Evidently, I +was foolish to do so." + +He looked up at her, and there was nothing but surprise on his face. +Then, slowly, he smiled at her. + +"It depends on your interpretation of the word," he said. "I was merely +attempting to kiss you, my dear." + +She let her hand sag, feeling rather foolish. + +"Well, don't," she said, her sharpness covering her confusion. "We +aren't lovers, Mr. Kensington." + +"No," he said, quite seriously. "And I find that I rather regret that we +aren't." + +She stood looking at him, fighting off a sneaking regret of her own that +he hadn't succeeded in his intention. + +"I think this moonlight has had an unfortunate effect on us both," she +said. "We'd better go inside. Besides, if I'm to keep watch over you all +night, I want to get into something more practical than an evening +gown." + +Without protest, Dark preceded her inside. They went to the manager's +office, and Maya issued instructions to Gren. + +"Have a maid move my things from my third-floor room to a room on the +top floor," she ordered. "We'll wait here until it's done." + +When the maid brought Maya the key to the new room, she and Dark took +the elevator to it. As soon as they were inside, she locked the door +behind them. + +"I'm going into the bathroom to change clothes," she said precisely. +"The window to this room is six floors above a stone courtyard and I +don't think you can jump that far without being killed, even on Mars. +Since these windows don't open, I'll hear you if you break it to get +out, and I can burn you long before you can climb down the face of the +wall." + +The lighter-gun in her hand, she went into the bathroom and closed the +door behind her. + +She had just stripped off the evening gown when she heard the bathroom +door lock from the outside. A moment later, there was the crashing sound +of breaking glass. + +Calmly, Maya burned off the lock of the bathroom door with the little +heatgun. She pushed it open and went out into the room in her underwear. +Dark was in the process of gingerly climbing through the broken window. + +"It's a long fall, Dark," she said. + +He looked back over his shoulder. He smiled ruefully, and came back into +the room. + +"Well, it was worth a try," he said philosophically. + +He surveyed her with frankly admiring eyes and added: + +"And it was worth failing, for the view." + +She turned pink. But, without taking her eyes off him, she reached back +into the bathroom, got the tunic and trousers she had laid out, and +slipped them on. + +"I think it would be better if we go down and sit in the middle of the +lobby," she said, unlocking the door to the room. "That way, you'll have +farther to run if you try to get away." + +They went down and found comfortable seats. They sat there, talking, to +all casual appearance two of the chateau's guests. Gradually, the +conversation moved back to its earlier informal and friendly terms. + +How long they sat chatting, Maya did not know, for she was wrapped up in +her enjoyment of the things Dark said and his attitude toward life. But +after a time she realized that no more guests were sitting in the lobby +or moving through it. They were the only ones there, except for Gren, +sitting morosely behind the registration desk. + +"Just how do you propose to get any sleep and watch me at the same +time?" asked Dark. + +"I don't," she answered, smiling. "If you can stay awake for two nights, +so can I." + +"You forget, young lady," he retorted. "I don't have to." + +With that, he stretched out unceremoniously on the sofa on which he had +been sitting, clasped his hands behind his head and closed his eyes. +Within a very short time, he was obviously and genuinely sound asleep. + +Maya sat and watched him, piqued and a little nonplussed. She could +hardly afford to go to sleep, too. Her only course was to stay awake, to +sit there and watch him sleeping comfortably and soundly. It was not a +pleasant prospect, for two nights. + +She sat, heavy-eyed, and racked her brain for some solution, and +silently cursed Gren for refusing to give her the help she needed. Dark +slept on, and a faint smile touched his lips. Then Maya found herself +thinking pleasantly over the things they had talked about during the +long evening, and admiring this man and liking him.... + +She woke up. + +With a start, she woke up, realizing that she had been asleep. She was +not sitting in the chair any more, but curled up comfortably on a sofa, +her head pillowed like a child's against--against what? + +Against Dark's chest! He was awake, sitting up, smiling down at her, and +she was cradled in the curve of his arm. And the little lighter-gun was +no longer in her hand. + +She did not react violently to the sudden realization. She sighed, +almost happily, and murmured to him: + +"So you win, after all. I think I'm glad, Dark. Now you can go, if you +want to." + +He shook his head. + +"I'm glad you feel that way about it, Maya, but I'm afraid it's too +late. I really shouldn't have stayed around to serve as your pillow till +you awoke." + +There was something in his face that caused her to sit up suddenly. + +Two uniformed men stood there in the lobby before them, relaxed but +watchful, regulation heatguns dangling from their hands. As she sat up, +one of them touched his cap and spoke to her: + +"We're police officers from Ophir, Miss Cara Nome. Mr. Eli called from +Mars City and directed us to drive over here and help you guard the +prisoner until his arrival." + +She rose angrily. + +"I didn't ask for your help, so you may go," she said, aware of Dark's +surprised gaze on her. "I made a mistake in identification." + +The policeman who had spoken shook his head. + +"I'm sorry," he said. "We're acting on Mr. Eli's orders, not yours. +We'll have to hold Mr. Kensington until Mr. Eli arrives." + +She glared at them. The one who had spoken was big and burly and +efficient-looking. The other was sallow and silent, with a deadly cast +to his thin face. + +Then she saw her lighter-gun, lying on the lobby floor beside the chair +in which she had gone to sleep. + +She bent down, casually, and picked it up. She straightened, the little +instrument ready in her hand. + +"This is not a cigaret lighter, but a heatgun," she said flatly. "I'm in +charge here, and I say Mr. Kensington is to be permitted to go free. If +any effort is made to stop him, I'll burn you down." + +Both police heatguns swung up in short arcs and trained on her. The +burly policeman spoke gently. + +"I'm sorry, Miss Cara Nome, but we're under orders from Mr. Eli, and we +intend to follow them," he said. "I'd hate to see you injured, but if +you blast either of us the other one will burn off your hand." + +"No, Maya!" exclaimed Dark, getting to his feet. "Don't! There's no +point in your getting hurt for my sake." + +She ignored him. + +"Drop those heatguns, both of you, or I blast!" she snapped, almost +hysterically. + +Then Dark hurled himself bodily at the two men. + +The thin-faced man swung his heatgun around to meet Dark's charge. Maya +twisted the lighter-gun toward him, and at the same moment the burly +policeman threw himself against her. Her heat beam singed the thin-faced +one's shoulder, then she collapsed under the impact of the other's body. + +As she fell, she saw the almost invisible beam of the thin-faced +policeman's heatgun strike Dark directly in the stomach, burning away +the cloth, burning a great gaping hole in his abdomen. Dark slid to the +floor, writhing, gasping, clutching his stomach. + +Her lighter-gun knocked from her hand, Maya struggled, half-dazed, to +her feet. The burly policeman had swung his own gun on the prostrate +Dark, but the other one, grimacing with the pain of his wounded +shoulder, stopped him. + +"Let him be," he said. "I like to watch them die." + +With a wail, Maya dropped to Dark's side. She cradled his head against +her breast and sobbed as he died in her arms. + + + + +9 + + +From the time she saw Dark Kensington die until Nuwell's arrival at the +Chateau Nectaris a day later, Maya remained in her room, half in shock, +half in an agony of sorrow and remorse. + +She was so exhausted by her ordeal that she did sleep, but it was +fitfully and without genuine rest. She had her meals sent up to her +room, and ate automatically, not tasting the food. + +Rationally, she could in no way blame herself for Dark's death, but that +did not prevent her feeling strongly that her insistence on tracking +down the fugitives from the Childress Barber College had made her, +directly, his slayer. Her feeling of distress was much deeper and more +personal than normal regret at having brought about the death of a +friendly enemy while in pursuit of her duty. + +Maya realized that in those few hours she had been with Dark and talked +to him, something had taken root and flowered that had changed her whole +outlook on existence. She did not want to call it love; she was a very +practical young woman and did not believe in love on such short notice. +But, in examining her feelings, she was at a loss as to what else to +call it. + +She had felt a powerful attraction to this man, a tremendous admiration +and liking for him, a feeling of _belonging_ in his presence. She had +sensed his strength. It had appalled her when she had had to oppose +herself to him in keeping him captive, but in other circumstances she +felt it was the sort of strength she could depend on. Willingly, she +thought now, she, could have dispensed with everything else in her life, +and followed Dark Kensington wherever he chose to wander, a fugitive, +among the deserts and lowlands. + +And Nuwell? Her feeling for him had not changed. She was still attracted +to him and she still admired him. But the admiration she had felt for +his sharp, sardonic handling of his opponents in a court of law seemed a +little shallow and a little immature in comparison to the sudden onrush +of what she sensed about Dark. + +Since her early teens, she had been an eager enemy of those rebels whom +she conceived to be disrupting the orderly settlement of Mars, and her +desire to contribute to the defeat of those rebels had been a +disciplining, integrating force in her personality. Yet, in only a few +short hours of quiet talk, Dark had cut the foundation from that force +and dissipated it. + +If only she had not delayed, if only she had made up her mind decisively +to what she felt now ... Dark need not have died, she could have freed +him, and together they could have left Solis Lacus. With him, she would +have fought as hard for the rebel cause as, in the past, she had fought +against it. + +But now it was too late. And, moping tearfully in her room, she found +that she didn't care any more, one way or another, about the struggle +between Marscorp and the rebels. + +By the time Nuwell arrived from Mars City, she had regained control over +her feelings. When he telephoned her in her room, she went down to the +lobby to meet him, pale but composed. + +She had a strange feeling as she came out into the big lobby, arching up +above its balconies, a feeling as though she had been away in a distant +land for a very long time and was just returning to the world she had +known all her life. In this returning, she looked upon things with new +ideas, and they did not appear the same as before. + +This was the same spacious lobby across which she had walked to register +when she came to Solis Lacus from Mars City a few days ago. It was the +same lobby in which, looking down from the balcony, she had seen Dark +Kensington arriving. It was the same lobby in which she had sat with +Dark and talked for so long. But it seemed a strange place, a different +place, one that looked like the lobby she remembered but in which she +had never walked before. + +Nuwell was standing across the lobby with the two police officers from +Ophir, beside a long wooden box that rested on the floor next to the +registration counter. Behind the counter, Quelman Gren, the manager of +Chateau Nectaris, was sorting the day's mail. + +Nuwell saw her, detached himself from the others and came across the +lobby to meet her. As he approached, she experienced the same feeling +toward him that she had felt toward the lobby: he was like someone she +had known, but a different person. + +There was a worried frown on Nuwell's face, and he managed to get +something of disapproval in his greeting kiss. + +"It's lucky I called Ophir and had those men sent over here," were his +first words. "If they hadn't gotten here when they did, that rebel might +have killed you and escaped. I told you, Maya, not to try to handle a +situation like that." + +"It was very astute of you to send them over," answered Maya dryly. "I +should have thought of it myself." + +"That's exactly why you shouldn't try to handle such things alone," said +Nuwell, apparently somewhat mollified. + +Maya looked into his face, a handsome, youthful face bearing a slightly +peeved expression, and she thought two things: she thought of the long +and intensive training she had undergone as a terrestrial agent, and she +contemplated just how effectively Nuwell might have handled Dark's +capture, had Nuwell been in her place. + +"Come on, Maya, let's clear this up, so we can get out of here and get +back to Mars City," said Nuwell, and led her across the lobby to the two +policemen and the wooden box. + +The two men from Ophir greeted her with a certain embarrassment, and +seemed relieved when she smiled wanly at them. + +"These men have told me how the rebel had turned the tables and gained +the advantage of you before their arrival," said Nuwell. "They say that +before he was killed, he confessed to them that he was Dark Kensington, +one of the major rebel leaders who escaped from the Childress Barber +College. I believe that coincides with your identification of him, +doesn't it?" + +"Yes," answered Maya in a low voice. "He was Dark Kensington. I saw him +once at the college, and he identified himself to me then as a +supervisor." + +She did not feel called on to say anything more, and to tell Nuwell what +Dark himself had told her about the rebellion and his part in it. + +"Very good," said Nuwell with satisfaction. "We've captured the Chief, +the peculiar-looking individual who escaped by driving his copter +through the city dome. All the indications are that he and Kensington +were the two top figures in the rebellion. I think all that's needed now +is for you to identify the body positively as Kensington, Maya." + +He indicated the wooden box, which lay, lidless, on the floor. +Reluctantly, Maya stepped up to it, and looked down into it. + +The pain which distorted Dark's face when he lay writhing from the +heatgun blast was gone from his features. They were calm and peaceful in +death. + +Maya gazed down at his face wistfully, sorrowfully, then turned away. + +"Well?" asked Nuwell impatiently. + +"Yes," she murmured. "That's Dark Kensington." + +"Very good," said Nuwell, and turned to the two men. "We'll take the +body to the hydroponic farm for the vats," he said. "There'll be others +after the trials and executions of the rebels we've captured." + +"Do you have to do that?" protested Maya. "Why can't you give the man a +decent burial out here in the lowland?" + +"Don't interfere in matters which are none of your affair," replied +Nuwell brusquely. "Bodies of criminals are always sent to the vats. +They're constantly short of bodies, as it is, and we can't very well +send them corpses of law-abiding citizens." + +He turned away. As Maya accompanied him across the corridor, the two men +from Ophir began nailing the lid on the wooden box that contained Dark +Kensington's remains. + +At the elevator, Nuwell said: + +"Get your things packed as soon as you can. I want to go back to Mars +City right away by copter. I have some things I want to talk to you +about, very seriously, but they can wait until we're airborne." + +"Why by copter?" asked Maya. "Groundcar is faster." + +For the first time, Nuwell's face broke into a genuine smile, and his +ordinary charming self shone through. + +"Because," he replied drolly, "I've just made that trip by groundcar, +and every bone in my body aches. It may be slower, but I want to go back +by air, where there aren't as many bumps!" + +Maya was able to laugh at this. She went up to her room. + +It did not take her long to pack, and to dress in a tunic and trousers +for travel. When she came back down to the lobby, Nuwell was waiting, +and they took a groundcar from the chateau to the dome airlock. + +The three government agents who had come with Nuwell from Mars City had +the helicopter ready for them on the flat lowland just beyond the +airlock. As the groundcar emerged onto the sage-covered plain, the men +were helping the two policemen from Ophir unload the box containing Dark +Kensington's remains from another groundcar and load it into the baggage +bay of the copter. + +Nuwell and Maya slipped into their marsuits, secured the helmets and +climbed out of the groundcar. Nuwell gave his men some final +instructions to follow before returning to Mars City by groundcar. Then +he and Maya went aboard the copter. + +They strapped themselves in the seats. Nuwell sealed the copter door, +and released oxygen from the tanks into the interior. When the dials +showed the air to be breathable, he and Maya removed their helmets, +Nuwell started the motor and the craft lifted slowly and smoothly into +the air above the Solis Lacus Lowland. + +Nuwell headed the copter northwestward. As soon as they were well on +course, he turned to Maya with a stern expression on his face. + +"There's one thing I can't understand at all," he said severely. "What +madness possessed you to resist those men I sent over from Ophir, and +attempt to help Kensington escape?" + +She looked at him steadily without replying. + +What should she answer? Could she say, "I discovered that I had fallen +in love with Dark Kensington. I found that his reasons for the rebellion +made sense to me, and that you and the government and Marscorp are +wrong"? + +What would Nuwell's reaction be if she told this truth? + +But it could do no good to say that. It could do the rebels no good, +because now they were scattered and defeated. It could do Dark no good, +because he was dead. She did not think she would suffer personally from +such a revelation, but it could only hurt Nuwell, who loved her. + +So, at last, she said: + +"Nuwell, I'd rather not talk about that. I didn't succeed, so can we +forget it?" + +"I think it's best that we do," agreed Nuwell. "The only thing I can +think is that you were slightly hysterical over Kensington's having +gained the upper hand, after the strain of guarding him for so long, and +your action was an unconscious expression of resentment at their having +to take over his custody where you had failed. But we might have learned +a great deal through questioning the man at length, and that action of +yours made it necessary for them to kill him." + +Nuwell could not know how deeply those words struck