January 1, 2026 • 20 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter two Slavery. As the ruler of Ptarth, followed by
his courtiers, descended from the landing stage above the palace,
the servants dropped into their places in the rear of
their royal or noble masters, and behind the others. One
lingered to the last, then, quickly stooping, he snatched the
(00:23):
sandal from his right foot, slipping it into his pocket pouch.
When the party had come to the lower levels, and
the Jeddak had dispersed them by a sign, none noticed
that the forward fellow, who had drawn so much attention
to himself before the Prince of Helium departed, was no
longer among the other servants to whose retinue he had
(00:45):
been attached. None had thought to inquire, For the followers
of a martian noble are many, coming and going at
the whim of their master, so that a new face
is scarcely ever questioned, as the fact that the man
has passed within the palace walls is considered proof positive
that his loyalty to the Jeddak is beyond question. So
(01:05):
rigid is the examination of each who seeks service with
the nobles of the court, A good rule that and
only relaxed by courtesy in favor of the retinue of
visiting royalty from a friendly foreign power. It was late
in the morning of the next day that a giant
serving man, in the harness of the house of a
(01:26):
great ptarth noble, passed out into the city from the
palace gates. Along one broad avenue and then another. He
strode briskly until he had passed beyond the district of
nobles and had come to the place of shops. Here
he sought a pretentious building that rose spirelike toward the heavens,
(01:47):
its outer walls elaborately wrought with delicate carvings and intricate mosaics.
It was the Palace of Peace, in which were housed
the representatives of the foreign powers, or rather in which
were located their embassies. For the ministers themselves dwelt in
gorgeous palaces within the district occupied by the nobles. Here
(02:11):
the man sought the embassy of Dusar. A clerk arose
questioningly as he entered, and that his request to have
a word with the minister. Asked his credentials, the visitor
slipped a plain metal armlet from above his elbow, and
pointing to an inscription upon its inner surface, whispered a
word or two to the clerk. The latter's eyes went wide,
(02:34):
and his attitude turned at once to one of deference.
He bowed the stranger to a seat and hastened to
an inner room with the armlet in his hand. A
moment later he reappeared and conducted the caller into the
presence of the minister. For a long time the two
were closeted together, and when at last the giant serving
(02:55):
man emerged from the inner office, his expression was cast
in a smile of sinner mister satisfaction. From the Palace
of Peace, he hurried directly to the palace of the
Dusarian Minister. That night, two swift fliers left the same
palace top. One sped its rapid course toward Helium. The other,
(03:19):
Thuvia of Ptarth, strolled in the gardens of her father's palace,
as was her nightly custom. Before retiring. Her silks and
furs were drawn about her. For the air of Mars
is chill. After the sun had taken his quick plunge
beneath the planet's western verge, the girl's thoughts wandered from
her impending nuptuels that would make her Empress of Cowl
(03:41):
to the person of the trim young Heliumite who had
laid his heart at her feet the preceding day. Whether
it was pity or regret that saddened her expression as
she gazed toward the southern heavens, where she had watched
the lights of his flier disappear the previous night, it
would be difficult to say, so, too, is it impossible
(04:03):
to conjecture just what her emotions may have been as
she discerned the lights of a flier speeding rapidly out
of the distance from that very direction, as though impelled
toward her garden by the very intensity of the princess's thoughts.
She saw its circle lower above the palace until she
was positive that it but hovered in preparation for a landing. Presently,
(04:28):
the powerful rays of its searchlight shot downward from the bow.
