'We know it must have been a very long time ago,' returned the Professor.
The sedimentary rock tells us that. Silt doesn't become stone in a few hours. Let us not forget that at the time men were here there were also large animals, birds or reptiles. They, too, have gone, leaving only their tracks to tell us they existed. One thing is certain; something must have dried the surface mud of the river bed very quickly or the tracks would have been erased by the weather.'
'Thinking about it, I believe those tracks were only re-cently exposed,'
said Rex. They might have been under sand. There was a lot of sand about, some of it heaped up as if by the wind.'
'The big storm while the Andoans were here might have shifted the sand,'
opined Toby.
Of course, forms of life do disappear in the course of time, from causes natural or otherwise,' went on the Pro-fessor, looking at the others over his spectacles. Sometimes the reason can be conjectured, sometimes not.
Hundreds of creatures, many of them monsters, have disappeared from Earth. Let us suppose that Rex has seen the footprints of a large bird.
It would be a reasonable supposition, since the people who lived here must have known about feathers - as is proved by the idol. If we ask ourselves why did that bird disappear from Arcadia we might as well ask why did that giant bird, the Moa, disappear from Earth. Its bones are still found in New Zealand. In Madagascar the digging of its enormous eggs from the mud, for collectors and museums, still provides a livelihood for some of the natives. That mud will doubtless harden as time goes on, as it has hardened here. New Zealand and Madagascar are islands in seas of water. Arcadia is an island in a sea of space. Broadly speaking there is little difference, so it should not astonish us that a large bird once dwelt here.'
The conditions that killed the bird may have killed the people,'
suggested Toby.
Quite so. I have great hopes that the interior of the cave may tell us something. If these people were cave dwellers they will certainly have left evidence of it. Tomorrow morning we will go and investigate. Once upon a time the conditions here must have been the same as now, or even more congenial. A terrible visitation, a major calamity, may have wrought the havoc. After it had passed the place would return to normal, with all living things, on land and in the water, dead. There are no fish in the water now; but there must have been fish here at one time for you say you found a fossil. If the water became ice, or became very hot, the result would be the same. The fish would die. From the condition of the body Rex found I would say that excessive heat was the cause of the catastrophe.
We are told that even now the orbit of this planet takes it uncomfortably close to the Sun. Even a slight varia-tion, therefore, brought about by some change in the galaxy - and we know such things do happen - would put an end to all life, leaving such evidence as Rex has seen.'
'What about the vegetation? ' prompted Tiger.
The Professor shrugged. That would probably be destroyed at the same time. But seeds deep down in the ground might survive. Brought to the surface by wind erosion they would germinate. Again, seeds could have been carried here.
Our friends say they are. The thistles, for example. Whether the disaster here happened ten thousand years ago, or ten.
million, need not concern us. But we may be sure it happened.
should have thought it did concern us,' countered Tiger, knocking out his pipe, for he was taking full advantage of this opportunity to smoke.
'And what, my dear fellow, do you mean by that?' in-quired the Professor.
was thinking that the orbit of this particular lump of mud may not be constant. By which I mean that at certain intervals the proximity of another planetoid might change its course so that it passed much nearer to the sun than usual.'
'Well?'
'It struck me that if you persist in this idea of yours, of staying here and taking a ride round the orbit, so to speak, you may strike the very trip when everything is due for its periodical scorching.'
The Professor stared, his spectacles slipping slowly to the end of his nose. didn't think of that,' he confessed. 'But then, the idea came to me before Rex made his startling discoveries. I shall certainly reconsider the project in the light of this unexpected information.'
Vargo, who had been listening intently, now stepped into the conversation. The matter did not seem worth mention-ing before, but I think I had better tell you now that our new friends, who have been here for several sun-cycles, are of the opinion that at the peak of each successive cycle the heat was greater than on the previous occasion. That can only mean a nearer approach to the Sun. This cycle will be hotter than the last. They believe that eventually, although it may not happen for a long while, this planetoid will, in passing too close to the Sun, be drawn into it, causing one of those scars which are sometimes observed, and which I have heard you call sunspots.'
Silence fell. The Professor combed his untidy hair with his fingers.
Tiger refilled his pipe from a pouch that was nearly empty. Toby poked the fire. Rex nibbled a root, rather like a parsnip, which the Andoans had said was good to eat.
I think,' said the Professor, slowly, at last, 'that the sooner we remove ourselves from this pretty, but apparently un-reliable, little world, the better. I would not like to go, though, without seeing with my own eyes, the fascinating relics of the past which Rex has so fortunately found. We will go first thing in the morning. When we return, if Borron is ready, we will proceed on our way home.'
Vargo said he thought it would be the sensible thing to do.
As it was now dark Rex stretched himself out on the warm sand and prepared for sleep.