her. She turned her +face away from him, and the tears came to her eyes. + +"At any rate," went on Nuwell, unaware, "I think this demonstrates that +these espionage activities have been far too much of a strain for you, +and I think it's time you stopped. We have one of the two major leaders +captured and the other one dead, and I don't think they're going to give +us much more trouble even if we don't locate all the fugitives. So I +want you to give up this idea of wandering around from city to city, +helping identify rebels." + +"I think you're right," she agreed in a choked voice. She had no more +interest now, certainly, in tracking down rebels. + +"And," continued Nuwell, even more firmly, "marry me when we get back to +Mars City." + +Well, why not? Nuwell loved her. What else was there for her? + +"Yes, I'll do that, too," she said. "As soon as we get back, I'll make +out my report, and send my resignation with it back on the first ship to +Earth. Then I'll marry you, Nuwell." + +His face was radiant and triumphant as he turned to her. He put his arm +around her shoulders, drew her to him and kissed her. + +The helicopter flew northwestward. Passing over the Solis Lacus Lowland, +it crossed the Thaumasia Desert and the Tithonius Lacus Lowland, and +whirred above the Desert of Candor. Ahead of it, after a time, there +rose on the horizon the white stone forms of a distant group of +buildings. + +Nuwell dropped the helicopter lower. He angled it down, and in a short +time landed it on the desert near one of the four buildings of the +Canfell Hydroponic Farm. + +As he and Maya donned their marshelmets, a group of marsuited men +emerged from the building's airlock and came across the sand toward +them. + +Maya stared curiously out the copter window. She had heard of this +government experimental station, but had not visited it before. + +"This is another reason I wanted to take a copter," explained Nuwell, +releasing the air from the copter's interior. "There aren't any roads to +this place, and I didn't want to drive a groundcar across the desert to +bring Kensington's body here." + +They emerged from the copter as the group from the building approached. +Nuwell greeted the five of them and introduced them to Maya. Four of +them were strangers to her, but the fifth she remembered: Goat +Hennessey, white-bearded and watery-eyed. + +"How are you adjusting to your new work here, Dr. Hennessey?" Nuwell +asked him. + +"Very well," answered Goat in his cracked voice. "They're using a +different approach from mine, but I find it extremely interesting." + +Remembering Goat's earlier experiments at Ultra Vires, it occurred to +Maya to be grateful that Dark had not fallen alive into the hands of +these people at the Canfell Hydroponic Farm. + +Their entire stop lasted only a few minutes. Nuwell refused an +invitation to remain overnight, explaining that he was anxious to get on +to Mars City. The others unloaded Dark's coffin and moved with it back +toward the building. Nuwell and Maya climbed back into the copter, and +shortly they were airborne again and the buildings of the Canfell +Hydroponic Farm were receding behind and below them. + +Nuwell guided the copter almost straight westward now. It passed over +Candor and buzzed out over the broad Xanthe Desert. + +And here trouble developed. Without warning, the engine coughed and +stopped. Nuwell worked frantically at the controls, to no avail. As the +big blades slowed in their rotation, the copter sank, slowly at first, +then ever more swiftly, to the surface of the desert. They donned +marshelmets hurriedly. + +It struck with a terrific crash, which would have hurled them through +the windows had they not been strapped down. The entire body of the +copter crumpled in on itself, and it came to rest, a collapsed wreck, +with the two of them sitting in its midst, miraculously uninjured. + +There was no question of trying to start the engines or fly the machine. +It was a total wreck. Nuwell tried the radio without success. + +"What in space went wrong with the thing?" he demanded angrily. "I know +it wasn't short of fuel. There's nothing left for us to do but walk, I'm +afraid, Maya." + +"Back to the hydroponic farm?" + +"No, we've come too far. By my chart, we're not far from Ultra Vires. I +think we'd better try to make it for the night, and if Goat left his +radio equipment in working order we'll call for help. If not, the only +thing I know to do is to head for Ophir." + +Ultra Vires--Maya remembered it with a shudder. The grim, black bastion +in the desert where Goat Hennessey had worked with grotesque, twisted +caricatures of humans. + +They fumbled about the wreck to find the minimum emergency supplies they +thought they would need, and started westward on foot. + + + + +10 + + +Happy Thurbelow finished sweeping the long barracks and leaned wearily +on his broom. That is, he didn't lean on it, or it would have collapsed +him to the floor, but he made the gesture. Why, he wondered, didn't the +Masters make the Toughs sweep their own barracks? Perhaps the Toughs +couldn't be made, or perhaps the Masters did it just from an excess of +cruelty. + +Happy's monstrously bloated body sagged, and his skin felt dangerously +dry and tight. Happy was so adipose that his hands engulfed the broom +handle like a toothpick; under the transparent skin, his flesh was clear +and translucent, and there could be seen the tiny red lines of the +branching veins. Happy was like a jellyfish, in huge human form. + +"Shadow!" he called in a high, grating voice. "I'm going below." + +Shadow appeared disconcertingly, ten feet away. Dark-skinned Shadow +looked at him silently with white-rimmed eyes. Then Shadow turned and +disappeared, as only Shadow could. + +Hanging up the broom, Happy waddled to the iron-barred gate that +prevented entrance to a downward-plunging ramp. He pressed a button +beside it and waited. + +He looked out the window beside the gate. The sands of the Desert of +Candor stretched orange and bleak under the bronze sky. Somewhere out +there to the south, across those sands, under that sky, lay the shining +dome of Ophir. + +The window would be easily broken, and it was large enough for even +Happy's bulky body to pass through. But the oxygen-scant air of Mars +would sear his lungs to quick death without a helmet; and even if it +would not, Happy's skin would dry and crack in a few hours of that +outside air, and he would die in slower agony. + +"What is the purpose of your call?" asked an impersonal voice from the +loudspeaker beside the barred gate. + +"I have finished my task, Master," said Happy, puffing a little. "I seek +your grace to go below." + +The loudspeaker said no more, but after a moment the gate stirred and +lifted into the ceiling. Happy went through it gratefully, and waddled +down the gently sloping ramp. The gate descended behind him. + +Happy did not know whether Shadow had come through the open gate with +him, but it didn't matter. Shadow could slip easily through the bars +when he wished. + +At the foot of the ramp was a vast, low cavern, stretching out of sight +in all directions. It was dim, shading into the darkness of distance. +Its floor was water, flat water, subdivided into large rectangular vats. +In most of the vats vegetation grew in various stages, greening under +the ultraviolet rays that radiated from the low roof. Between the vats +ran straight, narrow walkways of packed earth. + +Happy waddled along one of the walkways until he found an empty vat. He +lowered himself over its edge and sank happily into the still, cool +water, like a hippopotamus submerging. He immersed himself completely, +then lay back in the water, with only his face floating barely above the +surface. + +Shadow appeared, apparently out of nowhere, and sat down on the edge of +the vat, letting his flat legs dangle into the water. + +"Nothing like it," proclaimed Happy, splashing a little. "Nothing on +Mars like it. You ought to come on in, Shadow. As flat as you are, you +ought to float on the surface without any trouble at all." + +Shadow nodded silently, but made no move. + +"I don't see why the Toughs can't take care of their own barracks," +complained Happy, returning to the subject closest to his displeasure. +"You reckon the Toughs are actually the rebels, and the Masters can't +make them do anything?" + +Shadow shook his head, but whether in negation or disclaimer of +knowledge, Happy could not interpret. + +Happy flinched, and shifted in the vat. + +"There's still part of a skeleton in here," he announced. "I thought +this was an empty one." + +Moving, he flinched again. With purpose, he aroused himself and ploughed +to the edge of the vat. + +"I've got to find another vat," he said. "I can't take a nap if I'm +going to get punched in the fanny with bones every five minutes." + +He heaved himself over the edge onto the walkway with difficulty, and +got slowly to his feet. Shadow lifted his feet out of the vat, stood up +and vanished. + +Happy knew how Shadow was able to disappear so suddenly, and it did not +disturb him. Seen directly from front or rear, Shadow had the dimensions +of a normal, black-skinned man. But Shadow was flat, no thicker than +half an inch. When Shadow turned sidewise, he vanished to the sight. + +Occasionally, Happy wondered how Shadow happened to be, and why he was +here in the caverns, but it was not the sort of thing to bother his mind +for very long. + +Happy moved along the walkways, peering into the vats which appeared to +be empty. He assumed Shadow was following him; Shadow always did. + +Around corners, he came upon blubbery creatures like himself, tending +the plants. They nodded greeting at him, and Happy nodded back. + +His search was discouraging. All the vats not filled with plants seemed +to have corpses in them, in varying stages of decomposition. + +Around one corner, Happy came upon a Tough, lounging in the walkway. The +Tough was a compact, muscular youth, with bullet head, sullen eyes and +hard mouth. He looked as though he lounged with hands in pockets, but, +like Happy and all the others, he was naked, so that was just an +impression. + +Happy stopped. He and his soft kind avoided the Toughs when they could. +The Tough looked at him with disinterested eyes, then looked away. + +Happy was uncertain what to do or say. His impulse was to turn and go +back, but he did not quite dare. + +"Are you a rebel, Tough?" he burbled the first thing in his mind, for +lack of something else to say. + +The Tough looked at him contemptuously. Then, suddenly, the Tough's hard +eyes flared with savage excitement and he moved swiftly on Happy. As he +began to turn in panic, Happy saw from the corner of his eye another +Tough racing around the corner of the walkway to come upon him from +behind. + +The Tough in front of him reached him and began pummeling him viciously +with his fists, the hard fists sinking like painful hammers deep into +Happy's flesh with every blow. Happy bleated in fright and distress, +trying ineffectually to ward off his attacker. + +Then, out of nowhere, Shadow flashed in like a lightning bolt on the +other Tough as he had almost reached Happy. There was a brief, squalling +tangle and the Tough pitched headlong into a plant-choked vat. + +Shadow vanished and reappeared, intermittently, like a flashing light. +The first Tough, seeing what had happened to his cohort, ceased +pummeling Happy abruptly and took to his heels. He vanished around a +corner. + +The vanquished Tough climbed out of the vat, sputtering and cursing, and +fled in the other direction. + +"Oh, my! Oh, my!" exclaimed Happy to the now-invisible Shadow. "What +wicked creatures!" + +Sore and shaken, he moved on down the walkway, his search now +intensified by the need for wetness to soothe his injured flesh. + +He came upon a vat without vegetation and, at first joyous glance, +thought it empty. Then, disappointment, a comparatively fresh body +floated in it, just under the surface. + +It was the body of a man. Naked, it was smooth and plump with the water +that had seeped into its tissues, and it was a uniform dead-white all +over, like the belly of a fish. The face and lips were monochrome white, +the hair was bleached, and when it opened its eyes, they were so +colorless that the action was almost unnoticeable. + +Realizing, Happy was paralyzed with shock. + +The dead creature's eyes moved from side to side, then stopped, fixing +on Happy. Its chest began to rise and fall slowly, with +breathing--_under water_. + +"Shadow!" squeaked Happy helplessly. + +Shadow appeared beside him. + +"Shadow, it's alive," whispered Happy, desperately frightened. + +The two stood side by side, staring breathlessly down into the water. +The creature in the vat moved its hands tentatively, it opened its mouth +and closed it. Then it stirred with purpose, turned and climbed up over +the side of the vat, dripping like a weird creature from the depths of +the sea. + +It stood up before them, dripping. + +The man bent slightly and belched forth a great quantity of water from +his lungs. He straightened, and breathed in the air in great, satisfied +gasps. + +"I'm Dark Kensington," he said in a rusty voice. "Where is this?" + +At his words, Shadow disappeared. + +Dark Kensington. Had Maya seen him now, she could not possibly have +recognized him. The muscular body and dark, handsome face were bloated +and pale. The black hair was bleached to pale seaweed, and the blue eyes +were completely colorless now. + +"This is the Canfell Hydroponic Farm," answered Happy, gaining a little +courage. "Under the surface of the Desert of Candor." + +"The Desert of Candor?" repeated Dark, and the pale lips twisted in a +smile. "They hauled me quite a way. I was at Solis Lacus." + +"How did you get here?" asked Happy with sudden eagerness. "Only dead +people are thrown in the vats, to make chemicals for the plants. How +could you stay alive under water?" + +"I imagine I can breathe water for the same reason I can still live +after a heat beam burned my guts out, but I don't know what that reason +is. I imagine that the first step in finding out is to get out of this +place." + +"You can't get away from here," said Happy positively. "Nobody ever +has." + +"We'll see," said Dark confidently. "I gather you and your companion are +some sort of prisoners." + +"Slaves," corrected Happy with unaccustomed bitterness. "The Jellies are +slaves, to work in the vats. I don't know if the Toughs are slaves, too, +but the Masters let them sleep in barracks on the surface. Shadow's not +either a Jelly or a Tough, and I don't know if he's a slave. Shadow's +just Shadow." + +"Before you go on," interrupted Dark, "I seem to be extraordinarily +hungry." + +Happy twittered and quivered. He moved hurriedly around a corner to one +of the storage vats, and returned in a moment with a supply of the +tasteless gelatin that was their food here. Dark fell to greedily, and +Happy, his tongue loosed by this new companionship, started feeding him +information in a steady stream. + +"I don't know how they get us here," said Happy. "We aren't born here, +but something happens to our memories. We can't stay up in the dry air +very long, or our skin cracks and our flesh collapses. You see, our +tissues are mostly water. + +"Everybody down here's like me. Everybody but the Toughs. You'll see +them. I don't know how they got here, either, or what use they are. They +don't work like we do. + +"And Shadow. He's different. Shadow likes me. He stays with me all the +time. And then there's Old Beard. He hides down here, and I don't think +the Masters know he's here. He's very old and very wise." + +"Who are the Masters?" asked Dark curiously, between mouthfuls. "And +what sort of work do you do for them?" + +"They're the people who run the hydroponic farm. They're normal men, +like you--I mean, like you would be if you weren't swollen up and pale +like the bodies that are thrown in the vats. + +"Old Beard knows; he's very wise. He calls the Masters 'Marscorp.' I +don't know why, but it seems that before I lost my memory I knew a +language where _corp_ meant _body_. Like _corpse_, you know. Maybe it +has something to do with the bodies they put in the vats. + +"Old Beard says that the Masters are developing Martian foods that we +can eat without dying, and he must be right, because sometimes they +bring down some hard foods and make some of us eat them instead of +gelatin. But those who eat the hard foods always die, so I don't suppose +they've succeeded yet, except some of the Toughs. Some of the Toughs +have eaten the hard food without dying, sometimes, but they got pretty +sick. And then--" + +"Hold on! Wait a minute!" exclaimed Dark, holding up a restraining hand. +"I know what Marscorp is, and I'm not surprised they're behind it. But +I'm trying to digest all this you're throwing at me." + +Happy fell silent, reluctantly, and Dark cogitated deeply. + +Happy fidgeted, anxious to speak but afraid to interrupt Dark's +thoughts. + +And then Shadow reappeared. Shadow appeared out of nowhere, and made +gestures at Happy. Happy glanced at Dark, timidly. At last, he gained +courage to speak. + +"Shadow tells me--" he began, then cringed when Dark looked up in +surprise. Dark gestured to him to go on. + +"Shadow tells me," said Happy, "that Old Beard wants to see you. Will +you go with us to Old Beard?" + +"Certainly," agreed Dark. "From what you tell me, I'm rather anxious to +meet Old Beard, too." + +He followed Happy and the alternately visible and invisible Shadow along +the paths that twisted among the vats for some distance. At last they +ducked into some luxuriant foliage that hung over to form a bower above +the space between two vats. + +Old Beard sat there, in a corner of the dimness, pale eyes fixed +silently on the trio. Old Beard was not so very old. He appeared to be +in robust middle age, although his skin was very pale from long +existence underground. His hair and heavy beard were long and untrimmed, +and were a deep iron-gray. + +"Thank you for coming," said Old Beard in a deep, resonant voice that +bespoke strength and bore an undertone of bitter determination. "It is +safer for me not to move around too much in the open except at certain +hours." + +"I was glad to come, because I'm sure you can help me and I may be able +to help you, too," said Dark. "I'm Dark Kensington." + +"So Shadow told me. I find this extremely interesting." + +"You've heard of me, then?" asked Dark. + +Old Beard laughed, deeply. + +"More interesting than that," he said. "Once, before I was marooned here +and Happy's people came to know me as Old Beard, I had a name of my +own." + +He stroked his beard, and favored Dark with a shrewd look from his pale +eyes. + +"Yes," said Old Beard, "I've heard of Dark Kensington, and there never +was but one Dark Kensington, as far as I knew. That's why I find it so +interesting. You see, I'm Dark Kensington!" + + + + +11 + + +The Xanthe Desert stretched red and barren on all sides of the plodding +couple, the