They fell upon the landing stage for a brief instant,
revealing the figures of the Parthian guards, picking into brilliant
points of fire the gems upon their gorgeous harnesses. Then
the blazing eyes swept onward across the burnished domes and
graceful minarets down into court and park and garden, to
(04:52):
pause at last upon the air site bench, and the
girl standing there beside it, her face upturned full toward
the flier. For but an instant the searchlight halted upon
Thuvia of Ptarth. Then it was extinguished, as suddenly as
it had come to life. The flier passed on above her,
to disappear beyond a grove of lofty skeel trees that
(05:14):
grew within the palace grounds. The girl stood for some
time as it had left her, except that her head
was bent and her eyes downcast in thought. Who but
Carthoris could it have been? She tried to feel anger
that he should have returned, thus spying upon her, But
she found it difficult to be angry with the young
(05:35):
Prince of Helium. What mad Caprice could have indulged him
to so transgress the etiquette of nations for lesser things
great powers had gone to war. The princess in her
was shocked and angered. But what of the girl and
the guard? What of them? Evidently they too had been
(05:58):
so much surprised by the unprecedented action of the stranger
that they had not even challenged. But that they had
no thought to let the thing go unnoticed was quickly
evidenced by the scurring of motors upon the landing stage
and the quick shooting airward of a long lined patrol boat.
Thuvio watched it dart swiftly eastward, So too did other
(06:19):
eyes watch. Within the dense shadows of the skeel grove
in a wide avenue, beneath overspreading foliage, a flier hung
a dozen feet above the ground from its deck. Keen
eyes watched the far fanning searchlight of the patrol boat.
No light shone from the enshadowed craft upon its deck
(06:43):
was the silence of the tomb. Its crew of a
half dozen red warriors watched the lights of the patrol
boat diminishing in the distance. The intellects of our ancestors
are with us to night, said one in a low tone.
No plan ever carried better, returned another. They did precisely
as the Prince foretold. He who had first spoken turned
(07:07):
toward the man who squatted before the control board. Now
he whispered. There was no other order given. Every man
upon the craft had evidently been well schooled in each
detail of that night's work. Silently the dark hull crept
beneath the cathedral arches of the dark and silent grove.
(07:29):
Thuvia of Ptarth, gazing toward the east, saw the blacker
blot against the darkness of the trees. As the craft
topped the buttress garden wall, she saw the dim bulk
inclined gently downward toward the scarlet sward of the garden.
She knew that men came not thus with honorable intent,
(07:50):
Yet she did not cry aloud to alarm the nearby guardsmen,
nor did she flee to the safety of the palace.
Why I can see her shri rug her shapely shoulders
in reply as she voices the age old universal answer
of the woman because scarce had the flier touched the ground.
(08:11):
When four men leaped from its deck, they ran forward
toward the girl. Still she made no sign of alarm,
standing as though hypnotized, or could it have been, as
one who awaited a welcome visitor. Not until they were
quite close to her did she move. Then the nearer moon,
(08:31):
rising above the surrounding foliage, touched their faces, lighting all
with the brilliancy of her silver rays. Thuvia of Ptarth
saw only strangers, warriors in the harness of Dusar. Now
she took fright, but too late. Before she could voice,
but a single cry, rough hands seized her. A heavy
(08:54):
silken scarf was wound about her head. She was lifted
in strong arms and borne to the deck of the flower.
There was the sudden whirl of propellers, a rushing of
air against her body, and from far beneath, the shouting
and challenge from the guard. Racing toward the south, another
flier sped toward Helium. In its cabin, a tall red
(09:15):
man bent over the soft soul of an upturned sandal.
With delicate instruments, he measured the faint imprint of a
small object, which appeared there upon a pad. Beside him
was the outline of a key, and here he noted
the results of his measurements. A smile played upon his
lips as he completed his task and turned to one
(09:37):
who waited at the opposite side of the table. The
man is a genius, he remarked. Only a genius could
have evolved such a lock as this is designed to
spring Here, take the sketch, Larrac, and give all thine
own genius full and unfettered freedom and reproducing it in metal.
The warrior outificer bowed man build not He said that
(10:02):
man may not destroy. Then he left the cabin with
the sketch. As dawn broke upon the lofty towers which
marked the twin cities of Helium, the scarlet tower of
one and the yellow tower of its sister, a flier
floated lazily out of the north. Upon its bow was
emblazoned insignia of a lesser noble, of a far city
(10:25):
of the Empire of Helium. Its leisurely approach and the
evident confidence with which it moved across the city aroused
no suspicion in the minds of the sleepy guard. There,
round of duty nearly done, they had little thought beyond
the coming of those who were to relieve them. Peace
reigned throughout Helium, stagnant, emasculating peace. Helium had no enemies.
