T2 Return To Mars

by Captain W E Johns

  There was silence for a moment. Then Toby, wisely perhaps, for he had touched the Professor's sore spot, changed the subject. 'I'm burning to see a live Martian — if it's possible that any can be left alive after the onslaught we've just seen.'

  'That won't be for a day or two,' answered the Professor. 'I'm taking no chances of being inoculated with an unknown poison by those little pink brutes. You should know better than most people that without any immunity developed in our systems over a period of time such an injection might well prove fatal.'

  'From the width of these canals it's going to take us all our time to deal with the plague,'

  said Toby doubtfully.

  'I doubt if the actual waterways are as wide as the width of the vegetation might lead one to suppose,' answered the Professor. 'As the canals are choked with weeds and overgrown with bulrushes one can't see the water; but it would be reasonable to suppose it follows the most verdant line that runs down the middle. It's probably from there that the mosquitoes come. The vegetation is a good deal more lush than when we were here before, presumably because it is now high summer. The ice-caps are smaller, too. But we could have expected that, for such seasonal changes have been noted by astronomers on Earth. Well, as the insects seem to have retired for the night we'll go on down.'

  To Rex, not the least remarkable feature of the phenomenon was the speed with which the mosquitoes vanished at the conclusion of their sortie. In a matter of minutes visibility was crystal clear.

  The Professor took the machine low over the town, on the central square of which they had made their original landing. Not a sign of life could be observed.

  'It's hard to believe that the place was ever a Utopia,' remarked Toby, looking down on the simple buildings. And from that time on, for want of another name, the town was known as Utopia.

  'There was certainly a civilization there even if by our standards, it was somewhat austere,' replied the Professor sharply. 'But why should we judge others by our standards? Are they so perfect?'

  For the landing he moved well clear of the canal, and touched down on ground that was as bare as the middle of the Sahara. 'If possible, we will make this our base, gentlemen, until we feel our feet,' he announced. 'I mean that literally,' he added, with a chuckle. 'I suggest we have something to eat and then proceed with the pressure tests.'

  'You say, if possible,' queried Tiger. 'Is there any doubt about it?'

  'By day we shall find the place hot, perhaps too hot; and by night it may be uncomfortably cold. On Earth we have an estimated five-hundred-mile blanket of air to filter the solar rays; here, I would say, it is not more than fifty or sixty miles. But no matter. If it gets too hot we can move nearer to the polar ice. Indeed, if necessary we could find the ideal mean temperature and move round the globe with it. The Martian day is practically the same as our own - twenty-four hours thirty-seven minutes of our time. That's if our experts are right, and I think they are. The big difference is the Martian year, which is nearly double ours.

  Six hundred and eighty-seven of our days, to be precise. But the figure most likely to affect us until we get used to it is in the matter of what we call weight. What weighed a hundred pounds on Earth will only weigh thirty-eight pounds here - anyway, that is the theory: we shall soon know if it is correct.'

  The first reduction in the air content of the cabin - which also, of course, meant a reduction in pressure - was made, and everyone settled down to enjoy a meal in more or less normal conditions; that is to say, free from the uncomfortable feeling of weightlessness. Objects no longer hung in suspension. Night fell, and Rex's last recollection before he dropped off to sleep was of the Professor studying the heavens through his telescope.

  The first streak of dawn found them on the move. For two hours the Spacemaster droned up and down the big canal which, apparently designed to save the population from death by thirst, had only brought disaster in another form. By the end of that time the whole of the green area lay under a thin mist of anti-mosquito mixture, sprayed from a pressure gun similar in design to those used on Earth for aerial crop dusting. How long the stuff would take to operate the Professor admitted frankly that he did not know; or, for that matter, whether it would act at all. For, as he averred, the fact that it had worked on Earth did not necessarily mean that it would act on Mars. Time would show. In the meantime they proceeded with their acclimatization, depressurizing the cabin until it was thought safe to test conditions outside without a spacesuit.

  The Professor insisted on making the first test, due precautions being taken against accident. That is to say, Tiger and Toby, in their spacesuits, entered the airlock chamber with him, ready to snatch him back should he show signs of distress when the outer door was opened.

  For some time he leaned against the exit steps breathing deeply, a hand on his heart as if to steady it; then, with a smile, he took a few steps, and presently signalled that all was well. The others soon joined him in the open, some pressure being retained in the cabin, with Judkins at the controls, should anything go wrong. At first Rex had some difficulty in breathing, and his heart thumped uncomfortably; but in a surprisingly short space of time he was able to move about. At least, all except the Professor thought it surprising.

  He provided as an example of the adaptability of life the case of birds which, normally found at ground level, had been seen by pilots at nearly twenty thousand feet. He pointed out that had there been no atmosphere the mosquitoes would not have been able to fly.

  By evening they were sitting with the door open.

  The sundown flight of the mosquitoes was watched with interest. The Professor thought they were fewer, but Rex, to his disappointment, could see no appreciable difference.

  'We must give the stuff time to work,' declared the Professor.

  The next evening there was no doubt about it. The cloud was definitely less dense. One curious thing happened. Or it struck Rex as curious. A mosquito crashed against his porthole, and it seemed to him that the creatures were larger than they had supposed.

