Princess of Mars / Принцесса Марса. Уровень 2

As he banged me down upon my feet, his face was bent close to mine and I did the only thing a gentleman might do under such circumstances. I swung my fist squarely to his jaw and he went down like a felled ox[24]. I expected the Martians to fight for him but suddenly they broke into wild peals of laughter and applause. None of them approached their fallen fellow.

Tars Tarkas came to me and gave me his hand. Thus, we proceeded to the plaza without further mishap.

They first repeated the word “sak” a number of times, and then Tars Tarkas made several jumps. He repeated the same word before each leap. Then, turning to me, he said, “sak!” I saw what they were after[25]. I “sakked” with such marvelous success that I cleared a good hundred and fifty feet, and landed squarely upon my feet without falling. Then I returned by easy jumps of twenty-five or thirty feet to the little group of warriors.

They wanted me to repeat the leap immediately, but I was both hungry and thirsty. Every time they repeated the commands to “sak”, I motioned to my mouth and rubbed my stomach.

Tars Tarkas and the chief exchanged a few words. The former called a young female among the throng and gave her some instructions. He then motioned me to accompany her. I grasped her proffered arm and together we crossed the plaza toward a large building on the far side.

My fair companion was about eight feet tall. She just arrived at maturity[26], but not yet to her full height. She was of a light olive-green color, with a smooth, glossy hide. Her name, as I afterward learned, was Sola, and she belonged to the retinue of Tars Tarkas. She conducted me to a spacious chamber in one of the buildings fronting on the plaza.

The room was well lighted by a number of large windows and was beautifully decorated with mural paintings and mosaics.

Sola motioned me to seat upon a pile of silks near the center of the room. She made a peculiar hissing sound. In response to her call, I saw a new Martian wonder. It waddled in on its ten short legs, and squatted down before the girl like an obedient puppy. The thing was about the size of a Shetland pony. Its head bore a slight resemblance to that of a frog, except that the jaws were equipped with three rows of long, sharp tusks.

V. I Elude My Watch Dog

Sola stared into the brute's wicked-looking eyes, muttered a word or two of command, pointed to me, and left the chamber. The beast examined me intently for a moment, crossed the room to the only exit, which led to the street, and lay down full length across the threshold.

While Sola was away, I took occasion to examine more minutely the room. The mural painting depicted scenes of rare and wonderful beauty – mountains, rivers, lake, ocean, meadow, trees and flowers, winding roadways, sun-kissed[27] gardens. One could think those paintings portrayed earthly views but the coloring of the vegetation was different. And not a single one portrayed a living animal or human.

Sola returned with both food and drink. She placed them on the floor beside me and regarded me intently. The food consisted of about a pound of some solid substance of the consistency of cheese and almost tasteless, while the liquid was apparently milk from some animal. It came, as I later discovered, not from an animal, but from a large plant, which grows practically without water. A single plant of this species will give eight or ten quarts of milk per day.

When I was full, I felt the need of rest. I stretched out upon the silks and was soon asleep. When I woke up, it was dark and cold. A hand reached out and pulled the fur over me and I presumed that was Sola. I was not wrong. This girl disclosed characteristics of[28] sympathy, kindliness, and affection. Her ministrations to my bodily wants[29] were unfailing, and her solicitous care saved me from much suffering and many hardships.

As I was to learn, the Martian nights are extremely cold. There is practically no twilight or dawn. The changes in temperature are sudden and most uncomfortable, as are the transitions from brilliant daylight to darkness. When two of the moon happen to be in the sky, the surface of the ground is brightly illuminated. The absence of both of the moons results in total darkness.

The green men of Mars is a nomadic race without high intellectual development and have crude means for artificial lighting[30]. They depend principally upon torches, a kind of candle, and a peculiar oil lamp, which generates a gas and burns without a wick.