(10:50):
There was nought to fear. Without haste, the nearest air
patrol swung sluggishly about and approached the stranger at easy
speaking distance. The officer upon her deck hailed the incoming craft,
the cheery kowor, and the plausible explanation that the owner
had come from distant parts for a few days of
(11:11):
pleasure in gay Helium sufficed the air patrol boat sheered off,
passing again upon its way. The stranger continued toward a
public landing stage, where she dropped into the ways and
came to rest. At about the same time a warrior
entered her cabin. It is done, Vaskor, he said, handing
(11:34):
a small metal key to the tall noble, who had
just risen from his sleeping silks and furs. Good exclaimed
the latter. You must have worked upon it all during
the night, Larok. The warrior nodded. Now, fetch me the
heliumetic metal you wrought some days since, commanded Vaskor. This done.
(11:56):
The warrior assisted his master to replace the handsome jeweled
metas of his harness with the plainer ornaments of an
ordinary fighting man of Helium, and with this insignia of
the same house that appeared upon the bow of the flier.
Vast Corps breakfasted on board. Then he emerged upon the
aerial dock, entered an elevator, and was borne quickly to
(12:17):
the street below, where he was soon engulfed by the
early morning throng of workers hastening to their daily duties
among them. His warrior trappings were no more remarkable than
as a pair of trousers upon Broadway. All Martian men
are warriors, save those physically unable to bear arms. The
tradesmen and his clerk clank with their martial trappings as
(12:40):
they pursue their vocations. The schoolboy, coming into the world
as he does, almost adult from the snowy shell that
has encompassed his development for five long years, knows so
little of life without a sword at his hip that
he would feel the same discomfiture at going abroad unarmed
that an earth boy would Expelians in walking the streets.
(13:01):
Knickerbockerless vast Corp's destination lay in Greater Helium, which lies
some seventy five miles across the level plain from Lesser Helium.
He had landed at the latter city because the air
patrol is less suspicious and alert than that above the
larger metropolis, where lies the Palace of the Jeddak. As
(13:24):
he moved with the throng in the park like canyon
of the Thoroughfare, the life of an awakening Martian city
was in evidence about him. Houses raised high upon their
slender metal columns, for the night were dropping gently toward
the ground among the flowers. Upon the scarlet sward which
lies about the buildings. Children were already playing, and comely
(13:45):
women laughing and chatting with their neighbors as they called
gorgeous blossoms for the vases within doors. The pleasant care
of the Borsomian greeting fell continually upon the ears of
the stranger, as friends and neighbors took up the duties
of a new day. The district in which he had
landed was residential, a district of merchants of the more
(14:06):
prosperous sort. Everywhere were evidences of luxury and wealth. Slaves
appeared upon every housetop with gorgeous silks and costly furs,
laying them in the sun for erring jewel Encrusted women
lulled even thus early upon the carved balconies before their
sleeping apartments. Later in the day they would repair to
(14:29):
their roofs. When the slaves had arranged couches and pitched
silken canopies to shade them from the sun, strains of
inspiring music broke pleasantly from open windows. For the Martians
have solved the problem of attuning the nerves pleasantly to
the sudden transition from sleep to waking that proved so
difficult a thing for most earth folk. Above him raced
(14:54):
the long light passenger fliers, plying, each in its proper plane,
which was beween the numerous landing stages for internal passenger traffic.
