T2 Return To Mars

by Captain W E Johns

  That's the sort of battle for me,' answered Toby. 'The ammunition they use doesn't tear a man to pieces.'

  The ship landed near the one with the blue stars. The crew, in a group, still staring, got out and walked slowly towards it. The man whom Rex took to be Rolto appeared in the doorway. With movements unnaturally deliberate he stepped down and moved towards the group, still slowly advancing.

  'I fancy they've got him where they want him,' murmured Toby. 'Look at his eyes. They might be made of glass. And his expression: and the sweat tootling down his face. If ever I saw a man under a great mental strain, he's the one.'

  'Never mind him. What about Tiger.'

  As if he had heard, Tiger appeared at the door of the ship. Seeing them he waved, got down and hurried in giant strides towards them. He still carried his rifle.

  Rex held himself in hand, unwilling to make an exhibition of his relief and joy in front of the wooden-faced spaceship-men. 'Thank goodness I' he said huskily. 'Are you all right, guv'nor ?'

  'Right as rain,' answered Tiger cheerfully. I was a bit shaken when they first grabbed me, as you can imagine. I thought I'd had it. But since then I've had nothing to complain about.

  And I stopped worrying when Rolto, the chap in charge, promised to leave me on Earth when he went there, if I'd co-operate with him. At least, that's how I understood him.'

  `Do you know what he wanted you for?'

  'He needed a guide. He indicated that if I didn't want to stay on Earth, as it was due to be bumped off, I could either remain with him or he'd give me a planet of my own.'

  That would have been fun,' observed Toby sarcastically.

  'They let you keep your rifle,' said Rex.

  'They haven't a clue as to what it is or what it's for. They've nothing like it. What's the drill now?'

  'We must go back to the ship,' said Vargo. 'We are returning to Mino, taking Rolto with us. He has made trouble with the High Council.'

  'We came here from Mino,' explained Rex.

  tell you

  about it on the way back.'

  I understood from Rolto that he wasn't going back to his headquarters,'

  said Tiger, watching the proceedings with a puzzled expression.

  'He doesn't want to, but he can't help himself,' returned Rex.

  It was now clear that Rolto's game was about to be played out. Yet, curiously enough - or so it seemed to Rex - the crew of the rescue ship did not take him with them. They did not lay hands on him. Nor did Rolto put up any physical resistance. If he resisted mentally, it was in vain.

  When the Minoans went back into their ship and prepared to take off he was still standing on the landing ground.

  'I thought they were going to take him prisoner,' cried Rex, looking at Vargo in astonishment.

  'He is a prisoner,' replied Vargo casually. 'When we go he will follow.

  He must. That is the thought in his head and he cannot put it out. The High Council sent men with strong heads which are stronger than arms.'

  Tiger looked at Rex and smiled. There are still moments when I wonder when I'm going to stop dreaming and wake up.'

  The rest was as Vargo had said it would be. When the relief ship took off for the return journey Rolto's squadron followed as obediently as sheep following their shepherd.

  13 Vontor

  The rescue party returned to Mino to find the Professor in one of his busiest moods. He was of course delighted to see Tiger, but no sooner were greetings and congratulations over than he seized upon Vargo to confirm that certain arguments he had with difficulty put before the High Council were properly understood. He paid no attention to Rolto, saying that if the man had misbehaved himself it was not for them, but the Council, to take disciplinary action. If they were wise they would banish him to a distant planet, for such men were dangerous. There were too many of them on Earth. But more important at the moment was the greater peril now threatening the existence of their own planet.

  Something would have to be done without delay.

  He explained that he had tried to convince the Council that it was in their own interest that Earth should be saved; but the project had been received without enthusiasm by some, and indifference by others. It was up to Earth to take care of itself, they argued.

  The Professor's reply had been that they should know better than anyone that a major disaster within the Solar System could hardly fail to affect every planet in it. This the Council would not accept, contending that while the collision would be calamitous for the people on Earth the shock would be insufficient to move the planet from its orbit.

  Even if it did move, it was bound to return to its own gravitational field. The body approaching it was only a miniature planetoid. It might have started as an asteroid, or a comet, fhmg off by a bursting star; but its fires had cooled and it was now dead.

  'But just a minute,' put in Tiger. 'Is it any use talking like this until we know whether or not it's possible to cope with the confounded thing?'

  It can be vaporized,' answered the Professor. The Council have admitted that. But, say the scientists, there are risks. At present Vontor cannot harm them; but an explosion might result in a shower of meteors, some of which might come this way and do a lot of mischief. Mino, Lentos, and the rest of these little worlds, are so small that they wouldn't stand much knocking about.'

  'In other words, by busting Vontor they stand to gain nothing but might lose plenty.'

  Exactly. But I haven't finished with them yet,' went on the Professor.

  I've been waiting for Vargo to come back because without an interpreter I was at a disadvantage. Vargo, I want you to go to the Council and tell them that if they will destroy Vontor, or help me to do it, I will assist them in the restoration of their old home, Mars. You have failed to eliminate the mosquitoes. I can do that. I could also bring machinery to reopen the canals, and tap the sub-surface water by boring artesian wells. I could bring seeds to replace the trees and vegetation you have lost. With my help Mars can be a habitable world again.'

