How right Toby was in this was later to be demonstrated.
He opened a silent conversation with Vargo by pointing at the vegetables, then at the sky, at the same time assuming a questioning expression.
Vargo got the idea at once. Pointing to a glowing disc overhead he spoke through Rex, who found himself saying: The people who once were here now live on other worlds, much smaller. They come back here sometimes, when it is safe, for food.'
So that's the answer,' murmured Toby. I thought as much. Now we know why the spaceships we saw were interested.They must have thought we were going to pinch their peas. It would be interesting to know why, if most people have gone, Vargo and some others remained here.'
It will be even more interesting to know what sort of men are in these spaceships - good or bad,' put in Tiger. If they didn't like the look of us they might bump us off, and that would be that.'
Here the Professor interposed to say, in a worried voice, that he did not think the water obtained from the snow was safe to drink. It was not H20
but D20. That was to say, he explained, it contained deuterium and practically no hydrogen. Such water occurred on Earth, where, used in atomic research, it was known as Heavy Water.
There were also traces of carbon-dioxide. What the effect of this would be on the human system he admitted frankly that he did not know; and he preferred not to put the matter to test unless it became vitally necessary. It was a serious matter, because, if the water in the canals turned out to be the same, as was to be expected, they would soon have to start for home. It might be possible to make the water safe but that would take time.
Toby stepped in. Vargo says these vegetables outside are grown by the people who once lived here.'
'Which suggests that they are no great distance away,' said the Professor. They can hardly be on Jupiter, so we must conclude that they now occupy one of the larger planetoids - probably Ceres ... or even several. For if they can reach one they can obviously reach all. But this intense cold is most unpleasant, so let us get back to Utopia where the climate is more salubrious.'
The Spacemaster skimmed back to its base in a matter of minutes: but even from a distance it was clear that a startling change had taken place. No one was prepared for the sight that met their eyes.
Where, on their arrival, a reedy marsh had been, a tangle of jungle now marked the course of the canal. The tallest trees, perhaps twenty feet high, were in the middle. From there they diminished in size to the outer fringes where, reaching the dry ground, they became dwarfed to mere scrub that finally petered out altogether.
'Your insecticide, Professor, seems to be an even better fertilizer,'
observed Tiger sombrely. 'It's going to be a nice job digging for water in that mess.'
We'll talk about it in the morning,' decided the Professor, putting the ship down in its usual place. We've had a long day, and a profitable one, so let us not harass ourselves with problems that will keep a tomorrow.
After some food, and a good night's rest, we shall be in better shape to tackle them.' 7 Nightmare jungle When Rex awoke the next morning the first thing he noticed was that the improvement in Vargo's condition had been sustained, for he was now able to move about without assistance. He was obviously still very weak, but his face had lost its deathly pallor and was beginning to fill out. His manner was more alert, and his disconcerting eyes brighter, as if a veil had been lifted from them. The eyes worried Rex. Every time his own met them he was conscious of a queer sensation, a sort of weakness, as if he had encountered a superior being.
It was not that the eyes were noticeably unlike his own. It was something behind them, something that came from the brain.
More surprising than this was the number of English words the man had already picked up. He had only to hear a word once, and gather its meaning, and it was in his fast-growing vocabulary. Which supported the Professor's belief that, supposing Vargo to be a normal Martian, the degree of intelligence attained by the people of Mars was abnormally high. He knew all their names, saying them without a trace of accent but in a curious, thin, precise voice, that was, they were later to learn, the ordinary Martian way of speaking.
His rapid physical progress puzzled Toby because it was made on a quantity of food so small that on Earth it would not have kept a child alive. He had no appetite, but seemed unaware of it; or, to put it another way, he protested at the portions of food put before him as if they were too large. He regarded their own meals with astonishment, and some slight amusement. The only solid food he would touch was bread, or biscuit, as if he was by nature vegetarian.
Over breakfast the Professor said he was tempted to begin his questioning in order to satisfy their curiosity on some essential points; as, for example, was Vargo the only man left alive on Mars? Or if, as might be, the planet had been evacuated why was he still there? However, the most pressing problem was water, for if none was found that day they would have to consider starting for home, which would not only be a disappointing end to a promising beginning but would also raise the problem of what to do with Vargo. For many reasons the Professor would not hear of taking him to Earth. Even if he survived the sudden change of atmosphere and pressure, he would, it was argued, promptly die of the first infectious disease he encountered. Yet to leave him as they had found him would be equally fatal.
The upshot of this was a decision to start looking for water immediately, the exploring party to consist of the Professor, Tiger, Rex and Judkins.
Toby would stay with his patient, teaching him more English, holding the ship ready for any emergency.
So the explorers set off for the canal - or rather, the riot of vegetation that now marked its course - Tiger with his rifle under his arm, the Professor with field glasses and his camera, and Judkins, somewhat incongruously, carrying a spade and bucket. Not knowing what to expect, but aware that it might be anything, they advanced with the caution of soldiers reconnoitring an enemy position.