The last device produces an intensely brilliant far-reaching white light. It requires the natural oil, which can only be obtained by mining in one of the several localities. But these creatures use it rarely as their thought is for today and they hate the manual labor, which kept them in a semi-barbaric state[31] for countless ages.

I fell asleep again and woke up in the next morning. There were five other female occupants in the room. They were still sleeping, piled high with a motley array of silks and furs. The sleepless guardian brute lay across the threshold. His eyes were fairly glued upon me[32]. I was wondering what might befall me if I try to escape.

I could see from the shortness of the beast's legs that the brute himself was no jumper and probably no runner. I was sure I could escape easily.

Slowly and carefully, I gained my feet. My watcher did the same. I advanced toward him and found out that I could retain my balance if I move with a shuffling gait[33]. As I neared the brute, he backed cautiously away from me. When I reached the open, he moved to one side to let me pass. He then fell in behind me and followed about ten paces in my rear as I made my way along the deserted street.

Evidently, his mission was to protect me only. But when we reached the edge of the city he suddenly sprang before me, uttering strange sounds and baring his ugly and ferocious tusks. I rushed toward him and sprang into the air, alighting far beyond him and away from the city. He wheeled instantly and charged me with the most appalling speed ever. As I was to learn, this is the fastest animal on Mars. Owing to its intelligence, loyalty, and ferocity the Martian man uses it in hunting and war.

I quickly saw, that it would be difficult to escape the fangs of the beast on a straightaway. I doubled in my tracks and leaped over him when he was almost upon me. This maneuver let me reach the city quite a bit of him. I jumped for a window about thirty feet from the ground in the face of one of the buildings overlooking the valley.

I grasped the sill and sat. Suddenly, a huge hand grasped me by the neck from behind and dragged me violently into the room. A colossal ape-like creature, white and hairless except for an enormous shock of bristly hair upon its head, threw me upon my back.

VI. A Fight That Won Friends

The thing pinched me to the ground with one huge foot, while it jabbered and gesticulated at some answering creature behind me. This other came toward us with a mighty stone club in his hands with which it evidently intended to brain[34] me.

The creatures were about ten or fifteen feet tall. Like the green Martians, they had an intermediary set of arms or legs, midway between their upper and lower limbs. Their eyes were close together and non-protruding; their ears were high set. Snouts and teeth were strikingly like those of our African gorilla.

The club was swinging in the arc when my faithful watch-thing hurled itself full upon the breast of my executioner. The ape, which held me, leaped through the open window. Its mate closed in a terrific death struggle with my preserver.

My beast had an advantage in his first hold as he sunk his mighty fangs far into the breast of his adversary. But the great arms and paws of the ape locked the throat of my guardian and slowly were choking out his life. It was evident that the beast was weakening, but so also was the ape. Instinctively I seized the club and crashed it full upon the head of the ape, crushing his skull as it was an eggshell.

The ape's mate recovered from its first shock of terror and returned to the scene of the encounter by way of the interior of the building. I knew the odds were too against me[35]. It is true I held the club, but what could I do with it against the ape's four great arms? I was standing near the window and I knew that once in the street I might gain safety before the creature could overtake me. I turned to jump out of the window but saw my guardian lying and gasping upon the floor of the chamber. His great eyes fastened upon me in what seemed a pitiful appeal for protection. This view threw all thoughts of flight to the four winds.

Without more ado, therefore, I turned to meet the charge of the infuriated bull ape. He was now close to me and I hit him with the club as heavily as I could, just below his knees. Then, when he lost his balance, I swung my right fist full upon the point of his chin and smashed with the left one to the pit of his stomach. He doubled up with pain[36]. I seized the club and finished the monster before he could regain his feet.

As I delivered the blow, a low laugh rang out behind me. It was Tars Tarkas, Sola, and three or four warriors standing in the doorway of the chamber. My eyes met theirs and they applauded.

It turned out that they witnessed my short but decisive battle with the ape. This, together with my jump skills, placed me upon a high pinnacle in their regard. Evidently, these people fairly worship physical prowess and bravery.

