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11 - Moon Maid by Edgar Rice Burroughs · Moon Maid

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Speaker 1: Chapter ten, The City of Coalcars. Now, indeed, did I
0:05
Speaker 1: have reason to curse the stupidity that had permitted me
0:08
Speaker 1: to cast into the abyss all of the hooked poles
0:11
Speaker 1: save one, since even this one was now lost to me,
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Speaker 1: and I was utterly without means of escape from the tunnel.
0:18
Speaker 1: As the fellow approached me at a rapid run, I
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Speaker 1: hurled my lance, but being unaccustomed to the weapon, I missed,
0:25
Speaker 1: and then he was upon me, dropping his own lance
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Speaker 1: as he leaped for me. For it was evidently his
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Speaker 1: desire to take me alive and unharmed. I thought that
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Speaker 1: I was going to have him now, for I believed
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Speaker 1: that I was more than a match for him. But
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Speaker 1: there are tricks in every method of attack, and this
0:40
Speaker 1: lunar warrior was evidently well schooled in his own methods
0:43
Speaker 1: of offense. He scarcely seemed to touch me, and yet
0:48
Speaker 1: he managed to trip me and push me simultaneously, so
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Speaker 1: that I fell heavily backward to the ground, and turning
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Speaker 1: a little sideways. As I fell, I must have struck
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Speaker 1: my head against the side of the tunnel, for that
1:00
Speaker 1: is the last that I remember until I regained consciousness.
1:03
Speaker 1: In the very cave that nighy lined eye had reached.
1:06
Speaker 1: When we saw the first of the calcars, I was
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Speaker 1: surrounded by a party of eight of the calcars, two
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Speaker 1: of whom were half carrying, half dragging me. I learned
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Speaker 1: later that in the fight before the rostrum I had
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Speaker 1: killed four of their number. The fellow who had captured
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Speaker 1: me was in very good humor, doubtless because of his success,
1:26
Speaker 1: and when he discovered that I had regained consciousness, he
1:28
Speaker 1: started to converse with me. You thought that you could
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Speaker 1: escape from gapth did you? He cried, Bah? Never, You
1:37
Speaker 1: might escape from the others, but not from me, No,
1:40
Speaker 1: not from Gath. I did the principal thing that I
1:44
Speaker 1: desired to do, I replied, wishing to learn if Ni
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Speaker 1: Li had escaped, what is that? Demanded Gath, I succeeded
1:53
Speaker 1: in accomplishing the escape of my companion, I replied. He
1:56
Speaker 1: made a wry face at that. If gap had been
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Speaker 1: there a moment earlier, she would not have escaped either,
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Speaker 1: he said, And by that I knew that she had
2:06
Speaker 1: escaped unless she had fallen back into the crater. And
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Speaker 1: I was amply repaid for my own capture if it
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Speaker 1: had won freedom for Nailah. Although I did not escape
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Speaker 1: this time, I said, I shall next time. He laughed,
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Speaker 1: a nasty laugh. There will be no next time, he said,
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Speaker 1: for we are taking you to the city, and once
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Speaker 1: there there is no escape. For this is the only
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Speaker 1: avenue by which you can reach the outer world, and
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Speaker 1: once within the city, you never can retrace your steps
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Speaker 1: to the mouth of the tunnel. I was not so
2:41
Speaker 1: sure of that myself, for my sense of direction and
2:44
Speaker 1: that of location are very well developed within me. The
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Speaker 1: degree of perfection attained in orientation by many officers of
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Speaker 1: the International Peace Fleet has been described as almost miraculous,
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Speaker 1: and even among such as these, my ability in this
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Speaker 1: line was matter of comment. I was glad, therefore, that
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Speaker 1: the fellow had warned me, since now I should be
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Speaker 1: particularly upon the watch for each slightest scrap of information
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Speaker 1: that would fix in my memory whatever route I might
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Speaker 1: be led over. From the cave in which I regained consciousness,
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Speaker 1: there was but a single root to the mouth of
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Speaker 1: the tunnel. But from here on into the city I
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Speaker 1: must watch every turn and fork and crossing, and draw
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Speaker 1: upon the tablets of my memory an accurate and detailed
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Speaker 1: map of the entire route. We do not even have
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Speaker 1: to confine our prisoners, continued Gath, after we have so
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Speaker 1: marked them that their ownership may always be determined. How
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Speaker 1: do you mark them? I asked, with heated irons, We
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Speaker 1: make the mark of the owner here, and he touched
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Speaker 1: my forehead just above my eyes. Pleasant, I thought to myself,
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Speaker 1: and then aloud. Shall I belong to you? I do
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Speaker 1: not know, he replied, But you will belong to whomever
4:01
Speaker 1: the twenty four ill lot you. We moved on. After
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Speaker 1: we left the cave, for a considerable period of time
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Speaker 1: in silence, I was busy making mental notes of every
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Speaker 1: salient feature that might be useful to me in retracing
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Speaker 1: my steps, but I found nothing other than a winding
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Speaker 1: and gently ascending corridor without crossings or branches, until we
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Speaker 1: reached the foot of a long flight of stone steps
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Speaker 1: to the summit of which we emerged into a large
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Speaker 1: chamber in the walls of which there must have been
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Speaker 1: at least a dozen doorways, where, to my great disappointment,
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Speaker 1: I was immediately blindfolded. They whirled me around then, but
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Speaker 1: evidently it was done perfunctorily, since it was exactly one
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Speaker 1: full turn, and I was halted in my tracks, facing
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Speaker 1: precisely in the same direction that I had been before.
