by Ray Cummings
12
Later, we learned that Anita and Venza had tried much the same tacticson Meka that we had used on Wyk, but their task was more difficult.She was suspicious of them. Venza asked her where the control stationwas, but she wouldn't answer.
"Your brother said it was just beyond the dark forest," Anita said."What is the dark forest?"
"A place with trees where no one lives."
"Off that way." Venza gestured. "That's what Molo said. Will it be daysoon, or will the night keep on?"
"If they cause Wandl to rotate, it will soon be day." An ironic lookcrossed Meka's face. "I am in no mood for answering more of your sillyquestions. Save the breath."
"Well, if that's they way you feel about it," replied Venza laughing,"we will. There's not much air in here." She shoved herself across thefloor toward the closed window.
"Get back!"
"Oh, all right--all right!"
Perhaps Meka herself felt there was not enough air. She stoodwaveringly upright, and pushed herself with a slow leap for thewindow. Her back for that moment was to Anita and Venza. They shovedfrom the floor, whirled through the air and were upon her.
It was a brief struggle, and instantly they knew that they had lost.The huge Martian whirled and flung them off. Her upflung fist, with ablow like a man's, caught Anita's thigh and knocked her toward theceiling. She sank in a heap on the floor, saw that Venza had shovedback, but was standing upright.
Anita bent double, with her feet braced against a chair, tensed toshove forward again. At the still unopened window, Meka crouched.Anita heard Venza's warning outcry. "Anita, look out for her! She'sgot a knife!"
Upon this scene, in a moment, Snap and I came with a rush. The closeddoor was not barred. We slid it down and catapulted through theopening. Meka sailed over us. I swam up at her; seized her. The kniferipped my blouse and slit the flesh of my upper arm with a glancingblow. Then Snap came and struck against us; we sank to the floor.
Meka had fought silently, but now she was shouting. I twisted herwrist, seized the knife handle and flung the knife away. I was awareof Anita lunging to retrieve it. And over us Venza appeared, waving ametal chair as though it were a huge feather.
Snap gasped, "Gregg get your hand over her mouth. Shut her up!"
We had her subdued in a moment, but it seemed almost too late. Outsidethe opened door a distant shout sounded.
I shoved Meka toward the door. "If you don't do what I say, I'll killyou," I whispered into her ear.
"What shall I do?"
There came another shout, closer, now. Someone was coming.
"Call out in Martian. Say there's no trouble, nothing wrong. You werearguing with these girls."
She did as I commanded. The voice down the corridor answered, and thensubsided.
Snap slid the door closed. "Hurry! We'll go by the window. I droppedthose damn shoes."
Anita and Venza tore their dark coats into strips. We bound and gaggedMeka, laid her in a corner of the room. We had dropped the shoes as wecame plunging through the door oval. We found that we could all fastentheir things to our feet. I put Meka's knife in my belt.
"Hurry, all of you!" Snap was saying. "Got to get out of here; jump bythe window."
"Say, look at these wing-shields!" From a recess in a corner of theroom Venza appeared with an armful of the small shields. We thrust ourhands and forearms into their loops. The shields extended from a fewinches beyond our fingers to the elbow.
Snap had slid the window blind. I bent over the prone form of Meka."Don't try to move. Molo will release you when he comes back."
We gathered on the starlit balcony. The city stretched around us.There was as yet no alarm. No swimming figures near here; but adistance away we saw the towering conclave globe, with its audiencejust beginning to emerge, like bees coming from a hive.
"Let me go first." I held Anita and Venza at the rail. "It's likeswimming. I suppose we'll get the way of it pretty quickly."
I balanced on the rail, and then leaped off. With the others after me,we swam awkwardly upward into the reddish starlight.
The city structures dropped away, showing in a dark blur with winkinglights. Over us were the stars and the cloudless night sky. Behind,the flashing light beams of radiance at the landing stage, thefigures fluttering, the great globe, all dropped swiftly beneath asharply curving horizon.
We had passed the city. A thousand feet below us, a dark foreststretched. It was beyond this that the control station was located.
The swimming flight became less awkward, but it was an effort in thisabnormal Wandl air. Snap and Venza were behind me. Anita was leading,a strange, bird-like little figure. White blouse; long parted darkskirt from which her gray-sheathed legs kicked out as she swam,sometimes half upon one side, or with a breast stroke. The braids ofher dark hair fell forward over her shoulders.
She was tiring: I could not miss it. How far had we gone? Ten miles,perhaps. There was only a small vista of this little world visible atonce, it was so sharply convex. A line of distant mountains was to ourleft. We had crossed a river at the forest edge.
I suppose we had been half an hour swimming those ten-miles. Wasdaylight coming? It seemed that the sideline of mountain-tops had alittle light on them. The opalescent beam from Earth had swept thisportion of the sky and was gone below the horizon.
Apparently there was no pursuit from the city. Behind me, Venzapanted, "Say, I'm about finished. Can't we rest?"
With this altitude we could cease our efforts and drift down. It wouldtake several minutes.
We gathered together, falling with a slow drift toward the dark forestunder us. The trees seemed huge and spindly, a porous growth somethingon the Martian style, with huge leaves and a tangle of matter vines.They came mounting up at us as we fell with slowly gathering speed.
"Shall we go on?" I suggested.
"Yes." But she was tired, and Anita as well.
"Girls," I asked, "where is the _Star-Streak_?"
They did not know.
Anita said, "Perhaps we can land in the trees, and examine whatdevices we have here."
The girls had carefully watched Molo upon several occasions. Theythought we might find we had a hand-globe or a couple of the repulsiverays. With these we could attain rapid flight without effort.
We sank, fluttering, into a dark and tangled mass of the foresttree-top growth. I had understood that Wandl was crowded with itshuman population, yet this dark and silent forest evidently wasuninhabited. We clung, like awkward birds, to a swaying limb of atree-top. The trees were close together.
"Let's see what you've got," Venza demanded.
We handed the girls the various devices we had taken from Wyk. Most ofthem were the size of my fist: globular metallic projectors like handbombs; ray cylinders; a device with multiple barrels the size of one'sfinger, set in a small circumference of a circular grid of wires.
Anita said, "I saw Molo with one of these. He killed an unwillingworker on the ship."
"I'll take a look around," Snap said anxiously. "Suppose we're beingfollowed? Give me that weapon."
There was vegetation partly over us, so that the sky was halfobscured. Snap took the weapon, and like a monkey swayingprecariously, he ran and leaped among the upper branches, crashing hisway until he could see back toward the horizon beyond which lay thecity of Wor.
We heard his voice. "All clear. Nothing in sight. You coming up?Better get started."
I put the weapons in my pocket. Snap had one now in the branches overus. I was examining an electronic bolt, when suddenly there cameSnap's call. "Gregg! Look out!"
We heard the hiss and saw the flash of his bolt.
Anita swung at me. "Gregg, see there!"
I followed her gesture, and then I knew why this forest was shunned byhumans!
