10
Happy Thurbelow finished sweeping the long barracks and leaned wearilyon his broom. That is, he didn't lean on it, or it would have collapsedhim to the floor, but he made the gesture. Why, he wondered, didn't theMasters make the Toughs sweep their own barracks? Perhaps the Toughscouldn't be made, or perhaps the Masters did it just from an excess ofcruelty.
Happy's monstrously bloated body sagged, and his skin felt dangerouslydry and tight. Happy was so adipose that his hands engulfed the broomhandle like a toothpick; under the transparent skin, his flesh was clearand translucent, and there could be seen the tiny red lines of thebranching veins. Happy was like a jellyfish, in huge human form.
"Shadow!" he called in a high, grating voice. "I'm going below."
Shadow appeared disconcertingly, ten feet away. Dark-skinned Shadowlooked at him silently with white-rimmed eyes. Then Shadow turned anddisappeared, as only Shadow could.
Hanging up the broom, Happy waddled to the iron-barred gate thatprevented entrance to a downward-plunging ramp. He pressed a buttonbeside it and waited.
He looked out the window beside the gate. The sands of the Desert ofCandor stretched orange and bleak under the bronze sky. Somewhere outthere to the south, across those sands, under that sky, lay the shiningdome of Ophir.
The window would be easily broken, and it was large enough for evenHappy's bulky body to pass through. But the oxygen-scant air of Marswould sear his lungs to quick death without a helmet; and even if itwould not, Happy's skin would dry and crack in a few hours of thatoutside air, and he would die in slower agony.
"What is the purpose of your call?" asked an impersonal voice from theloudspeaker beside the barred gate.
"I have finished my task, Master," said Happy, puffing a little. "I seekyour grace to go below."
The loudspeaker said no more, but after a moment the gate stirred andlifted into the ceiling. Happy went through it gratefully, and waddleddown the gently sloping ramp. The gate descended behind him.
Happy did not know whether Shadow had come through the open gate withhim, but it didn't matter. Shadow could slip easily through the barswhen he wished.
At the foot of the ramp was a vast, low cavern, stretching out of sightin all directions. It was dim, shading into the darkness of distance.Its floor was water, flat water, subdivided into large rectangular vats.In most of the vats vegetation grew in various stages, greening underthe ultraviolet rays that radiated from the low roof. Between the vatsran straight, narrow walkways of packed earth.
Happy waddled along one of the walkways until he found an empty vat. Helowered himself over its edge and sank happily into the still, coolwater, like a hippopotamus submerging. He immersed himself completely,then lay back in the water, with only his face floating barely above thesurface.
Shadow appeared, apparently out of nowhere, and sat down on the edge ofthe vat, letting his flat legs dangle into the water.
"Nothing like it," proclaimed Happy, splashing a little. "Nothing onMars like it. You ought to come on in, Shadow. As flat as you are, youought to float on the surface without any trouble at all."
Shadow nodded silently, but made no move.
"I don't see why the Toughs can't take care of their own barracks,"complained Happy, returning to the subject closest to his displeasure."You reckon the Toughs are actually the rebels, and the Masters can'tmake them do anything?"
Shadow shook his head, but whether in negation or disclaimer ofknowledge, Happy could not interpret.
Happy flinched, and shifted in the vat.
"There's still part of a skeleton in here," he announced. "I thoughtthis was an empty one."
Moving, he flinched again. With purpose, he aroused himself and ploughedto the edge of the vat.
"I've got to find another vat," he said. "I can't take a nap if I'mgoing to get punched in the fanny with bones every five minutes."
He heaved himself over the edge onto the walkway with difficulty, andgot slowly to his feet. Shadow lifted his feet out of the vat, stood upand vanished.
Happy knew how Shadow was able to disappear so suddenly, and it did notdisturb him. Seen directly from front or rear, Shadow had the dimensionsof a normal, black-skinned man. But Shadow was flat, no thicker thanhalf an inch. When Shadow turned sidewise, he vanished to the sight.
Occasionally, Happy wondered how Shadow happened to be, and why he washere in the caverns, but it was not the sort of thing to bother his mindfor very long.
Happy moved along the walkways, peering into the vats which appeared tobe empty. He assumed Shadow was following him; Shadow always did.
