a princess of mars-第33章
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Dejah Thoris。 Only her death I felt sure; could account for
his absence from her; so faithful I knew him to be to my
commands。
By the light of the now brilliant moons I saw that he was
but a shadow of his former self; and as he turned from my
caress and commenced greedily to devour the dead carcass
at my feet I realized that the poor fellow was more than half
starved。 I; myself; was in but little better plight but I could
not bring myself to eat the uncooked flesh and I had no
means of making a fire。 When Woola had finished his meal
I again took up my weary and seemingly endless wandering
in quest of the elusive waterway。
At daybreak of the fifteenth day of my search I was overjoyed
to see the high trees that denoted the object of my search。
About noon I dragged myself wearily to the portals of a
huge building which covered perhaps four square miles
and towered two hundred feet in the air。 It showed no
aperture in the mighty walls other than the tiny door at which
I sank exhausted; nor was there any sign of life about it。
I could find no bell or other method of making my presence
known to the inmates of the place; unless a small round
role in the wall near the door was for that purpose。 It was
of about the bigness of a lead pencil and thinking that it
might be in the nature of a speaking tube I put my mouth to
it and was about to call into it when a voice issued from it
asking me whom I might be; where from; and the nature of
my errand。
I explained that I had escaped from the Warhoons and
was dying of starvation and exhaustion。
〃You wear the metal of a green warrior and are followed
by a calot; yet you are of the figure of a red man。 In color
you are neither green nor red。 In the name of the ninth day;
what manner of creature are you?〃
〃I am a friend of the red men of Barsoom and I am starving。
In the name of humanity open to us;〃 I replied。
Presently the door commenced to recede before me until it had
sunk into the wall fifty feet; then it stopped and slid easily
to the left; exposing a short; narrow corridor of concrete;
at the further end of which was another door; similar in
every respect to the one I had just passed。 No one was in
sight; yet immediately we passed the first door it slid gently
into place behind us and receded rapidly to its original position
in the front wall of the building。 As the door had slipped
aside I had noted its great thickness; fully twenty feet; and
as it reached its place once more after closing behind us;
great cylinders of steel had dropped from the ceiling behind
it and fitted their lower ends into apertures countersunk in
the floor。
A second and third door receded before me and slipped to one
side as the first; before I reached a large inner chamber
where I found food and drink set out upon a great stone table。
A voice directed me to satisfy my hunger and to feed
my calot; and while I was thus engaged my invisible host
put me through a severe and searching cross…examination。
〃Your statements are most remarkable;〃 said the voice; on
concluding its questioning; 〃but you are evidently speaking the
truth; and it is equally evident that you are not of Barsoom。
I can tell that by the conformation of your brain and the
strange location of your internal organs and the shape and
size of your heart。〃
〃Can you see through me?〃 I exclaimed。
〃Yes; I can see all but your thoughts; and were you a Barsoomian
I could read those。〃
Then a door opened at the far side of the chamber and a
strange; dried up; little mummy of a man came toward me。
He wore but a single article of clothing or adornment; a
small collar of gold from which depended upon his chest a
great ornament as large as a dinner plate set solid with huge
diamonds; except for the exact center which was occupied
by a strange stone; an inch in diameter; that scintillated nine
different and distinct rays; the seven colors of our earthly
prism and two beautiful rays which; to me; were new and
nameless。 I cannot describe them any more than you could
describe red to a blind man。 I only know that they were
beautiful in the extreme。
The old man sat and talked with me for hours; and the
strangest part of our intercourse was that I could read his
every thought while he could not fathom an iota from my
mind unless I spoke。
I did not apprise him of my ability to sense his mental
operations; and thus I learned a great deal which proved of
immense value to me later and which I would never have
known had he suspected my strange power; for the Martians
have such perfect control of their mental machinery that they
are able to direct their thoughts with absolute precision。
The building in which I found myself contained the machinery
which produces that artificial atmosphere which sustains
life on Mars。 The secret of the entire process hinges on
the use of the ninth ray; one of the beautiful scintillations
which I had noted emanating from the great stone in my
host's diadem。
This ray is separated from the other rays of the sun by
means of finely adjusted instruments placed upon the roof
of the huge building; three…quarters of which is used for
reservoirs in which the ninth ray is stored。 This product is
then treated electrically; or rather certain proportions of
refined electric vibrations are incorporated with it; and the
result is then pumped to the five principal air centers of the
planet where; as it is released; contact with the ether of
space transforms it into atmosphere。
There is always sufficient reserve of the ninth ray stored in
the great building to maintain the present Martian atmosphere for
a thousand years; and the only fear; as my new friend told me;
was that some accident might befall the pumping apparatus。
He led me to an inner chamber where I beheld a battery
of twenty radium pumps any one of which was equal to the
task of furnishing all Mars with the atmosphere compound。
For eight hundred years; he told me; he had watched these
pumps which are used alternately a day each at a stretch; or
a little over twenty…four and one…half Earth hours。 He has one
assistant who divides the watch with him。 Half a Martian
year; about three hundred and forty…four of our days; each
of these men spend alone in this huge; isolated plant。
Every red Martian is taught during earliest childhood the
principles of the manufacture of atmosphere; but only two
at one time ever hold the secret of ingress to the great building;
which; built as it is with walls a hundred and fifty feet
thick; is absolutely unassailable; even the roof being guarded
from assault by air craft by a glass covering five feet thick。
The only fear they entertain of attack is from the green
Martians or some demented red man; as all Barsoomians
realize that the very existence of every form of life of Mars
is dependent upon the uninterrupted working of this plant。
One curious fact I discovered as I watched his thoughts
was that the outer doors are manipulated by telepathic
means。 The locks are so finely adjusted that the doors are
released by the action of a certain combination of thought
waves。 To experiment with my new…found toy I thought to
surprise him into revealing this combination and so I asked
him in a casual manner how he had managed to unlock the
massive doors for me from the inner chambers of the building。
As quick as a flash there leaped to his mind nine Martian sounds;
but as quickly faded as he answered that this was a secret
he must not divulge。
From then on his manner toward me changed as though he feared
that he had been surprised into divulging his great secret;
and I read suspicion and fear in his looks and thoughts;
though his words were still fair。
Before I retired for the night he promised to give me a
letter to a nearby agricultural officer who would help me on
my way to