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Speaker 1: This I was positive of, for our powers of orientation
4:55
Speaker 1: are often tested in this way in the air service.
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Speaker 1: Then they marched me straight forward across the room through
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Speaker 1: a doorway directly opposite that at which I had entered
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Speaker 1: the chamber. I could tell when we left the larger
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Speaker 1: chamber and entered the corridor from the different sound which
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Speaker 1: our footsteps made. We advanced along this corridor ninety seven
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Speaker 1: paces when we turned abruptly to the right, and at
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Speaker 1: the end of thirty three paces emerged into another chamber,
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Speaker 1: as I could easily tell again from the sound of
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Speaker 1: our footsteps the instant we crossed the threshold. They led
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Speaker 1: me about this chamber a couple of times with the
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Speaker 1: evident intention of bewildering me, but in this they did
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Speaker 1: not succeed. Or when they turned again into the corridor,
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Speaker 1: I knew that it was the same corridor from which
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Speaker 1: I had just emerged, and that I was retracing my steps.
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Speaker 1: This time, they took me back thirty three paces and
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Speaker 1: then turned abruptly to the right. I could not but
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Speaker 1: smile to myself when I realized that we were now
5:57
Speaker 1: continuing directly along the same corridor as that which we
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Speaker 1: had entered immediately after they had first blindfolded me, that
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Speaker 1: little excursion through the short corridor into the second chamber
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Speaker 1: having been but a ruse to bewilder me. A moment later,
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Speaker 1: at the foot of a flight of steps, they removed
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Speaker 1: the blind evidently satisfied that there was now no chance
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Speaker 1: of my being able to retrace my steps and find
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Speaker 1: the main tunnel leading to the crater, while as matter
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Speaker 1: of fact, I could easily have retraced every foot of
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Speaker 1: it blindfolded. From here on we climbed interminable stairways, passed
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Speaker 1: through numerous corridors and chambers, all of which were illuminated
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Speaker 1: by the radium bearing substance which coated their walls and ceilings.
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Speaker 1: And then we emerged suddenly upon a terrace into the
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Speaker 1: open air, and I obtained my first view of a
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Speaker 1: lunar city. It was built around a crater, and the
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Speaker 1: buildings were terraced back from the rim, the terraces being
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Speaker 1: generally devoted to the raising of garden truck and the
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Speaker 1: principal fruit bearing trees shrub. The city extended upward several
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Speaker 1: hundred feet. The houses as I learned later, being built
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Speaker 1: one upon another, the great majority of them therefore being
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Speaker 1: without windows looking upon the outer world. I was led
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Speaker 1: along the terrace for a short distance, and during this
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Speaker 1: brief opportunity for observation, I deduced that the cultivated terraces
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Speaker 1: lay upon the roofs of the tier of buildings next below.
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Speaker 1: To my right I could see the terraced steps extending
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Speaker 1: downward to the rim of the crater. Nearly all the
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Speaker 1: terraces were covered with vegetation, and in numerous places I
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Speaker 1: saw what appeared to be vagas feeding upon the plants,
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Speaker 1: and this I later learned was the fact, and that
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Speaker 1: the Kalkars, when they were able to capture members of
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Speaker 1: the race of vagas, keep them in captivity and breed
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Speaker 1: them as we breed cattle. For their flesh. It is
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Speaker 1: necessary to some extent to change the diet of the
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Speaker 1: vagas almost exclusively to vegetation, though this diet is up
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Speaker 1: plmented by the flesh of the call cars and their
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Speaker 1: lathy enslaves who die. The vagas, thus being compelled to
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Speaker 1: serve the double purpose of reducing flesh for the palcars
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Speaker 1: and acting as their scavengers as well. Upon my left
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Speaker 1: were the faces of buildings uniformly two stories in height,
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Speaker 1: with an occasional slender tower rising fifteen twenty or sometimes
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Speaker 1: as high as thirty feet from the terraced roofs above.
