T2 Return To Mars

by Captain W E Johns

  The Spacemaster sped on through the great loneliness, its portholes dimmed against the fierce solar rays, its cosmic jets silent now that maximum velocity had been achieved.

  The only sound was the hum of the gyro.

  Rex stared through his window at a gleaming disc still far away. Its name, on Earth, was Mars. Its colour, red - and red on Earth was a danger signal.

  Was it a warning?

  2 Little dead world

  A week later, the ochre-red globe that was the objective, its ice-capped poles glistening, was cutting a vast curve across the Spacemaster's field of view. It looked what Rex knew it to be; a place of desolation from which life had almost been liquidated by a single, all-conquering species of insect. The only physical features of any consequence were the weed-choked canals from which the mosquitoes made their daily forays in search of food, giving the planet the appearance of having been caught in a net.

  A small, dark, round spot showed where Phobos, one of Mars' two tiny satellites, was rolling along its never-ending orbit.

  For the crew of the Spacemaster the only incident to break the monotony of the long flight was the appearance, in close formation, of three small circular spaceships which had kept them company for a while before darting off at a tangent at a speed that took them out of sight in a few seconds.

  'They must wonder who we are as much as we wonder where they came from,'

  remarked the Professor. 'Did you notice how, when they left us, they moved as one machine?'

  'Which means that they were in communication with each other,' said Tiger.

  'They must have been, and I suspect it is the signals of these space-travellers that our big wireless stations are picking up. Operators on Earth have lately reported getting sounds unlike anything that could emanate from Earth. The sounds are said to be a meaningless jumble which might, however, be an unknown language.'

  'If those ships come from outer space, as you seem to think, Professor, they must be away from their bases for a very long time,' said Tiger. 'In our terms of time, yes; but perhaps not in theirs.'

  'How do you mean?' questioned Tiger. 'Time is time.'

  'It is also a matter of proportion,' averred the Professor. 'Five years to an earth-dweller would be a big slice out of his normal life-span of three score and ten; but to a man who had a life expectation of five hundred years it would be a mere nibble.'

  'Five hundred years!' exclaimed Rex.

  'Why not? Look how the life-span on earth has increased in recent years.

  More people live to be nearly a hundred than ever before. If that trend continues the average seventy years might well become ninety, or more. By the time Earth reaches the present age of Mars men might be living for hundreds of years. There are scientists and doctors who predict that.'

  'A staggering thought,' murmured Toby.

  'There is likely to be much to stagger us before we return home,'

  rejoined the Professor, dryly.

  Every hour saw the details of the objective planet become more clearly defined. Toby stared, fascinated.

  'I shall land on Phobos where I landed before,' decided the Professor.

  'You'll need your spacesuits if you get out. It will be an opportunity to test them, and the new high-frequency radio equipment. Be careful how you move or you may hurt yourselves: there'

  s very little gravity to keep you on the ground. By the way, Doctor, you remember us telling you that we found a dead man on Phobos, perfectly preserved? You might be able to form an opinion as to how long he has been dead. Another interesting question is this.

  Bearing in mind that there are dwellings on Phobos, which means that there must have been an atmosphere of sorts there at one time, did this man die as a result of the atmosphere disappearing or was the body put there after death? There's no atmosphere there now.'

  'You're sure there was, at one time?'

  'People would hardly build houses in a vacuum. Besides, I noted remains of vegetable life, such as petrified wood.' 'What could have happened to the atmosphere?'

  'Mars, or a planetoid passing close, may have dragged it away. Phobos is only a few thousand miles from Mars.'

  By this time the Professor was beginning to check the fall preparatory to landing. The cosmic jets roared. The gyro hummed. The dead little moon visibly grew larger.

  'Professor!' called Rex suddenly.

  'What is it?'

  'Somebody's been there since we were there.'

  'Indeed?'

  'There's a much larger mark than the one we made - larger than the one we found there.

  You can see it distinctly, on the same spot.'

  'He's right, Professor,' confirmed Tiger.

  'Well- well! How very interesting,' murmured the Professor. 'In view of what we know we needn't be surprised; although we might wonder why a ship should land there. We may find out.'

  The Spacemaster continued on towards a surface that was appalling in its stark monotony and utter desolation. Everywhere it was the same, without any change in colour, without outline, devoid of any sort of vegetation and without one outstanding feature to catch the eye. A naked world. It was, thought Rex, worse than any of the great deserts on Earth, because there one knew there was an end to the wilderness. Here there was no end.

  This was what Earth would be, stripped of its clothing. He shivered.

  The fact that Phobos was tiny, compared with Earth or its satellite Moon, did nothing to soften its harsh sterility. Thus it was, and thus, with never a breath of wind, a cloud, or a drop of rain, it would have to remain. That it was not entirely fiat, but ridged and corrugated, was one proof that at a period of its life it must have had an atmosphere of some sort. Petrified vegetable matter suggested water at one time, too. Now these things had gone, leaving nothing but dirt and dust and rock to be flayed by the merciless solar rays, day in and day out for ever and ever; held in the unbreakable grip of gravity, doomed to roll on and on round its allotted orbit for all eternity, unless . . .