sands unbroken by the form of plant or stone or any living +thing, all the way to the tight horizon of Mars. Above them, the small, +glittering sun slid down the copper-hued sky slowly toward the west. + +It was remarkable, thought Maya, how smooth and flat the desert looked +from the air, and how rough and rolling it was when one had to walk +across the packed sand. They had been walking for hours and, despite the +gentle gravity of Mars, she was getting very tired. + +"It's farther than I thought," said Nuwell, his voice distorted by the +marshelmet speaker. "Distances on the chart are deceptive. We may not +reach Ultra Vires by night." + +Maya did not answer. Again, as she had many weeks before, she was in the +grip of a sensation that this desert through which they walked was only +a surface thing, a shimmering mask to the reality which lay behind it. +That reality seemed very deep, very significant, and she felt that she +was on the verge of comprehending it, but could not quite grasp it. + +She was a little irritated at Nuwell for speaking when he did. If his +voice had not interrupted her probing emotions, she felt, she might have +broken through to that reality she sensed. + +"Nuwell," she said, giving it up, "I'm going to have to rest a while. If +we don't make it by night, we don't make it. There's always tomorrow, +and I'm tired." + +Reluctantly, he consented, and they sat down together on the sand. +Nuwell pulled a chart out of his marsuit pocket and began to study it. +Maya lay back, clasped her hands behind her helmet and closed her eyes, +gratefully feeling the tired muscles relax and the perspiration that +bathed her begin to dissolve in the gentle circulation of the marsuit's +temperature-control system. + +"Maya!" exclaimed Nuwell suddenly. "Look! We're going to be rescued!" + +She sat up and looked in the direction of his pointing finger. On the +horizon to the northeast was a cloud of dust, too placid and stationary +to be a sandstorm. + +They stood up, and Nuwell spoke hastily into his helmet radio on the +conventional emergency band. + +"Attention, groundcar! Attention, groundcar! We're afoot and in trouble. +We're afoot, due southwest from your position. Help, please. Attention, +groundcar!" + +There was no radio reply in the ensuing silence. But all at once it was +as though a deep and alien voice spoke within the depths of Maya's mind: + +"_We see you._" + +Startled, she looked curiously at Nuwell. But he evidently had not had +the same experience. He was chattering into the radio frantically again. + +"They're evidently not tuned in on the emergency band, Nuwell," she said +to him. "But they're coming almost directly toward us. They're bound to +see us soon, if they haven't already." + +"That's true," said Nuwell, and added sourly: "But they ought to be +tuned in. It's required by law." + +The dustcloud moved closer slowly, too slowly for a groundcar. They were +able to discern a dark nucleus below and in front of it. Then Nuwell +said: + +"In the name of space! It isn't a groundcar, Maya. It's a band of +Martians! Let's get out of here!" + +He started to walk on swiftly, but Maya stood her ground. + +"Don't be silly," she said. "Martians won't hurt us. I was raised among +them." + +Nuwell stopped and returned reluctantly to her side. + +"They may not hurt us, but why wait for them?" he demanded, and there +was a touch of hysterical fright to his tone. "Let's go on, Maya!" + +"We may very well have gotten off course in trying to go straight to +Ultra Vires," replied Maya logically. "That may be why we've not sighted +it yet. The Martians will know where it is, and meeting them may prevent +us from getting lost in the desert." + +Nuwell subsided, but she could see from the expression on his face that +he was in a blue funk. This puzzled her. She could not understand why +anyone would be afraid of Martians. They were huge, and ugly, and alien, +but they were not inimical to humans. + +When the Martians came near enough, Maya waved her arms at them and +started off to meet them, Nuwell following her at a little distance. The +Martians changed course slightly and came toward them. + +Maya called childhood memories to her aid. She turned her helmet speaker +to its maximum volume, and spoke to them in their own language, in the +deepest tones possible to her. + +"Children of the past, we seek that place in the desert which is called +'Ultra Vires' by humans," she said. "Can you show us the direction in +which we must travel?" + +The Martians gathered around her, towering over her. There were four of +them. Their huge chests moved slowly, mixing oxygen from their great +humps with the surrounding air. Their thin arms hung limp at their +sides, and their big ears were pricked forward toward her. Their huge, +dark eyes seemed to look through her and beyond her. + +"The sun moves toward this place, but there are no humans there now," +boomed one of the Martians. "Nothing lives there now except small +animals in the walls and corridors." + +"This we know," answered Maya. "We wish to go there that we may +communicate with other humans and have them come and get us." + +She wanted to say that the supplies of oxygen in their marsuit tanks +were inadequate to take them anywhere other than Ultra Vires, but she +did not know how to say this properly in the Martian language. + +But, to her astonishment, the Martian answered as though she had said +it. + +"If the breathing chemicals which you carry are at such a depleted +stage, you cannot chance going astray," said the creature. "Rather than +tell you the direction of this place, we shall accompany you there." + +Throughout this conversation, Nuwell had been standing at Maya's side, +his face bearing an expression of mingled curiosity, irritation and awe. +Maya turned to him. + +"The Martians say they will go with us to Ultra Vires, so we won't get +lost," she told him. + +"No!" he exclaimed vehemently. "Tell them we don't want them along. Tell +them just to show us the way, and we'll go alone." + +"Don't be ridiculous," replied Maya coldly, and indicated to the Martian +that they were ready to accompany the group. + +They moved off together toward the west, the four Martians and the two +humans. Maya, feeling somewhat relieved that now they had expert help in +reaching their goal, attempted to talk to Nuwell, but he refused to +answer except in monosyllables. He was angry that she had agreed for the +Martians to accompany them, and obviously was still very nervous at +their presence. + +So she talked instead with the Martian who had acted as spokesman for +the group. Its name, she learned, was Qril. + +"The place to which you go lies under an evil atmosphere," said Qril. +"The human who abode there many years attempted to do things wrongly." + +"We were there in the season before this one," answered Maya. "This was +just before that human left." + +"I already had read this in you," said Qril. "I also read in you that, +as a child, you lived among us who are children of the past. Therefore, +perhaps you knew before I spoke that an evil atmosphere remains at this +place and has not yet been washed away by time." + +"No, I was not taught such matters as a child," answered Maya. "But tell +me, it is true that this man tried to do evil things, by human +standards, but were Goat Hennessey's genetic experiments also evil by +Martian standards?" + +"You do not read what I have said quite correctly," replied Qril. "The +evil atmosphere is left by the man, because what he did was evil by his +own standards. I said only that he attempted to do things wrongly." + +"What do you mean?" asked Maya. + +"To explain to you, I must speak to you about things about which you +already know partially," answered Qril. "Before you were born, the human +you call Goat was one of a group of humans who sought ways to make +humans independent of the spaceships which bring materials from Earth to +Mars and create small islands of terrestrial conditions in the midst of +the Martian environment. When they met the natural resistance of those +humans who gain material advantage through operation of the spaceships, +they came into the desert to be free to work. + +"Seeking to get far from the men who resisted their work, this group of +humans went to that area which you know as the Icaria Desert. Some of us +who are children of the past live at that place sometimes, and these +humans sought our help, knowing that we possess many remnants of the +knowledge that our forefathers had. + +"But we had difficulty helping them. They were attempting to follow two +courses simultaneously, and both of them were wrong." + +"I know something of those two courses," said Maya. "Some of them were +trying to develop human extrasensory powers so that materials could be +teleported from Earth, and the others were trying to change the human +body physiologically so that humans could live under Martian conditions. +But you say they were both wrong?" + +"In each way that they followed, they sought to make humans partly like +us, the children of the past," said Qril. "We have the power to +communicate with our minds over a distance, and some of us are able to +transport things with our minds over a distance. We do not need your +rich terrestrial air, because we take oxygen directly from the soil and +store it in our bodies for combustion purposes. + +"But humans and the children of the past are different forms of life, +and they cannot be made so much alike. It is possible for humans to +develop mental powers similar to ours, but this course would leave them +dependent upon importing materials from Earth, even though this would be +by mind transmission instead of by spaceship. The other course they +followed could not succeed, because the human body cannot be altered so +that it is able to take oxygen from the soil and store it for later +use." + +"But you're wrong!" exclaimed Maya. "Goat Hennessey had succeeded in +developing some humans who could live without oxygen in the air for a +time. His experiments were imperfect, it's true, but they were able to +do that." + +"The imperfect humans that the human called Goat had developed were not +what he thought," replied Qril. "We tried to help the humans to find the +right course, but they could not understand us well. We tried to show +them, by charts and example, that the proper way to adapt a human to +Martian conditions was a different way. + +"Because Earth is nearer the Sun, humans have a possibility that we do +not have. What we tried to show these humans was a method whereby they +could change the embryonic physiology so that the adult human would be +able to use the energy of solar radiations directly, instead of +depending on the energy of combustion of those chemicals you call oxygen +and carbon. This makes the body independent of both air and food, and +has the advantage also of giving a far superior regenerative power to +the bodily tissues. + +"The human, Goat, for reasons that are not known, stole some of our +charts and two of the pregnant female humans, and continued his work at +this place to which we are going. But he thought he was still attempting +to change the physiology so that oxygen could be stored, and therefore +his experiments went wrongly." + +"But he had your charts," objected Maya. "Even though he was not making +the alterations he thought he was, how could he go wrong if he followed +the charts?" + +"The charts showed the changes to be made in the embryonic cells, but +they could not show the method whereby the changes are made," replied +Qril. "The human, Goat, attempted to make these changes by mechanical, +surgical methods but these are too crude to be successful. The method we +utilize to make such changes, which is the only right method, is to +focus the mental forces upon the embryo. I believe you would call it +psychokinesis." + +Maya was vastly excited at this revelation. + +"Then Goat's oldest experiments, the ones he called Brute and Adam, were +actually the ones on whom you children of the past had performed the +embryonic changes!" she exclaimed. "They must have been the sons of the +pregnant women he kidnapped. That's why they were more successful than +the others!" + +"That is true," said Qril. "We had completed the change on only one of +the two, therefore only that one would develop into an adult who could +live in complete independence of air and food, if necessary. The other +one would never be able to do it for more than a short period without +returning to terrestrial conditions." + +The party now came over a long low ridge, and the mass of Ultra Vires +rose from the desert ahead of them. The sun was near setting, and the +black walls of the stronghold huddled sullenly under its crimson rays. + +The Martians left them here, and Nuwell and Maya went on alone toward +their goal. Nuwell expelled an audible sigh of relief. + +"I'm glad we're free of those monsters," he said. "I don't understand +how you could carry on a conversation with such creatures, Maya. It +sounded like a series of animal grunts and cries to me. I caught an +occasional word, like 'oxygen' and 'psychokinesis.' What were you +talking about?" + +"He was telling me about Goat Hennessey's experiments, and how they +differed from the rebels' experiments before Goat came to Ultra Vires," +answered Maya. + +"That kind of talk serves no good purpose," said Nuwell irritably. "The +rebel movement has been broken now, and there's no point in thinking +about the illegal things they tried to do." + +They came down the slope and approached the southern airlock of Ultra +Vires. The airlock was still sealed. Nuwell activated it, and they went +through it into the big building. + +It was dark inside. Nuwell fumbled around a wall and found a light +switch. He pressed it, but nothing happened. + +"The electrical system isn't operating," he said. "We'll have to use our +marsuit torches." + +He switched on his flashlight. It cast a long beam down the dusty +corridor. Far ahead of them, a small animal scurried across the faint +light and vanished into the darkness. + +Nuwell checked his atmosphere dial. + +"The oxygen in here is all right," he said. "The air has been +maintained, anyhow. We can take off our helmets." + +They took off the marshelmets and walked down the corridor. They checked +each side door, looking for the communications room, but found only +empty chambers or abandoned rooms in which books, papers and broken +furniture were scattered in complete disorganization. + +It took them nearly an hour to find the communications room. And there +they met disappointment. + +Ultra Vires' radio transmitter and receiver had been dismantled. There +was nothing there but a jumble of broken tubes, discarded parts and bare +wire ends dangling from the walls. Nothing but an overturned table and +two bent metal chairs. + +"That settles that," said Nuwell, more philosophically then Maya would +have expected. "Our only hope is to find a groundcar." + +That necessitated another search, but at last they found the motor pool. +And there were three groundcars, all in various stages of breakdown or +dismantlement. + +"It looks like we'll have to walk, Nuwell," said Maya. + +Nuwell shook his head. + +"I checked the chart carefully," he said. "The oxygen supply of a +marsuit won't take us either back to the Canfell Farm or to Ophir, even +with extra tanks. We're just going to have to cannibalize two of these +machines and repair us a groundcar." + +"But, Nuwell, how long will that take?" + +"I don't know," he admitted. "It looks like it may be quite a job. I +expect it will take two or three weeks, but that's the only way we're +going to get out of here." + +He looked at her speculatively. + +"It's a shame we aren't already married," he said. "This would provide +us with a honeymoon, of a sort, out here by ourselves in the desert." + +"Well, we aren't," she said flatly. "And we won't be until we get back +to Mars City." + +"That's true," he said. "Well, the only thing we can do for tonight is +to have supper and find the rooms that Goat assigned us when we were +here before. I hope he left some beds intact in those, or some of the +other rooms. If not, we may have some uncomfortable nights ahead of us." + + + + +12 + + +The two Dark Kensingtons and Happy Thurbelow walked along one of the +pathways between the vats, Happy trailing a bit behind. Somewhere near +them, they knew, Shadow accompanied them. + +The place was dim, with the moist dimness of a swamp. The source of the +light that filtered through the faint mist and seemed to permeate the +air was not discernible, and the roof of this underground world was lost +in the darkness above them. The placid surface of the water gleamed +vaguely in the vats they passed, and the pale-green tangle of vegetation +rose above and around them, sometimes drooping over the paths like +skinny arms that sought to detain them. + +"What I don't understand," said Dark the younger, "is that our memories +coincide exactly, up to a point which you say is a time twenty-five +years ago. My memories are just as genuine as you say yours are; they +aren't something someone told me, but real memories of things that +happened to me, things I felt and did. If they're both genuine sets of +memories, how can it be explained? Are we the same person, who was +somehow split into two distinct individuals?" + +"I can only guess at the explanation, but I have a theory," answered Old +Beard. "You are much younger than I am. I would estimate that you're +twenty-five years younger than I am. My memories are consecutive and +complete: I remember not only the earlier things you say you remember, +but the events of these past twenty-five years, without a break. You say +you suffered a period of amnesia, and your next consecutive memory is of +being with Martians in the Icaria Desert." + +"That would appear to give you an advantage in claiming to be the real +Dark Kensington," agreed Dark with a smile. "But, if you are, who am I? +How is it that I remember being Dark Kensington?" + +"It's entirely possible that, for some reason, my earlier memories were +grafted onto you as your own," replied Old Beard. "I don't know how this +would be done, perhaps through very deep and extensive hypnosis. The +Martians, as well as we can tell anything about them at all, are experts +in such mental fields, a relic of the ancient science they're legended +to have had when their civilizations covered Mars. + +"I worked with Martians very closely for long periods during the early +days of the rebellion--the Phoenix, as you say they call it now--and +they may very well have recorded my memory pattern through some means I +don't know anything about and for reasons I can't imagine." + +"That sounds reasonable," conceded Dark. "But that still leaves +unanswered the questions: Who am I, and what's happened to my memories +of the past twenty-five years?" + +"I'm afraid I can't answer that," replied Old Beard. + +In the dimness ahead of them, they discerned a group of nude Toughs +approaching, swaggering