Sola was the only one who did not laugh while I battled for my life. She, on the contrary, was sober with apparent solicitude. She rushed to me and carefully examined my body for possible wounds or injuries. Only after making sure I was unharmed, she smiled quietly, and, taking my hand, started toward the door of the chamber.

Tars Tarkas and the other warriors were standing over the brute. They seemed to be deep in argument. Finally, Tars Tarkas gave some command to the fellow with a word and gesture, and turned to follow us from the room. I sensed that something was wrong and hesitated to leave. The warrior drew an evil looking pistol from its holster and intended to shoot the creature. I sprang forward and struck up his arm. The bullet striking the wooden casing of the window exploded, blowing a hole completely through the wood and masonry.

I knelt down beside the fearsome-looking thing and motioned for it to follow me. The looks of surprise the Martians' faces were ludicrous. They could not understand, except in a feeble and childish way, such attributes as gratitude and compassion. The warrior looked enquiringly at Tars Tarkas, but the latter signed to left me to my own devices. We returned to the plaza with my great beast following close at heel, and Sola grasping me tightly by the arm.

I had at least two friends on Mars:a young woman who watched over me with motherly solicitude[37], and a brute which held in its poor ugly carcass love, loyalty and gratitude.

VII. Child-Raising On Mars

After a breakfast which was an exact replica of the meal, Sola escorted me to the plaza. There, the Martians were harnessing huge mastodonian animals to great three-wheeled chariots. The chariots themselves were large, commodious, and gorgeously decorated. A female Martian loaded with ornaments of metal, with jewels and silks and furs was seating in each chariot. The animals wore neither bit nor bridle; the Martians guided them entirely by telepathic means[38]. This power is wonderfully developed in all Martians.

Sola dragged me into an empty chariot and we proceeded with the procession. At the head of the caravan rode some two hundred warriors, five abreast, and a like number brought up the rear, while twenty-five or thirty outriders flanked us on either side. Our way led out across the little valley before the city, through the hills, and down into the dead sea. The incubator, as it proved, was the terminal point of our journey[39] this day. As soon as we reached the level expanse of sea bottom, we were soon within sight of our goal.

On reaching it, the Martians parked the chariots with military precision[40] on the four sides of the enclosure. Tars Tarkas was explaining something to the principal chieftain, whose name was Lorquas Ptomel, Jed; jed was his title. He signed Sola to send me to him. I already mastered the intricacies of walking under Martian conditions and quickly advanced to the side of the incubator where the warriors stood.

As I came to a halt before him, Tars Tarkas pointed over the incubator and said, “Sak.” I saw that he wanted me to repeat my performance of yesterday in sight of Lorquas Ptomel. I quickly leaped entirely over the parked chariots on the far side of the incubator. As I returned, Lorquas Ptomel grunted something at me, and then gave a few words of command relative to the incubator to his warriors.

Almost all eggs hatched. The incubator was alive with the hideous little devils. The warriors broke an opening in the wall of the incubator, while the women and the younger Martians formed two solid walls leading out through the chariots and quite away in plain beyond[41]. Between these walls the little Martians scampered, wild as deer. The women and older children captured each of them. As the women caught the young, they fell out of line and returned to their respective chariots. Those who fell into the hands of the young men, were later turned over to some of the women.

I saw that the ceremony was over. I started seeking out Sola and found her in our chariot with a hideous little creature held tightly in her arms.

They come from eggs perfectly developed except size. They do not know their mothers, who, in turn, do not know their children. The work of rearing young Martians consists solely in teaching them to talk, and to use the weapons of warfare. From birth, they know no father or mother love. Deformed and defective ones are promptly shot. I believe that horrible system is the direct cause of the loss of all the finer feelings and higher humanitarian instincts among these poor creatures.