  There was, Rex knew, an 'unless'. A wandering planet, or planetoid, or even a large meteor, thrown off its course by forces beyond human understanding, might come close enough to attract it, and so rescue it -

  or shatter it entirely.

  Rex made out the ridge-surrounded basin in which a huddle of primitive dwellings had determined the place of their previous landing. Soon the jets were setting the dust swirling. The Spacemaster's legs settled in the sand and the ship came to rest near the marks of other landings, although only one of them was their own.

  'Well, here we are,' remarked the Professor nonchalantly. 'While I am surveying the sky for possible planetoids I suggest that the Doctor is shown the body of which we told him.

  Don't be long away. An hour or so here should suffice for my purpose and enable Judkins to do a bit of tidying up. Then we'll have a meal and carry on. Test your suits in the airlock chamber before you step out. And remember, while you will have a little weight it might be only enough to be dangerous. I mention that in case in a moment of forgetfulness you might behave as if you were at home.'

  The donning of the spacesuits took some time. Tiger, Toby and Rex then entered the airlock and while the air in the chamber was released, checked the valves and radio equipment before descending the steps to solid ground.

  'Take it easy, Toby,' advised Tiger. 'You'll find the airy-fairy feeling a bit odd at first, but it's surprising how quickly you get used to it.

  The thing is to keep your feet on the ground and do nothing in a hurry.

  With so little gravity we could probably get to the houses in one jump -

  and maybe knock our brains out when we landed. This way.'

  At a slightly bouncing gait, rather as if they were trying to walk in deep water, they made their way to the house in which they had found the body of what there was reason to suppose was a man of Mars. It was still there, looking exactly the same although nearly a year had passed since they had last seen it. But it was not that which cau
sed Tiger to pull up with a cry of astonishment. There were now three bodies, lying side by side.

  All were of the same pattern; and, indeed, very much alike. Each was tall, thin, with a skin of creamy brown colour and long flaxen hair. Each was dressed in what was apparently a standard garment of coarse material, something in the style of a Roman toga, but caught in at the waist so that in walking it would look like a short tunic and skirt. Footgear was sandals of the same sort of material, but thicker and more closely woven.

  For a minute nobody spoke. Rex could only stare, conscious of a dreamlike sensation of unreality. Indeed, he had had dreams that were much More real.

  Tiger broke the silence. 'The Professor told us not to be surprised at anything, but this, I must say, takes a bit of believing. Here, at this moment, the expression "out of this world", really means something.'

  'I think we can now answer one of the Professor's questions,' said Toby, in a strange voice. 'These men did not die here. They were brought here after death.'

  'Are you suggesting that somebody is using Phobos as a cemetery?'

  'It looks like it. Why not? People deciding to use it for that purpose would suppose it safe from interference. In my opinion these bodies will remain almost as they are now for a long time - one might say for ever.

  The only change could be shrinkage due to the evaporation of the water in the system. The man on the bed has been dead much longer than the others.

  He is, in fact, a mummy, as dry as everything else on Phobos. Here is being done by nature what the ancient Egyptians did by artificial means, in much the same way. Do you know what I think?'

  'What?' asked Tiger.

  Ì'd say these men were members of a crew of a spaceship who died while on a long journey. One could believe that the surviving members of the crew would be reluctant to carry their dead about with them, so they would park them at the first convenient place.

  At sea, on Earth, a body is put overboard; but one could hardly have bodies floating about in space without them becoming a danger, by risk of collision, for living space travellers. Besides, the idea isn't a very nice one.'

  'That sounds feasible,' agreed Tiger. 'This method of burial, if you can call it burial, is as good, if not better, than others one can think of.

  How long do you think these fellows have been dead?'

  'I wouldn't like to say,' answered Toby, thoughtfully. 'The chap on the bed has been dead longer than the others; you can see that from the degree of shrinkage, which looks like emaciation. From certain indications, notably the texture of their skins, I believe these men were very old when they died. Of course, that isn't conclusive. They might have been born with skins different from ours. I see no signs of disease or injury so I must conclude they died of sheer old age, or from lack of some essential such as food or air.'

  Rex walked out into the open, for he found the conversation not merely depressing but conducive to morbid thoughts; and as Toby, his professional interest aroused, went on talking, the idea occurred to him to walk to the top of the ridge surrounding the hollow in which they had landed to see what lay beyond. This, without doubt, was country on which no man of Earth had ever set foot, and the urge to explore was irresistible. The ground underfoot looked firm rock and sand, and as the distance was short he could see no possible danger.

  It was at the top that the trouble occurred. He was gazing at the awful vista that stretched away to a curving horizon that cut like a saw into the black dome of heaven when he found himself slipping down the far side of the slope. Slipping is perhaps not quite the right word. On the far side of the ridge, as can happen in any desert, the particles of sand had not packed. Under his weight, slight though it was, they were all rolling down the slope, and he, unable to stop, was going with them. In something like a panic he turned and strove to regain the top; but it was like clutching at water, and the movement only increased the speed of his slide. Rather than lose his balance and roll, as he felt he might, he sat. This did nothing to check his progress and he continued on down in that position. Fortunately there was nothing violent, or even rapid about it; but there was a deliberation that was just as alarming.