Around corners, he came upon blubbery creatures like himself, tendingthe plants. They nodded greeting at him, and Happy nodded back.
His search was discouraging. All the vats not filled with plants seemedto have corpses in them, in varying stages of decomposition.
Around one corner, Happy came upon a Tough, lounging in the walkway. TheTough was a compact, muscular youth, with bullet head, sullen eyes andhard mouth. He looked as though he lounged with hands in pockets, but,like Happy and all the others, he was naked, so that was just animpression.
Happy stopped. He and his soft kind avoided the Toughs when they could.The Tough looked at him with disinterested eyes, then looked away.
Happy was uncertain what to do or say. His impulse was to turn and goback, but he did not quite dare.
"Are you a rebel, Tough?" he burbled the first thing in his mind, forlack of something else to say.
The Tough looked at him contemptuously. Then, suddenly, the Tough's hardeyes flared with savage excitement and he moved swiftly on Happy. As hebegan to turn in panic, Happy saw from the corner of his eye anotherTough racing around the corner of the walkway to come upon him frombehind.
The Tough in front of him reached him and began pummeling him viciouslywith his fists, the hard fists sinking like painful hammers deep intoHappy's flesh with every blow. Happy bleated in fright and distress,trying ineffectually to ward off his attacker.
Then, out of nowhere, Shadow flashed in like a lightning bolt on theother Tough as he had almost reached Happy. There was a brief, squallingtangle and the Tough pitched headlong into a plant-choked vat.
Shadow vanished and reappeared, intermittently, like a flashing light.The first Tough, seeing what had happened to his cohort, ceasedpummeling Happy abruptly and took to his heels. He vanished around acorner.
The vanquished Tough climbed out of the vat, sputtering and cursing, andfled in the other direction.
"Oh, my! Oh, my!" exclaimed Happy to the now-invisible Shadow. "Whatwicked creatures!"
Sore and shaken, he moved on down the walkway, his search nowintensified by the need for wetness to soothe his injured flesh.
He came upon a vat without vegetation and, at first joyous glance,thought it empty. Then, disappointment, a comparatively fresh bodyfloated in it, just under the surface.
It was the body of a man. Naked, it was smooth and plump with the waterthat had seeped into its tissues, and it was a uniform dead-white allover, like the belly of a fish. The face and lips were monochrome white,the hair was bleached, and when it opened its eyes, they were socolorless that the action was almost unnoticeable.
Realizing, Happy was paralyzed with shock.
The dead creature's eyes moved from side to side, then stopped, fixingon Happy. Its chest began to rise and fall slowly, withbreathing--_under water_.
"Shadow!" squeaked Happy helplessly.
Shadow appeared beside him.
"Shadow, it's alive," whispered Happy, desperately frightened.
The two stood side by side, staring breathlessly down into the water.The creature in the vat moved its hands tentatively, it opened its mouthand closed it. Then it stirred with purpose, turned and climbed up overthe side of the vat, dripping like a weird creature from the depths ofthe sea.
It stood up before them, dripping.
The man bent slightly and belched forth a great quantity of water fromhis lungs. He
straightened, and breathed in the air in great, satisfiedgasps.
"I'm Dark Kensington," he said in a rusty voice. "Where is this?"
At his words, Shadow disappeared.
Dark Kensington. Had Maya seen him now, she could not possibly haverecognized him. The muscular body and dark, handsome face were bloatedand pale. The black hair was bleached to pale seaweed, and the blue eyeswere completely colorless now.
"This is the Canfell Hydroponic Farm," answered Happy, gaining a littlecourage. "Under the surface of the Desert of Candor."
"The Desert of Candor?" repeated Dark, and the pale lips twisted in asmile. "They hauled me quite a way. I was at Solis Lacus."
"How did you get here?" asked Happy with sudden eagerness. "Only deadpeople are thrown in the vats, to make chemicals for the plants. Howcould you stay alive under water?"
"I imagine I can breathe water for the same reason I can still liveafter a heat beam burned my guts out, but I don't know what that reasonis. I imagine that the first step in finding out is to get out of thisplace."
"You can't get away from here," said Happy positively. "Nobody everhas."
"We'll see," said Dark confidently. "I gather you and your companion aresome sort of prisoners."