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Speaker 1: It was into one of these buildings that my captors
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Speaker 1: led me. After we had proceeded a short distance along
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Speaker 1: the terrace, and I found myself in a large apartment,
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Speaker 1: in which were a number of male call cars, and
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Speaker 1: at a desk facing the entrance a large, entirely bald
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Speaker 1: man who appeared to be of considerable age. To this person,
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Speaker 1: I was led by Gabath, who narrated my capture and
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Speaker 1: the escape of Nailah, the fellow before whom I was
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Speaker 1: brought question me briefly. He made no comment when I
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Speaker 1: told him that I was from another world, but he
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Speaker 1: examined my garments rather carefully, and then, after a moment,
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Speaker 1: turned to Gath. We will hold him for questioning by
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Speaker 1: the twenty four. He said, if he is not Avana,
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Speaker 1: he is neither Kalcar nor Lathian, and consequently he must
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Speaker 1: be flesh of a lower order, and therefore may be eaten.
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Speaker 1: He paused a moment and fell to examining a large book,
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Speaker 1: which seemed to be filled with plans, upon which strange
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Speaker 1: hieroglyphics appeared. He turned over several leaves, and finally coming
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Speaker 1: evidently to the page he sought, he ran a forefinger
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Speaker 1: slowly over it until it came to rest near the
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Speaker 1: center of the plant. You may confine him here, he
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Speaker 1: said to Gappth in chamber eight of the twenty fourth
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Speaker 1: section at the seventh elevation, and you will produce him
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Speaker 1: upon orders from the twenty four when next they meet.
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Speaker 1: And then to me, it is impossible for you to
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Speaker 1: escape from the city, but if you attempt it, it
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Speaker 1: may be difficult for us to find you again immediately,
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Speaker 1: and when we do, you will be tortured to death.
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Speaker 1: As an example to other slaves, go I went, following
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Speaker 1: gap than the others who had conducted me to the
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Speaker 1: presence of this creature. They led me back into the
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Speaker 1: very corridor from which we had emerged upon the terrace,
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Speaker 1: and then straight into the heart of that amazing pile
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Speaker 1: four fully half a mile, where they shoved me roughly
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Speaker 1: into an apartment at the right of the corridor, with
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Speaker 1: the admonition that I stayed there until I was wanted.
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Speaker 1: I found myself in a dimly lighted rectangular room, the
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Speaker 1: air of which was very poor, And at the first
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Speaker 1: glance I discovered that I was not alone, for upon
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Speaker 1: a bench against the opposite wall sat a man. He
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Speaker 1: looked up as I entered, and I saw that his
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Speaker 1: features were very fine, and that he had black hair
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Speaker 1: like Nailah. He looked at me for a moment with
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Speaker 1: a puzzled expression in his eyes, and then he addressed me.
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Speaker 1: You too, are a slave, he asked. I am not
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Speaker 1: a slave, I replied, I am a prisoner. It is
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Speaker 1: all the same. He said, But from whence come you?
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Speaker 1: I have never seen your like before in Varna. I
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Speaker 1: do not come from Varna, I replied, and then I
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Speaker 1: briefly explained my origin, that how I came to be
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Speaker 1: in his world. He did not understand me, I am sure,
11:24
Speaker 1: for although he seemed to be and really was, highly intelligent,
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Speaker 1: he could not conceive of any condition concerning which he
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Speaker 1: had had no experience, And in this way he did
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Speaker 1: not differ materially from intelligent and highly educated earth men.
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Speaker 1: And you, I asked at length, you are not a kalcar.
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Speaker 1: From whence come you? I am from Lathe? He replied,
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Speaker 1: I fell outside the city and was captured by one
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Speaker 1: of their hunting parties. Why all this enmity, I asked,
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Speaker 1: between the men of Lathe and the Kalkars, who are
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Speaker 1: the Calcars? Anyway? You are not a Vana? He said
12:01
Speaker 1: that I can see, or he would not ask these questions.
