Latest / Classic Sci Fi Books - Daily / 21 - The God's of Mars - Edgar Rice Burroughs

Transcript

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

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty one. Through flood and flame, Yerstead's information convinced
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: me that there was no time to be lost. I
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: must reach the Temple of Issus secretly before the forces
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: under Tars Tarkas assaulted at dawn. Once within its hated walls,
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: I was positive that I could overcome the guards of
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Issus and bear away my princess, for at my back
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: I would have a force ample for the occasion. No
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: sooner had Carthoris and the others joined me than we
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: commenced the transportation of our men through the submerged passage
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: to the mouth of the gangways which lead from the
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: submarine pool at the temple end of the watery tunnel
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: to the pits of Issus. Many trips were required, but
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: at last all stood safely together again at the beginning
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: of the end of our quest, five thousand strong. We
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: were all seasoned fighting men of the most warlike race
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: of the red men of Barsoom. As Carthoris alone knew
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: the hidden ways of the tunnels, we could not divide
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: the party and attack the temple at several points at once,
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: as would have been most desirable, and so it was
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: decided that he would lead us all as quickly as
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: possible to a point near the temple center. As we
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: were about to leave the pool and enter the corridor,
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: an officer called my attention to the waters upon which
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: the submarine floated. At first, they seemed to be merely agitated,
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: as from the movement of some great body beneath the surface,
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: and I at once conjectured that another submarine was rising
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: to the surface in pursuit of us. But presently it
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: became apparent that the level of the waters was rising,
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: not with extreme rapidity, but very surely, and that soon
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: they would overflow the sides of the pool and submerge
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: the floor of the chamber. For a moment I did
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: not fully grasp the terrible import of the slowly rising water.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: It was Carthoris who realized the full meaning of the thing,
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: its cause, and the reason for it haste. He cried,
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: If we delay, we all are lost. The pumps of
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: Omean have been stopped. They would drown us like rats
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: in a trap. We must reach the upper levels of
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: the pits in advance of the flood, or we shall
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: never reach them. Come lead the way, Carthoris, I cried,
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: we will follow at my command. The youth leaped into
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: one of the corridors, and in column of twos, the
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: soldiers followed him in good order, each company entering the
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: corridor only at the command of its door or captain.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: Before the last company filed from the chamber. The water
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: was ankle deep, and that the men were nervous was
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: quite evident. Entirely unaccustomed to water, except in quantities sufficient
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: for drinking and bathing purposes, the Red Martians instinctively shrank
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: from it. In such formidable depths and menacing activity that
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: they were undaunted while it swirled and nettied about their ankles.
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: Spoke well for their bravery and their discipline. I was
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: the last to leave the chamber of the submarine, and
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: as I followed the rear of the column toward the corridor,
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: I moved through water to my knees. The corridor, too
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: was flooded to the same depth, for its floor was
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: on a level with the floor of the chamber from
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: which it led, Nor was there any perceptible rise for
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: many yards. The march of the troops through the corridor
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: was as rapid as was consistent with the number of
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: men that moved through so narrow a passage, but it
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: was not ample to permit us to gain appreciably on
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: the pursuing tide. As the level of the passage rose,
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: so too did the waters rise, until it soon became
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: apparent to me, who brought up the rear, that they
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: were gaining rapidly upon us. I could understand the reason
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: for this, as with the narrowing expanse of Omean. As
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: the waters rode towards the apex of its dome, the
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: rapidity of its rise would increase in inverse ratio to
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: the ever lessening space to be filled. Long Ere, the
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: last of the column could hope to reach the upper
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: pits which lie above the danger point. I was convinced
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: that the waters would surge after us in overwhelming volume,
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: and that fully half the expedition would be snuffed out.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: As I cast about for some means of saving as
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: many as possible of the doomed men, I saw a
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: diverging corridor which seemed to rise at a steep angle.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: At my right. The waters were now swirling about my waist.
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: The men directly before me were quickly becoming panic stricken.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: Something must be done at once, or they would rush
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: forward upon their fellows in a mad stampede that would
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: result in trampling down hundreds beneath the flood and eventually
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: clogging the passage beyond any hope of retreat for those
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: in advance. Raising my voice to its utmost, I shouted
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: my command to the dwarfs ahead of me. Call back
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: the last twenty five U tens. I shouted, here seems
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: a way of escape. Turn back and follow me. My
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: orders were obeyed by nearer thirty U tens, so that
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: some three thousand men came about and hastened into the
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: teeth of the flood to reach the corridor up which
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: I directed them. As the first dwarf passed in with
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: his utan, I cautioned him to listen closely for my commands,
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: and under no circumstances to venture into the open or
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: leave the pits for the temple proper until I should
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: have come up with him, or you know that I
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: died before I could reach you. The officers saluted and
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: left me. The men filed rapidly past me and entered
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: the diverging corridor, which I hoped would lead to safety.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: The water rose breast high. Men stumbled, floundered, and went
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: down any I grasped and set upon their feet again.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: But alone the work was greater than I could cope with.