Landing stages that tower high into the heavens are for
the great international passenger liners. Freighters have other landing stages
at various lower levels, to within a couple hundred feet
(15:15):
of the ground. Nor dare any flyer rise or drop
from one plane to another, except in certain restricted districts
where horizontal traffic is forbidden. Along the close cropped sward
which paves the avenue, ground flyers were moving in continuous
lines in opposite directions. For the greater part they skimmed
along the surface of the sward, soaring gracefully into the air,
(15:38):
at times to pass over a slower going driver ahead,
or at intersections where the north and south traffic has
the right of way and the east and west must
rise above it. From private hangars. Upon many a rooftop
flyers were darting into the line of traffic, gay farewells
and parting admonitions mingled with the whirring of motors and
(15:59):
the subdued noises of the city. Yet with all the
swift movement and the countless thousands rushing hither and thither,
the predominant suggestion was that of luxurious ease and soft noiselessness.
Martians dislike harsh, discordant clamor. The only loud noises they
(16:19):
can abide are the martial sounds of war, the clash
of arms, the collision of two mighty dreadnoughts of the air.
To them, there is no sweeter music than this. At
the intersection of two broad avenues, vas Kor descended from
the street level to one of the great pneumatic stations
of the city. Here he paid, before little Wicket the
(16:42):
fare to his destination with a couple of the dull
oval coins of helium. Beyond the gate keeper, he came
to a slowly moving line of what to earthly eyes
would have appeared to be conical nosed eight foot projectiles
for some giant gun. In slow procession, the things moved
in single file along a grooved track. A half dozen
(17:05):
attendants assisted passengers to enter, or directed those carriers to
their proper destination. The vast core approached one that was empty.
Upon its nose was a dial and a pointer. He
set the pointer for a certain station, and Greater Helium
raised the arched lid of the thing, stepped in and
laid down upon the upholstered bottom. An attendant closed the lid,
(17:30):
which locked with a little click, and the carrier continued
its slow way. Presently, it switched itself automatically to another
track to enter a moment later, one of the series
of dark mouthed tubes. The instant that its entire length
was within the black aperture, it sprang forward with the
(17:50):
speed of a rifle ball. There was an instant of whizzing,
a soft though sudden stop, and slowly the carrier emerged
upon another platform. Another attendant raised the lid and vas
kor stepped out at the station beneath the center of
Greater Helium, seventy five miles from the point at which
he had embarked. Here, he sought the street level, stepping
(18:14):
immediately into a waiting ground flier. He spoke no word
to the slaves sitting in the driver's seat. It was
evident that he had been expected, and that the fellow
had received his instructions before his coming. Scarcely had vas
Kor taken his seat when the flier went quickly into
the fast moving procession, turning presently from the broad and
(18:35):
crowded avenues into a less congested street. Presently it left
the thronged district behind to enter a section of small shops,
where it stopped before the entrance to one which bore
the sign of a dealer in foreign silks. Vas Kor
entered the low ceiling room. A man at the far
end motioned him toward an inner apartment, giving no further
(18:57):
sign of recognition until he had passed the inn after
the collar and closed the door. Then he faced his visitor,
saluting deferentially. Most noble, he commenced, but Vaskort silenced him
with a gesture no formalities. He said, we must forget
that I am aught other than your slave. If all
(19:19):
has been as carefully carried out as it has been planned,
we have no time to waste. Instead, we should be
upon our way to the slave market. Are you ready?
The merchant nodded, and, turning to a great chest, produced
the unemblazoned trappings of a slave. These Vaskors immediately dawned.
(19:40):
Then the two passed from the shop through a rear door,
traversed a winding alley to an avenue beyond where they
entered a flier which awaited them. Five minutes later, the
merchant was leading his slave to the public market, where
a great concourse of people filled the great open space
in the center of which stood the slave block. The
(20:01):
crowds were enormous to day, for Carthoris, Prince of Helium,
was to be the principal bidder. One by one, the
masters mounted the rostrum beside the sleigh block upon which
stood their chattels. Briefly and clearly, each recounted the virtues
of his particular offering. When all were done, the Majordomo
(20:23):
of the Prince of Helium recalled to the block such
as had favorably impressed him. For such he had made
a fair offer. There was little haggling as to price,
and none at all when vascort was placed upon the block.