down the path. They turned aside and found a +recess in the vegetation in which they could wait until the Toughs +passed and went on their way. The Toughs were aggressive, and +insensately brutal, and a meeting with them could only mean trouble. + +"Happy's explained the situation here, as well as he could, but I'm +afraid it wasn't a very adequate explanation," said Dark as they huddled +in the shadowed recess. "Could you tell me more about it, and explain +how you happen to be here?" + +"Happy is very intelligent, for a Jelly, but none of the Jellies are +exceptionally bright," answered Old Beard, with a touch of affection in +his voice. "I'll outline it to you as briefly as I can. + +"As your memories--or transplanted memories--indicate, I was one of a +group of Martian colonists who joined forces to work at what, at first, +appeared to be a theoretical and fantastic project: the development of +the ability to live under natural Martian conditions, without dependence +on the regular importation of extremely expensive imports from Earth. As +you know, this project very shortly began to lose its fantastic +qualities and appear to be definitely within the realm of possible +realization. + +"Because of the differing background and orientation of those of us who +attempted this project, two approaches were adopted. One, based on +advancing terrestrial research into the field of extrasensory +perception, was aimed at developing telepathic and telekinetic powers so +that food, oxygen, machinery and other essentials could be teleported +directly from Earth into the martian domes without dependence on the +spacelines. The other, based on more orthodox science, was aimed at +genetic development of a human type that could live _without_ these +importations, on native Martian food and in the Martian atmosphere. + +"As you know, the government banned these experiments and we retreated +into the desert to carry them on despite the ban. From what you tell me +of the extent of your memories, what you do not know is the reason +behind the ban, which we discovered--or, at least, I did--only after we +had been betrayed and the government had raided and broken up our +experimental colony. + +"The spacelines, as one might have guessed, were responsible. They saw +that the success of the experiments would destroy their lucrative +business. These spacelines, led by the Mars Corporation, which later +absorbed the others and gained a monopoly, brought political pressure to +bear and got the project banned. + +"I had heard reports that a great many of my colleagues escaped and +formed a rebel organization that carried on the work secretly and +illegally, but I was never able to learn details of it until you came +and told me of the activities in which you have been engaged. You see, I +haven't been out of these caves in a quarter of a century." + +Shadow appeared at the recess to report to them that the Toughs had +passed on. How he did it, Dark was unable to determine surely, for he +could hear no words spoken. Either Shadow communicated by subtle +gestures or by tones beyond Dark's powers of hearing, but both Old Beard +and Happy seemed to understand him readily. + +"How do you happen to be here, Old Beard?" asked Dark as they left the +recess and resumed their progress down the walkways. + +"I was captured when the government broke up the experimental groups," +answered Old Beard. "I was the leader of the section of the experiments +dealing with extrasensory perception, and, instead of executing me at +once, they tried to persuade me to continue this work for the government +along specific lines and under supervision. I refused, because I knew +that anything I helped them develop would not be used for the benefit of +the Martian colonists, but for greater profits for the spacelines. + +"At last I was able to escape into these underground caverns where they +grow food plants hydroponically and sell them to supplement the produce +of the dome farms and the gardens in the dome cities. These caverns are +extensive and, with the friendship and help of the Jellies, I've evaded +discovery for twenty-five years." + +"Just who and what are the Jellies?" asked Dark. "I haven't been able to +get a very satisfactory answer to that question from Happy." + +"They're human experimental animals," answered Old Beard. "The +terrestrial food plants grown hydroponically and sold in the dome cities +actually are a supplemental sideline to the real purpose of this place. +Marscorp is conducting its own experiments here, with a crew of expert +geneticists. + +"What Marscorp is trying to do is to breed native Martian plants, that +will grow in the open lowlands without expensive oxygenation and +irrigation, that are not poisonous to humans and can be used for food. +At the same time, they're approaching the problem from the other side, +and the Jellies are men and women whose glandular structure has been +altered in an effort to make their physiology more receptive to native +Martian vegetation. If they succeed, of course, Marscorp has just as +complete a monopoly over such a food supply as it does over imports from +Earth, but at considerably less expense." + +"And the Toughs?" + +"They're human experimental animals, too, based on a different type of +glandular alteration. They're neither as docile nor as intelligent as +the Jellies, so they can't be used for slave labour as the Jellies can. +About the only way they're ever used is as occasional goon squads to +terrorize the Jellies and keep them in line." + +"You've been here twenty-five years and have never been able to escape?" +asked Dark incredulously. + +"This place isn't guarded," replied Old Beard, with a wry smile. "They +don't have to guard it. All they have to guard are the supply room where +the marsuits are kept and the motor pool of groundcars. This place is in +the middle of the Desert of Candor, and no one can live in the Martian +desert without oxygen." + +They came now to one of the walls of the underground cavern, and Old +Beard led them suddenly into a fissure that was well concealed from the +walkways by a tangled screen of vegetation. They stumbled along a narrow +passageway for a few feet, and emerged into a rude shaft, around the +walls of which a roughly-chiseled and steep stairway led upward into +pitch darkness. Here Old Beard halted. + +"When I told you there's no way of escape here, it was not that I +haven't tried many times," he said to Dark. + +"This shaft leads up into the walls of the structure above--above, +although it is still underground--and I have been up there often at +night. It has long been my hope that I might be able to get a marsuit or +a groundcar and make my escape, but they are kept locked up and always +guarded, against the Jellies and the Toughs. + +"I want to take you up and give you an idea of the place now, and later +perhaps you will have some ideas to contribute. Happy and Shadow will +stay down here until we get back." + +Old Beard mounted the steep steps slowly, and Dark followed at his +heels. Although the bottom of the "well" was lighted with the same dim +light as that which spread throughout the entire underground area, there +was no light at all higher up, and they had to feel their way carefully +lest they fall off the narrow steps. + +At the top, Old Beard stopped and Dark bumped sharply into him. + +"I'm going to move down the space between the walls," Old Beard +whispered. "Hold onto my hand and follow me. But don't say anything or +make any more noise than you can help, because anyone beyond the wall +may be able to hear you." + +They moved ahead. The way was very narrow, very dark and very difficult, +and frequently was choked with ventilator pipes or tangles of wiring. +They had gone some forty or fifty feet, when Old Beard stopped. + +By Old Beard's movements, Dark knew he was working at something. Then a +section of ventilator pipe came away from a ventilator grill, and faint +light illuminated the space in which they crouched. In this dimness, Old +Beard gestured to Dark to look through the ventilator. + +Peering out, Dark saw that they were near the ceiling of a large, +high-ceilinged room. In it, under glaring lights, a group of half a +dozen white-clad men were working with knives and other instruments on +the body of a man, either anaesthetized or dead, which lay on a surgical +table. + +Old Beard put his face against the grill next to Dark's, and the two men +watched the scene below for a few moments. Then one of the men around +the table raised his head, revealing a thin face, with watery blue eyes +and a straggly goatee. + +The two men inside the wall gasped as one man. + +"_Father!_" + +The single loud word was torn from Dark's throat without his volition, +without his actually realizing he had spoken. + +The heads of the men in the room jerked up at the cry, and they looked +around and at each other, with puzzled expressions. Old Beard clapped a +firm hand over Dark's mouth and hissed in his ear: + +"Fool! Let's get out of here!" + +As quietly as possible, they made their way back. Through the ventilator +behind them came the murmur of querulous voices. + +When they had climbed back down the stairs and, with Happy and Shadow, +made their way back through the fissure, Old Beard fixed penetrating +eyes on Dark and said: + +"I told you to keep quiet up there! What was that exclamation all +about?" + +"It's something very strange," murmured Dark, his face thoughtful and +bemused. "But you evidently recognized that man, too. Who is he?" + +"Yes, I know him very well," answered Old Beard, with deep bitterness in +his tone. "That's Goat Hennessey. But that's the first time I've seen +him in twenty-five years. He must have just come here recently." + +"Goat Hennessey? I heard of him when I was in Mars City." + +"Goat Hennessey was one of my most trusted friends," said Old Beard. "If +you bear my earlier memories, I'm surprised you didn't recognize him as +Goat Hennessey, too." + +"I recognized him as someone else," said Dark in a low voice. + +"We worked together," went on Old Beard. "I was a leader in the effort +to solve our problem through extrasensory perception, and he was the +major scientist in the group attempting to solve it by genetic change. +We worked together and we went into the desert together with the others +when the government banned our experiments. + +"But Goat was the man who sold out. He betrayed us to the +government--for what price I don't know. And when government agents +raided us and broke up our organization and captured me, Goat Hennessey +kidnapped my young and pregnant wife, and I never saw her again. + +"I'm glad Goat Hennessey is here, because now I can get to him. And when +I can reach him, I'm going to kill him. I'd like to kill him as slowly +and painfully as he killed the heart inside of me!" + +As Old Beard spoke these last words, his face was tense, his fists +clenched and a somber fire burned in his pale eyes. Then, slowly, the +fire died out and he turned his eyes, once more cool and rational, a +little quizzical, on Dark. + +"Didn't you call him 'father'?" he asked. + +"Yes," said Dark in a low voice. "But I'd rather not talk about it right +now." + +He looked at Old Beard, and seemed to be ridding himself, with an +effort, of a deep introversion. + +"There's one thing that I've remembered as a result of seeing Goat +Hennessey," said Dark in a firmer voice. "This place isn't too far from +a place in the Xanthe Desert where Goat conducted some significant +experiments. If he left any of his records there--and I'm thinking of +some in particular--they might go a long way toward solving the problem +we've all be working on for so long. So now I know what to do next: I'm +going to Ultra Vires." + +Old Beard smiled sadly. + +"Have you forgotten we can't get out of this place?" he reminded. "We +can't get at either the marsuits or the groundcars." + +It was Dark's turn to smile. + +"I believe you said there aren't any guards on the airlocks to stop one +from walking out at night?" he said. + +"That's true, but--" + +"There's something you don't know," continued Dark. "You were wondering +at the basis of the regenerative power that permitted me to revive here +after being shot in the stomach with a heatgun. I don't know what it is, +but whatever it is, it's something that also permits me to live without +oxygen. + +"Happy can testify that I was fully alive and conscious underwater. I +discovered, before I was shot, that I can operate just as well outside, +in the Martian atmosphere, without a helmet. And that's why Goat's +records may solve our problem. + +"So tonight I'll leave this place and go to Ultra Vires. If there are +any marsuits and groundcars left there, I'll come back here with them, +and you and Happy and Shadow can escape with me. If not, you may have to +wait a while longer. + +"But I'll be back!" + + + + +13 + + +Brute Hennessey plodded westward through the Xanthe Desert, naked, +wearing no marsuit, his head bare to the thin, oxygen-poor Martian air. +The two small moons shone in the star-spangled sky above the lone +figure, casting fantastic shadows on the sands. + +But this was not the stupid, shambling Brute Hennessey of a few months +past. He walked surely and proudly, and the light of intelligence shone +in his eyes. + +He called himself, now, Dark Kensington. + +Dark's muscular body had not regained, quite, the firmness and tone it +had had before he was shot down at Solis Lacus, but he had recovered +greatly from the bloated flabbiness of a few days ago. Most of that had +been water in his tissues, and resumption of normal physical activity +had wrung it out in short order. + +As he plodded through the Martian night toward Ultra Vires, Dark was +remembering, with something of awe, that emotional explosion within him +that had occurred on his first sight of Goat Hennessey at the Canfell +Hydroponic Farm. It was this sudden, overwhelming recognition that had +wrung from his lips the cry: "_Father!_" + +In that moment, memory had returned with terrible impact and he had been +overwhelmed by the re-experience of those moments when he had stood +before the man he admired and loved as his father and had seen the +bitter realization of rejection by that man written with the point of a +knife. + +Now he remembered it all. He remembered his childhood at Ultra Vires, he +remembered Adam and their experiences together, he remembered their +treks through the desert at Goat Hennessey's command, he remembered his +slaying of Adam and his acceptance of death at Goat's hands. He +remembered that he, Dark Kensington, was Brute Hennessey, somehow +brought to life once before in the Icaria Desert even as he had himself +regained life a second time in the vats of the Canfell Hydroponic Farm. + +So Goat Hennessey was his father, apparently. And Old Beard, the real +Dark Kensington, vowed vengeance on Goat. Dark was able to view this +with equanimity. He no longer felt any admiration or affection for Goat, +whatever relationship might exist between them. + +But, since he was Brute Hennessey and thus not old enough to be the real +Dark Kensington, how and why had he acquired the memories of Dark +Kensington? That question remained unanswered. + +Phobos was setting for the first time that night when Dark reached the +great hulk of Ultra Vires, manipulated one of the airlocks and entered +its dark corridors. There was no light, and a test of the light switch +proved that the electrical system was no longer operating. But Dark knew +every inch of this place from early childhood. He felt his way through +the pitch darkness to Goat Hennessey's old bedroom. + +Probing about in the darkness, he discovered that Goat's bed was still +supplied with mattress and crumpled blankets. This surprised him +somewhat, as any item of cloth on Mars had to be imported from Earth and +was far too valuable to abandon. But, apparently, these things had been +left temporarily in Goat's abandonment of Ultra Vires and would be +picked up by truck later. + +Deriving a certain humorous satisfaction from taking over the master's +chamber, Dark curled up on Goat's bed and went to sleep. + +He awoke the next morning with the glare of the desert sunlight +reflected into the room. He arose, stretched and yawned. The room was a +mess. Goat had left the bed clothing intact, but he had turned +everything else upside down in packing his personal effects to leave the +place. + +There was still water in the reservoir, and Ultra Vires' plumbing system +was still in operation. Dark bathed. He felt ruefully at the thick +stubble of beard that had overgrown his face in the past few days, but +Goat had left no shaving equipment behind. + +Dark made his way down to the big kitchen. There were supplies of canned +food there, and he found utensils and ate. He was hungry, but not +ravenous, and this surprised him a little, because he had had no food +since he started out afoot from the Canfell Hydroponic Farm, four nights +ago. But he was no hungrier than he would normally be after a night's +sleep. + +As he ate, his eye fell on dishes stacked beside the sink. He was +startled to notice that water still sparkled on them. + +He arose and checked them. Yes, they were still wet. + +There were remnants of fresh food in the garbage can. + +People, here? Camping out? Or, more likely, someone passing through the +desert who had taken shelter here for the night? But he thought he would +have heard the roar of a groundcar leaving. + +Thoughtfully, Dark finished his breakfast. It occurred to him that +perhaps some members of the Phoenix had taken refuge here after fleeing +Mars City. But most of them did not even know of the existence of Ultra +Vires, much less its location. + +At any rate, there was no reason to assume that anyone who happened to +be here would be unfriendly to him, in case they met by chance. He saw +no reason to worry about it. + +Finishing breakfast, Dark went down to the storeroom and picked out +three marsuits, for Old Beard, Happy and Shadow. There was a large-sized +suit there that he thought might accommodate Happy's bulk, but he +wondered how Shadow, with his flat build, was going to manage one. + +Nakedness felt quite natural to Dark, especially since he remembered his +identity as Brute, but it occurred to him that it would look peculiar +to anyone he might meet before leaving Ultra Vires--or, for that matter, +on his way back to the Canfell Hydroponic Farm. So he donned a marsuit +himself, leaving off the helmet. + +Carrying the other three marsuits, he went down the corridor to the +motor pool. + +Dark remembered that Goat had always kept four groundcars on hand. There +were three here now, all in advanced stages of dismantlement. + +At one of them, a small figure in black tunic and loose trousers was +bending over, head and arms plunged into the bowels of the engine. + +Dark hesitated. He had found his intruder, perhaps a traveler who had +run into engine trouble in the desert and had fortuitously been near +enough to take