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Speaker 1: The Kalcars derived their name from a corruption of a
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Speaker 1: word meaning the thinkers ages ago. We were one race,
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Speaker 1: a prosperous people, living at peace with all the world
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Speaker 1: of Vana. The Vagas. We bread for flesh as we
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Speaker 1: do to day within our own city of Lathe, and
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Speaker 1: as the Calcars do within their city. Our cities, towns,
12:27
Speaker 1: and villages covered the slopes of the mountains and stretched
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Speaker 1: downward to the sea, no corner of the three oceans.
12:34
Speaker 1: But knew our ships and our cities were joined together
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Speaker 1: by a network of routes along which passed electrically driven trains.
12:43
Speaker 1: He did not use the word trains, but an expression
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Speaker 1: which might be liberally translated as ships of the land.
12:51
Speaker 1: While other great carriers flew through the air, our means
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Speaker 1: of communication between distant points were simplified by science through
12:59
Speaker 1: the use of electrical energy, with the result that those
13:02
Speaker 1: who lived in one part of Vana could talk with
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Speaker 1: those who lived in any other part of Vana, though
13:08
Speaker 1: it were to the remotest ends of the world. There
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Speaker 1: were ten great divisions, each ruled by its gemadov, and
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Speaker 1: each division vied with all the others in the service
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Speaker 1: which it rendered to its people. There were those who
13:22
Speaker 1: held high positions and those who held low. There were
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Speaker 1: those who were rich and those who were poor, but
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Speaker 1: the favors of the state were distributed equally among them,
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Speaker 1: and the children of the poor had the same opportunities
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Speaker 1: for education as the children of the rich. And there
13:38
Speaker 1: it was that our troubles first started. There is a
13:42
Speaker 1: saying among us that no learning is better than a
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Speaker 1: little and I can well believe this true when I
13:48
Speaker 1: considered the history of my world. Where As the masses
13:51
Speaker 1: became a little educated, there developed among them a small
13:56
Speaker 1: coterie that commenced to find fault with every one who
13:59
Speaker 1: had achieved greater learning or greater power than they. Finally,
14:03
Speaker 1: they organized themselves into a secret society called the Thinkers,
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Speaker 1: but known more accurately to the rest of Vana as
14:11
Speaker 1: those who thought that they thought. It is a long story,
14:15
Speaker 1: for it covers a great period of time, but The
14:19
Speaker 1: result was that slowly at first and later rapidly, the thinkers,
14:24
Speaker 1: who did more talking than thinking, filled the people with dissatisfaction,
14:29
Speaker 1: until at last they arose and took over the government
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Speaker 1: and commerce of the entire world. The Gemadars were overthrown
14:36
Speaker 1: and the ruling class driven from power, the majority of
14:39
Speaker 1: them being murdered, though some managed to escape, and it
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Speaker 1: was these my ancestors who founded the city of Lathe.
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Speaker 1: It is believed that there are other similar cities in
14:51
Speaker 1: remote parts of Vanah, inhabited by the descendants of the
14:54
Speaker 1: Jemadar and noble classes, but Lathe is the only one
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Speaker 1: of which we have knowledge. The thinkers would not work,
15:02
Speaker 1: and the result was that both government and commerce fell
15:04
Speaker 1: into rapid decay. They not only had neither the training
15:08
Speaker 1: nor the intelligence to develop new things, but they could
15:12
Speaker 1: not carry out the old that had been developed for them.
15:16
Speaker 1: The arts and sciences languished and died with commerce and government,
15:20
Speaker 1: and Vana fell back into barbarism. The Vagas saw their
15:24
Speaker 1: chance and threw off the yoke that had held them
15:27
Speaker 1: through countless ages. As the Kalcars had driven the noble
15:31
Speaker 1: class into the lofty mountains, so the Vagas drove the Calcars.
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Speaker 1: Practically every vestige of the ancient culture and commercial advancement
15:40
Speaker 1: of Vana has been wiped from the face of the world.
15:43
Speaker 1: The Lathians have held their own for many centuries, but
15:47
Speaker 1: their numbers have not increased. Many generations elapsed before the
15:52
Speaker 1: Lathians found sanctuary in the city of Lathe, and during
15:56
Speaker 1: that period they too lost all touch with the science
15:59
Speaker 1: and advancement and the culture of the past. Nor was
16:03
Speaker 1: there any way in which to rebuild with the Calcars
16:05
Speaker 1: had torn down, since they had destroyed every written record
16:09
Speaker 1: and every book in every library in Vana. And so
16:14
Speaker 1: occupied are both races in eking out a precarious existence
16:18
Speaker 1: that there is little likelihood that there will ever again
16:21
Speaker 1: be any advancement made along these lines. It is beyond
16:24
Speaker 1: the intellectual powers of the Balcars, and the Lathians are
16:28
Speaker 1: too weak numerically to accomplish art. It does look hopeless,
16:33
Speaker 1: I said, almost as hopeless as our situation. There is
16:38
Speaker 1: no escape I imagine from this Kalcar city. Is there no?