By careful selection they rear only the hardiest specimens of each species, and with almost supernatural foresight they regulate the birth rate to merely offset the loss by death.

Each adult Martian female brings forth about thirteen eggs each year. If the eggs meet the size, weight, and specific gravity tests, the Martians hide them in the recesses of some subterranean vault. The temperature there is too low for incubation. Every year a council of twenty chieftains examine these eggs carefully. All but about one hundred of the most perfect are destroyed out of each yearly supply. The perfect eggs are placed in the almost air-tight incubators to be hatched by the sun's rays after a period of another five years.

The incubators are built in remote fastnesses so no other tribe could discover them. The result of such a catastrophe would mean no children in the community for another five years.

After our return to the dead city, I passed several days in comparative idleness. On the day following all the warriors rode forth early in the morning and did not return until dark. As I later learned, they transported the eggs from the subterranean vaults to the incubator. The incubator was not to be visited another five years[42].

Sola's duties were now doubled, as she was compelled to care for the young Martian as well as for me. Neither one of us required much attention, and as we were both about equally advanced in Martian education, Sola took it upon herself to train us together.

Her prize consisted in a male about four feet tall, very strong and physically perfect. He learned quickly and so did I. The Martian language is extremely simple, and in a week I could make all my wants known and understand nearly everything. Likewise, under Sola's tutelage, I developed my telepathic powers so that I shortly could sense practically everything that went on around me.

What surprised Sola most in me was that while I could catch telepathic messages easily from others, and often when they were not intended for me. But no one could read a jot from my mind under any circumstances. At first this vexed me, but later I was very glad of it, as it gave me an undoubted advantage over the Martians.

VIII. A Fair Captive from the Sky

On the third day after the incubator ceremony, we set forth toward home. When the head of the procession debouched into the open ground before the city, he gave orders for an immediate and hasty return. The green Martians melted like mist into the spacious doorways of the nearby buildings.

Sola and I entered a building upon the front of the city. I mounted to an upper floor and peered from the window out over the valley and the hills beyond to see what happens. And there I saw the cause of their sudden scurrying to cover. A huge craft, long, low, and gray-painted, swung slowly over the crest of the nearest hill. There was another twenty of them following the first one. Swinging low above the ground, they sailed slowly and majestically toward us.

Each carried a strange banner swung from stem to stern above the upper work. Some odd device that gleamed in the sunlight and showed plainly even at the distance was painted upon the prow of each. I could see figures crowding the forward decks and upper works of the air craft. I could not say whether they discovered us or simply were looking at the deserted city. But in any event, they received a rude reception. Suddenly and without warning, the green Martian warriors fired a terrific volley from the windows of the buildings.

Instantly the scene changed as by magic. The foremost vessel swung broadside toward, brought her guns and returned our fire. They were moving parallel to our front for a short distance, but then turned back to complete a great circle. The other vessels followed in her wake, each one opening fire upon us. Our own fire never diminished, and I doubt if twenty-five per cent of our shots went wild. The green warriors seem to be deadly accurate in aiming.

The fire from the vessels was very ineffectual, as they were not prepared for the attack. The green warriors, thus, successfully directed their fire upon the vessels' big guns, smaller guns, gunners, officers and other members of the crew.

Twenty minutes after, the ships were defeated. They ceased the fire entirely and tried to escape, but our warriors rushed up to the roofs of the buildings and followed them with a continuous fusillade of deadly fire.

The foremost vessel was drifting some fifty feet above the ground and soon it became evident that it would strike the face of the buildings about a mile south of our position. As the craft neared the building, and just before it struck, the Martian warriors swarmed upon it from the windows of the building it seemed destined to touch. They eased the shock of the collision with their great spears. In a few moments, they threw out grappling hooks and hauled the big boat to ground.

After making it fast, they swarmed the sides and searched the vessel from stem to stern. I could see them examining the dead sailors, evidently for signs of life. A party of them appeared from below dragging a little figure among them. The creature was considerably less than half as tall as the green Martian warriors. I surmised that it was some new and strange Martian monstrosity with which I did not become acquainted yet.

