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08 - The God's of Mars - Edgar Rice Burroughs · Classic Sci Fi Books - Daily

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Speaker 1: Chapter eight, The Depths of Omean. Now I realized why
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Speaker 1: the Black Pirate had kept me engrossed with this strange
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Speaker 1: tail for miles. He had sensed the approach of succor,
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Speaker 1: and but for that single tell tale glance, the battleship
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Speaker 1: would have been directly above us in another moment, and
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Speaker 1: the boarding party, which was doubtless even now swinging in
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Speaker 1: their harness from the ship's keel, would have swarmed our deck,
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Speaker 1: placing my rising hope of escape in sudden and total eclipse.
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Speaker 1: I was too old a hand in aerial warfare to
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Speaker 1: be at a loss now for the right maneuver. Simultaneously,
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Speaker 1: I reversed the engines and dropped the little vessel a
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Speaker 1: sheer hundred feet above my head. I could see the
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Speaker 1: dangling forms of the boarding party as the battleship raced
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Speaker 1: over us. Then I rose at a sharp angle, throwing
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Speaker 1: my speed lever to its last notch. Like a bolt
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Speaker 1: from a crossbow. My splendid craft shot its steel prow
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Speaker 1: straight at the whirling propellers of the giant above us.
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Speaker 1: If I could but touch them, the huge bulk would
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Speaker 1: be disabled for hours, and escape once more possible. At
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Speaker 1: the same instant, the sun shot above the horizon, disclosing
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Speaker 1: a hundred grim black faces peering over the stern of
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Speaker 1: the battleship upon us. At sight of us, a shout
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Speaker 1: of rage went up from a hundred throats. Orders were shouted,
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Speaker 1: but it was too late to save the giant propellers,
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Speaker 1: and with a crash we rammed them instantly. With the
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Speaker 1: shock of impact, I reversed my engine, but my prow
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Speaker 1: was wedged in the hole it had made in the
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Speaker 1: battleship's stern. Only a second I hung there before tearing away,
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Speaker 1: But that second was amply long to swarm my deck
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Speaker 1: with black devils. There was no fight in the first place,
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Speaker 1: there was no room to fight. We were simply submerged
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Speaker 1: by numbers. Then, as swords menaced me, a command from
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Speaker 1: Exodore stayed the hands of his fellows. Secure them, he said,
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Speaker 1: but do not injure them. Several of the pirates already
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Speaker 1: had released Exodar. He now personally attended to my disarming
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Speaker 1: and saw that I was properly bound. At least he
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Speaker 1: thought that binding was secure. It would have been had
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Speaker 1: I been a martian. But I had to smile at
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Speaker 1: the puny strands that confined my wrists. When the time came,
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Speaker 1: I could snap them as they had been cotton string
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Speaker 1: the girl they bound also, and then they fastened us together.
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Speaker 1: In the meantime, they had brought our craft alongside the
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Speaker 1: disabled battleship, and soon we were transported to the latter's deck.
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Speaker 1: Fully a thousand black men manned the great engine of destruction.
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Speaker 1: Her decks were crowded with them as they passed forward
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Speaker 1: as far as discipline would permit, to get a glimpse
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Speaker 1: of their captives. The girl's beauty elicited many brutal comments
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Speaker 1: and vulgar jests. It was evident that these self thought
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Speaker 1: supermen were far inferior to the red men of Barsoom
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Speaker 1: in refinement and in chivalry. My close crop, black hair
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Speaker 1: and thurn complexion were the subjects of much comment. When
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Speaker 1: Exodar told his fellow nobles of my fighting ability and
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Speaker 1: strange origin, they crowded about me with numerous questions. The
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Speaker 1: fact that I wore the harness and metal of a
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Speaker 1: thurn who had been killed by a member of my
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Speaker 1: party convinced them that I was an enemy of their
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Speaker 1: hereditary foes, and placed me on better footing in their estimation.
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Speaker 1: Without exception. The Blacks were handsome men and well built.