16:43
Speaker 1: He said, none? Whatever. There is only one avenue, and
16:47
Speaker 1: we are so confused when we are brought into the
16:49
Speaker 1: city that it would be impossible for us to find
16:52
Speaker 1: our way out again through this labyrinthine corridor some chambers.
16:57
Speaker 1: And if we did we in our way to the
17:00
Speaker 1: outer world, we would be as bad off I presume,
17:03
Speaker 1: for we could never find Lathe, and sooner or later
17:06
Speaker 1: would be recaptured by the Kalkars or taken by the bakas. Am.
17:11
Speaker 1: I not right, no, he said, you are not right.
17:15
Speaker 1: If I could reach the rim of the crater beyond
17:17
Speaker 1: the city, I could find my way to Lathe. I
17:21
Speaker 1: know the way well, for I am one of Kota's
17:23
Speaker 1: hunters and thoroughly familiar with the country, for great distances
17:27
Speaker 1: in all directions from Lathe. So this was one of
17:32
Speaker 1: Kota's men. I was glad, indeed, that I had not
17:36
Speaker 1: mentioned nay Llah or told him of her possible escape,
17:41
Speaker 1: or of my acquaintance with her. And who is Kotah,
17:45
Speaker 1: I asked, feigning ignorance. Kota is the most powerful noble
17:50
Speaker 1: of Lathe. He replied, some day he will be Jemadar.
17:54
Speaker 1: For now that Naillah the princess is dead and Zagaratha
17:58
Speaker 1: Jemadar grows old, it will not belong before there is change.
18:03
Speaker 1: And if the princess should return to Lathe, I asked,
18:07
Speaker 1: would Kotas still become Jemadar, then upon the death of Sagrov,
18:11
Speaker 1: he would become Jemadar in any event, replied my companion,
18:14
Speaker 1: For had the princess not been carried off by the
18:17
Speaker 1: heir that runs away, Kotah would have married her unless
18:20
Speaker 1: she refused, in which event she might have died. People
18:25
Speaker 1: do die. You know you feel no loyalty, then, I
18:28
Speaker 1: asked for your old Jemadar Sagarroth for for his daughter
18:32
Speaker 1: the princess. On the contrary, I feel every loyalty toward them,
18:37
Speaker 1: But like many others, I am afraid of kota For
18:40
Speaker 1: he is very powerful, and we know that sooner or
18:43
Speaker 1: later he will become ruler Olathe. That is why so
18:46
Speaker 1: many of the high nobles have attached themselves to him.
18:50
Speaker 1: It is not through love of Kotah, but through fear
18:53
Speaker 1: that he recruits his ranks. But the princess, I exclaimed,
18:57
Speaker 1: would the nobles not rally to her defense? What would
19:00
Speaker 1: be the use? He asked, We of Lathe do but
19:03
Speaker 1: exist in the narrow confines of our prison city. There
19:07
Speaker 1: is no great future to which we may look forward
19:10
Speaker 1: in this life, but future incarnations may hold for us
19:13
Speaker 1: a brighter prospect. It is no cruelty, then, to kill
19:17
Speaker 1: those who exist now under the chaotic reign of anarchy,
19:20
Speaker 1: which has reduced Vana to a wilderness. I partially caught
19:25
Speaker 1: his rather hopeless point of view and realized that the
19:28
Speaker 1: fellow was not bad or disloyal at heart, but like
19:31
Speaker 1: all his race, reduced to a state of hopelessness that
19:35
Speaker 1: was the result of ages of retrogression to which they
19:38
Speaker 1: could see no end. I can find the way to
19:42
Speaker 1: the mouth of the tunnel where it opens into the crater,
19:44
Speaker 1: I told him, But how can we reach it unarmed
19:48
Speaker 1: through a city populated with our enemies who would slay
19:51
Speaker 1: us on sight. There are never very many people in
19:54
Speaker 1: the chambers or corridors far removed from the outer terraces.