His merchant master accepted the first offer that was made
for him, and thus a Dusarian noble entered the house
(20:45):
of Carthoris. End of Chapter two
Chapter two Slavery. As the ruler of Ptarth, followed by
his courtiers, descended from the landing stage above the palace,
the servants dropped into their places in the rear of
their royal or noble masters, and behind the others. One
lingered to the last, then, quickly stooping, he snatched the
(00:23):
sandal from his right foot, slipping it into his pocket pouch.
When the party had come to the lower levels, and
the Jeddak had dispersed them by a sign, none noticed
that the forward fellow, who had drawn so much attention
to himself before the Prince of Helium departed, was no
longer among the other servants to whose retinue he had
(00:45):
been attached. None had thought to inquire, For the followers
of a martian noble are many, coming and going at
the whim of their master, so that a new face
is scarcely ever questioned, as the fact that the man
has passed within the palace walls is considered proof positive
that his loyalty to the Jeddak is beyond question. So
(01:05):
rigid is the examination of each who seeks service with
the nobles of the court, A good rule that and
only relaxed by courtesy in favor of the retinue of
visiting royalty from a friendly foreign power. It was late
in the morning of the next day that a giant
serving man, in the harness of the house of a
(01:26):
great ptarth noble, passed out into the city from the
palace gates. Along one broad avenue and then another. He
strode briskly until he had passed beyond the district of
nobles and had come to the place of shops. Here
he sought a pretentious building that rose spirelike toward the heavens,
(01:47):
its outer walls elaborately wrought with delicate carvings and intricate mosaics.
It was the Palace of Peace, in which were housed
the representatives of the foreign powers, or rather in which
were located their embassies. For the ministers themselves dwelt in
gorgeous palaces within the district occupied by the nobles. Here
(02:11):
the man sought the embassy of Dusar. A clerk arose
questioningly as he entered, and that his request to have
a word with the minister. Asked his credentials, the visitor
slipped a plain metal armlet from above his elbow, and
pointing to an inscription upon its inner surface, whispered a
word or two to the clerk. The latter's eyes went wide,
(02:34):
and his attitude turned at once to one of deference.
He bowed the stranger to a seat and hastened to
an inner room with the armlet in his hand. A
moment later he reappeared and conducted the caller into the
presence of the minister. For a long time the two
were closeted together, and when at last the giant serving
(02:55):
man emerged from the inner office, his expression was cast
in a smile of sinner mister satisfaction. From the Palace
of Peace, he hurried directly to the palace of the
Dusarian Minister. That night, two swift fliers left the same
palace top. One sped its rapid course toward Helium. The other,
(03:19):
Thuvia of Ptarth, strolled in the gardens of her father's palace,
as was her nightly custom. Before retiring. Her silks and
furs were drawn about her. For the air of Mars
is chill. After the sun had taken his quick plunge
beneath the planet's western verge, the girl's thoughts wandered from
her impending nuptuels that would make her Empress of Cowl
(03:41):
to the person of the trim young Heliumite who had
laid his heart at her feet the preceding day. Whether
it was pity or regret that saddened her expression as
she gazed toward the southern heavens, where she had watched
the lights of his flier disappear the previous night, it
would be difficult to say, so, too, is it impossible
(04:03):
to conjecture just what her emotions may have been as
she discerned the lights of a flier speeding rapidly out
of the distance from that very direction, as though impelled
toward her garden by the very intensity of the princess's thoughts.
She saw its circle lower above the palace until she
was positive that it but hovered in preparation for a landing. Presently,
(04:28):
the powerful rays of its searchlight shot downward from the bow.