shelter here while making repairs. But, again, there was +no reason to anticipate unfriendliness. + +Carrying his marsuits, Dark walked up to the groundcar, overhearing a +muffled bit of profanity as he approached. The unfortunate mechanic +evidently heard his footsteps, because he was greeted with: + +"I wish to Phobos you'd stay down here and _try_ to help me, instead of +spending all your time snooping around this deserted shack!" + +The voice was muffled, but it was definitely feminine and definitely +irritated. Dark grinned and replied drolly: + +"I'm sorry, but this is the first time you've asked me to help you." + +With an audible gasp, the woman disentangled herself, in dangerous +haste, from the groundcar engine and faced Dark. + +They stared at each other, in mutual shocked recognition. + +There was Dark Kensington, bearded, his arms full of marsuits, and there +was Maya Cara Nome, sleeves rolled up, her lovely face streaked with +grease. + +Dark's jaw dropped. Maya's lips formed a round, astonished O. + +Then, with a squeal, she hurled herself on him, throwing her arms around +his neck. Dark staggered back, overwhelmed by marsuits, an abundance of +wriggling femininity and a babble of happy and-completely unintelligible +words gushed against his bearded cheek. + +He managed to disentangle himself by the dual process of dropping the +marsuits and holding Maya forcibly at arm's length. She gazed up into +his face, her own awed and radiant, and was able to reduce her own words +to connected sentences. + +"You're not here," she said positively. "You can't be here. You're dead. +I saw you killed. You must be one of the ghosts of Ultra Vires." + +She wriggled free and threw her arms around his neck again, announcing +happily, "But you're a solid, _comfortable_ ghost, and I love you!" + +Again, Dark managed to get her at arm's length and looked down seriously +into her face. + +"Did I hear you correctly?" he asked soberly. "Did you say you love me?" + +"I did. And I mean it. Oh, Dark, how I mean it!" + +He pulled her to him. He kissed her gravely. Then he held her close in +his arms, while she rested her head contentedly against his shoulder. + +"What," he asked at last, "are you doing here, tinkering with a +groundcar?" + +"Nuwell and I were on our way to Mars City by helicopter, when it failed +and crashed," she explained. "This was the only place near enough for us +to make it afoot, and the marsuit radios don't have the range to call +for help. We've been here more than two weeks now, trying to repair +these groundcars." + +She looked at the machine she had been working on and shook her head +ruefully. + +"I don't think any of them can be fixed," she said. "Nuwell, it turns +out, doesn't know a damn thing about machinery, but I was taught a good +deal about mechanics when I was trained as a terrestrial agent. Even +with three groundcars to supply parts, there are some things missing +that I don't think I can jury-rig substitutes for." + +She turned back to Dark. + +"But you're dead!" she exclaimed. "I know you are, because we carried +your body with us to the Canfell Hydroponic Farm. How in space can you +be here, alive and kissing, when you made such a beautiful corpse?" + +Dark explained the circumstances to her; how he had awakened in the vat, +how he had been able to breathe underwater, how the sight of Goat +Hennessey had revived in him the memory of his identity as Brute, how he +had been able to walk across the desert without a marsuit. + +"If you're Brute Hennessey, I know why you aren't dead," she said when +he had finished. "We fell in with a party of Martians on our way here, +and they told me about certain embryonic changes they made on you and +Adam before Goat kidnapped your mothers and brought them to Ultra Vires. +Qril--he's the Martian I talked to--said that these alterations not only +permit you to live in a free Martian environment, but give you +extraordinary regenerative powers." + +"They must be extraordinary, if they permit me to come to life again +after being stabbed in the heart and having my belly burned out with a +heatgun," observed Dark. + +"That's because your tissues aren't dependent on oxygen-carbon +combustion," explained Maya. "According to Qril, when oxygen is no +longer available to you, your cells utilize direct solar energy. That +would prevent your tissues from dying while the damaged area of your +body is under repair." + +She looked at him in sudden awed realization. + +"It would seem, darling, that you're virtually indestructible!" she +said. + +Dark laughed. + +"Perhaps so," he said. "But I don't hanker to experiment along those +lines any more than necessary. Dying is a very unpleasant experience, +even if I do come to life again." + +"Oh, Dark," said Maya, remembering. "I'd like for Qril to see you, and +maybe he'll give us some more information. They came back here three +days ago and, for some reason, have just been hanging around outside, +under the walls. Let me get on a marsuit, and I'll take you to him." + +"Here, put on one of these," suggested Dark, picking up the one he had +selected for Old Beard. + +Maya wriggled into it. The Martians, she said, were on the other side of +Ultra Vires, so they left the motor pool and walked down one of the long +corridors together, Maya clinging to Dark's arm with one hand and +carrying her marshelmet under her other arm. + +They were halfway across the big building when Nuwell Eli appeared +around a corner about thirty feet ahead of them. He stopped, staring, at +the sight of Maya's companion. + +"Maya," he began, as they neared him. "Who ...?" + +Then he recognized Dark. + +With a terrified yelp, Nuwell turned and raced back down the side +corridor at top speed. They heard the clack-clack of his heels on the +stone floor, fading in the distance. + +Dark and Maya stopped and looked at each other. + +"It must have been quite a shock to him, too, to see you risen from the +dead," she said. "I don't believe he's as happy to see you as I was, +Dark." + +"No, his joy seemed considerably mitigated," replied Dark gravely. "But, +Maya, this raises a rather serious question which hadn't occurred to me +before, in the happiness of our reunion." + +"What's that, darling?" + +"You're a terrestrial agent and, as such, you put me under arrest. It's +true, you tried to free me later. But didn't you tell me that night that +you were engaged to marry this man, Nuwell Eli?" + +"Yes," she admitted in a small voice. "But--" + +"I haven't had the pleasure of meeting the gentleman before," continued +Dark, still in the same grave tone. "But you and he were going back to +Mars City together, and, for some reason, it occurs to me that you and +he planned to be married as soon as you could get there." + +Maya was somewhat stunned at this evidence of mind reading. + +"That's true," she said in a very small voice. + +"Now," said Dark, "you tell me that you love me. You must admit that +the question raised by this is rather serious. Does this declaration of +love--which, I assure you, is reciprocated completely--imply a radical +change in your past course of action? Or, since you're still a +terrestrial agent, can I expect to be arrested again as a preliminary to +your joining Mr. Eli in the holy state of matrimony?" + +Maya looked up into his face, and burst out laughing. + +"I may have put it jokingly," protested Dark, a little taken aback, "but +I'm serious, Maya." + +"I know you are!" she giggled. "That's what makes it so funny. Answering +you in the same vein, Mr. Kensington, I don't intend to put you in +double jeopardy!" + +Dark raised his eyebrows quizzically. + +"I arrested you and you were killed resisting arrest," she explained +mischievously. "I've discharged that duty as a terrestrial agent, so I +don't think I'm either required or entitled to arrest you again. And as +for the other, well, I am a little sorry for Nuwell, but I do love you, +and I won't marry Nuwell, since you're alive. But I can't marry you, +Dark." + +Dark was stunned at this. + +"Why not, Maya? You mean, because you're a terrestrial agent?" + +"No, it isn't that. I'm planning to resign as an agent, as soon as I get +back to Mars City, and that wouldn't stop me, anyway. The reason I can't +marry you is simply that you haven't asked me." + +Dark laughed, a rollicking, relieved laugh, and swept her into his arms. + +"Maya, darling, I ask you now!" he exclaimed. "Will you marry me?" + +"Yes, Dark," she answered demurely. + +She leaned back in the circle of his arms and looked up into his face, +seriously. + +"Whither thou goest, I will go," she said, very quietly. "If you're a +rebel, Dark, I'll be a rebel, too. I want to be with you, and help you +in whatever you do." + + + + +14 + + +Dark and Maya sat with their backs against the wall of Ultra Vires, and +Qril squatted before them, towering huge above them. A little distance +away the other three Martians were grouped, playing some sort of game, +doing some sort of work or participating in some sort of joint +demonstration. Dark could not be sure which. + +Qril boomed out a long, rolling sentence and Maya broke into laughter. +She turned to Dark and translated: + +"He said he didn't understand why I'm wearing a helmet, when you aren't. +I explained that I have to wear a helmet to breathe, and he said that, +since you and I are alike, it appears that we'd dress alike. So you see, +darling, even the Martians recognize that we're made for each other." + +Dark shook his head in wonderment. + +"No human has ever been able to figure out Martian thinking processes, +and I doubt that one ever will," he remarked. "This is the Martian who +explained to you the physiological structure that permits me to live +without oxygen, and yet he asks a question like that!" + +"There's one thing that puzzles me," said Maya curiously. "Without a +helmet, you can't use your marsuit heater, and you said you walked here +naked. But the temperature out here right now is well below freezing. +Aren't you cold?" + +"No," answered Dark. "I get cold in temperatures that are uncomfortable +to anyone else when I'm in a dome or a building and breathing. But out +here, when I'm not breathing, I'm aware of temperature changes but they +don't cause me any discomfort. It must be that switching to direct +utilization of solar power alters my reactions to temperature." + +"Well," said Maya, "I can understand that utilization of solar power +when you're in the sunshine. But how can you keep operating when you're +in shadow, or at night, and not breathing?" + +"I don't know. Maybe Qril does." + +Maya asked the Martian, and relayed his answer to Dark: + +"Qril says that you store excess energy in the tissues, very much as the +Martians store oxygen. In a sense, direct sunlight's your generator, and +it charges your batteries for power when it isn't operating. Now, Dark, +why don't you ask him anything you want to know about your origin, and +I'll act as translator." + +"All right," agreed Dark. "But first, it was among Martians that I awoke +when I returned to life the first time in the Icaria Desert. That's +pretty far away, but I understand Martians have a weird sort of +sympathetic communication among themselves. Does he know anything about +how I got there?" + +Maya talked with Qril and translated: + +"Qril is one of the Martians I saw come by here and pick up your body +the morning after Goat killed you and threw your body out in the desert. +Qril says they recognized you from your genetic pattern--and don't ask +me how they did this!--as being the one they had completed embryonic +alteration on years before, so they picked you up and took you with them +to give you a chance to regenerate and revive." + +"But how and why did I turn up after my revival with Dark Kensington's +memories?" + +"He says they gave you a memory pattern by a deep telepathic process," +answered Maya after talking with Qril, "because your memory pattern as +Brute was of no value to you in meeting a new environment. It seems that +there was some blockage in the operation of your brain as Brute, because +of a slight fault in the embryonic alteration, and they corrected that +before you revived." + +"But why Dark Kensington's memory pattern?" asked Dark. "It turned out +to be a valuable one for me, but I've met the real Dark Kensington since +then, and he's a much older man. Why did they choose his memory +pattern?" + +Maya talked with Qril. + +"He says names mean very little to them," she said then. "That's +something I learned as a child: that Martians often interchange their +names, and the names evidently refer to a state of experience and being +rather than to a specific individual. But he says that the memory +pattern they chose to give you was that of your father!" + +Dark stared at her, stunned. + +"Then," he said slowly, "Old Beard is my father. I should have known! I +think I felt it." + +"I'm not surprised if you did," said Maya. "From what Qril tells me, +Dark, this prenatal alteration they performed on you gave you even more +extensive powers than we realized. He says that you have extraordinary +extrasensory ability, if you would only make an effort to use it." + +"Oh, I do, do I?" murmured Dark thoughtfully. + +He looked over at the other Martians, seated in a circle in the morning +sunshine. They were taking turns tossing some small polygons, and +evidently the objective of whatever they were doing lay in the way the +polygons fell. + +Dark felt a sudden surge of power in his brain. He concentrated it, he +focused it, and one of the polygons rose slowly from the ground and +drifted into the air above the Martians' heads. + +Dark could feel the strength that went out and raised the polygon, like +an invisible extension of himself. Then he felt another force seize the +polygon, and it was drawn back firmly and without hesitation to its +former place. + +Dark turned his head back to look into Qril's huge eyes, and at once he +was in mental contact with the Martian. + +Qril was laughing at him. There was no change of expression on Qril's +face, but in his mind was the atmosphere of high humor. Qril's thoughts +came to him without words, in no language, silently but clearly: + +_You have not practised your power. Experience will be necessary before +you can compete with the simplest effort of one of our race._ + +Dark turned to Maya. + +"He's right," said Dark. "I do have extrasensory powers, but they'll +need some development." + +"I know," said Maya. "The telepathic voltage in the atmosphere must be +very high right now, because even I sensed your effort in lifting that +object, and I understood Qril's communication to you." + +Maya and Dark took their leave of Qril, and went back into Ultra Vires. +As they did so, Qril and the other Martians arose and began to drift +away into the desert, as though they had had a mission in staying here, +which was now accomplished. + +"I hope you know something about mechanics," said Maya as they walked +down the corridor together. "Because if you don't, it looks like we're +stuck here for a while. At least I am, unless you can run one of these +groundcars with psychokinetic power." + +"No, apparently I'm not that good at it yet," said Dark. "Maybe I could +teleport in any parts you need. No wait! I just remembered something! +Come with me." + +They turned off into a side corridor, found stairs and climbed to the +top floor of the building. There they followed another corridor until +Dark stopped and opened a door. + +It was the door to a small airlock. Dark led Maya through it into a huge +room. + +A helicopter stood in its center. + +"Goat _did_ leave it here!" exclaimed Dark joyfully. "I'd forgotten that +he had this. He must have just packed the most necessary things when he +left the place, planning to send trucks and a crew back and clean it out +later at his leisure. Now, if this copter's only in good flying shape, +we're set." + +He checked the machine over. Everything was in order. + +"How do we get it out of here?" asked Maya curiously, looking around the +room. "That little airlock's too small for a copter to go through it." + +"The roof rolls back," said Dark. "Put on your helmet, and I'll show +you." + +Maya donned her marshelmet. Dark went to the wall and pulled a switch. +Nothing happened. + +"I forgot," he said. "The electricity's off. Well, let's try something." + +Dark concentrated his mind intensely on the movable ceiling. For a +moment, there was resistance, then, very slowly, it began to open. A +crack appeared in its center, and the air of the room hissed out with +the swish of a minor tempest. After that, it was easier. The crack +widened swiftly, and the roof rolled back to the walls, leaving the room +open to the heavens. + +"All we have to do now is to climb into it and go," said Dark with +satisfaction. "You fill the fuel tanks, and I'll run down to the motor +pool and pick up those other two marsuits. One of them is for my friend +Happy, who is very fat, and he couldn't wear either of the emergency +suits in the copter." + +Maya uncoiled the hose from one of the fuel drums in the room and poked +it into the copter's tank. Dark left the room, walked down the corridor +and descended the stairs. + +He made his way to the motor pool. Maya was wearing one of the three +marsuits he had brought down, but the other two were still lying on the +floor. He picked them up and started back. + +He was walking down the first floor corridor, carrying the marsuits, +when there crashed in on his mind a terrifying, silent scream: + +_Help!_ + +Dark stopped, appalled. It took him a moment to realize that he was +still standing in the corridor. It took him a moment to realize that he +actually had heard nothing. + +The corridor stretched away ahead of him, dim and dusty. There was no +movement in it, no sound. It was utterly silent. He stood there, in a +dim, dusty corridor, in waiting silence, holding two marsuits under his +arms. + +_Help!_ + +It was a cry that shrieked in his mind, reverberated in his mind, +touching nothing around him, touching not the silent corridor. + +_Maya!_ + +Dark's mind went out to her, rode up on swift wings to the room above +where she had waited for his return. + +He was there, in that room, and there was the helicopter. There was no +Maya there. + +But there were figures in the copter, moving. + +He was in the copter, and there was Maya, struggling and writhing, as +Nuwell Eli, in a furious concentration of savage energy, bound her into +one of its seats with a length of rope. + +Dark touched her mind, and her mind grasped his, desperately. + +_Dark, he followed us up here, and hid until you left. He crept up +behind me and seized me. Hurry, Dark, he's taking me away!