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Speaker 1: The officers were conspicuous through the wondrous magnificent of their
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Speaker 1: resplendent trappings. Many harnesses were so encrusted with gold, platinum, silver,
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Speaker 1: and precious stones as to entirely hide the leather. Beneath
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Speaker 1: The harness of the commanding officer was a solid mass
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Speaker 1: of diamonds. Against the ebony background of his skin. They
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Speaker 1: blazed out with a peculiarly accentuated effulgence. The whole scene
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Speaker 1: was enchanting. The handsome men, the barbaric splendor of the accouterments,
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Speaker 1: the polished skeel wood of the deck, the gloriously grain
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Speaker 1: suppores of the cabins inlaid with priceless jewels and precious
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Speaker 1: metals in intricate and beautiful design, the burnished gold of
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Speaker 1: hand rails, the shining metal of the guns. Fedor and
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Speaker 1: I were taken below decks, where, still fast bound, we
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Speaker 1: were thrown into a small compartment which contained a single
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Speaker 1: portle As our escort left us, they barred the door
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Speaker 1: behind them. We could hear the men working on the
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Speaker 1: broken propellers, and from the porthole we could see that
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Speaker 1: the vessel was drifting lazily toward the south. For some time,
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Speaker 1: neither of us spoke, each was occupied with his own thoughts.
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Speaker 1: For my part, I was wondering as to the fate
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Speaker 1: of Tars Tarkas and the girl Thuvia. Even if they
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Speaker 1: succeeded in eluding pursuit, they must eventually fall into the
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Speaker 1: hands of either red men or green and as fugitives
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Speaker 1: from the valley door, they could look for but little
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Speaker 1: else than a swift and terrible death. How I wished
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Speaker 1: that I might have accompanied them. It seemed to me
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Speaker 1: that I could not fail to impress upon the intelligent
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Speaker 1: red men of Barsoom the wicked deception that a cruel
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Speaker 1: and senseless superstition had foisted upon them. Tardos Morse would
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Speaker 1: believe me of that I was positive, and that he
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Speaker 1: would have the courage of his convictions. My knowledge of
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Speaker 1: his character assured me dejah Thoris would believe me. Not
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Speaker 1: a doubt as to that entered my head. Then there
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Speaker 1: were a thousand of my red and green warrior friends
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Speaker 1: whom I knew would face eternal damnation gladly for my sake,
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Speaker 1: Like Tars Tarkas, where I led, they would follow My
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Speaker 1: only danger, lying that should I ever escape the Black pirates,
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Speaker 1: it might be to fall into the hands of unfriendly
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Speaker 1: Red or Green men. Then it would mean short shrift
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Speaker 1: for me. Well, there seemed little to worry about on
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Speaker 1: that score, for the likelihood of my ever escaping the
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Speaker 1: Blacks was extremely remote. The girl and I were linked
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Speaker 1: together by a rope which permitted us to move only
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Speaker 1: about three or four feet from each other. When we
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Speaker 1: had entered the compartment, we had seated ourselves upon a
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Speaker 1: low bench beneath the portal. The bench was the only
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Speaker 1: furniture of the room. It was of supports wood. The floor,
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Speaker 1: ceiling and walls were of carborundum aluminum, a light, impenetrable
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Speaker 1: composition extensively utilized in the construction of Martian fighting ships.
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Speaker 1: As I had sat meditating upon the future, my eyes
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Speaker 1: had been riveted upon the porthole, which was just level
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Speaker 1: with them. As I sat, suddenly I looked toward Fedor.
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Speaker 1: She was regarding me with a strange expression I had
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Speaker 1: not before seen upon her face. She was very beautiful.
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Speaker 1: Then instantly her white lids veiled her eyes, and I
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Speaker 1: thought I discovered a delicate flush, tinging her cheek. Evidently
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Speaker 1: she was embarrassed at having been detected in the act
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Speaker 1: of staring at a lesser creature. I thought, do you
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Speaker 1: find the study of lower orders interesting? I asked, laughing.
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Speaker 1: She looked up again with a nervous but relieved little laugh. Oh, very,
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Speaker 1: she said, especially when they have such excellent profiles. It
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Speaker 1: was my turn to flush, but I did not. I
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Speaker 1: felt that she was poking fun at me, and I
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Speaker 1: admired a brave heart that could look for humor on
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Speaker 1: the road to death, and so I laughed with her.