  That would be wonderful,' said Vargo, and went off on his mission.

  'Why argue with them?' asked Tiger. 'What's wrong with going home and bringing back an atom bomb to drop on Von-tor? That should do the trick.'

  'And where, pray, will you get an atom bomb?' inquired the Professor, sarcastically.

  The government would let us have one when we told them what was on the way.'

  The Professor pushed up his spectacles and regarded Tiger sadly. 'Really, my dear Group Captain. For a man of your rank you sometimes make the most ingenuous remarks. Do you seriously suppose that the government - any government - would believe our story?

  A story so preposterous that we should qualify for admission into the nearest lunatic asylum.'

  'You say the Council could, if they so decided, produce the means to do the job,'

  interposed Toby.

  'Yes.'

  'What would they use?'

  'I didn't ask: but if we, on Earth, tens of thousands of years behind them in knowledge, have discovered the principles of nuclear fission, we can be sure they know even more about it. They haven't forgotten what happened to Kraka, where, I suspect, a nuclear experiment went wrong. I imagine the medium they would employ to destroy Vontor would depend on the composition of that body.'

  That can only be determined by inspection.'

  'True. For that reason I intend to look at it myself.' 'You mean, you're going to land on the thing?'

  'Certainly.' The Professor chuckled. 'Had our credulity not already been strained to breaking point, the notion of flying through space on a dead comet would have done it.

  How Jules Verne would have loved all this.'

  Tiger stepped in again. 'He had the sense to die before his predictions came true.

  Seriously, you're thinking of taking the Spacemaster to Vontor ?'

  'Unless the Council will lend us one of their ships, which seems unlikely. It might be better to go in the Spacemaster because
if we failed to reach agreement we could go straight on home. If Vontor is not too big I might myself produce an explosive mixture of sufficient power to fracture it, or throw it off its present course.'

  Toby shook his head. This idea of sailing about the sky cracking loose planets as if they were nuts sounds pretty crazy to me.'

  Of course it's crazy,' cried the Professor. 'Everything's crazy. But I am at least trying to put a little sanity into the proceedings.'

  If this is sanity, it would be interesting to see what insanity is like,'

  said Tiger, in a resigned voice. 'All right, Professor. It's your ship.

  Whatever you decide is okay with me.

  '

  'And me,' murmured Toby. We have this consolation. We can't get any further round the bend.'

  At this juncture Vargo returned. It is settled,' he reported. 'A ship will go to Vontor, taking two members of the Council and two scientists.

  If it is practicable Vontor will be destroyed.'

  'What about us,' asked the Professor.

  Go if you will, but in your own ship. The Council will not be responsible.'

  But your ships are faster than mine. We shall be left behind.'

  They will take you by attraction, as did Rolm. I shall go with you to tell you of their decision. There can be no air on Vontor so if you wish to go out you must wear suits.'

  'Your people have suits?' questioned Rex.

  Of course. All our spacemen carry suits to wear when there is no air.'

  'When do we start?' asked the Professor.

  'At once. If anyone is tired he can sleep, for the journey is long.'

  'Good!' exclaimed the Professor. I'm ready when you are.'

  For a minute or two they watched some equipment that looked as though it ought to be heavy, but was not, being put into the Minoan ship. Then, at a signal from Vargo, doors were closed and the two spacecraft were on their way.

  To Rex, not the least awkward factor of space travel was the way day and night, otherwise light and darkness, either merged or cut suddenly into each other. To anyone accustomed to the absolute certainty of day following night at times known to the minute, this jumping from one to the other resulted in irregular sleeping hours. Sleep had to be snatched as opportunity offered. Day and night, as they occur on Earth, could only occur on another planet having the same conditions, such as the speed of rotation, relative to the sun. In a host of planetoids of different sizes, each revolving at its own speed along its own orbit, the effect of movement from one to the other was to jump from day into night, or vice versa, in a manner that was disconcerting, to say the least.

  Actually, some of the smaller planetoids did not revolve at all, always having the same face held by gravity

  to a larger neighbour, as the same face of the Moon is for ever turned to Earth.

  As normally one sleeps through the hours of darkness, any irregularity of this is bound to result in irregular repose. Because of this on the journey to the intruding planetoid Rex slept most of the way, making up for the rest he had lost since leaving home.

  He was awakened by Tiger shaking his shoulder, saying they were nearly there, and if he wanted to land with the others he had better be getting into his spacesuit.

  Rising and looking through his porthole Rex saw the objective in full sunlight, for the Spacemaster was approaching it from the sun side. It appeared to be a perfectly round, pale grey ball, with a diameter, as far as it was possible to judge, of not more than half a mile. Actually, it turned out to be even smaller, for they were closer to it than he had imagined. Just ahead of them was the escorting Minoan 'saucer'. Keeping its lead it went on, and after circling and hovering made its landfall on what turned out to be a flat but rough surface.

  The Professor put down the Spacemaster beside it; or rather, allowed it to settle as lightly as a thistle seed in the almost complete absence of gravity.