_ + +Hurry? Down those corridors, up those steps, when Nuwell already was +sliding into the pilot's seat of the copter? + +Frantically, Dark grasped at his only chance of reaching her in time. +Teleportation. + +He clamped down with his mind on himself. With a frenzied burst of +strength, he sought to lift himself bodily, to be there in the copter +with them. He put every ounce of energy he possessed into the effort. + +And he failed. + +He was standing in the dim, dusty corridor, two marsuits under his arm, +straining futilely toward a place he could not reach. And now he +actually heard, with his ears, the muted vibration above him as the +copter's engines roared to life. + +Dark started running. + +He dropped the marsuits, and ran down the corridor. He leaped up the +stairs, two and three at a time. Breathless, his heart pounding, he +staggered down the upper corridor and impatiently went through the +seemingly interminable process of negotiating the airlock. + +He emerged into the big room. + +It was empty. + +The ceiling was open to the Martian sky. The sunlight poured into the +roofless room. + +In the sky, a small, teetering object rose and moved away from Ultra +Vires, its blades whirring a sparkling circle in the thin air. + +Dark reached out to it with his mind, and again he was in the copter. +Nuwell sat tensely at the controls, guiding it. Maya was in the other +seat, her arms bound down by her sides, her expression agonized. + +Nuwell was unaware of Dark's mental presence. Maya sensed it and her +mind turned toward him. + +_Dark, Dark, what can we do? I should have been watching for him. I +should have known, after he saw us together, that he would do +something._ + +Dark: _It was my fault, Maya. I shouldn't have left you alone. I just +didn't consider him a factor to be reckoned with, and I should have +known better._ + +Maya: _What can we do?_ + +Nuwell turned to Maya, and his face was bitter and sullen. His brown +eyes were flat with anger. + +"You treacherous witch, I should have known better than to trust you +after that trick of trying to help Kensington escape. I wanted to give +you a chance, because I thought that, with him dead, you might have +recovered from your madness," he said. + +A change came over his face: a mixture of fear, disbelief and utter lack +of comprehension. + +"He _was_ dead," said Nuwell, a hysterical note underlying his tone. "I +saw him. You saw him dead, too, didn't you, Maya? How could he be back +there with you?" + +Maya's only answer was a defiant smile. + +"There's some explanation for this," said Nuwell, more positively. "I +don't know what it is, but I'll find it. That man back there isn't Dark +Kensington, because Kensington's dead. Maya, I promise you, I'm going to +find out what the answer is, but first I'm going to make sure that you +don't cause me any more trouble." + +Dark touched Maya's mind. + +_Maya, I'm going to try something here._ + +He moved back. He was outside the copter, near it, keeping pace with it +as it flew. It was tilted slightly forward, falling forward through the +sky at the pull of its blades. + +Dark seized the copter with his mind. He tried to drag it back. + +It hesitated. It quivered. Then it jerked forward and went on. He felt +his mental grasp slipping from it. + +Suddenly he was completely in the big room in Ultra Vires, the room with +its roof open to the sky. He could no longer touch the copter. He could +no longer be in it. He could no longer touch Maya's mind. + +He tried. He reached out again. But he failed. He was where he was. + +He realized he was almost exhausted. The tremendous drain of his efforts +on his energy told on him at last. He no longer had the strength to try +any more, and Nuwell and Maya were gone away from him into the Martian +sky. + +Wearily, he turned back and went through the airlock, down the corridor +and down the stairs. + +There was nothing more he could do now. Nuwell undoubtedly would take +Maya to Mars City. And then? + +Maya would refuse to marry Nuwell now, and Dark doubted that Nuwell +could force her. What Nuwell would do with her, he did not know. +Probably some sort of confinement, eventually perhaps a trial. But +Nuwell had no ground or reason to do her any real harm. + +He would have to try to get to Maya as soon as he could, and that meant +intensification of his efforts. But there was only one course he could +hope to follow successfully, and that was the course he had planned when +he started out for Ultra Vires. + +Only now he _could_ speed it up. + +He had to have some rest. Then he would pick up three marsuits and walk +back across the desert to the Canfell Hydroponic Farm. + + + + + +15 + + +Dark walked across the desert toward the Canfell Hydroponic Farm. + +He had discarded the marsuit he had been wearing, and substituted for it +a light loincloth torn from one of Goat Hennessey's sheets. This +reverse reaction, in a temperature that would be uncomfortably chilly +for a fully clothed man and descended far below zero at night, resulted +from his recognition that he gained a tremendously greater direct influx +of energy from the total exposure of his skin to the sunlight. He could +feel the energy penetrating his flesh, building up in him. And, with +this energy, the low temperature did not bother him. + +Behind him, by a rope, he dragged a little two-wheeled cart he had +constructed from groundcar parts. It rolled and bumped over the sandy +terrain, containing all the marsuits and all the seven heatguns that he +had been able to find at Ultra Vires. + +It also contained a supply of water, in cans. Dark had found that, while +he was operating directly on solar energy, he did not need food at all +and he did not need as much water as he did under ordinary +circumstances. He probably could have survived two weeks without any +water at all. But some water did make him much more efficient. His +independence of food and oxygen did not prevent the slow dessication if +his tissues in the dry Martian air. + +As he walked, only part of his mind was devoted to the routine task of +moving across the desert. The remainder of it was free of the limitation +of distance, touching and interacting with the minds of three other men. + +These men were members of the Phoenix. At the Childress Barber College, +they had been among the instructors, struggling to develop the ESP +potentialities of their students so that a psychic community of purpose +and action might be developed toward the goal of teleporting materials +from Earth to Mars. + +These were the men whose ability at telepathy and psychokinesis had been +most fully developed, to the point of practical demonstration. Now, +newly aware of the extent of his own inner powers, Dark had conceived a +bold plan of action to which these men's comparable abilities was a +necessary contribution. + +There were three of them: Mantar Falusaine at Hesperidum, Pietro +Corrallani at Mars City and Cheng I K'an at Ophir. Among them, by a vast +intangible network of communication, they discussed strategy and the +situation on which it was based. + +Mantar: _We knew of the existence of the Canfell Hydroponic Farm. It was +on our charts as a Marscorp industry, supported by the government. But +we thought it was only an industry, producing food. We did not know it +was an experimental center._ + +Cheng: _We did not know Marscorp was conducting genetic experiments at +all, except those of Goat Hennessey. We kept a casual observation on +Goat's work. Our intention was that, if he ever succeeded completely in +what he was trying to do, we would make a fast raid with a task force +and appropriate his work to our own purposes._ + +Dark chuckled. + +Dark: _That would have dismayed Marscorp! But it appears that, as things +have developed, this sort of raid must be directed now at the Canfell +Hydroponic Farm, to free my father and the Marscorp slaves there. Old +Beard is, after all, the real leader of the Phoenix. If we succeed in +kidnapping Goat, we can put him to work for us, but that is not the +primary objective._ + +Pietro: _Do you plan to take over the Canfell Hydroponic Farm, and make +it our base of operation?_ + +Dark: _No. When we attack the Farm, they will radio Mars City for help +and we don't possess the force to fight off an all-out government +counterattack. I have been in communication with a Martian friend, Qril, +and I am informed that the domes in the Icaria Desert, which were used +by the original rebels a quarter of a century ago, are still usable, +although they will have to be supplied with oxygen, food and water. I +intend for the Phoenix to congregate there and utilize the help of the +Martians in carrying out the embryonic changes which will make your +children and mine as I am. A new race, capable of living in the natural +Martian environment._ + +Pietro: _Will these characteristics of which you speak be inherited, or +must the embryonic changes be made in each generation?_ + +Dark: _They will be inherited, because they are changes of the genetic +structure. The changes will have to be made on each individual embryo of +your children, but their children will be born with these qualities +naturally._ + +Cheng: _What are your instructions?_ + +Dark: _How many Phoenix are at each of your places?_ + +Cheng: _Twelve at Ophir._ + +Mantar: _I would have to count. About twice that many at Hesperidum._ + +Pietro: _About seventy-five here, as well as the wives of most of the +Phoenix who are married_. + +Dark: _Seventy-five! That's more than we had in school!_ + +Pietro: _Don't forget that the school was there for a long time before +you came, and it had many graduates. The government captured between a +third and a half of us who were in the school at that time, but there +are still probably three to four hundred Phoenix scattered about Mars._ + +Dark: _Where are the other three instructors, whom I was unable to +contact with this telepathic call?_ + +Pietro: _They are at Charax, Nuba and Ismenius. Their telepathic powers +are not as well developed as ours, and they would not hear you unless +they were expecting the call._ + +Dark: _Cheng, I thought your group was to go to Regina._ + +Cheng: _It was, but the Regina airlocks were more effectively blockaded +to us than at the other cities. Those who went to the other cities, +except those who were caught, had identification establishing them as +legitimate residents of those cities. Regina has a peculiar social +structure which makes this virtually impossible, except for the Phoenix +who are already there and have been for a long time. We thought of +stopping at Zur, but there were no arrangements to care for us there. We +went to a dome farm operated by a friend of the Phoenix in Pandorae +Fretum, and stayed there until we could trickle gradually into Ophir._ + +Dark: _You had quite an odyssey. Cheng, I want you to bring your twelve +in groundcars, with what weapons you can get, and attack the Canfell +Hydroponic Farm. I'll try to break it open from inside._ + +Pietro: _Shall I bring my group from Mars City as reinforcements?_ + +Dark: _No, twelve will be enough, and the conquest of the farm will +depend on speed. Before you can get there with your group by groundcar, +the government will have a well-armed force there by jet. I want you to +load trucks with supplies, gather all the wives and go straight to the +Icaria Desert to establish our colony. I'll direct you telepathically +when you reach Icaria, if we aren't already there. Cut across the +deserts and lowlands, and stay away from the roads and cities._ + +Pietro: _Very well. But we'll have to leave the city vehicle by vehicle, +and rendezvous somewhere in the lowland. It will take some time._ + +Dark: _Whatever is necessary. Do you know where the Chief is?_ + +Pietro: _He's here in jail in Mars City. His trial is due in twenty +days, and we had planned to rescue him sometime during the trial._ + +Dark: _Leave a few good men there to rescue him as soon as you've +cleared Mars City and are on the way to Icaria. Has Nuwell Eli gotten +back to Mars City yet?_ + +Pietro: _I don't know. We can find out._ + +Dark: _He has Maya Cara Nome with him. She's the girl who was the +secretary at the barber college when it was raided, and she's one of the +Phoenix now. I want her rescued, at the same time, if possible. If not, +I'll go to Mars City and do it myself later, but I want to get all of +you cleared of the city first._ + +Mantar: _What do you want me to do?_ + +Dark: _The most difficult thing of all. I want you to stay in +Hesperidum, and send out all the Phoenix you have with you to contact +those in other Martian cities. They are to rendezvous at Hesperidum, and +then you will gather supplies and form another caravan to join the rest +of us in Icaria._ + +Cheng: _When shall I move out?_ + +Dark: _As soon as you can gather your men and material together. But +stay out of sight of the farm and don't attack until you hear from me. I +should be there within the next forty-eight hours._ + +The instructions given, the telepathic conference faded out, and Dark +was a solitary man plodding across the desert, pulling a loaded cart +behind him. + +He came in sight of the Canfell Hydroponic Farm in just about the time +that he had predicted to Cheng, but waited until nightfall to approach +it. Phobos was abroad in the east at sunset, so Dark waited a little +longer, until the nearer moon plunged beneath the eastern horizon. +Deimos was not in the sky this night, and Phobos' disappearance left it +near pitch-dark. + +Dark moved across the starlit desert, pulling his cart, to the walls of +the farm. The farm was not a massive, sprawling fortress like Ultra +Vires, because most of it was underground. The upper floor, in which +Happy's "Masters" lived and worked, was just below the ground level and +the underground vats were below it, extending considerably beyond it in +all directions. The only parts of the farm that projected above ground +were its four entrances, small buildings of white stone, each with its +own airlock. + +Dark went through the airlock of the nearest one. These entrance +buildings were the barracks of the Toughs, in which they slept at night, +secure from the possibility of escape because no marsuits were available +to them. Dark had moved quietly through a barracks of sleeping Toughs +the night he had left the farm for Ultra Vires, but this time he had his +cart with him. + +There was no alternative but a bold course. Spearing the light of an +electric torch before him, he walked down the aisle toward the barred +gate leading into the regions below, pulling the metal-wheeled cart +across the stone floor behind him. + +Its clatter brought the whole barracks awake. On all sides of him arose +an angry growling and shouting, an upsurge from many throats of the +animal noises that were the Toughs' nearest approach to human language. +Dark moved forward steadily, keeping a telepathic "radar" out to warn +him of any impending attack. + +The very boldness of his action paid off. Its openness apparently +convinced the Toughs that this was merely another, unusually noisy case +of one of the Masters returning to the farm at night--as Dark sensed had +occurred often before. Dark was not molested. + +The barred gate had no controls on this side. Dark operated it +psychokinetically. It raised slowly, he pulled his cart through, and he +lowered it behind him and went on down the ramp into the underground +cavern. + +He went straight to Old Beard's hiding place, and awoke him. Old Beard +greeted him joyously. + +"I was afraid something had happened to you, you were gone so long," +said Old Beard. + +"I had to walk back," said Dark. "None of the groundcars at Ultra Vires +was in operating condition." + +"Then there's no chance of the rest of us escaping," said Old Beard +disappointedly. "We can't get at the groundcars here, and the marsuits +you brought won't help. The oxygen supply of a marsuit isn't adequate to +take us from here to the nearest civilization." + +"I think we can get to the groundcars," answered Dark confidently. "I +brought heatguns, as well as marsuits. Besides, I have a larger plan now +than merely escape." + +He related to Old Beard all the things that had happened, including the +fact that Old Beard was his father. + +"I am very happy," said Old Beard simply, tears in his pale eyes. "I +liked you very much from the first, Dark, and I'm glad that you can bear +the name of Dark Kensington rightfully." + +When Dark told him of the plan for the conquest of the farm, Old Beard +stroked his beard thoughtfully. + +"I'm afraid that the attack from within will depend largely on you and +me, although Shadow probably will be able to help effectively," said Old +Beard. "The Jellies aren't very aggressive and, even with a few +heatguns, I'm afraid they won't be of much use." + +"How about the Toughs?" + +"The Toughs would be fine, if you want to wipe out all the Masters and +all the Jellies, and possibly us, too. They're vicious and +unintelligent, and they can't be disciplined or depended upon." + +"With the attack from the outside timed right, I think the three of us +can handle it," said Dark. "How many of the Masters are there?" + +"Only ten," answered Old Beard. "And they aren't soldiers, but +scientists. But they do have weapons, and they know how to handle them. +They have to, in order to keep the Toughs from getting out of line." + +"Perhaps we can whip the Jellies up to the point of causing a good deal +of initial trouble and confusion, and then the three of us move in at +the proper moment after the attack from outside is under way," said +Dark. "We might even turn the Toughs loose on them, without weapons." + +Old Beard gave him a steady gaze from beneath bushy eyebrows. + +"I don't think we want to use the Toughs," he said slowly. "I said there +are ten Masters, and that is correct. But they have a visitor who +arrived by copter several days ago. A visitor and a prisoner." + +"A prisoner?" + +"Yes, a prisoner who wasn't sent down to the vats, but is kept on the +upper floor. This prisoner is a black-haired, black-eyed woman." + +"Maya!" + +"Yes, I think the visitor is Nuwell Eli and the prisoner is your friend, +Maya." + + + + +16 + + +Nuwell Eli sat with Placer Viceroy, director of the Canfell Hydroponic +Farm, in its large underground dining room, eating lunch. This meal was +not the tasteless, gelatin-like food that was fed to the Jellies and +Toughs and sold on the Martian market. It was a meal of thick, juicy +steaks from the dome farms around Hesperidum and vegetables from the +gardens inside the Mars City dome. + +"We've been here better than a week, and she's still stubborn," Nuwell +said morosely. "Surely she has the intelligence to realize how +ridiculous and impractical is her sudden conversion to a lost rebel +cause. I'm half convinced that this Kensington fellow put her under some +sort of a hypnotic spell." + +"You've been very gentle in your methods of conversion," said Placer. +"It isn't like you, Nuwell. If you want quick results, we could turn her +over to the Toughs for a while." + +"No, I don't want her hurt. I love the woman and intend to marry her. +The whippings and humiliations are as far as I'm willing to go." + +"A peculiar sort of love, if you don't mind my saying so," remarked +Placer. + +Nuwell stared at him coldly. + +"I do mind your saying so," he