They removed their prisoner to the ground and then commenced a systematic rifling of the vessel. This operation required several hours. During this time a number of the chariots were requisitioned to transport the loot, which consisted in arms, ammunition, silks, furs, jewels, strangely carved stone vessels, and a quantity of solid foods and liquids, including many casks of water.

After that operation, the last warrior to leave the desk[43] turned and threw something back upon the vessel. A faint spurt of flame rose from the point where the missile struck. He swung over the side and was quickly upon the ground and the guy ropes were simultaneously released. The great warship, lightened by the removal of the loot, soared majestically into the air, her decks and upper works a mass of roaring flames.

Slowly she drifted to the southeast, rising higher and higher as the flames ate away her wooden parts. I watched her for hours, until finally she was lost in the dim vistas of the distance. The sight of this mighty floating funeral pyre was awe-inspiring. It drifted unguided and unmanned through the lonely wastes of the Martian heavens.

I slowly descended to the street. I was much depressed. I had a feeling that it was the forces of a kindred people rather than a horde of unfriendly creatures who was defeated and annihilated. Somewhere in the innermost recesses of my soul, I felt a strange yearning toward these unknown foemen.

We decided to stay in the deserted city for another week as there was danger of a return attack by the air craft. Lorquas Ptomel was too astute an old warrior to be caught upon the open plains with a caravan of chariots and children.

When I emerged upon the street, Sola rushed to me as if she was searching for me. Woola, the hound was also following me. We entered the plaza and I saw something that filled my whole being with a great surge of mingled hope, fear, exultation, and depression, and yet most dominant was a subtle sense of relief and happiness. As we neared the throng of Martians I caught a glimpse of the prisoner from the battle craft.

The sight that met my eyes was that of a slender, girlish figure, similar in every detail to the earthly women of my past life. She turned, and her eyes met mine. She was extremely beautiful. Her face was oval, her every feature was finely chiseled and exquisite, her eyes large and lustrous and her head surmounted by a mass of coal black, waving hair, caught loosely into a strange yet becoming coiffure. Her skin was of a light reddish copper color, her cheeks glowed and the lips shone like a ruby. She was entirely naked except her intricate ornaments and one could see the beauty of her perfect and symmetrical figure.

As she saw me, her eyes opened wide in astonishment. She made a little sign with her free hand; a sign which I did not, of course, understand. The look of hope and renewed courage in her eyes faded into one of utter dejection, mingled with loathing and contempt. I realized she made an appeal for help and protection. But my unfortunate ignorance prevented me from answering it. And then she was dragged out of my sight into the depths of the deserted edifice.

IX. I Learn the Language

When I came back to myself, I looked at Sola. She witnessed this encounter and I was surprised to see a strange expression upon her usually expressionless face. I did not know what she was thinking, because I just began to learn the Martian tongue. I knew enough only to suffice for my daily needs.

There was a strange surprise when I reached the doorway of our building. An armed warrior with arms, ornaments and full equipment of his kind approached me and gave them to me. He talked to me with a few unintelligible words. He was respectful and menacing at the same time.

Later, Sola remodeled the trappings to fit my lesser proportions with the aid of several of the other women. After they completed the work, I was garbed in all the panoply of war.

After that Sola instructed me in the mysteries of the various weapons. I spent several hours each day practicing upon the plaza with the young Martians. I was not yet familiar with all the weapons, but my great knowledge about similar weapons from Earth made me a quick learner and I progressed very fast.

Solely the women conducted my training with the young Martians. They were not only teaching the young about individual defense and offense, but also did a production of manufactures. They create all they need for the green Martians:the powder, the cartridges, the firearms. The females produced everything valuable. In the wartime, they form a part of the reserves and, if needed, fight with even greater intelligence and fury than the men.