'This sudden growth of herbage, which will be seen through the big telescopes on Earth, will cause quite a flutter in the observatories,'
said the Professor with a chuckle. 'A lot of guesses will be made about it but not one will be right.'
The first things Rex remarked as they drew near were spots of colour against the lush green background. These, it was agreed, could only be flowers. Some trees were entirely yellow. On Earth this would have been natural and to be expected; but here, in a world in which definite colours seemed to have vanished, the effect was almost magical, particularly as the colours were of exceptional brilliance. Or so, in a colourless world, they seemed to be. A blue vine was conspicuous. Some masses of scarlet and yellow near the ground were not so easily explained, but after a spy through his glasses the Professor said they were huge fungi.
'I can hardly believe,' said he, 'that my insecticide alone could be responsible for such a rapid rate of growth. It might well be that free from pests the vegetable growth on Mars is normally faster than on Earth.'
At a distance of perhaps thirty yards from the nearest fringe of vegetation, consisting mostly of tall, coarse-looking grass, moss and reeds, he stopped. 'Where is everything?'
he exclaimed. 'I expected to find the ground thick with corpses -
certainly dead insects. I can't see one.'
'Everything must have eaten everything else,' suggested Tiger lightly.
'What about the last one? What ate that?' inquired the Professor tartly.
'No - no. That won't do. There must be something here, dead or alive.'
After advancing a little they stopped again, eyeing the fringe of jungle with misgivings.
The absence of danger in any shape or form seemed too good to be true. A sweet aromatic perfume reached Rex's nostrils. Blended with the fragrance was a strange, musty smell. So overpowering was it at times that his head swam slightly - or he fancied it did. However, he did not comment on it.
There seemed no reason to, flowers and perfume usually being f
ound together.
'Water shouldn't be far away,' said the Professor briskly, and walking to a patch of soft moss drove in the heel of his shoe, hard, several times.
A little water seeped into the cavity he had made. 'Here you are, Judkins,' he said, 'a small hole should yield enough water to fill your bucket, ample for a test. If it turns out to be sweet we'll bring the ship over and filter enough to fill the tanks.' As Judkins drove in his spade the Professor looked around, and pushing up his glasses, went on:
'This really is most astonishing.
What can have become of everything?'
Tiger answered. 'Is it astonishing? What has happened here, I imagine, is what happens in wild places on Earth. In nature anything that dies promptly becomes a meal for something else. Scavengers are always watching for a free meal - vultures, hyenas, jackals, and so on. Here, don't forget, you have deliberately provoked appetites with your patent insecticide.'
'Yes, my friend; but vultures pick the bones. They don't eat them.
Millions of mosquitoes must have died here but I see no bones.'
'Do mosquitoes have bones?'
'Tut - tut. You score a point there, Group Captain. I don't know. But if my mixture is as efficacious as this we should soon be able to rid Mars of its beastly plague.'
Now while this conversation was going on Rex had walked, or rather, strolled, on a little way towards the thicker jungle. He had no particular purpose in this. For some reason, although he could not have said why, it attracted him. Even when he met quite a wave of the musty smell he had noticed, he did not stop. As from a long way off he heard his father call, asking him where he was going; but he paid no heed. He did not answer or even look round. The scene had taken on an atmossphere of unreality in which he had no part, but was merely a spectator. More waves of the musty aroma greeted him, and in a vague way he knew he was looking for the source of it. He didn't want to, but he felt he had to, although he was beginning to be afraid. He knew he was afraid; but still he couldn't stop. His fears grew. He would have given anything to be able to turn and run, but he seemed to have lost control of his limbs.
Something was drawing him on, irresistibly. Again he heard Tiger's voice.
Again he ignored it.
Staring ahead he walked on, thrusting aside bushes that impeded him. In front now was a little glade. In the middle of it lay a heap, a mound, of what looked like brightly coloured material arranged in folds. On the top of the pile was a long flat lump. Set in the lump were two jewels that he knew were eyes, fixed unwinkingly on him. They filled him with terror, but he could not tear his own eyes away from them.
The head in which the eyes were set began slowly to lift, at the same time swaying with the regular action of a pendulum. Moving with the calm deliberation of a sleepwalker Rex walked towards it. He was no longer afraid. He was not conscious of any sensation at all. It was as if his body no longer belonged to him. His hands, he saw, were held out in front of him.
The head was coming towards him when the world seemed to explode in a clap of thunder. The heap leapt high, uncoiling like a spring, twisting and writhing, lashing and crashing as it flung itself about in mighty convulsions. He began to scream, but a hand closed on his arm like a vice and dragged him away. Then, as if a spell had been broken -
as in fact it had - he tore himself free, and crying incoherently ran for his life.
Where he would have stopped had not Tiger overtaken him is a matter for conjecture.
His father took him by the shoulders and shook him, saying: 'Be quiet.
It's all right.'
It was a minute before Rex could speak. 'What was it?' he panted.
'Couldn't you see what it was?' returned Tiger, angrily. 'Yes,' answered Rex, in a dazed voice. 'It was a snake. But who could have imagined a snake that size?'
'Why in heavens name did you go so close to it? You must have seen it.'