  This one looked as large as a wasp. Thinking it might be due to magnification caused by the thick glass — for the window was closed, of course — he said nothing about it.

  When darkness fell the Professor declared his intention of making an early morning raid on Utopia, before the mosquitoes were about, in the hope of finding a live Martian. For, as he said, if they were all dead there was not much point in waging war on the mosquitoes. It could be done later, when the planet had been thoroughly explored.

  But things were to happen, and Rex was to remember the big mosquito, before anything else was done.

  In accordance with the acclimatization programme, although the night was as cold as the day had been hot, they were sleeping in the cabin but with the dOor open. With Rex, the effect of the rarified air was the common one of preventing him from sleeping soundly.

  From time to time his heart behaved oddly, and he found himself wishing that the Professor had let them have a little oxygen. Phobos was too small to provide much in the way of moonlight, but the sky was ablaze with stars and it was possible to see everything clearly, particularly outside, where the sterile land lay naked under heaven.

  He was dozing when on silent wings a shadow flitting across the open doorway brought him to with a start. He watched. Presently the shadow reappeared, and he recognized a moth, a magnificent moth with a wingspan of a foot or more. He lay still. A minute passed and the moth came back.

  This time, with no more noise than a cloud passing across the face of the moon, it came into the cabin, did an erratic circuit, went out and disappeared. He waited, but it did not return.

  More time passed. The thin air became colder as the sand outside gave up its heat, but the others seemed to be sleeping well enough. Their breathing was the only sound in a silence that was profound. A big, glowing orb, that he knew was the planet Earth, moving along its predestined path through space, came level with the open door, to flood the cabin with an eeri
e light and touch the metalwork with luminous fingers.

  Subconsciously at first, but then with a sudden start, Rex became aware of a gentle scraping noise. It was too soft to cause him any concern. He merely wondered what it was, realizing that in the absence of any other sound, any noise, however slight, would have an exaggerated effect. He found it as difficult to locate as the scratching of a mouse in a wainscoting,

  even though it was constant and became more definite. After some reflection he decided that it was coming from the door, or from that direction. Disinclined to get up, and perhaps disturb the others unnecessarily, he still paid no more attention to it than to raise himself a little higher on his mattress and turn his eyes that way.

  A movement on the edge of the entrance step gave him his first twinge of alarm. Two black objects, looking rather like the claws of a lobster, scraped as with slow deliberation they appeared to seek a hold on the smooth metal. It was now plain that something was trying to get in, and the knowledge brought him bolt upright with a jerk, staring all eyes, as the saying is. He was on the point of waking the others when there appeared over the top of the step a face so horrible, so diabolical in its indescribable ugliness, that it brought him to his feet with a gasp on his lips.

  Why he did what he did he could never afterwards explain. The action was instinctive rather than the result of thought. Having no weapon handy it may have been prompted by the obvious fact that if he did not do something quickly the horror would be in the cabin with them, for that was obviously its intention. Whether its purpose was innocent or malicious he did not stop to consider. Leaping across the floor he kicked the thing in the face with a force that sent it hurtling across the sand with a noise like the rattle of castanets. Forgetting his negligible weight he nearly fell out after it, and only saved himself by clutching at the cabin wall, with which he collided with some force.

  He recovered just in time to see a great black shadow swoop down on the thing he had kicked, and was now throwing itself about in its efforts to get on its feet. When the shadow rose, to disappear without a sound into the night sky, the thing was no longer there. The cry that broke from his lips brought the others to the door with a rush.

  'What are you doing?' demanded Tiger irritably. 'Why don't you go to sleep?'

  For a moment Rex didn't answer. He couldn't. Nearly sick from shock he could only cling to the guard rail, muttering incoherently.

  When a light was switched on Toby was the first to realize that something serious must have happened. Glass clinked against glass and he thrust something into Rex's hand. '

  Drink that,' he ordered peremptorily.

  Rex gulped the liquid, the plastic beaker rattling against his teeth.

  'Feeling better?' asked Toby.

  'Yes, thanks,'

  'Now tell us. What was it. Were you dreaming?'

  'No. It wasn't - a dream.' Rex braced himself and described what had happened.

  'What did the thing look like - the one that tried to get in?' asked the Professor.

  'It looked like an enormous ant. No, it was more like a beetle, or a scorpion. It was the size of a cat, with enormous claws. I heard it first. Then I saw it. Its mouth was opening and shutting - horrible. I kicked it out. I couldn't think of anything else to do.'

  'What about the creature that pounced on it?'

  'It looked like a dragon. It reminded me of something. It had a pointed muzzle, like a fox, with big ears. I've got it. It was a bat. An enormous bat. I think it must have been sitting on top of the ship.'

  'Are you sure this wasn't all a nightmare?' inquired Tiger, suspiciously.

  Rex held out his bare foot. Blood from the kick was oozing from his big toe. 'That looks as if the thing was solid enough, doesn't it,' he said grimly.

  'Why haven't we seen these things in daylight?' questioned the Professor, showing signs of agitation.

  'They could be nocturnal,' Toby pointed out. 'Certainly in the case of the bat.'