19:58
Speaker 1: And if we were branded upon the forehead as accepted
20:01
Speaker 1: slaves are, and your apparel was not so noticeable, we
20:05
Speaker 1: might possibly reach the tunnel without weapons. Yeah, I said,
20:11
Speaker 1: my clothes are a handicap. They would immediately call attention
20:15
Speaker 1: to us. Yet it is worth risking, for I know
20:19
Speaker 1: that I can find my way back to the crater,
20:22
Speaker 1: and I should rather die than remain a slave of
20:24
Speaker 1: the coalcars. The truth of the matter was that I
20:28
Speaker 1: was not prompted so much by abhorrence of the fate
20:31
Speaker 1: that seemed in store for me, as by a desire
20:34
Speaker 1: to learn if Nailah had escaped. I was constantly haunted
20:38
Speaker 1: by the horrid fear that her hold upon the rim
20:41
Speaker 1: of the crater had given and that she had fallen
20:44
Speaker 1: into the abyss below. Gap. Had thought that she had escaped,
20:48
Speaker 1: but I knew that she might have fallen without either
20:51
Speaker 1: of us having seen her, since the pole up which
20:53
Speaker 1: she had clamored had been fastened a little beyond the
20:56
Speaker 1: opening of the tunnel, so that had her hold become loosened,
21:01
Speaker 1: she would not have fallen directly past the aperture. The
21:04
Speaker 1: more I thought of it, the more anxious I became
21:07
Speaker 1: to reach Lathe and institute a search for her. While
21:11
Speaker 1: we were still discussing our chances of escape, two slaves
21:14
Speaker 1: brought us food in the shape of raw vegetables and fruit.
21:18
Speaker 1: I scanned them carefully for weapons, but they had none.
21:22
Speaker 1: The circumstance to which they may owe their lives. I
21:26
Speaker 1: could have used their garments had they been other than slaves.
21:30
Speaker 1: But I had hit upon a bolder plan than this,
21:33
Speaker 1: and must wait patiently for a favorable opportunity to put
21:36
Speaker 1: it into practice. After eating, I became sleepy and was
21:41
Speaker 1: about to stretch out upon the floor of our prison,
21:44
Speaker 1: when my companion, whose name was Mogo, told me that
21:48
Speaker 1: there was a sleeping apartment adjoining the room in which
21:51
Speaker 1: we were that had been set apart for us. The
21:54
Speaker 1: doorway leading to the sleeping chamber was covered by heavy hangings,
21:59
Speaker 1: and as I parted them and stepped into the adjoining chamber,
22:03
Speaker 1: I found myself in almost total darkness, the walls and
22:06
Speaker 1: ceiling of this room not having been treated with the
22:09
Speaker 1: illuminating coating used in the corridors and apartments, which they
22:13
Speaker 1: wished to maintain in a lighted condition. I later learned
22:18
Speaker 1: that all their sleeping apartments were thus naturally dark. In
22:23
Speaker 1: one corner of the room was a pile of dry vegetation,
22:26
Speaker 1: which I discovered must answer the purpose of mattress and
22:29
Speaker 1: covering should I require any. However, I was not so particular,
22:34
Speaker 1: as I had been accustomed to only the roughest of
22:37
Speaker 1: fair since I had left my luxurious state room aboard
22:40
Speaker 1: the barzoom. How long I slept I do not know,
22:44
Speaker 1: but I was awakened by Mobo calling me. He was
22:47
Speaker 1: leaning over me, shaking me by the shoulder. You are wanted,
22:50
Speaker 1: he whispered. They have come to take us before the
22:53
Speaker 1: twenty four. Tell them to go to the devil, I said,
22:57
Speaker 1: for I was very sleepy and only half away. Of course,
23:00
Speaker 1: he did not know what devil meant, but evidently he
23:03
Speaker 1: judged from my tone that my reply was disrespectful to
23:06
Speaker 1: the Calcars. Do not anger them, he said, It will
23:09
Speaker 1: only make your fate the harder when the twenty four
23:12
Speaker 1: command all must obey. Who are the twenty four demanded?