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Speaker 1: Do you know where we are going, she said, to
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Speaker 1: solve the mystery of the eternal hereafter, I imagine, I replied,
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Speaker 1: I am going to a worse fate than that. She said,
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Speaker 1: with a little shudder, What do you mean. I can
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Speaker 1: only guess, she replied, since no thurn damsel of all
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Speaker 1: the millions that have been stolen away by Black pirates
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Speaker 1: during the ages they have raided our domains has ever
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Speaker 1: returned to narrate her experiences among them, That they never
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Speaker 1: take a man prisoner lends strength to the belief that
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Speaker 1: the fate of the girls they steal is worse than death.
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Speaker 1: Is it not a just retribution. I could not help
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Speaker 1: but ask, what do you mean? Do not the thorns
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Speaker 1: themselves do likewise with the poor creatures who take the
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Speaker 1: voluntary pilgrimage down the river of mystery? Was not Thuvia
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Speaker 1: for fifteen years a plaything and a slave? Is it
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Speaker 1: less than just that you should suffer as you have
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Speaker 1: caused others to suffer? You do not understand, she replied,
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Speaker 1: We Thurns are holy race. It is an honor to
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Speaker 1: a lesser creature to be a slave among us. Did
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Speaker 1: we not occasionally save a few of the lower orders
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Speaker 1: that stupidly float down an unknown river to an unknown end?
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Speaker 1: All would become the prey of the plant men and
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Speaker 1: the apes. But do you not, by every means, encourage
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Speaker 1: the superstition among those of the outside world? I argued,
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Speaker 1: That is the wickedness of your deeds. Can you tell
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Speaker 1: me why you foster the cruel deception? All life on Barsoom,
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Speaker 1: she said, is created solely for the support of the
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Speaker 1: race of Therns. How else could we live? Did the
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Speaker 1: outer world not furnish our labor and our food? Think
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Speaker 1: you that a thern would demean himself by labor? It
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Speaker 1: is true then, that you eat human flesh, I asked
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Speaker 1: in horror. She looked at me in pitying commiseration of
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Speaker 1: my ignorance. Truly, we eat the flesh of the lower orders.
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Speaker 1: Do not you also the flesh of beasts? Yes, I replied,
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Speaker 1: but not the flesh of man. As man may eat
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Speaker 1: the flesh of beasts, so may gods eat the flesh
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Speaker 1: of man. The Holy Therns are the gods of Barsoom.
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Speaker 1: I was disgusted, and I imagined that I showed it.
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Speaker 1: You are an unbeliever now, she continued gently, But should
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Speaker 1: we be fortunate enough to escape the clutches of the
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Speaker 1: Black pirates and come again to the court of Matai shang,
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Speaker 1: I think that we shall find an argument to convince
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Speaker 1: you of the heirs of your ways, and she hesitated,
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Speaker 1: Perhaps we shall find a way to keep you as
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Speaker 1: as one of us. Again, her eyes dropped to the floor,
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Speaker 1: and a faint color suffused her cheek. I could not
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Speaker 1: understand her meeting, nor did I for a long time.
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Speaker 1: Dejah Thoris was wont to say that in some things
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Speaker 1: I was a veritable simpleton, and I guess that she
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Speaker 1: was right. I feared that I would ill requite your
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Speaker 1: father's hospitality, I answered, since the first thing that I
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Speaker 1: should do, were I a Thern, would be to set
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Speaker 1: an armed guard at the mouth of the river Ish
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Speaker 1: to escort the poor, deluded voyagers back to the outer world. Also,
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Speaker 1: should I devote my life to the extermination of the
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Speaker 1: hideous plant men and their horrible companions, the great white apes.
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Speaker 1: She looked at me, really horror struck. No, no, she cried,
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Speaker 1: You must not say such terrible, sacrilegious things. You must
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Speaker 1: not even think them. Should they ever guess that you
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Speaker 1: entertained such frightful thoughts. Should we chance to regain the
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Speaker 1: temples of the therns, they would meet out a frightful
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Speaker 1: death to you. Not even my my, again, she flushed
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Speaker 1: and started over. Not even I could save you, I said,
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Speaker 1: no more. Evidently it was useless. She was even more
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Speaker 1: steeped in superstition than the martians of the outer world.