said. "My personal emotions are not +subject to your interpretation. But Martian wives are expected to obey +their husbands with deference and, by Saturn, I'm going to break her of +that liberal terrestrial training!" + +"You'd have the legal right to take the steps necessary for that, if she +were married to you," Placer pointed out. + +"But the little fool refuses to marry me now!" exclaimed Nuwell in +exasperation. "If she hadn't refused, do you think I'd have brought her +here? But I couldn't take her to one of the cities, except as a prisoner +to be tried for sedition and treason, as long as she expresses this +violent and open support of the rebel cause. Whether you consider it +love or not, I want the woman for myself. I don't want her imprisoned or +executed." + +"Perhaps if she were presented with that alternative, she'd be more +reasonable about it," murmured Placer. + +"Don't you think I've threatened her with it? She just says that she'd +rather die or go to prison than go back on her convictions and knuckle +under to me. If she could only forget that she'd ever met that man +Kensington!" + +"Well, as for that, it might not be so hard to arrange," suggested +Placer quietly. + +Nuwell stared at him. + +"What do you mean?" he asked. + +"You're not familiar with the details of our work here, are you, +Nuwell?" + +"I thought I was, pretty well. But what you just said doesn't strike a +chord." + +"As you know, the Toughs and Jellies are originally criminals and +vagabonds you have smuggled to us for experimental purposes. One major +effect of our initial glandular experiments with them, which makes them +into Toughs and Jellies, is that they lose all memory of their past." + +"I don't want a flabby woman, like a Jelly!" exclaimed Nuwell with a +shudder. + +"I think we could eliminate the memory, permanently, without any +physical changes at all," said Placer. "There are some pretty good +scientists here. I expect the operation would cut down her thinking +ability pretty heavily, though. I think it would still be slightly +higher than that of the Jellies, but you couldn't ever expect her again +to get above the intellectual level of a child of six or eight +terrestrial years." + +"I don't care anything about an intelligent woman," answered Nuwell +ruthlessly. "If she weren't so proud of her intelligence now, I wouldn't +have so much trouble with her. I want her as a beautiful woman, which is +all a woman has a right to expect from a man, and if she were less +intelligent and more tractable I might be able to train her to become +the sort of wife a man of my profession and position requires." + +Placer speared a bite of steak, casually, with his fork. + +"Any time you say the word," he said carelessly. + +"I'll give her the rest of today," said Nuwell with decision. "I'll work +her over again with the whip this afternoon, and if she doesn't break +I'll tell her what she can expect. Then, if that doesn't do the trick, +I'll turn her over to you the first thing tomorrow." + +"Tonight would be better," suggested Placer. "The initial surgery takes +only about thirty minutes, and she'd do better to rest a night after +that. It alone will remove a great deal of her volitional power. The +entire series of operations will require about three days." + +"Tonight it is, then," said Nuwell, "if she doesn't break this +afternoon." + +Maya sat in her locked room, her tunic and trousers covering the red +welts on her back and legs. The tasteless gelatin which had been her +only food since their arrival almost gagged her with every spoonful, but +she had eaten all her lunch. She needed all the strength she could get +to maintain her defiance. + +She was in the grip of dull, unrelenting pain, physically and +emotionally. Her flesh ached from yesterday's beating, and she was sick +at heart at the revelation of Nuwell's essential brutality and +callousness. She had thought him a sensitive and intelligent man, and +she had admired him for this even after some of his exhibitions of +childish temper had disillusioned her as to the glowing nobility which +she had at first attributed to him. + +She had felt a warm attraction to him and, when she thought Dark was +dead, she had been willing to marry him on the basis, not of the +passionate love she now felt for Dark, but of a mellow tenderness which +she conceived a sound basis for an understanding life together. + +But now! She shuddered at the thought that she might have married him, +and perhaps lived all her life with him, thinking him to be gentle and +kind. Whatever happened to her, she felt fortunate that this crisis had +brought to her view the hidden side of him, that heretofore had been +seen only by his partners in political manipulation and by the +unfortunate victims of his prosecution. + +Her shoulders drooped wearily. She stared across the room. It was as +bare as a prison cell, which intrinsically it was. + +There was a glass on the washbasin. It was made of heavy metal, with no +sharp edges. Did Nuwell think she would commit suicide? Not as long as +she knew Dark was alive! + +Her mind touched the glass. It quivered. It tilted and fell to the floor +with a clang. + +She looked at it with mild curiosity as it rolled into a corner. She +hadn't done that for a long time, not since she suppressed it because of +Nuwell's hatred of witchcraft. + +It was telekinesis. She had had the power since she was a child. It +seemed that she remembered using it often, and in rather startling ways, +when she was a small child with the Martians. But when she went to +Earth, she gradually stopped playing with it, except in small ways when +she was alone, because it seemed to make her elders very uncomfortable. + +Telekinesis was ESP. It did not mean that she had any other ESP powers. +But there was her experience in the copter.... + +Her mind reached out. At once, like a shock, she was in contact with +Dark. His mind turned to hers at once. + +Dark: _Maya! Where are you?_ + +Maya: _Come into my room, darling. I'm at the Canfell Hydroponic Farm. +Are you still at Ultra Vires?_ + +Dark: _No, I'm in the vats below you. I knew you were here, but I didn't +know where. I can see your room now, though, and its place in the +building._ + +Maya: _Can you free me?_ + +Dark: _Not now. There are four Toughs outside your door, guarding it. I +can't attack them without arousing the Masters. Soon, though._ + +Maya: _I don't know how I'm doing this. I didn't know I had telepathic +powers._ + +Dark: _A good many people have them, potentially. They don't have to +have been "changed," as I was. But they usually require development._ + +Maya: _I'm just glad I can, to know that you're here._ + +Dark: _Maya, why are you in pain?_ + +Maya: _Nuwell has been whipping me, to try to get me to recant on my +expressions of support for the rebel cause._ + +There was a white-hot explosion in her brain that almost literally +seared her mind. Staggered at its impact, she recognized it as the +explosion of Dark's sudden anger. Then she was no longer in contact with +him. + +A hundred feet away, in another room, Nuwell pulled on a pair of black +gloves and picked up a short, thick-lashed whip. Coiling the whip, he +stepped out into the corridor, and turned toward Maya's room. + +He met Placer, walking in the opposite direction. + +"You're going to make your last try, now?" asked Placer. + +"Yes," replied Nuwell. "I hope it works. Actually, her spirit and quick +wit are among the reasons I like the girl. But I don't intend to be +defied in this." + +He proceeded on down the hall. + +As he started past the barred gate to one of the ramps leading down into +the vats below, the buzzer beside it sounded. A Jelly was standing +behind the gate, fat, pathetic face pressed against the bars. + +Nuwell stopped. No one else was in sight in the corridor. + +"What do you want?" he asked the Jelly. + +"Master, I seek entry in answer to the summons," replied the Jelly in a +voice that quavered with fright. + +"What summons?" + +"It was ordered that one of us come above and do a task for the +Masters," replied the Jelly. "I am one of those who must work today, and +I have come in answer to the summons." + +Nuwell looked up and down the corridor. He saw no one. + +"What sort of task?" he asked, reluctant to accept the responsibility of +admitting the Jelly. + +"I don't know, Master." + +"Look," said Nuwell, "I'm not a Master. I don't know anything about the +summons. Someone else will have to let you in." + +"If I'm late, they'll let the Toughs whip me!" wailed the Jelly +pathetically. "Please let me in, Master!" + +Nuwell, the whip coiled in his hand, impatient to get to Maya's room, +was moved to pity at the creature's plight. Besides, the Jellies were +harmless, and this one certainly wouldn't be seeking admittance without +having been called. + +"All right, then," said Nuwell, and flipped the switch. + +The bars grated open and the Jelly came into the corridor. But as Nuwell +reached out to activate the switch and close the gate, the Jelly, with +surprising agility, slipped between him and the switch. + +"What in space?" growled Nuwell. "Get out of the way!" + +The Jelly did not move. + +"I said get out of the way!" snapped Nuwell, shaking out the whip. + +The Jelly cringed and its eyes were terrified, but it still stood +against the switch, its huge, translucent body barring Nuwell. + +"No, Master," it whimpered. "Don't shut the gate!" + +Viciously, Nuwell slashed the whip across its naked shoulders, and the +Jelly squealed with pain. Nuwell raised the whip again. + +But then through the open gate there poured a solid mass of translucent +flesh, a horde of naked Jellies. Silently, they tumbled into the +corridor, filling it from wall to wall, and others behind them pushed to +enter as they paused. + +Wide-eyed, Nuwell stared at them for the briefest of moments. Then he +dropped the whip and fled back up the hall, shouting at the top of his +voice. + +The door at the end of the corridor opened as Nuwell neared it, and +Placer appeared in it. He held up a restraining hand. + +"Don't make so much noise!" he snapped. "There's a conference going on +in there. What's the--" + +Voiceless now, Nuwell grasped Placer's arm and pointed, trembling, back +down the corridor. + +"What in space?" demanded Placer irritably, peering at the mass of +Jellies pouring out of the gate and beginning to move hesitantly along +the corridor in both directions. + +"Jellies!" croaked Nuwell. "The Jellies are loose! They're attacking +us!" + +"Soft hunks of blubber!" said Placer contemptously. "They can't hurt +anybody. I wonder what idiot left that gate open?" + +"I did," admitted Nuwell. "I mean, one of them wanted in and I let him +in, and then he backed up against the switch so I couldn't close it, +until the others came in." + +"I don't know what sort of harebrained idea has gotten into their feeble +minds," said Placer. "But I can take care of it in short order." + +He stepped back into the room, and Nuwell heard him apologizing to the +others for the disturbance. Then Placer reappeared, two whips in his +hand, and closed the door behind him. He handed one of the whips to +Nuwell. + +"They're a lot more tractable than that woman of yours," said Placer. +"Let's go." + +Placer moved down the corridor toward the slowly advancing Jellies, and +Nuwell followed reluctantly, at a respectable distance. + +"Get back below!" shouted Placer at the Jellies as he neared them. "You +know better than to come up here without permission!" + +They stopped and milled as he approached them relentlessly, those in +front trying to hold back and those behind them pushing them on. Placer +moved straight up to them and began slashing right and left with his +whip. + +There was a sudden surge forward of the Jellies and Placer was engulfed. +He vanished in a mass of seething, translucent flesh. Nuwell stopped, +appalled, and began to edge backward. + +There was a flurry of movement in the forefront of the Jellies, and +Placer burst out of the group, his hair awry, his clothing torn, his +whip gone. He staggered toward Nuwell at a half run. + +"Get back to the room!" cried Placer. "I don't know what's stirred them +up, but they can't be frightened back with whips!" + +The two men ran back down the corridor and burst through the door, +startling a conference group of five of the other Masters. + +"Heatguns!" snapped Placer. "Something's stirred the Jellies up, and +they're up here causing trouble! I'll turn the Toughs loose on them." + +While two of the others hurried out another door for weapons and a third +bolted the door through which the two men had just come, Placer picked +up a microphone and switched on the amplifier system that covered every +area of all levels of the Canfell Hydroponic Farm. + +Into the microphone, he gave an animal call, a cry that started out on a +low crooning note and rose in volume and intensity until it hurt the +ears. He repeated this three times. Then he set the microphone down and +turned back to his colleagues, an expression of satisfaction on his +face. + +"That releases the Toughs," he said. "Every Tough in the place is free +to maim or kill any Jelly he sees, without fear of restraint or +punishment. That should bring them to heel pretty quickly!" + + + + +17 + + +Behind the locked door of the conference room, one of the Masters passed +out heatguns to Nuwell, Placer and the other four. + +"If we use these on them at half intensity, I think we can calm them +down without killing any of them," said Placer. "We'll probably have +more trouble beating down the Toughs and keeping them from killing all +the Jellies than we will subduing the Jellies in the first place." + +"I hope we warned the three at the other end of the hall in time," said +one of the others. "There hasn't been any word from them." + +Placer flicked a switch on the intercom system. + +"Touchstone, are you men safe?" he asked. + +"Yes, sir," replied a voice on the other end. "We locked ourselves in, +because there aren't any heatguns we can get to from here. The Jellies +haven't gotten this far down yet. They seem to be cowed by the Toughs at +the door to Miss Cara Nome's room, and the Toughs are strutting around +getting themselves in the mood for an attack. We've been watching them +through the window." + +"Good," said Placer. "Between the Toughs at that end and our heatguns at +this end, we ought to be able to force them back below without much +trouble. Are we ready to move out?" + +A different voice came in over the intercom, the voice of the tenth +Master, who was on duty in the farm's control room. + +"Placer, the screens show three groundcars moving up from the south," he +said. "I've tried to contact them by radio, but they don't answer." + +"We haven't been notified to expect any government visitors," said +Placer. "It may be a convoy of travelers off-course in the desert, or it +could be a wandering party of escaped rebels. Warn them away." + +"Yes, sir." + +Touchstone's voice came in from the other end of the hall. + +"The Toughs are attacking, Placer. Space, it's awful! Those poor Jellies +can't stand up to the Toughs." + +Suddenly his voice changed, and became shrill with excitement. + +"Placer! One of those Jellies has a heatgun! Two of the Toughs were just +burned down, and the others are falling back down the hall. The Jellies +are coming on, and I can see the gun in the hand of one of them." + +"Great space!" muttered Placer. "All right, Touchstone. Hold tight and +keep that door locked. We'll get to you." + +He turned to the others. + +"We've got to move out now," he said. "Use full intensity and shoot to +kill. We'll have to burn our way through those Jellies and get to the +other end of the hall." + +Leaving one of the Masters at the intercom in the control room, the +other six went out into the corridor, heatguns ready. The foremost +Jellies had advanced almost to the door, and now that they had spread +out along the corridor, they were not packed so closely together. + +The six men advanced steadily, leveling their guns. They fired, intense, +almost invisible beams stabbing into the group of Jellies. + +Jellies shrieked in pain, several of them collapsing to the floor with +smoking flesh. The others turned in panic and began to crowd back down +the corridor, the beams stabbing at them and picking them off one by +one. + +Then, from amid the Jellies, a beam struck forth, and one of the Masters +went down, his face burned away. Placer burned down the Jelly holding +the heatgun, and the five survivors moved grimly on. + +On the ramp ahead, Dark and Old Beard approached the open gate to the +corridor, Happy and Shadow following them. + +"I wish I had been able to find more heatguns at Ultra Vires," said Dark +to Old Beard. "Only three, besides our four, are spreading them out +pretty thin." + +"At least the Jellies made the break into the corridor, and we've +managed to discourage the Toughs below from following them up for a +while," said Old Beard. The bodies of a dozen Toughs at the foot of the +ramp behind them attested to the rear guard battle they had fought. That +was what had held them up so long. "If we can hold the corridor and keep +the Masters bottled up, your friends outside should be able to turn the +tide." + +"It will take them a while to break in," said Dark. "But I've already +contacted Cheng telepathically and told him to move in." + +They emerged into the corridor, into a scene of tremendous confusion. +All they could see in both directions were Jellies, milling about and +chattering. The mass seemed to be drifting gradually toward the left, +while from the right came shrieks of agony. + +"This way," said Dark, turning to the left. "We have to get Maya out of +here before we can do anything else." + +Forcing their way through the Jellies, they came to a door. Dark tried +it. It was locked. He burned the lock off and pushed it open. + +Maya was standing back against the wall on the other side of the room, +alarmed at the noise in the corridor, frightened at the opening of the +door. As Dark and Old Beard came in, and she recognized Dark, she ran +across the room to meet them, joy transforming her face. + +She threw herself into Dark's arms. + +"Oh, Dark!" she cried. "I knew you'd come!" + +He enfolded her in his arms and kissed her. Then he turned back to Old +Beard, his arm around Maya's shoulders. + +"Old Beard, this is Maya Cara Nome," said Dark. "Maya, this is my +father, the real Dark Kensington." + +"The older Dark Kensington," corrected Old Beard. "I am very happy to +meet you, Maya. My son, you have chosen a beautiful woman." + +Happy and Shadow had followed the other two into the room and were +standing against the door, holding it closed. + +"Maya, we're going to have to try to hold the corridor until the Phoenix +gets here," said Dark. "I want you to go with Shadow and Happy down to +the vats. You get into a marsuit, and they'll take you to one of the +entrance buildings. I'll tell Cheng to pick you up in one of the +groundcars, and then Happy