Lying on his back he gazed at a sky ablaze with stars. It was hard to believe that he might have set foot on some of them. It was even harder to believe that he was lying on one at that moment; and that perhaps far away on Earth, an astronomer, with his eye to his telescope, was working out the orbit of the planetoid which they had named Arcadia, but which on Earth was known only by a number. 12 A tragedy of the past The following morning there was unusual activity in the camp, and daybreak found them, with Vargo in the party, on the way to the cave. Vargo had an idea that the body Rex had found might be that of a castaway Spaceman, but this turned out to be not the case.
Arriving at the ancient river bed Rex showed them the tracks and the fossilized fish, which the Professor declared was a very early form, having fins that were feet to enable it to leave the water and travel overland. Investigation revealed others, notably some large shells embedded in, the rock.
They went on to the cave, into which the light of the rising sun was now creeping, giving the place a less repellent atmo-sphere than when Rex had found it in the afternoon.
Torches which they had made were now lighted, and after a pause to allow the Professor to glance at the bones lying about they went inside.
They stopped, of course, at the body, and the Professor went down on his hands and knees to make a thorough examination of it, for naturally he was anxious to determine what manner of man it had been. Even to Rex's amateur eyes this had been no brutish ape-man. With a straight back, broad shoulders and a well-balanced head he might have been a modern athlete. Only the forehead was rather low and the jaw prominent. Looking down at the empty eye sockets Rex found himself wondering on what images they had once gazed, on what strange scenes and uncouth creatures.
The Professor gave it as his opinion that the body had been reduced to its present condition by excessive heat. In fact, he was sure of it, for marks of scorching could still be seen.
Passing on they came to a number of roughly squared pieces of rock that had evidently been used as chairs. It must have been here that hunters had sat to discuss the day's sport, for lying about were implements, mostly of unpolished ffint. The odd thought struck Rex that the homes of the earliest Britons must have looked something like this, perhaps at the very time that tragedy came to Arcadia.
As
they walked on, slowly, pointing to a weapon here and a dusty earthenware pot there, it soon became clear that the man, the body of whom Rex had found, had not died alone.
Others in increasing numbers could be seen lying on the dusty floor. The Professor stopped beside one. 'A woman,' he said, and pointed to a string of shells, a necklace, that she held in her hand. From the way it was held out in front of her it might have been her most cherished possession, which she was determined to save. A little girl wore a bracelet of col-oured stones. How little she could have guessed, reflected Rex morbidly, that her little treasure would be gazed upon by men untold ages after she had ceased to be.
In the female, personal adornment is not a modern habit,' observed the Professor drily.
Still little guessing what lay ahead they came upon an object that brought a cry of amazement to the Professor's lips. It was the body of a man, but in his arms, holding it under him as if for protection, was an animal. Without any doubt whatever it was a dog.
Well, that is a knockout,' muttered Tiger.
It is something which you, as a hunter, should appreciate,' said the Professor, in a moved voice. One day in the dim past, how long ago no one knows and will never know, a man, for the first time, went hunting with an animal by his side - the animal which, by its loyalty and devotion, has drawn nearer to him than any other. A dog. What a partnership that has been! The dog with a nose to scent the game, the speed to bring it to bay and the teeth to hold it until his master ran up with a club to kill it. That was in the days when to eat meant to kill, and failure to kill, death by starvation. Well, in a million years of faith and understanding men and dogs have got to know each other well. Would that all men had the same regard for each other. This poor fellow died trying to save his dog.
Let us salute him.'
Moving on, a short distance took them to what turned out to be the end of the cave, and there such a spectacle met their gaze that Rex shrank back in horror. It was packed with bodies. What had happened was plain enough to see. The people, men, women and children, flying from the devastat-ing heat outside, had pressed into the cave until they could go no farther.
But there was no escape. The fire demon had followed them in, and there they had died, being, as the Professor averred in an awe-stricken voice, literally roasted to death. And thus had their poor dried-out bodies been preserved.
Rex felt ill with emotion. How many other worlds, civilized or otherwise, had ended like this? he wondered. Would this, one day, be the end of Earth? Trying to dismiss the awful thought, he turned and walked away.
The others very soon followed him, and stood to recover their composure just outside the entrance.
What a terrible, ruthless, merciless thing the Universe is,' said the Professor in a melancholy voice. Terrible - terrible - terrible. And what puny creatures we are, to be sure. The lives of these poor wretches were snuffed out like the flame of a candle with no more compassion than the people of Pompeii were snuffed out of existence by the eruption of Vesuvius two thousand years ago. We cry out against hydro-gen bombs, and rightly so, for it is not difficult to imagine such a scene as this on Earth should a madman get one in his
hands. Yet people go on squabbling and scrambling over trifles with this awful threat hanging over their heads. Amaz-ing, isn't it? Let us go away from this depressing place with its awful picture of inevitable doom. I'm almost sorry you found it, Rex. I would have preferred to take away with me less harrowing memories of what we prematurely named Arcadia.'