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: Soldiers were being swept beneath the boiling torrent, never to rise.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: At length, the Dwar of the tenth u Ten took
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: a stand beside me. He was a valorous soldier, Gertus
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: by name, and together we kept the now thoroughly frightened
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: troops in the semblance of order, and rescued many that
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: would have drowned otherwise. Dajor Cantos, son of kantos Kan,
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: and a Padwar of the fifth U Ten joined us
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: when as Utan reached the opening through which the men
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: were fleeing. Thereafter, not a man was lost of all
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: the hundreds that remained to pass from the main corridor
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: to the branch. As the last U ten was filing
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: past us, the waters had risen until they surged about
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: our necks. But we clasped hands and stood our ground
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: until the last men had passed to the comparative safety
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: of the new passageway. Here we found an immediate and
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: steep ascent, so that within a hundred yards we had
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: reached a point above the waters. For a few minutes
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: we continued rapidly up the steep grade, which I hoped
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: would soon bring us quickly to the upper pits that
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: led into the Temple of Issus. But I was to
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: meet with a cruel disappointment. Suddenly I heard a cry
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: of fire far ahead, followed almost at once by cries
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: of terror, and the loud commands of dwarfs and padwars,
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: who were evidently attempting to direct their men away from
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: some grave danger. At last the report came back to us.
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: They have fired the pits ahead. We are hemmed in
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: by flames in front and flood behind. Help John Carter.
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: We are suffocating. And then there swept back upon us
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: at the rear, a wave of dense smoke that sent
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: us stumbling and blinded into a choking retreat. There was
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: naught to do other than seek a new avenue of escape.
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: The fire and smoke were to be feared a thousand
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: times over the water, and so I seized upon the
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: first gallery, which led out of and up from the
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: suffocating smoke that was engulfing us. Again. I stood to
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: one side while the soldiers hastened through on the new way.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: Some two thousand must have passed at a rapid run.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: When the stream ceased, but I was not sure that
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: all had been rescued who had not passed the point
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: of origin of the flames, and so to assure myself
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: that no poor devil was left behind to die a
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: horrible death. Unsuccored, I ran quickly up the gallery in
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: the direction of the flames, which I could now see
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: burning with a dull glow far ahead. It was hot
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: and stifling work, but at last I reached a point
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: where the fire lit up the corridor sufficiently for me
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: to see that no soldier of helium lay between me
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: and the conflagration. What was in it or upon the
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: far side, I could not know, nor could any man
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: have passed through that seething hell of chemicals and lived
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: to learn. Having satisfied my sense of duty, I turned
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: and ran rapidly back to the corridor through which my
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: men had passed. To my horror, however, I found that
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: my retreat in this direction had been blocked. Across the
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: mouth of the corridor stood a massive steel grating that
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: had evidently been lowered from its resting place above for
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: the purpose of effectually cutting off my escape. That our
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: principal movements were known to the first born, I could
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: not have doubted, in view of the attack of the
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: fleet upon us the day before. Nor could the stopping
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: of the pumps of Omean at the psychological moment have
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: been due to chance, Nor the starting of a chemical
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: combustion within the one corridor through which we were advancing
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: upon the Temple of Issus been due to aught than
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: well calculated design. And now the dropping of the steel
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: gate to pen me effectually between fire and flood seemed
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: indicate that invisible eyes were upon us at every moment.
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: What chance had I then to rescue dejah Thoris? Were
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: I to be compelled to fight foes who never showed
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: themselves A thousand times I berated myself for being drawn
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: into such a trap, as I might have known these
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: pits easily could be. Now I saw that it would
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: have been much better to have kept our force intact
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: and made a concerted attack upon the temple from the
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: valley side, trusting to chance in our great fighting ability
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: to have overwhelmed the first Born and compelled the safe
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: delivery of dejah Thoris to me. The smoke from the
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: fire was forcing me further and further back down the
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: corridor toward the waters, which I could hear surging through
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: the darkness with my men had gone the last torch.