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Speaker 1: They only worshiped a beautiful hope for a life of
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Speaker 1: love and peace and happiness in the hereafter. The Thurns
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Speaker 1: worship the hideous plant men and the apes, or at
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Speaker 1: least they reverenced them as the abodes of their departed
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Speaker 1: spirits of their own dead. At this point, the door
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Speaker 1: of our prison opened to admit Exeter. He smiled pleasantly
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Speaker 1: at me, and when he smiled, his expression was kindly,
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Speaker 1: anything but cruel or vindictive. Since you cannot escape under
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Speaker 1: any circumstances, he said, I cannot see the necessity for
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Speaker 1: keeping you confined below. I will cut your bonds and
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Speaker 1: you may come on deck. You will witness something very interesting,
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Speaker 1: and as you never shall return to the outer world,
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Speaker 1: it will do no harm to permit you to see it.
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Speaker 1: You will see what no other than the first born
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Speaker 1: and their slaves know the existence of the subterranean entrance
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Speaker 1: to the Holy Land, to the real heaven of Barsoom.
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Speaker 1: It will be an excellent lesson for this daughter of
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Speaker 1: the Therns, he added, for she shall see the temple
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Speaker 1: of Issus, and Issus perchance shall embrace her. Fador's head
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Speaker 1: went high. What blasphemy is this dog of a pirate?
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Speaker 1: She cried, Issus would wipe out your entire breed, and
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Speaker 1: you ever came within sight of her temple. You have
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Speaker 1: much to learn, Thurne, replied Exodar, with an ugly smile.
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Speaker 1: Nor do I envy you the manner in which you
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Speaker 1: will learn it. As we came on deck, I saw
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Speaker 1: to my surprise that the vessel was passing over a
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Speaker 1: great field of snow and ice. As far as the
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Speaker 1: eye could reach in any direction. Nought else was visible.
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Speaker 1: There could be but one solution to the mystery. We
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Speaker 1: were above the south polar ice cap. Only at the
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Speaker 1: poles of Mars. Is there ice or snow upon the planet.
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Speaker 1: No sign of life appeared below us. Evidently we were
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Speaker 1: too far south, even for the great fur bearing animals
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Speaker 1: which the Martians so delight in hunting. Exodar was at
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Speaker 1: my side as I stood looking out over the ship's rail.
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Speaker 1: What course, I asked him, A little west of south,
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Speaker 1: he replied, you will see the Orts Valley directly. We
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Speaker 1: shall skirt it for a few hundred miles. The Orts Valley,
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Speaker 1: I exclaimed, But man, is not there where lie the
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Speaker 1: domains of the Therns from which I but just escaped. Yes,
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Speaker 1: answered Exodar, you crossed the ice field last night in
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Speaker 1: the long chase that you led us. The Orts Valley
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Speaker 1: lies in a mighty depression at the south pole. It
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Speaker 1: is sunk thousands of feet below the level of the
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Speaker 1: surrounding country, like a great round bowl. A hundred miles
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Speaker 1: from its northern boundary rise the Ortz Mountains, which circle
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Speaker 1: the inner Valley of dor in, the exact center of
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Speaker 1: which lies the Lost Sea. Of course, on the shore
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Speaker 1: of the sea stands the golden Temple of Issus, in
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Speaker 1: the land of the First Born. It is there that
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Speaker 1: we are bound. As I looked, I commenced to realize
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Speaker 1: why it was that, in all the ages, only one
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Speaker 1: had escaped from the valley door. My only wonder was
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Speaker 1: that even the one had been successful, to cross this frozen,
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Speaker 1: windswept waste of bleak ice alone and on foot would
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Speaker 1: be impossible. Only by air boat could the journey be made.
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Speaker 1: I finished aloud. It was thus that one did escape
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Speaker 1: the thorns in bygone times, but none has ever escaped
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Speaker 1: the First Born, said Exodar, with a touch of pride
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Speaker 1: in his voice. We had now reached the southernmost extremity
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Speaker 1: of the great ice Barrier. It ended abruptly in a
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Speaker 1: sheer wall thousands of feet high, at the base of
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Speaker 1: which stretched a level valley, broken here and there by
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Speaker 1: low rolling hills and little clumps of forest, and with
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Speaker 1: tiny rivers formed by the melting of the ice. Barrier
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Speaker 1: at its base. Once we passed far above what seemed
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Speaker 1: to be a deep canyon like rift stretching from the
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Speaker 1: ice wall on the north across the valley as far
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Speaker 1: as the eye could reach. That is the bed of
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Speaker 1: the river Ish, said Exodar. It runs far beneath the
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Speaker 1: ice field and below the level of the valley Oortz.