In almost funereal procession, oppressed by the drama of what they had seen, they started back for the ship. For a little while Rex was too much a prey to melancholy to pay much attention to personal discomfort but it dawned on him pre-sently that it was exceptionally hot. They sought shade as much as possible, but at times they were forced into the open, and at such times the direct rays of the sun. seemed to burn the skin. Even so he gave no serious thought to it, for he knew they were approaching the Sun and that high summer was exceptionally hot. The Andoans had said so.
But he had not thought that a single day could make such a difference.
More than once he noticed Vargo looking at the sky as though he was puzzled, but he did not question him as to the reason.
It was not until they came in sight of the ship, and he saw everyone in a group staring upward, that he had reason to suppose that something unusual was happening. The others must have realized it, too, for there was a general quickening of the pace. Borron, seeing them coming, beckoned as if the matter was urgent. They needed no other encouragement to hurry.
As they joined the group Borron said something tersely in his own language to Vargo, and he in turn looked up. So did Rex, his eyes on that section of the sky that seemed the focal point of interest. At first he could see nothing clearly on account of the glare of the Sun, but by shading his eyes with his hands he made out an exceptionally bright star close to the Sun. He knew at once that for a star to be seen at all in such conditions, with the naked eye, could only mean that it was of exceptional size. Being so near the Sun it would of course be brilliant.
The Professor said: 'What is it?'
Vargo answered, 'It is the planet which you call Mercury.'
On the face of it there was little in this statement to cause alarm, for Mercury is the planet nearest to the Sun, and so far under the influence of its gravity that it is unable to revolve, and for ever keeps the same side turned towards its mighty parent, as the Moon does to Earth. For the rest, all Rex knew about it was that it had an eccentric orbit, was less than half the size of Earth, and that from Earth it could be seen only at dawn. and dusk. Obviously, they were now much closer to it, and therefore closer to the Sun. Which in turn meant that they were a long way from Mino, considerably farther than they had supposed. What had happened was clear. Sitting quietly on Arcadia they had been hurtling to-wards the Sun at a velocity beyond anything that had been imagined, even by the experts in the party. This accounted for the sudden rise in temperature. In a word, in allowing Arcadia to take them nearer home they had overshot the mark by a considerable margin.
Was Arcadia off its course? Had it, too, an. eccentric orbit? Was it on its way to another holocaust? Was its velocity constant, or was it increasing as it neared the gravitational attraction of Mercury, or the Sun? These were the thoughts that flashed through Rex's head as he helped with prepara-tions for departure. From the speed with which these were being made, without even a pause to discuss the situation, it was manifest that the old hands among the professional space-men did not like the look of things and were anxious to be off. Their alarm was not expressed in words, but Rex could sense it, and it was therefore with relief that he went through the discomfort of acceleration, and presently, through his window, saw the planetoid of mixed memories dropping away below in a sky which, as they shot out of the atmosphere, turned from blue to indigo, and then to black.
Was it on its way to destruction? he mused. He hoped not, for he had spent some happy hours there and had developed a regard for it. Would it survive and return to its normal orbit shorn of its vegetation by the merciless solar rays to start life all over again or would it plunge into the sun and be lost for ever? There was, of course, no answer to these questions, questions really too stupendous for the human mind to grasp.
Tiger must have been thinking on the same lines, for he broke a silence that had lasted for some time by saying: I fancy it was a lucky break for you, Professor, that we hadn't already departed, leaving you to take your joyride round Old Fieryface.' He smiled. '
Moral: never take a trip on an un-known orbit.'
'Experience teaches,' answered the Professor tritely. 'After this be sure I never shall. Tell us, Vargo, are we out of danger?'
think so.'
'You only think so?'
'In space there is always danger,' said Vargo cautiously.
Rex had realized this. On Arcadia he had looked with horror at the damage that had been done to the Andoan ship by t
he tail of the comet. That was one thing that could happen, and the best pilot in the Universe would be unable to prevent it. Would future travellers risk space travel know-ing that that sort of thing could happen? Presumably, it seemed, since the present generation accepted the risks of ordinary air travel, which was not without its hazards from meteorological causes beyond the control of the pilot.
The Tavona sped on its way, Rex deriving some comfort from the fact that he was once more in sight of Earth. With its Moon it was conspicuous as a double star. After what he had just seen it was nice to know it was still there, and in his heart he would have welcomed a suggestion to go straight home - just to make sure that nothing awful had happened to it during their absence. But the suggestion was not made. He did not think it would be, for the Professor had left a lot of equipment on Mino and he was unlikely to go home with-out it. In any case they would have to call at Mars to see how the work there, for which they were to some extent responsi-ble, was going on. At all events, it was something that the risk of being scorched to death appeared to have passed. But had all risks passed? Apparently not, for now that things had settled down Vargo made a statement revealing what may have prompted him to evade a direct answer to the Professor's question about danger.
03 Now To The Stars Page 11