They fell upon the landing stage for a brief instant,
revealing the figures of the Parthian guards, picking into brilliant
points of fire the gems upon their gorgeous harnesses. Then
the blazing eyes swept onward across the burnished domes and
graceful minarets down into court and park and garden, to
(04:52):
pause at last upon the air site bench, and the
girl standing there beside it, her face upturned full toward
the flier. For but an instant the searchlight halted upon
Thuvia of Ptarth. Then it was extinguished, as suddenly as
it had come to life. The flier passed on above her,
to disappear beyond a grove of lofty skeel trees that
(05:14):
grew within the palace grounds. The girl stood for some
time as it had left her, except that her head
was bent and her eyes downcast in thought. Who but
Carthoris could it have been? She tried to feel anger
that he should have returned, thus spying upon her, But
she found it difficult to be angry with the young
(05:35):
Prince of Helium. What mad Caprice could have indulged him
to so transgress the etiquette of nations for lesser things
great powers had gone to war. The princess in her
was shocked and angered. But what of the girl and
the guard? What of them? Evidently they too had been
(05:58):
so much surprised by the unprecedented action of the stranger
that they had not even challenged. But that they had
no thought to let the thing go unnoticed was quickly
evidenced by the scurring of motors upon the landing stage
and the quick shooting airward of a long lined patrol boat.
Thuvio watched it dart swiftly eastward, So too did other
(06:19):
eyes watch. Within the dense shadows of the skeel grove
in a wide avenue, beneath overspreading foliage, a flier hung
a dozen feet above the ground from its deck. Keen
eyes watched the far fanning searchlight of the patrol boat.
No light shone from the enshadowed craft upon its deck
(06:43):
was the silence of the tomb. Its crew of a
half dozen red warriors watched the lights of the patrol
boat diminishing in the distance. The intellects of our ancestors
are with us to night, said one in a low tone.
No plan ever carried better, returned another. They did precisely
as the Prince foretold. He who had first spoken turned
(07:07):
toward the man who squatted before the control board. Now
he whispered. There was no other order given. Every man
upon the craft had evidently been well schooled in each
detail of that night's work. Silently the dark hull crept
beneath the cathedral arches of the dark and silent grove.
(07:29):
Thuvia of Ptarth, gazing toward the east, saw the blacker
blot against the darkness of the trees. As the craft
topped the buttress garden wall, she saw the dim bulk
inclined gently downward toward the scarlet sward of the garden.
She knew that men came not thus with honorable intent,
(07:50):
Yet she did not cry aloud to alarm the nearby guardsmen,
nor did she flee to the safety of the palace.
Why I can see her shri rug her shapely shoulders
in reply as she voices the age old universal answer
of the woman because scarce had the flier touched the ground.
(08:11):
When four men leaped from its deck, they ran forward
toward the girl. Still she made no sign of alarm,
standing as though hypnotized, or could it have been, as
one who awaited a welcome visitor. Not until they were
quite close to her did she move. Then the nearer moon,
(08:31):
rising above the surrounding foliage, touched their faces, lighting all
with the brilliancy of her silver rays. Thuvia of Ptarth
saw only strangers, warriors in the harness of Dusar. Now
she took fright, but too late. Before she could voice,
but a single cry, rough hands seized her. A heavy
(08:54):
silken scarf was wound about her head. She was lifted
in strong arms and borne to the deck of the flower.
There was the sudden whirl of propellers, a rushing of
air against her body, and from far beneath, the shouting
and challenge from the guard. Racing toward the south, another
flier sped toward Helium. In its cabin, a tall red
(09:15):
man bent over the soft soul of an upturned sandal.
With delicate instruments, he measured the faint imprint of a
small object, which appeared there upon a pad. Beside him
was the outline of a key, and here he noted
the results of his measurements. A smile played upon his
lips as he completed his task and turned to one
(09:37):
who waited at the opposite side of the table. The
man is a genius, he remarked. Only a genius could
have evolved such a lock as this is designed to
spring Here, take the sketch, Larrac, and give all thine
own genius full and unfettered freedom and reproducing it in metal.
The warrior outificer bowed man build not He said that
(10:02):
man may not destroy. Then he left the cabin with
the sketch. As dawn broke upon the lofty towers which
marked the twin cities of Helium, the scarlet tower of
one and the yellow tower of its sister, a flier
floated lazily out of the north. Upon its bow was
emblazoned insignia of a lesser noble, of a far city
(10:25):
of the Empire of Helium. Its leisurely approach and the
evident confidence with which it moved across the city aroused
no suspicion in the minds of the sleepy guard. There,
round of duty nearly done, they had little thought beyond
the coming of those who were to relieve them. Peace
reigned throughout Helium, stagnant, emasculating peace. Helium had no enemies.