"Slaves," corrected Happy with unaccustomed bitterness. "The Jellies areslaves, to work in the vats. I don't know if the Toughs are slaves, too,but the Masters let them sleep in barracks on the surface. Shadow's noteither a Jelly or a Tough, and I don't know if he's a slave. Shadow'sjust Shadow."
"Before you go on," interrupted Dark, "I seem to be extraordinarilyhungry."
Happy twittered and quivered. He moved hurriedly around a corner to oneof the storage vats, and returned in a moment with a supply of thetasteless gelatin that was their food here. Dark fell to greedily, andHappy, his tongue loosed by this new companionship, started feeding himinformation in a steady stream.
"I don't know how they get us here," said Happy. "We aren't born here,but something happens to our memories. We can't stay up in the dry airvery long, or our skin cracks and our flesh collapses. You see, ourtissues are mostly water.
"Everybody down here's like me. Everybody but the Toughs. You'll seethem. I don't know how they got here, either, or what use they are. Theydon't work like we do.
"And Shadow. He's different. Shadow likes me. He stays with me all thetime. And then there's Old Beard. He hides down here, and I don't thinkthe Masters know he's here. He's very old and very wise."
"Who are the Masters?" asked Dark curiously, between mouthfuls. "Andwhat sort of work do you do for them?"
"They're the people who run the hydroponic farm. They're normal men,like you--I mean, like you would be if you weren't swollen up and palelike the bodies that are thrown in the vats.
"Old Beard knows; he's very wise. He calls the Masters 'Marscorp.' Idon't know why, but it seems that before I lost my memory I knew alanguage where _corp_ meant _body_. Like _corpse_, you know. Maybe ithas something to do with the bodies they put in the vats.
"Old Beard says that the Masters are developing Martian foods that wecan eat without dying, and he must be right, because sometimes theybring down some hard foods and make some of us eat them instead ofgelatin. But those who eat the hard foods always die, so I don't supposethey've succeeded yet, except some of the Toughs. Some of the Toughshave eaten the hard food without dying, sometimes, but they got prettysick. And then--"
"Hold on! Wait a minute!" exclaimed Dark, holding up a restraining hand."I know what Marscorp is, and I'm not surprised they're behind it. ButI'm trying to digest all this you're throwing at me."
Happy fell silent, reluctantly, and Dark cogitated deeply.
Happy fidgeted, anxious to speak but afraid to interrupt Dark'sthoughts.
And then Shadow reappeared. Shadow appeared out of nowhere, and madegestures at Happy. Happy glanced at Dark, timidly. At last, he gainedcourage to speak.
"Shadow tells me--" he began, then cringed when Dark looked up insurprise. Dark gestured to him to go on.
"Shadow tells me," said Happy, "that Old Beard wants to see you. Willyou go with us to Old Beard?"
"Certainly," agreed Dark. "From what you tell me, I'm rather anxious tomeet Old Beard, too."
He followed Happy and the alternately visible and invisible Shadow alongthe paths that twisted among the vats for some distance. At last theyducked into some luxuriant foliage that hung over to form a bower abovethe space between two vats.
Old Beard sat there, in a corner of the dimness, pale eyes fixedsilently on the trio. Old Beard was not so very old. He appeared to bein robust middle age, although his skin was very pale from longexistence underground. His hair and heavy beard were long and untrimmed,and were a deep iron-gray.
"Thank you for coming," said Old Beard in a deep, resonant voice thatbespoke strength and bore an undertone of bitter determination. "It issafer for me not to move around too much in the open except at certainhours."
"I was glad to come, because I'm sure you can help me and I may be ableto help you, too," said Dark. "I'm Dark Kensington."
"So Shadow told me. I find this extremely interesting."
"You've heard of me, then?" asked Dark.
Old Beard laughed, deeply.
"More interesting than that," he said. "Once, before I was marooned hereand Happy's people came to know me as Old Beard, I had a name of myown."
He stroked his beard, and favored Dark with a shrewd look from his paleeyes.
"Yes," said Old Beard, "I've heard of Dark Kensington, and there neverwas but one Dark Kensington, as far as I knew. That's why I find it sointeresting. You see, I'm Dark Kensington!"
Rebels of the Red Planet Page 10