and Shadow can come back here to help us." + +"I'll do nothing of the sort," said Maya flatly. "You need them up here +now, and I won't leave you. I'm going to stay here and help you. After +all, I can handle a heatgun better than any of these Jellies." + +"But, Maya, I want to know that you're safe." + +"I don't want to be safe until you are. Please let me stay, Dark." + +"All right," Dark surrendered. "Shadow, give her your heatgun." + +The five of them left the room together. + +They emerged into a scene of incredible carnage. The Jellies, with only +three heatguns which they were inept at using, had been no match for the +Masters. Almost all of the Jellies were lying dead on the floor of the +corridor, and the remaining few were backed up at the end of the hall to +their right. + +Three of the men were advancing toward these last Jellies. The other +two, returning to the conference room, already had passed Maya's door +and were picking their way back among the scorched, twitching bodies of +the Jellies. Dark and the others were between these two retreating +forces of Masters. + +"We'll have to try to save those Jellies," decided Dark at once. "Happy, +you and Shadow move back up the corridor and hold the line in case those +other two turn back to attack our rear. The rest of us will tackle the +three to the right." + +They split up and moved off. But they were too late. Dark, Maya and Old +Beard had advanced hastily no more than ten feet when the last of the +Jellies at the end of the corridor collapsed under the combined beams of +three heatguns. Immediately, the door beyond the dead Jellies opened and +three more Masters emerged. They joined the first three, and were given +the heatguns taken from the vanquished Jellies. + +Dark stopped and held up his hand, halting the advance of his little +group. + +"We're too badly outnumbered now," he said. "Let's collect Happy and +Shadow and get back down to the vats, where we can hide until the +Phoenix break in." + +The Masters had seen them now, and started to move up the corridor +toward them in a group, but were still ten or fifteen feet out of +heatgun range. Dark was not surprised to see that one of the group was +Nuwell. + +Dark and Maya turned back toward the entrance toward the underground +vats, but stopped as Old Beard emitted a growl of recognition. + +One of the three men who had emerged from the room was skinny, goateed +Goat Hennessey, and he was coming forward now in the forefront of the +group, a heatgun in his hand. + +"Dark, you and Maya go on without me," said Old Beard very quietly. "I +have a score to settle." + +Dark turned back, his mouth open to protest, but Old Beard had already +started swiftly down the corridor toward the oncoming group. + +"Wait!" cried Dark, and started to run after him. But, in his haste, +Dark tripped over the corpse of a Jelly and fell sprawling. In the +moments it took Dark to scramble to his feet and recover his dropped +heatgun from the floor, the drama ahead of him flashed like lightning to +its conclusion. + +Old Beard ran down the corridor toward the group of Masters, leaping +lightly over the bodies of Jellies in his path, his gray hair streaming +out behind him. + +"Goat Hennessey!" he thundered, his voice reverberating from the walls +of the corridor. "You betrayed me and killed my wife! Now the time has +come for you to pay for your crimes!" + +The Masters stopped in their tracks, frozen at the sight of this figure +of retribution charging down on them. In their forefront, Goat stood +staring, open-mouthed, not comprehending until the full impact of Old +Beard's words broke upon him. Then, recognition dawning, he squawled in +amazement and fear: + +"Dark Kensington!" + +With that cry, Goat turned in terror to escape. But Dark was now within +range, and the intense beam of his downward-chopping heatgun caught Goat +at the base of the skull and swept all the way down his back. Goat +Hennessey plunged forward to the floor, dead, his spine burned away. + +Even as Goat fell, his companions emerged from their paralysis. The +beams of five heatguns focussed on Old Beard, and he died in a burst of +flame that flared from wall to wall of the narrow corridor. + +Appalled at his father's sudden death, Dark almost leaped after him, to +attack the five survivors single-handed. But Maya grasped his arm. + +"No, Dark!" she urged. "Please don't!" + +Realizing on the instant that to die now would only leave Maya at the +mercy of the Masters and Nuwell, Dark turned back. He and Maya ran for +the door to the ramp leading underground, Dark calling to Happy and +Shadow to join them. + +But Happy, and presumably the invisible Shadow, were well up the +corridor and they, too, were under attack now. The two Masters who had +been heading for the conference room had turned back and were now in +range of Happy, their heatguns blasting. + +Happy had remained true to Dark's charge to hold the line against any +attack from the rear. Frightened but staunch, he was standing his +ground, waving his own heat beam at the approaching pair of Masters. + +But Happy was too unfamiliar with the weapon and too nervous to hit +either of his targets. The beams of both Masters found him at the same +time, and, with a woeful shriek that was cut off in a choking gurgle, +the unfortunate Jelly collapsed to a smoking heap on the floor, quivered +once and lay still. + +Apparently from out of nowhere, the unarmed Shadow descended like a +thunderbolt on one of Happy's killers. The surprised Master went +sprawling, his heatgun flying from his hand. + +Shadow might have vanquished the other, too, except that this startled +individual, waving his heat beam wildly in an attempt to catch the +elusive, vanishing and reappearing figure, scored a lucky hit. There was +a tremendous flare of flame, and the extraordinary form of Shadow +appeared for the last time, a charred, flat body lying on the floor of +the corridor like the shadow for which he had been named. + +The whole tragedy ran its course in less than a minute. In that time, +Dark and Maya reached the entrance to the ramp, ducked into it and ran +down the incline to the sheltering dimness of the labyrinthine vats. + + + + +18 + + +Moments later, the two groups of Masters converged at the gate, two from +one direction and five from the other. + +"After them!" commanded Placer. "But stay together. We'll have to try to +hunt them down in the vats, and maybe the Toughs can help us, but we +don't want to get separated so they can pick us off one by one." + +"Wait, Placer, there's something you ought to know," said one of the two +Masters who had come from the direction of the conference room. "Greyde +called out a few minutes ago to tell us he had word from Vidonati in the +control room. Those groundcars that were hanging around had attacked +one of the entrance buildings." + +"Space!" growled Placer. "There must be a conspiracy involved here +somewhere. We'd better stay up here, then." + +He pulled the lever beside the gate to the ramp, and it rumbled down and +crashed into place. + +"At least, those two are trapped below," he said with satisfaction. "We +can hunt them down at our leisure when we've repelled this attack from +outside. If we can take them alive, I'm of a mind to make them pay well +for their responsibility in our losing all our experimental Jellies." + +The seven of them went on to the conference room, picking their way +among the bodies of the Jellies. Placer took over the intercom from +Greyde. + +"Vidonati, this is Placer," he said. "What's the situation?" + +"The groundcars attacked the south building," replied Vidonati. "They +moved in and concentrated all three car beams on the airlock and burned +it through. I counted nine men in marsuits who left the groundcars and +went into the building. Of course, as soon as they started blasting the +airlocks, I closed the emergency barrier to block off the downward +ramp." + +"Obviously, since we still have air in the place," commented Placer +dryly. "You'd better call Mars City and get them to send help." + +"I've already done that," said Vidonati. "A jet squadron's on its way." + +"Good," said Placer. "They can be here in about five hours, and it will +take those rebels, or whoever they are, two or three times that long to +burn through one of the emergency barriers, even if they blast an +opening and bring their groundcars into the building to bring the +groundcars' big guns on it." + +"Should I stick it out here, or seal all the barriers and come below?" +asked Vidonati. The control room was in the north building. + +"Stay up there so you can report on what they're doing, unless they +start to move toward that building," instructed Placer. "If they do, +seal the other emergency barriers at once and come below. We can switch +to the emergency radio down here to keep in touch with the task force +from Mars City, and just wait it out underground until they clean up +these rebels." + +"Good enough," agreed Vidonati. "I won't take any chances." + +In the vats below, Dark and Maya made their way to Old Beard's hideout, +their heatguns ready, keeping a sharp lookout for Toughs. They reached +it without incident. + +Dark looked sadly around the little recess beneath the tangled +vegetation, where Old Beard had concealed himself successfully so long +from both Toughs and Masters. He had hoped that this reunion with his +father would mean many years of companionship between them, once they +were free of the Canfell Hydroponic Farm and had found a haven in the +Icaria Desert. + +But he knew that Old Beard had died in an act that had great meaning to +him, a savage revenge that had wiped out the bitter memory of the loss +of his wife and had repaid him for twenty-five long years of exile. Old +Beard had died nobly. + +Dark picked up one of the smaller marsuits. + +"We don't know what's going to happen above, and we can't help much by +staying inside, now that we can't hold that corridor and bottle them up +in a room until Cheng and the Phoenix break in," said Dark. "We'd best +get up to one of the exit buildings, get out through the airlock and get +picked up by one of the groundcars. I don't need a marsuit, but you can +put that on as soon as we get above in the building." + +"Have you been in telepathic touch with Cheng?" asked Maya. + +"Yes. They've already broken into the south building. That's the one I +came through when I left for Ultra Vires and when I came back. But the +Masters let down a heavy emergency barrier on the ramp when they +attacked the airlock, and we wouldn't be able to get through that. +There's a ramp near here that Old Beard told me opens onto the north +building. We'll go there, and I'll send a call to Cheng to move over +and meet us there." + +Dark sent out a call to Cheng and received an acknowledgement. He and +Maya started for the ramp, unaware that the building which was their +goal housed the farm's control room, and the watching Vidonati. + +Above, a few moments later, Vidonati called Placer on the intercom. + +"Placer, they've come back to the groundcars and turned them in this +direction," said Vidonati. "I'm going to let down the barriers on the +ramps from the east and west buildings, sabotage the controls so they +can't raise them again, and come on down. I'll lower the barrier to this +building from inside, as soon as I get past it on the ramp." + +"All right," said Placer. "We'll start getting the emergency radio in +operation down here. Do a good job, but do it fast, and don't get caught +up there by the rebels blasting the airlock." + +"I won't," promised Vidonati. "It'll only take me a few minutes, and I +can be down the ramp before they can focus their beams on the airlock." + +In the lead groundcar, as the three of them wheeled around and headed +slowly for the north building, Cheng turned to one of his companions +with a frown. + +"I've been trying to get through telepathically to Dark, but I can't +reach him," said Cheng. "He didn't give any instructions for getting +into the building, but they seem to have locked these airlocks by remote +control so they can't be operated. We'll have to blast this one as we +did the other one, because I don't imagine Dark will be able to open it +from inside. He seemed in rather a hurry to be picked up." + +Dark and Maya hurried up the ramp toward the north building. Dark had +been concentrating too heavily on finding his way through the vats to +receive Cheng's telepathic call. + +They passed the barred gate that opened into the corridors of the upper +level, and a few moments later reached the top of the ramp and the gate +to the north building. Dark had been prepared to open this by +telekinesis but, to his surprise, it was already open. + +They passed through it and emerged into the north building. + +Dark had never seen one of the ground-level buildings in daylight, as +both times he had passed through the south building it had been night. +He looked around the place curiously as they entered. + +It was about fifty feet square, bare except for the low, hard bunks on +which the Toughs slept at night. On three sides of it were windows, now +closed with heavy steel shutters. The airlock was across the room, +opposite the ramp entrance. The fourth wall was blank, and apparently +shut off a room at the end, because there was a closed door in the +center of it. + +They moved out into the room, and Dark said: + +"Slip into your marsuit, and we'll go out the airlock. I told Cheng to +bring the groundcars over this way, and they ought to be ready to pick +us up by the time we get out." + +"I don't see why we didn't stay down in the vats until the Phoenix break +in," said Maya. "We were well hidden down there, and there might have +been some way we could have helped the Phoenix from inside." + +"Primarily because I'm not sure now that the Phoenix can break in," +answered Dark. "I didn't know about that heavy emergency barrier the +Masters let down on the south ramp, and I was surprised and relieved to +find they hadn't dropped one on this ramp, too. If they had, we'd have +been trapped below. If they have those barriers on all four ramps, the +Phoenix can't stay around long enough to burn through them, because the +Masters have probably already called for help from Mars City." + +Maya had laid her marshelmet down on one of the bunks, and was pulling +the marsuit on over her tunic and trousers. + +The door at the other end of the room opened, and a man emerged, a +heatgun in his hand. + +Vidonati stopped in his tracks, startled, at the sight of Dark and Maya. +Dark grunted in surprise, and reached for his heatgun. + +Even as Dark freed his weapon, Vidonati fired. The beam missed them, +melting away the top of Maya's marshelmet and setting the bunk aflame. +Then, as the beam of Dark's gun swung toward him, Vidonati ducked +precipitately back into the control room. + +"He got your marshelmet!" exclaimed Dark. "We're going to have to go in +and flush him out of there, and just hope there's another marsuit in +there, before we can open the airlock." + +Heatgun in hand, Dark started for the door of the control room, Maya at +his heels. + +It was then that the Phoenix, the three groundcars drawn up with their +heavy guns focused, blasted the airlock of the north building. In +seconds, the airlock was burned through. + +There was no emergency barrier down on this ramp. The heavy, +Earth-pressured air of the north building whistled out into the desert. +As from a punctured balloon, the pressured atmosphere of the entire +Canfell Hydroponic Farm rushed after it, roaring up the ramp, in a +moment stripping the vats, the upper level and the north building. + +Caught in the tornadic blast, Dark could only cling to a bolted-down cot +with one hand, and hold onto Maya around the waist with the other. As +the pressure dropped precipitately and oxygen no longer touched his +lungs, he could actually feel his alternate metabolism shifting into +gear, he could feel his breathing stop and the glow of solar energy +begin to spread through his body. + +As the wind faded and died, Dark released Maya and rose exultantly to +his feet. Down below, he knew, Nuwell and the Masters were gasping out +their lives in the thin air, like beached fish. Their recent attacker, +Vidonati, lay half out of the door of the control room, his hands +clutching convulsively at the floor. + +"That's not the way I'd planned it, but it's just as good!" Dark +exclaimed. "We've taken the farm!" + +Then he remembered. Maya had no marshelmet! + +Appalled, struck to the heart, he turned in his tracks. + +Maya was standing behind him, calmly trying to rearrange her raven hair, +tangled by the raging rush of wind. + +"What's the matter?" she asked quietly, becoming aware of Dark's intent +gaze. + +"Maya! You don't have a helmet on! Are you breathing?" + +She was silent for a moment, apparently examining herself. + +"Why, no, I don't believe I am," she replied, just as calmly. + +"How can you ...? Wait a minute!" + +Dark sent his mind into the invisible. His probing thoughts fled over +desert and lowland, seeking. They found the Martian, Qril, and he +recognized that Qril responded immediately. + +_Qril, how is it that Maya is able to live in the Martian atmosphere +without breathing?_ asked Dark telepathically. + +_She is as you_, replied Qril. _When she was a child, living among the +Martians, we altered her physiological and genetic structure so that +she, also, is able to utilize solar energy and exist without oxygen_. + +_Why didn't you tell me this before, at Ultra Vires?_ demanded Dark. + +_You did not ask_, replied Qril, and the mental contact faded out. + +Dark turned to Maya, his face alight. + +"Darling," he said, "our children will need no embryonic alterations. +They will be born as we are, able to live under Martian conditions. And +never again will either of us ever have to wear a marsuit!" + +He felt the questing touch of Cheng's mind. + +Cheng: _Are you there, Dark?_ + +Dark: _Here._ + +Cheng: _Are you all right?_ + +Dark: _We're both fine! We're coming out. Then we'll take off at once +for the Icaria Desert, before the Mars City task force gets here._ + +He and Maya walked hand in hand through the blasted airlock. The three +groundcars were there, waiting. + +The two of them stood for a moment, before getting aboard the +groundcars, and looked out together across the red desert toward the +sinking sun. + +Death? Desolation? No, not for them. This was life, and free, bleak +beauty, for them and for their children. + +The future of Mars was theirs. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Rebels of the Red Planet, by Charles Louis Fontenay + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REBELS OF THE RED PLANET *** + +***** This file should be named 20739.txt or 20739.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/7/3/20739/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Janet Blenkinship and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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