(10:50):
There was nought to fear. Without haste, the nearest air
patrol swung sluggishly about and approached the stranger at easy
speaking distance. The officer upon her deck hailed the incoming craft,
the cheery kowor, and the plausible explanation that the owner
had come from distant parts for a few days of
(11:11):
pleasure in gay Helium sufficed the air patrol boat sheered off,
passing again upon its way. The stranger continued toward a
public landing stage, where she dropped into the ways and
came to rest. At about the same time a warrior
entered her cabin. It is done, Vaskor, he said, handing
(11:34):
a small metal key to the tall noble, who had
just risen from his sleeping silks and furs. Good exclaimed
the latter. You must have worked upon it all during
the night, Larok. The warrior nodded. Now, fetch me the
heliumetic metal you wrought some days since, commanded Vaskor. This done.
(11:56):
The warrior assisted his master to replace the handsome jeweled
metas of his harness with the plainer ornaments of an
ordinary fighting man of Helium, and with this insignia of
the same house that appeared upon the bow of the flier.
Vast Corps breakfasted on board. Then he emerged upon the
aerial dock, entered an elevator, and was borne quickly to
(12:17):
the street below, where he was soon engulfed by the
early morning throng of workers hastening to their daily duties
among them. His warrior trappings were no more remarkable than
as a pair of trousers upon Broadway. All Martian men
are warriors, save those physically unable to bear arms. The
tradesmen and his clerk clank with their martial trappings as
(12:40):
they pursue their vocations. The schoolboy, coming into the world
as he does, almost adult from the snowy shell that
has encompassed his development for five long years, knows so
little of life without a sword at his hip that
he would feel the same discomfiture at going abroad unarmed
that an earth boy would Expelians in walking the streets.
(13:01):
Knickerbockerless vast Corp's destination lay in Greater Helium, which lies
some seventy five miles across the level plain from Lesser Helium.
He had landed at the latter city because the air
patrol is less suspicious and alert than that above the
larger metropolis, where lies the Palace of the Jeddak. As
(13:24):
he moved with the throng in the park like canyon
of the Thoroughfare, the life of an awakening Martian city
was in evidence about him. Houses raised high upon their
slender metal columns, for the night were dropping gently toward
the ground among the flowers. Upon the scarlet sward which
lies about the buildings. Children were already playing, and comely
(13:45):
women laughing and chatting with their neighbors as they called
gorgeous blossoms for the vases within doors. The pleasant care
of the Borsomian greeting fell continually upon the ears of
the stranger, as friends and neighbors took up the duties
of a new day. The district in which he had
landed was residential, a district of merchants of the more
(14:06):
prosperous sort. Everywhere were evidences of luxury and wealth. Slaves
appeared upon every housetop with gorgeous silks and costly furs,
laying them in the sun for erring jewel Encrusted women
lulled even thus early upon the carved balconies before their
sleeping apartments. Later in the day they would repair to
(14:29):
their roofs. When the slaves had arranged couches and pitched
silken canopies to shade them from the sun, strains of
inspiring music broke pleasantly from open windows. For the Martians
have solved the problem of attuning the nerves pleasantly to
the sudden transition from sleep to waking that proved so
difficult a thing for most earth folk. Above him raced
(14:54):
the long light passenger fliers, plying, each in its proper plane,
which was beween the numerous landing stages for internal passenger traffic.