  'This reminds me of something,' put in Rex. He was still pale and trembling a little from shock. 'Yesterday a mosquito landed on my window.

  But it was like none of the others I've seen - and I've seen plenty. It was huge. It's body was the size of a wasp. I said nothing about it because I thought somehow the glass must have magnified it. I don't think so now. It was one of the ordinary mosquitoes grown to an enormous size.'

  'I wonder .. .' breathed the Professor.

  'Wonder what?' asked Toby, in a queer voice.

  Ìf my anti-mosquito mixture could be having a peculiar effect on life here.'

  'That's a startling thought. I suppose it could happen.'

  'I told you anything could happen. The introduction of anything new into a system, even on Earth, can produce astonishing effects. Well, I have introduced something new to Mars, so really we should not be surprised if it results in after-effects beyond our expectations.'

  'Giants have been known on Earth,' observed Toby thoughtfully. 'What causes that we don't know. It might be something quite slight. But one can, after all, with chemical manures, greatly increase the size of all forms of vegetable life. Nitrates will double the size of a blade of grass overnight. It looks as if your mixture may be having that effect on animal life on Mars.'

  'If so, the damage is done,' said the Professor in a resigned voice.

  'Which meAns that when we leave the ship we had better go armed,' put in Tiger. Ì'm glad I brought my rifle. But I must say I never expected to use it against bugs, bats and beetles.'

  'I only hope you don't have to use it against giant Martians, if the Professor's dope has had the same effect on them,' murmured Toby. 'They seem to have been a tall race anyway.'

  'I don't think there's any risk of that,' said the Professor confidently.

  'The super-growth, if in fact I am to blame, could only come as a result of eating the stuff, or some creature that has died from eating it. The Martians, supposing there are any able to move about, would hardly be likely to eat dead mos quitoes; which is, I suspect, what some creatures have done. The sequence would be this. A mosquito finds the stuff, eats ravenously, grows enormous and dies. A beetle comes along, makes a meal of dead mosquitoes, thus absorbing the poison, and the same thing happens to him. A bat eats the beetles - and so it goes on.'

  'Yes, but where does it end?' questioned Toby. Ìf there's anything here that eats bats we can expect to bump into some monsters.'

  The Professor took the remark seriously. 'Yes, that's true. I didn't think of that. Dear -

  dear. How easy it is to make a mistake. But as there's nothing more we can do about it to-night we might as well resume our interrupted rest -

  this time, I think, with the door shut.

  It will be interesting to see what shocks tomorrow has in store for us.'

  He spoke casually, little guessing what was in store.

  4 One thing after another

  Whatever may have been the cause, although no one doubted it was anything but the Professor's 'hunger' mixture, it was soon evident the next morning that things were happening, not only beyond expectation but beyond reasonable credulity.

  After a plain breakfast of coffee and biscuits the Professor announced his intention of proceeding forthwith to Utopia to ascertain if there were any Martians left alive; for in view of the effect his insecticide seemed to be having there was little hope left for any that had so far managed to survive. The stuff had, he feared, been too successful. But, as he averred, it was impossible to test Martian conditions on Earth.

  Wherefore, with the door closed, under its rotors only and keeping low, the Spacemaster moved off towards the town, on the central square of which the Professor said he would land. The same place, in fact, on which the Spacemaster I had landed.

  But they did not get as far as that without pause. In order to reach the town it was necessary to cross the canal, and there such a spectacle presented itself that the Professor slowed to a stop while they all stared down, for the moment speechless, the
ir expressions revealing their sensations.

  The canal was alive. Literally alive. Seething. The predominant colour was pink.

  Mosquitoes. Mosquitoes beyond computation. Mosquitoes in layers.

  Just what they were doing was not easy to determine, although if they were able to fly they made no attempt to do so. Equally plain was it that these were not the tiny insects they had seen on their first visit. They had grown beyond recognition. These were the size of hornets. It seemed to Rex, as he gazed down on them with eyes round with wonder, that they were engaged in a war of extermination. The Professor, after looking through his glass, declared they had turned cannibal and were devouring each other.

  This, he reminded, was what he had planned; but he had not anticipated anything on such a scale.

  After another look through the glass, which he handed to Tiger, he informed the others that the mosquitoes were not alone. Taking advantage of this unique opportunity, other creatures, which presumably preyed on the mosquitoes, had hurried to the feast. He identified ants; and larger insects which he took to be beetles. Under the influence of the drug they had all assumed enormous proportions. The same with lizards which, no doubt normally quite small, by gorging on the inexhaustible food supply were on their way to becoming crocodiles.

  The Professor's face was pale. 'This is what comes of interfering with nature,' he said in an agitated voice. 'Fool that I am, I should have foreseen the possibility.'

  'I don't see why you should,' answered Toby. 'The stuff didn't have that effect on Earth.'

  'My dear Doctor, we're not on Earth!' exclaimed the Professor. 'The conditions here, the atmosphere, possibly the composition of the water and the very soil itself, may be entirely different. I should have allowed for that eventuality.'

  'At least you've succeeded in knocking the mosquitoes out,' said Rex.