  It did not take him long to confirm that the wandering planetoid carried no atmosphere of any description so there was a short delay while spacesuits were adjusted. The Minoans, to whom the wearing of equipment for this sort of occasion must have been ordinary routine, were out first. They had it seemed over a long period of time perfected a simple, transparent form of overall, unencumbered with radio since they were able to converse by thought transference.

  However, in due course those in the Spacemaster followed, moving with the caution the conditions of weightlessness demanded. It was demonstrated by the Professor who, taking a rung of the landing steps in one hand, lifted that side of the spacecraft off the ground as if it might have been made of paper instead of steel.

  Rex found himself standing on a ball of lava; a mass of material which looked like the stuff commonly called pumice-stone. From its sponge-like appearance it had obviously once been in a fluid state; molten rock which, on its journey through space had hardened to a grey, brittle-looking substance. There were plenty of potholes from which imprisoned gases had once escaped, but there were no loose pieces of the stuff. It was hot, but this, the Professor thought, was due to the absorption of solar rays. Actually he was wrong in this, or only partly right. The sun, certainly, was reflected in a glare that was almost painful.

  As a picture of utter sterility it was worse than Phobos. Where it had started from and how it had entered the Solar System were problems on which Rex wasted no thought.

  Had he been asked to describe his sensations he would have had to grope for words, and probably failed to find them. All he knew was, he was standing, very uncomfortably, on a ball of igneous rock rushing through space at a speed of several miles a second without imparting the slightest feeling of movement. Without air there could be no wind. The silence was absolute.

  A short distance away the Minoans were standing together apparently discussing the thing; although what there was to discuss was not easy to see. All that the globe had to show could be seen at a glance. Even the Professor had only one observation to make, and that was, the inner core of the thing might still be soft, so that it would only be necessary to break the crust to achieve their object. Even if it didn't vaporize the shock of a severe explosion on a body so small might be enough to alter its course.

  'From the formation of this outer layer,' said Tiger, pointing, 'I'd say the inside was not only soft, but boiling, fairly recently. Not only that, but as the crust cooled, and shrank as it solidified, the inside of the pudding boiled over. The ripple effect round some of the larger potholes is proof of that, I think.'

  'As long as it doesn't boil over while we're on it I don't care what the gravy inside is like,'

  joked Toby.

  While this conversation had been going on the Minoan scientists had unloaded and arranged the equipment they had put on board. The two members of the Council, conspicuous in their red clothes, had taken a short walk. One of them carried a rod with which from time to time he prodded the ground.

  'I fancy they must be going to try the explosion,' observed the Professor. The two gentlemen in red seem to be testing the strength of the material to be destroyed.'

  It was then that it happened, and as Rex was watching he saw exactly what did happen.

  The man with the rod struck it into a pothole. It went in for a foot or more. There it appeared to stick, for he began thrusting it to and fro in his efforts to withdraw it. In this he was successful. Too successful; for the rod shot into the air like an arrow, and the reason was immediately apparent. Through the hole made by the rod came a squirt of smoking liquid that rose ever higher.

  The men responsible did not stay to watch the geyser. Turning, taking strides of normally impossible length they fled to their ship. Quick as they were they were only just in time, for from the hole, swiftly becoming larger under the pressure from within, poured a turgid tide of lava, glowing and smoking as it spread over the thin, sloping skin of the ball that had contained it.

  At the Spacemaster for a moment confusion reigned. No orders were given.

  None was needed. E
veryone was actuated by the same idea, which was to board the ship and get clear of the monstrous horror on which they had been calmly standing. Tiger's joke about the gravy was now hideous fact.

  By the time they had all passed through the air-lock the geyser was hurling up liquid rock in regular pulsations, as from a pump, and the lava, flowing like hot oil, had nearly reached the legs of the ship. The Professor, who had gone in first, was at the controls, and the moment the double doors were closed he had the ship in maximum safe velocity.

  Through his porthole Rex caught a glimpse of the Minoan ship rocketing.

  He looked at the others. Every face was ashen.

  As he started to remove his suit he heard Toby mutter: 'That's what comes of monkeying with things you don't understand.'

  As soon as he was clear of his suit he looked back and saw the planetoid trailing a plume of smoke, and realized that it had become a comet.

  'We certainly started something,' said Tiger.

  'I'm afraid our efforts have been in vain,' remarked the Professor sadly.

  'That beastly thing is still on its course, and, alas, it is now unapproachable. What a pity those silly fellows had to poke about with that rod. But we can't blame them. Quite obviously they didn't know what was just under their feet.'

  'Here they come now,' observed Rex, as the Minoan ship closed in on them.

  They were all watching it when what appeared to be a flash of lightning passed between it and the now distant comet. Almost simultaneously a great sheet of white light filled the section of space that held the intruder. Slowly it died, leaving in its centre a ragged cloud from which sprang a thousand sparks.

  It's gone,' cried the Professor in a shaky voice. 'They've done it.

  They've blown it up.

  Those sparks are meteors, all that remains of it.' He turned to Vargo.

  'How did they do it?

  '

  Vargo explained, or tried to explain, that an atomic bomb had been exploded by heat reflected from the sun.