'Yes, I saw it,' blurted Rex. 'I couldn't stop.'
'Mesmerism,' broke in the Professor, coming up. 'A plain case of mesmerism. Why not?
All a matter of proportion. If a small snake can mesmerise a bird why shouldn't a monster attract a human being? There have been cases of that on Earth.'
Feeling weak Rex sat down on a heap of moss. He could still hear the snake crashing about in the jungle.
'Don't worry,' Tiger reassured him. 'It's dead - or as good as. I shattered its head. Lucky for you I saw you going off. I thought you were behaving strangely.'
'I think the smell had something to do with it in the first place,' said Rex, trying to steady his trembling hands.
'I suggest that while we are on Mars we should make it a rule never to be out of sight of each other,' said the Professor, seriously. I was prepared for strange events, and they are certainly happening.'
Judkins, prosaic as ever, broke in. Shall I take the water back to the ship, sir?'
'Yes, if you please. I'll follow you,' replied the Professor. 'I must go and look at this supersnake before something eats it.'
The death throes of the great reptile were becoming less violent as they all made their way to the scene of Rex's adventure. There was no difficulty in finding it for in its wild contortions it had laid flat half an acre of jungle. There it was, a creature fifty feet long with a girth the size of a man's body, still moving, its rippling muscles causing the colour pattern of its skin to shimmer like shot silk. At least, that was what Rex took the ripple to be until the Professor, after a closer look, declared it was the result of thousands of tiny insects swarming over it.
'Now we know why there are no corpses lying about,' observed Tiger.
There's always something looking for a meal.'
'Yes, but why haven't those insects on the snake become enlarged like everything else?'
cried the Professor.
'Perhaps they have.'
'What do you mean?'
'Before they stuffed themselves with your special tonic those insects may have been microscopic - germs, microbes, or something of that nature.'
Quite right,' agreed the Professor. That could be the answer. What a horrid thought.
Dear me. What shall we discover next. Just look at these magnificent fellows.' He strode over to a growth of fungi, orange with purple spots, hideous, yet in a way, beautiful.
While they stood looking at them Rex saw a trickle of yellow powder fall from above and settle on the Professor's shoulder. He paid little attention to it except that it made him glance up. At the same moment he discovered that he was having difficulty in breathing.
He also perceived that they were standing under one of the bright yellow trees he had observed from the open ground. This effect, he now saw, was caused by flowers, hanging in chains in the manner of laburnum. Not only were the flowers yellow, but the air itself was yellow, the result of a steady rain of pollen which the blossoms were beginning to discharge.
By this time he was super-sensitive to danger so he waited for no more, but uttered a cry of warning. 'Look out!' he shouted shrilly. The pollen!
It's coming down on us!'
In the ordinary way this might have sounded silly, but the Professor and Tiger were also having trouble with their breathing, coughing and sneezing, and wiping tears from their eyes which were beginning to stream. Rex's shout was enough to send them all blundering and groping their way to the open air. Even there it was some time before they were fully recovered. Some time was spent shaking their jackets and otherwise removing the yellow dust from their persons.
'Don't tell me that even the trees are carnivorous,' muttered Tiger.
It looks very much like it,' replied the Professor, wiping his eyes.
'Either they intended to destroy us or were protecting themselves against possible interference. Why not? In our own tropics the Upas tree has a reputation for being lethal. The vibration caused by our voices may have set the pollen in motion. Very unpleasant, anyway. We'll keep clear of those trees in future. Before we get into further trouble we'd bette
r get back to the ship to examine the water.'
But the morning's chapter of adventure was not yet complete.
The Professor had set off at a good pace, with the others following slowly, when a shadow sweeping over the ground made Rex look up. One glance and he yelled in a voice that cracked with incredulity, 'Look at that!' There was no fear in his voice, only amazement.
From out of the trees had appeared a butterfly, or moth, adorned with the most exquisite colours of its kind. The body was dove grey banded with yellow. The wings were peacock blue, laced with scarlet and tipped with black. But it was not the colours that held Tiger and Rex spellbound.
Apparently, like all other living creatures in the vicinity, it was suffering from overgrowth, for its wing span was not less than twenty feet. Its weaving antennae, ten feet long, had green, bulbous tips.
Altogether it was a thing of beauty, and at first, thinking in terms of butterflies, neither Rex nor his father regarded it with anything but admiration.
However, this began to give way to apprehension as the insect swerved in its erratic flight and with wings extended dived at the Professor who, hearing cries, had turned, and now saw the reason. He ran. Tiger raced after him. Rex followed.
The butterfly swooped like a hawk. The Professor flung himself flat. The creature missed its strike and zoomed, legs dangling. The Professor rose and dashed on, zigzag.
Again the butterfly dived on him. He jumped aside and struck at a wing that just missed his head. His fist went right through it, knocking out a piece about a foot square. The wing, being in its upward movement lifted him off his feet. His weight threw the insect off its blance so that it collided with the ground.
By this time Tiger had reached the spot. He fired three shots, but they had no effect. As he said afterwards, the thing was more wing than body.
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