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Speaker 1: But its canyon is open here presently. I described what
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Speaker 1: I took to be a village, and, pointing it out
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Speaker 1: to Exodar, asked him what it might be. It is
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Speaker 1: a village of lost souls, he answered, laughing. This strip
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Speaker 1: between the ice barrier and the mountains is considered neutral ground.
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Speaker 1: Some turn off from their voluntary pilgrimage down their Ish,
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Speaker 1: and scaling the awful walls of its canyon below us,
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Speaker 1: stop in the valley also a slave now, and then
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Speaker 1: escape from the theurns and makes his way hither. They
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Speaker 1: do not attempt to recapture such, since there is no
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Speaker 1: escape from this outer valley, and as a matter of fact,
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Speaker 1: they fear the patrolling cruisers of the first Born too
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Speaker 1: much to venture from their own domains. The poor creatures
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Speaker 1: of this outer valley are not molested by us since
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Speaker 1: they have nothing that we desire, nor are they numerically
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Speaker 1: strong enough to give us an interesting fight, so we
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Speaker 1: too leave them alone. There are several villages of them,
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Speaker 1: but they have increased in numbers, but little in many years,
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Speaker 1: since they are always warring amongst themselves. Now we swung
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Speaker 1: a little north of west, leaving the Valley of Lost Souls,
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Speaker 1: and shortly I discerned over our starboard bow what appeared
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Speaker 1: to be a black mountain rising from the desolate waste
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Speaker 1: of ice. It was not high and seemed to have
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Speaker 1: a flat top. Exodar had left us to attend to
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Speaker 1: some duty on the vessel and Fedor and I stood
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Speaker 1: alone beside the rail. The girl had not once spoken
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Speaker 1: since we had been brought to the deck. Is what
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Speaker 1: he has been telling me true, i asked her? In part. Yes,
15:29
Speaker 1: she answered that about the outer valley is true. But
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Speaker 1: what he says of the location of the temple Issus
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Speaker 1: in the center of his country is false. If it
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Speaker 1: is not false, she hesitated, or it cannot be true.
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Speaker 1: It cannot be true. For if it were true, then,
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Speaker 1: for countless ages have my people gone to torture and
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Speaker 1: ignanimous death at the hands of their cruel enemies, instead
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Speaker 1: of to the beautiful life eternal that we have been
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Speaker 1: taught to believe. Issus holds for us. As the lesser
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Speaker 1: Barsomiums of the outer world had been lured by Yu
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Speaker 1: to the terrible valley door, so may it be that
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Speaker 1: the thorns themselves had been lured by the first born
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Speaker 1: to an equally horrid fate. I suggested it would be
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Speaker 1: a stern and awful retribution fedor but a just one.
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Speaker 1: I cannot believe it, she said, we shall see, I answered,
16:20
Speaker 1: and then we fell silent again, for we were rapidly
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Speaker 1: approaching the Black mountains, which, in some indefinable way seemed
16:26
Speaker 1: blinked with the answer to our problem. As we neared
16:29
Speaker 1: the dark, truncated cone, the vessel's speed was diminished until
16:33
Speaker 1: we barely moved. Then we topped the crest of the mountain,
16:36
Speaker 1: and below us I saw, yawning the mouth of a
16:38
Speaker 1: huge circular well, the bottom of which was lost in
16:42
Speaker 1: inky blackness. The diameter of this enormous pit was fully
16:45
Speaker 1: a thousand feet. The walls were smooth and appeared to
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Speaker 1: be composed of black basaltic rock. For a moment, the
16:52
Speaker 1: vessel hovered motionless, directly above the center of the gaping void.
16:56
Speaker 1: Then slowly she began to settle into the black chasm.