  He was by this time calling to Tiger; and Tiger's voice came back, asking him where he was; from which it was clear that neither he nor Toby had seen him go.

  The end came with a sheer drop of some twenty feet into a rocky gulley.

  Seeing that he was bound to fall, but forgetting that he had practically no weight, he gave himself up for lost, for in such a drop he seemed certain to break bones. Nothing of the sort happened.

  To say that he floated down like a thistle seed would be an exaggeration, but he landed with a lightness that amazed him. He actually bounced a little. And there he stood, heart pounding from shock, and condensation forming on his perspex eyepiece while the sand flowed down around him in slow-motion.

  His great fear now was that Tiger and Toby, in their search for him, would make the same mistake as he had and end up in the galley; or, worse still, another one, from which it might be difficult to get out. Then, in looking for each other, they might become lost.

  Lost! Lost on a dead moon! The possibility gave him a sinking feeling in the stomach.

  There was something particularly horrible about it.

  Presently a stumble brought him into collision with a jagged-edged rock, and this gave him an even worse fright; for it reminded him that should his spacesuit be damaged he would be dead within a minute. It was bad enough to be lost on this dreadful place of eternal silence, but to die on it, alone, so utterly alone .. . again the thought nearly threw him into a panic.

  His father's voice coining over the radio steadied him. 'Where are you?'

  asked Tiger. 'I'm over the ridge,' answered Rex.

  'Are you all right?'

  'Yes. Don't attempt to follow me because the sand is soft and you'll slide. Stay where you are and I'll come back to you.'

  There appeared to be no great difficulty about this, for there were places where the slope was smooth enough; but, as it turned out, it was smooth because it was sand, and the sand, having so little weight, was soft, like fluff, and as unstable as water. All Rex could do was go on, testing the bank, looking for a place where the ground was firm enough to support him. He thought he had found it when he came upon a rock slope; but the rock was as rotten as thawing snow and broke away in his hands.

  The way it did this, without a sound, was weird, and frightening. The only sounds that reached his ears were those that came over the radio. He could hear Tiger telling the Professor about the new bodies.

  The heat was terrific.

  A bend presented a view that was not to be believed. Before him was a mighty curving section of Mars, almost the colour of an orange and so vast that it filled a third of a sky that was as black as midnight.

  Cutting into the lower part of the planet was the chaotic skyline of the little satellite on which he stood. Swaying slightly Rex stared at it, feeling for the first time that the immensity of it all was more than his brain could stand. More than anything he wanted to get away from it, back to the friendly Earth with its green fields and blue sky and the things he understood. He picked up what he took to be a fossilized stick, notched like a malacca cane, to support him.

  The end of the galley produced a nerve-torturing moment, for he realized that if there was no way up here he would have to retrace his steps, and he was fast becoming exhausted; but by traversing a maze of petrified tree trunks lying aslant the slope he managed to top the ridge. His relief when he saw the Spacemaster below him, with the others standing beside it, need not be described.

  Feeling rather ashamed of himself for what he now perceived was an act of folly he made his way down, resolved to profit from the experience by refraining from doing any more exploring on his own account.

  He explained what had happened, making light of his fears now that all was well.

  'What's that in your hand?' asked the Professor.

 
; 'I thought it was a piece of wood.'

  The Professor took it. 'It's the backbone of a lizard. How truly astonishing. Had anyone told me there had been animal life on this forsaken little ball of rock and sand I would not have believed it. But come along. I have seen as much as I expected to see from here.

  Through the telescope Jupiter is an incredible spectacle. I have taken some photographs.'

  'What do we-do next?' inquired Tiger.

  'I plan to land on Mars, keeping well away from any canal in the hope of escaping the plague while we take steps to become acclimatized. We should be able to do that by slowly reducing pressure in the cabin, and therefore on ourselves, even while we sleep.

  We need some rest.'

  'I shall be glad to get this suit off,' declared Rex.

  'My chief trouble is I can't get a caramel into my mouth,' said the Professor sadly.

  'And I can't have a draw at my pipe,' put in Tiger.

  The doors were closed and the Spacemaster continued on its way. 3 Shadows in the night The approach to Mars for the landing could hardly have been more dramatic. As Tiger remarked, it was as if the insect hordes were turning out at full strength to resist the invaders. In fact, the landing was held up while the red swarms, sweeping over the bare earth like sandstorms in a desert, reduced visibility to zero.This was observed from a thousand feet, where the Professor, remembering how the insects had nearly choked the Spacemaster's cosmic jets, held the machine until the creatures returned to the moist areas from which they made their daily forays.

  Toby stared aghast at the spectacle. 'Heavens above!' he exclaimed. 'No man ever saw anything more fantastic than that. It shows what can happen if any particular form of life gets the upper hand.'

  Tut-tut, my dear Doctor,' returned the Professor cynically. 'You're not forgetting that on Earth men have got the upper hand, and not satisfied with hunting to death everything else that walks, swims or flies, are now doing their best to wipe out each other.'