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: Nor was this corridor lighted by the radiance of phosphorescent rock,
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: as were those of the lower levels. It was this
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: fact that assured me that I was not far from
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: the upper pits, which lied directly beneath the temple. Finally
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: I felt the lapping waters about my feet. The smoke
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: was thick behind me. My suffering was intense. There seemed
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: but one thing to do, and that to choose the
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: easier death which confronted me. And so I moved on
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: down the corridor until the cold waters of Omean closed
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: about me, and I swam on through utter blackness toward
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: what The instinct of self preservation is strong, even when
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: one unafraid and in the possession of his highest reasoning faculties,
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: knows that death, positive and unalterable, lies just ahead. And
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: so I swam slowly on, waiting for my head to
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: touch the top of the corridor, which would mean that
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: I had reached the limit of my flight and the
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: point where I must sink forever to an unmarked grave.
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: But to my surprise, I ran against a blank wall
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: before I reached a point where the water came to
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: the roof of the corridor. Could I be mistaken? I
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: felt around. No, I had come to the main corridor,
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: and still there was breathing space between the surface of
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: the water and the rocky ceiling above. And then I
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: turned up the main corridor in the direction that Carthoris
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: and the head of the column had passed a half
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: hour before. On and on I swam, my heart growing
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: lighter at every stroke, for I knew that I was
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: approaching closer and closer to the point where there would
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: be no chance that the waters ahead could be deeper
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: than they were about me. I was positive that I
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: must soon feel the solid floor beneath my feet again,
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: and that once more my chance would come to reach
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: the temple of Issus and the side of the fair
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: prisoner who languished there. But even as hope was at
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: its highest, I felt the sudden shock of contact as
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: my head struck the rocks above. The worst then had
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: come to me. I had reached one of those rare
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: places where a Martian tunnel dipped suddenly to a lower
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: level somewhere beyond. I knew that it rose again. But
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: of what value was that to me? Since I did
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: not know how rate the distance that it maintained a
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: level entirely beneath the surface of the water. There was
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: but a single, forlorn hope, and I took it. Filling
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: my lungs with air, I dived beneath the surface and
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: swam through the inky, icy blackness, on and on along
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: the submerged gallery. Time and time again, I rose with
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: upstretched hand, only to feel the disappointing rocks close above me.
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: Not for much longer would my lungs withstand the strain
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: upon them. I felt that I must soon succumb. Nor
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: was there any retreating Now that I had gone this far.
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: I knew positively that I could never endure to retrace
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: my path now to the point from which I had
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: felt the waters close above my head. Death stared me
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: in the face. Nor ever, can I recall a time
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: that I so distinctly felt the icy breath from his
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: dead lips upon my brow. One more frantic effort I made,
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: with my fast ebbing strength. Weakly I rose for the
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: last time. My tortured lungs gasped for the breath that
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: would fill them with a strange and numbing element. But
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: instead I felt the revivifying breath of life giving air
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: surge through my starving nostrils into my dying lungs. I
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: was saved. A few more strokes brought me to a
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: point where my feet touched the floor, and soon thereafter
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: I was above the water level entirely, and racing like
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: mad along the corridor, searching for the first doorway that
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: would lead me to Issus. If I could not have
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: dejah thoris again, I was at least determined to a
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: venture death, Nor would any life satisfy me other than
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: that of the fiend incarnate, who was the cause of
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: such immeasurable suffering upon barsoom. Sooner than I had expected,
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: I came to what appeared to me to be a
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: sudden exit into the temple above. It was at the
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: right side of the corridor, which ran on, probably to
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: other entrances to the pile above. To me, one point
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: was as good as another. What knew I where any
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: of them led, And so, without waiting to be again
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: discovered and thwarted, I ran quickly up the short steep
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: incline and pushed open the doorway at its end. The
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: portal swung slowly in, and before it could be slammed
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: against me. I sprang into the chamber beyond. Although not
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: yet dawned, the room was brilliantly lighted. Its sole occupant
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: lay prone upon a low couch at the further side,
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: apparently in sleep. From the hangings and sumptuous furniture of
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: the room, I judged it to be a living room
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: of some priestess, possibly a vicious herself. At the thought,
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: the blood tingled through my veins. What indeed, if fortune
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: had been kind enough to place the hideous creature alone
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: and unguarded in my hands, with her as hostage, I
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: could force the acquiescence to my every demand. Cautiously I
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: approached the recumbent figure on noiseless feet. Closer and closer
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: I came to it. But I had crossed but little
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: more than half the chamber when the figure stirred, and
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: as I sprang, rose and faced me. At first, an
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: expression of terror overspread the features of the woman who
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: confronted me, then startled incredulally. Hope, thanksgiving my heart pounded
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: within my breast. As I advanced toward her, tears came
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: to my eyes, and the words that would have poured
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: forth in a perfect torrent choked in my throat as
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: I opened my arms and took into them once more
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: the woman I loved, Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium. End
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: of Chapter twenty one