16:59
Speaker 1: Lower and lower she sank, until as darkness enveloped us,
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Speaker 1: her lights were thrown on, and in the dim halo
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Speaker 1: of her own radiance, the monster battleship dropped on and
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Speaker 1: on down into what seemed to me must be the
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Speaker 1: very bowels of Barsoom. For quite half an hour we descended,
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Speaker 1: and then the shaft terminated abruptly in the dome of
17:17
Speaker 1: a mighty subterranean world. Below us rose and fell the
17:21
Speaker 1: billows of a buried sea. A phosphorescent radiance illuminated the scene.
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Speaker 1: Thousands of ships dotted the bosom of the ocean. Little
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Speaker 1: islands rose here and there to support the strange and
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Speaker 1: colorless vegetation of this strange world. Slowly, and with majestic grace,
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Speaker 1: the battleship dropped until she rested on the water. Her
17:40
Speaker 1: great propellers had been drawn and housed during our descent
17:43
Speaker 1: of the shaft, and in their place had been run
17:45
Speaker 1: out the smaller, but more powerful water propellers. As these
17:49
Speaker 1: commenced to revolve, the ship took up its journey once more.
17:53
Speaker 1: Riding the new element as buoyantly and as safely as
17:55
Speaker 1: she had the air Fedor and I were dumbfounded. Neither
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Speaker 1: had either heard or dreamed that such a world existed
18:02
Speaker 1: beneath the surface of Barsoom. Nearly all the vessels we
18:05
Speaker 1: saw were war craft. There were a few lighters and barges,
18:09
Speaker 1: but none of the great merchantmen such as ply the
18:12
Speaker 1: upper air between the cities of the outer world, here
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Speaker 1: is the harbor of the navy of the first Born,
18:18
Speaker 1: said a voice behind us, and turning we saw Exodar
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Speaker 1: watching us with an amused smile on his lips. This sea,
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Speaker 1: he continued, is larger than Chorus. It receives the waters
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Speaker 1: of the lesser sea above it to keep it from
18:31
Speaker 1: filling above a certain level. We have four great pumping
18:34
Speaker 1: stations that force the oversupply back into the reservoirs far north,
18:38
Speaker 1: from which the Red Men draw the water which irrigates
18:41
Speaker 1: their farm lands. A new light burst on me with
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Speaker 1: this explanation. The Red Men had always considered it a
18:48
Speaker 1: miracle that caused great columns of water to spurt from
18:51
Speaker 1: solid rock of their reservoir sides to increase the supply
18:54
Speaker 1: of the precious liquid, which is so scarce in the
18:57
Speaker 1: outer world of Mars. Never had there learned men been
19:00
Speaker 1: able to fathom the secret of the source of this
19:03
Speaker 1: enormous volume of water. As ages passed, they had simply
19:07
Speaker 1: come to accept it as a matter of course, and
19:09
Speaker 1: ceased to question its origin. We passed several islands on
19:13
Speaker 1: which were strangely shaped circular buildings, apparently roofless and pierced
19:18
Speaker 1: midway between the ground and their tops, with small, heavily
19:21
Speaker 1: barred windows. They bore the ear marks of prisons, which
19:24
Speaker 1: were further accentuated by armed guards who squatted on low
19:27
Speaker 1: benches without or patrolled the short beach line. Few of
19:31
Speaker 1: these islets contained over an acre of ground, but presently
19:35
Speaker 1: we sighted a much larger one directly ahead. This proved
19:38
Speaker 1: to be our destination, and the great ship was soon
19:41
Speaker 1: made fast against the steep shore. Exodar signaled us to
19:45
Speaker 1: follow him, and with a half dozen officers and men,
19:48
Speaker 1: we left the battleship and approached a large oval structure
19:51
Speaker 1: a couple of hundred yards from the shore. You shall
19:54
Speaker 1: soon see issus, said Exodar to Fador. The few prisoners
19:58
Speaker 1: we take are presented to her occasionally she selects slaves
20:02
Speaker 1: from among them to replenish the ranks of her handmaidens.
20:05
Speaker 1: None serves Issus above a single year, And there was
20:08
Speaker 1: a grim smile on the Black's lips that lent a
20:11
Speaker 1: cruel and sinister meaning to his simple statement. Fador, though
20:15
Speaker 1: loath to believe that Issus was allied to such as these,
20:19
Speaker 1: had commenced to entertain doubts and fears. She clung very
20:22
Speaker 1: closely to me, no longer the proud daughter of the
20:25
Speaker 1: master of life and death upon barsoom, but a young,
20:28
Speaker 1: frightened girl in the power of relentless enemies. The building
20:32
Speaker 1: which we now entered was entirely roofless. In its center
20:36
Speaker 1: was a long tank of water, set below the level
20:39
Speaker 1: of the floor, like the swimming pool of Natadorum. Near
20:42
Speaker 1: one side of the pool floated an odd looking black object.