Landing stages that tower high into the heavens are for
the great international passenger liners. Freighters have other landing stages
at various lower levels, to within a couple hundred feet
(15:15):
of the ground. Nor dare any flyer rise or drop
from one plane to another, except in certain restricted districts
where horizontal traffic is forbidden. Along the close cropped sward
which paves the avenue, ground flyers were moving in continuous
lines in opposite directions. For the greater part they skimmed
along the surface of the sward, soaring gracefully into the air,
(15:38):
at times to pass over a slower going driver ahead,
or at intersections where the north and south traffic has
the right of way and the east and west must
rise above it. From private hangars. Upon many a rooftop
flyers were darting into the line of traffic, gay farewells
and parting admonitions mingled with the whirring of motors and
(15:59):
the subdued noises of the city. Yet with all the
swift movement and the countless thousands rushing hither and thither,
the predominant suggestion was that of luxurious ease and soft noiselessness.
Martians dislike harsh, discordant clamor. The only loud noises they
(16:19):
can abide are the martial sounds of war, the clash
of arms, the collision of two mighty dreadnoughts of the air.
To them, there is no sweeter music than this. At
the intersection of two broad avenues, vas Kor descended from
the street level to one of the great pneumatic stations
of the city. Here he paid, before little Wicket the
(16:42):
fare to his destination with a couple of the dull
oval coins of helium. Beyond the gate keeper, he came
to a slowly moving line of what to earthly eyes
would have appeared to be conical nosed eight foot projectiles
for some giant gun. In slow procession, the things moved
in single file along a grooved track. A half dozen
(17:05):
attendants assisted passengers to enter, or directed those carriers to
their proper destination. The vast core approached one that was empty.
Upon its nose was a dial and a pointer. He
set the pointer for a certain station, and Greater Helium
raised the arched lid of the thing, stepped in and
laid down upon the upholstered bottom. An attendant closed the lid,
(17:30):
which locked with a little click, and the carrier continued
its slow way. Presently, it switched itself automatically to another
track to enter a moment later, one of the series
of dark mouthed tubes. The instant that its entire length
was within the black aperture, it sprang forward with the
(17:50):
speed of a rifle ball. There was an instant of whizzing,
a soft though sudden stop, and slowly the carrier emerged
upon another platform. Another attendant raised the lid and vas
kor stepped out at the station beneath the center of
Greater Helium, seventy five miles from the point at which
he had embarked. Here, he sought the street level, stepping
(18:14):
immediately into a waiting ground flier. He spoke no word
to the slaves sitting in the driver's seat. It was
evident that he had been expected, and that the fellow
had received his instructions before his coming. Scarcely had vas
Kor taken his seat when the flier went quickly into
the fast moving procession, turning presently from the broad and
(18:35):
crowded avenues into a less congested street. Presently it left
the thronged district behind to enter a section of small shops,
where it stopped before the entrance to one which bore
the sign of a dealer in foreign silks. Vas Kor
entered the low ceiling room. A man at the far
end motioned him toward an inner apartment, giving no further
(18:57):
sign of recognition until he had passed the inn after
the collar and closed the door. Then he faced his visitor,
saluting deferentially. Most noble, he commenced, but Vaskort silenced him
with a gesture no formalities. He said, we must forget
that I am aught other than your slave. If all
(19:19):
has been as carefully carried out as it has been planned,
we have no time to waste. Instead, we should be
upon our way to the slave market. Are you ready?
The merchant nodded, and, turning to a great chest, produced
the unemblazoned trappings of a slave. These Vaskors immediately dawned.
(19:40):
Then the two passed from the shop through a rear door,
traversed a winding alley to an avenue beyond where they
entered a flier which awaited them. Five minutes later, the
merchant was leading his slave to the public market, where
a great concourse of people filled the great open space
in the center of which stood the slave block. The
(20:01):
crowds were enormous to day, for Carthoris, Prince of Helium,
was to be the principal bidder. One by one, the
masters mounted the rostrum beside the sleigh block upon which
stood their chattels. Briefly and clearly, each recounted the virtues
of his particular offering. When all were done, the Majordomo
(20:23):
of the Prince of Helium recalled to the block such
as had favorably impressed him. For such he had made
a fair offer. There was little haggling as to price,
and none at all when vascort was placed upon the block.
His merchant master accepted the first offer that was made
for him, and thus a Dusarian noble entered the house
(20:45):
of Carthoris. End of Chapter two
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