23:18
Speaker 1: They composed the committee that rules this Concar city. I
23:22
Speaker 1: was thoroughly awakened now and rose to my feet, following
23:25
Speaker 1: him into the adjoining chamber, where I saw two Kalcar
23:29
Speaker 1: warriors standing impatiently awaiting us. As I saw them, a
23:34
Speaker 1: phrase leaped to my brain and kept repeating itself. There
23:37
Speaker 1: are but two. There are but two. They were across
23:41
Speaker 1: the room from us, standing by the entrance, and Mogo
23:44
Speaker 1: was close to me. There are but two, I whispered
23:49
Speaker 1: to him in a low voice. You take one and
23:52
Speaker 1: I will take the other. You dare I will take
23:57
Speaker 1: the one at the right, he replied, and together we
24:00
Speaker 1: advanced across the room, slowly toward the unsuspecting warriors. The
24:04
Speaker 1: moment that we were in reach of them, we leaped
24:06
Speaker 1: for him simultaneously. I did not see how Mogo attacked
24:10
Speaker 1: his man, for I was busy with my own. Though
24:13
Speaker 1: it took me but an instant to settle him, for
24:15
Speaker 1: I struck him a single terrific blow upon the chin,
24:18
Speaker 1: and as he fell, I leaped upon him, resting his
24:21
Speaker 1: dagger from its scabbard and plunging it into his heart
24:24
Speaker 1: before he could regain his senses from the stunning impact
24:27
Speaker 1: of my fist. Then I turned to assist Mogo, only
24:31
Speaker 1: to discover that he needed no assistance, but was already
24:35
Speaker 1: arising from the body of his attagonist, whose throat was
24:38
Speaker 1: cut from ear to ear with his own weapon. Quick
24:42
Speaker 1: I cried to Mogo drag them into the sleeping apartment
24:44
Speaker 1: before we were discovered, and a moment later we had
24:47
Speaker 1: deposited the two corpses in the dimly lighted apartment. Adjoining,
24:52
Speaker 1: we will leave the city as Kalkar warriors, I said,
24:55
Speaker 1: commencing to strip the accouterments and garments from the man
24:58
Speaker 1: I had slain. Mo grinned not a bad idea, he said,
25:03
Speaker 1: if you can find the route to the crater, it
25:05
Speaker 1: is possible that we may yet escape. It took us
25:08
Speaker 1: but a few moments to effect the change, and after
25:11
Speaker 1: we had hidden the bodies beneath the vegetation that had
25:14
Speaker 1: served us as a bed, and stepped out into the
25:17
Speaker 1: other chamber, where we could have a good look at
25:19
Speaker 1: one another, we realized that if we were not too
25:22
Speaker 1: closely scrutinized, we might pass safely through the corridors beneath
25:26
Speaker 1: the Calcar city. For the call cars are our mongrel breed,
25:29
Speaker 1: comprising many divergent types. My complexion, which differed outrageously from
25:35
Speaker 1: that of either the call Cars or the Lathians, constituted
25:38
Speaker 1: our greatest danger. But we must take the chance, and
25:41
Speaker 1: at least we were armed. Lead the way, said Mogo,
25:45
Speaker 1: And if you can find the crater, I can assure
25:48
Speaker 1: you that I can find Lathe Very good, I said, come,
25:53
Speaker 1: and stepping into the corridor, I moved off confidently in
25:56
Speaker 1: the direction that I knew I should find the passageways
25:59
Speaker 1: and stairs along which I had been conducted from the
26:02
Speaker 1: crater tunnel. I was as confident of success as though
26:06
Speaker 1: I were traversing the most familiar precinct of my native city.
26:11
Speaker 1: We traveled a considerable distance without meeting any one, and
26:14
Speaker 1: at last reached the chamber in which I had been blindfolded.
26:18
Speaker 1: As we entered it, I saw fully a score of
26:21
Speaker 1: call cars lolling upon benches or lying upon vegetation that
26:25
Speaker 1: was piled upon the floor. They looked up as we entered,
26:29
Speaker 1: and at the same time Mogo stepped in front of me.
26:33
Speaker 1: Who are you and where are you going? Demanded one
26:35
Speaker 1: of the call cars, by order of the twenty four,
26:38
Speaker 1: said Mogo, and stepped into the room. Instantly, I realized
26:43
Speaker 1: that he did not know in which direction to go,
26:45
Speaker 1: and that by his hesitancy, all might be lost. Straight ahead,
26:50
Speaker 1: straight across the room, I whispered to him, and he
26:53
Speaker 1: stepped out briskly in the direction of the entrance to
26:55
Speaker 1: the tunnel. Fortunately for us, the chamber was not brilliantly lighted,
27:00
Speaker 1: and the call cars were at the far end of it.
27:03
Speaker 1: Otherwise they must certainly have discovered my deception, at least,
27:06
Speaker 1: since any sort of close inspection would have revealed the
27:09
Speaker 1: fact that I was not Avana. However, they did not
27:13
Speaker 1: fault us, though I was sure that I saw one
27:16
Speaker 1: of them eyeing me suspiciously, and I venture to say
27:19
Speaker 1: that I took the last twenty steps without drawing a breath.
27:24
Speaker 1: It was quickly over, however, and we had entered the tunnel,
27:27
Speaker 1: which now led, without further confusing ramifications, directly to the crater.
27:32
Speaker 1: We were fortunate, I said to Mogo that we were.