20:46
Speaker 1: Whether it were some strange monster of these buried waters
20:49
Speaker 1: or a queer raft, I could not at once perceive.
20:52
Speaker 1: We were soon to know, however, for as we reached
20:55
Speaker 1: the edge of the pool directly above the thing, Exodar
20:58
Speaker 1: cried out a few words in a strange tongue. Immediately
21:01
Speaker 1: a hatch cover was raised from the surface of the object,
21:04
Speaker 1: and a black seaman sprang from the bowels of the
21:07
Speaker 1: strange craft. Exidar dressed the seamen. Transmit to your officer,
21:12
Speaker 1: he said, the commands of Detor Exodar. Say to him
21:16
Speaker 1: that Detor Exodar, with officers and men escorting two prisoners,
21:20
Speaker 1: would be transported to the gardens of Issus beside the
21:23
Speaker 1: golden temple. Blessed be the shell of thy first ancestor
21:26
Speaker 1: most noble. D'attar replied the man, it shall be done
21:30
Speaker 1: even as thou sayest, and raising both hands palms backward
21:34
Speaker 1: above his head, after the manner of silou which is
21:36
Speaker 1: common to all races of Barsoom, he disappeared once more
21:39
Speaker 1: into the entrails of his ship. A moment later, an officer,
21:43
Speaker 1: resplendent in the gorgeous trappings of his rank, appeared on
21:46
Speaker 1: deck and welcomed Exodar to the vessel. And in the
21:50
Speaker 1: latter's wake we filed the board and below the cabin
21:53
Speaker 1: in which we found ourselves extended entirely across the ship,
21:57
Speaker 1: having portholes on either side below the water line. No
22:01
Speaker 1: sooner were all below than a number of commands were
22:03
Speaker 1: given in accordance, with which the hatch was closed and secured,
22:07
Speaker 1: and the vessel commenced to vibrate to the rhythmic purr
22:10
Speaker 1: of its machinery. Where can we be going in such
22:13
Speaker 1: a tiny pool of water, asked Fodor, not up, I replied,
22:18
Speaker 1: for I noticed particularly that while the building is roofless,
22:21
Speaker 1: it is covered with a strong metal grating. Then where
22:24
Speaker 1: she asked again, from the appearance of the craft, I
22:27
Speaker 1: judge we are going down, I replied. Fador shuddered. For
22:31
Speaker 1: such long ages have the waters of Barsoom's seas been
22:35
Speaker 1: a thing of tradition, Only that even this daughter of
22:38
Speaker 1: the Thurns, born as she had been, within the sight
22:41
Speaker 1: of Mars's only remaining sea, had the same tear of
22:44
Speaker 1: deep water, as is a common attribute of all Martians. Presently,
22:49
Speaker 1: the sensation of sinking became very apparent. We were going
22:52
Speaker 1: down swiftly. Now we could hear the water rushing past
22:55
Speaker 1: the portals, and in the dim light that filtered through
22:58
Speaker 1: them to the water beyond, the swirling Eddy's were plainly visible.
23:02
Speaker 1: Fiddor grasped my arm. Save me, she whispered, Save.
23:06
Speaker 2: Me, and your every wish shall be granted. Anything within
23:10
Speaker 2: the power of the Holy thorns to give will be yours, Faidor.
23:14
Speaker 2: She stumbled a little here, and then, in a very
23:16
Speaker 2: low voice, Faidor, already is yours.
23:20
Speaker 1: I felt very sorry for the poor child, and placed
23:23
Speaker 1: my hand over hers, where it rested on my arm.
23:25
Speaker 1: I presume my motive was misunderstood, for, with a swift
23:29
Speaker 1: glance about the apartment to assure herself that we were alone,
23:33
Speaker 1: she threw both her arms about my neck and dragged
23:35
Speaker 1: my face down to hers. End of Chapter eight