27:35
Speaker 1: He replied in silence, then, that we might listen for pursuit,
27:40
Speaker 1: or for the sound of cal cars ahead of us.
27:42
Speaker 1: We hastened rapidly along the descending passageway toward the mouth
27:46
Speaker 1: of the tunnel, where it opened into the crater. And
27:49
Speaker 1: at last, as we rounded the last turn and I
27:52
Speaker 1: saw the light of day ahead of me, I breathed
27:54
Speaker 1: a deep sigh of relief, though almost simultaneously my happiness
27:58
Speaker 1: turned to despair at the sudden recollection that there were
28:01
Speaker 1: no hoped poles here to assist us to the summit
28:04
Speaker 1: of the crater wall. What were we to do, Mogo,
28:09
Speaker 1: I said, turning to my companion, as we halted at
28:12
Speaker 1: the end of the tunnel, there are no poles with
28:14
Speaker 1: which to ascend. I had forgotten it, but in order
28:18
Speaker 1: to prevent the call cars from ascending after me, I
28:20
Speaker 1: threw all but one into the abyss, and that one
28:23
Speaker 1: slipped from the rim and was lost. Also, just as
28:26
Speaker 1: my pursuers were about to seize me, I had not
28:30
Speaker 1: told Logo that I had had a companion, since it
28:33
Speaker 1: would be difficult to answer any questions he may propound
28:36
Speaker 1: on the subject without revealing the identity of Nailah. Oh,
28:41
Speaker 1: we can overcome, that, replied my companion. We have these
28:44
Speaker 1: two spears which are extremely stout, and inasmuch as we
28:48
Speaker 1: shall have plenty of time, we can easily arrange them
28:51
Speaker 1: in some way that will permit us to ascend to
28:53
Speaker 1: the summit of the crater. It is very fortunate that
28:56
Speaker 1: we were not pursued. The call cars had a miniature
29:01
Speaker 1: crescent shaped hook at the base of their point, similar
29:04
Speaker 1: to the larger ones effected by the babas. Mobo thought
29:08
Speaker 1: that we could fasten the two spears securely together and
29:11
Speaker 1: then catch the small hook of the upper one upon
29:14
Speaker 1: the rim of the crater, testing its hole thoroughly before
29:17
Speaker 1: either of us attempted to ascend. Beneath his tunic, he
29:21
Speaker 1: wore a rope coiled around his waist, which he explained
29:25
Speaker 1: to me was a customary part of the equipment of
29:27
Speaker 1: all Ladians. It was his idea to tie one end
29:31
Speaker 1: of this around the waist of whichever of us ascended first,
29:34
Speaker 1: the other going as far back into the tunnel as possible,
29:37
Speaker 1: and bracing himself so that in the event that the
29:40
Speaker 1: climber fell, he would be saved from death, though I
29:43
Speaker 1: figured that he would get a rather nasty shaking up
29:46
Speaker 1: in some bad bruises. Under the best of circumstances, I
29:51
Speaker 1: volunteered to go first and began fastening one end of
29:54
Speaker 1: the rope securely about my waist, while Mobo made the
29:58
Speaker 1: two spears fast together with a short length that he
30:01
Speaker 1: had cut from the other end. He worked rapidly with deft,
30:05
Speaker 1: nimble fingers, and seemed to know perfectly well what he
30:09
Speaker 1: was doing. In the event that I reached the summit
30:12
Speaker 1: in safety, I was to pull up the spears and
30:14
Speaker 1: then haul Mogo up by the rope. Having fastened the
30:18
Speaker 1: rope to my satisfaction, I stood as far out upon
30:21
Speaker 1: the ledge before the entrance to the tunnel as I
30:24
Speaker 1: safely could, and, with my back toward the crater, looked
30:27
Speaker 1: up at the rim twenty feet above me in a
30:30
Speaker 1: vain attempt to select, from below, if possible, a reasonably
30:33
Speaker 1: secure point upon which to hook the spear. As I
30:37
Speaker 1: stood thus upon the edge of eternity, steadying myself with
30:41
Speaker 1: one hand against the tunnel wall, there came down to
30:44
Speaker 1: me out of the tunnel a noise which I could
30:46
Speaker 1: not mistake. Mogo heard it too, and looked at me
30:50
Speaker 1: with a rueful shake of his head and a shrug
30:52
Speaker 1: of his shoulders. Everything is against user if, ma'am, he said.
30:57
Speaker 1: But this was the name he had given me when
30:59
Speaker 1: I told him what my world was called. End of
31:03
Speaker 1: Chapter ten, recording by Thomas Coward,