CHAPTER XVIII
A few moments later he sent a signal to Murgatroyd in the engine-room.The propellers began to revolve slowly, beating the dense air anddriving the _Astronef_ at a speed of about twenty miles an hour throughthe depths of this strangely peopled ocean.
They approached nearer and nearer to the surface, and as they did so theuncanny creatures about them grew more and more numerous. They werecertainly the most extraordinary living things that human eyes had everlooked upon. Zaidie's comparison to the whale and the jelly-fish was byno means incorrect; only when they got near enough to them they found,to their astonishment, that they were double-headed--that is to say,they had a head with a mouth, nostrils, ear-holes, and eyes at each endof their bodies.
The larger of the creatures appeared to have a certain amount of respectfor each other. Now and then they witnessed a battle-royal between twoof the monsters who were pursuing the same prey. Their method of attackwas as follows: The assailant would rise above his opponent or prey, andthen, dropping on to its back, envelop it and begin tearing at its sidesand under parts with huge beak-like jaws, somewhat resembling those ofthe largest kind of the earthly octopus, only infinitely moreformidable. The substance composing their bodies appeared to be notunlike that of a terrestrial jelly-fish, but much denser. It seemed fromtheir motions to have the tenacity of soft indiarubber save at theheaded ends, where it was much harder. The necks were protected forabout fifty feet by huge scales of a dull, greenish hue.
When one of them had overpowered an enemy or a victim the two sank downinto the vegetation, and the victor began to eat the vanquished. Theirmeans of locomotion consisted of huge fins, or rather half-fins,half-wings, of which they had three laterally arranged behind each head,and four much longer and narrower, above and below, which seemed to beused mainly for steering purposes.
They moved with equal ease in either direction, and they appeared torise or fall by inflating or deflating the middle portions of theirbodies, somewhat as fish do with their swimming bladders.
The light in the lower regions of this strange ocean was dimmer thanearthly twilight, although the _Astronef_ was steadily making her waybeneath the arch of the rings towards the sunlit hemisphere.
"I wonder what the effect of the searchlight would be on these fellows!"said Redgrave. "Those huge eyes of theirs are evidently only suited todim light. Let's try and dazzle some of them."
"I hope it won't be a case of the moths and the candle!" said Zaidie."They don't seem to have taken much interest in us so far. Perhaps theyhaven't been able to see properly, but suppose they were attracted bythe light and began crowding round us and fastening on to us, as thehorrible things do with each other. What should we do then? They mightdrag us down and perhaps keep us there; but there's one thing, they'dnever eat us, because we could keep closed up and die respectablytogether."
"Not much fear of that, little woman," he said, "we're too strong forthem. Hardened steel and toughened glass ought to be more than a matchfor a lot of exaggerated jelly-fish like these," said Redgrave, as heswitched on the head searchlight. "We've come here to see strange thingsand we may as well see them. Ah, would you, my friend. No, this is notone of your sort, and it isn't meant to eat."
An enormous double-headed monster, apparently some four hundred feetlong, came floating towards them as the searchlight flashed out, andothers began instantly to crowd about them, just as Zaidie had feared.
"Lenox, for Heaven's sake be careful!" cried Zaidie, shrinking up besidehim as the huge, hideous head, with its saucer eyes and enormousbeak-like jaws wide open, came towards them. "And look! there are morecoming. Can't we go up and get away from them?"
"Wait a minute, little woman," replied Redgrave, who was beginning tofeel the passion of adventure thrilling along his nerves. "If we foughtthe Martian air fleet and licked it I think we can manage these things.Let's see how he likes the light."
As he spoke he flashed the full glare of the five thousand candle-powerlamp full on to the creature's great cat-like eyes. Instantly it bentitself up into an arc. The two heads, each the exact image of the other,came together. The four eyes glared half-dazzled into the conning-tower,and the four fearful jaws snapped viciously together.
"Lenox, Lenox, for goodness' sake let us go up!" cried Zaidie, shrinkingstill closer to him. "That thing's too horrible to look at."
"It is a beast, isn't it?" he said; "but I think we can cut him in twowithout much trouble."
He signalled for full speed. The _Astronef_ ought to have sprung forwardand driven her ram through the huge, brick-red body of the hideouscreature which was now only a couple of hundred yards from them; butinstead of that a slow, jarring, grinding thrill seemed to run throughher, and she stopped. The next moment Murgatroyd put his head up throughthe companion-way which led from the upper deck to the conning-tower,and said, in a tone whose calm indicated, as usual, resignation to theworst that could happen:
"My Lord, two of those beasts, fishes or live balloons, or whatever theyare, have come across the propellers. They're cut up a good bit, butI've had to stop the engines, and they're clinging all round the afterpart. We're going down, too. Shall I disconnect the propellers and turnon the repulsion?"
"Yes, certainly, Andrew!" cried Zaidie, "and all of it, too. Look,Lenox, that horrible thing is coming. Suppose it broke the glass, and wecouldn't breathe this atmosphere!"
As she spoke the enormous, double-headed body advanced until itcompletely enveloped the forward part of the _Astronef_. The two hideousheads came close to the sides of the conning-tower; the huge, palelyluminous eyes looked in upon them. Zaidie, in her terror, even thoughtthat she saw something like human curiosity in them.
_The huge palely luminous eyes looked in upon them._]
Then, as Murgatroyd disappeared to obey the orders which Redgrave hadsanctioned with a quick nod, the heads approached still closer, and sheheard the ends of the pointed jaws, which she now saw were armed withshark-like teeth, striking against the thick glass walls of theconning-tower.
"Don't be frightened, dear!" he said, putting his arm round her, just ashe had done when they thought they were falling into the fiery seas ofJupiter. "You'll see something happen to this gentleman soon. Big andall as he is there won't be much left of him in a few minutes. They arelike those monsters they found in the lowest depths of our own seas.They can only live under tremendous pressure. That's why we didn't findany of them up above. This chap'll burst like a bubble presently.Meanwhile, there's no use in stopping here. Suppose you go below andbrew some coffee and bring it up on deck while I go and see how thingsare looking aft. It doesn't do you any good, you know, to be looking atmonsters of this sort. You can see what's left of them later on. Youmight bring the cognac decanter up too."
Zaidie was not at all sorry to obey him, for the horrible sight hadalmost sickened her.
They were still under the arch of the rings, and so, when the fullstrength of the R. Force was directed against the body of Saturn, thevessel sprang upwards like a projectile fired from a cannon.
Redgrave went back into the conning-tower to see what happened to theirassailant. It was already trying to detach itself and sink back into amore congenial element. As the pressure of the atmosphere decreased itshuge body swelled up into still huger proportions. The scaly skin on thetwo heads and necks puffed up as though air was being pumped in underit. The great eyes protruded out of their sockets; the jaws openedwidely as though the creature were gasping for breath.
Meanwhile Murgatroyd was seeing something very similar at the after end,and wondering what was going to happen to his propellers, the blades ofwhich were deeply imbedded in the jelly-like flesh of the monsters.
The _Astronef_ leaped higher and higher, and the hideous bodies whichwere clinging to her swelled out huger and huger. Redgrave even fanciedthat he heard something like the cries of pain from both heads on eitherside of the conning-tower. They passed through the inner cloud-veil, andthen the _Astronef_ began to turn on her axis, a
nd, just as the outerenvelope came into view the enormously distended bulk of the monsterscollapsed, and their fragments, seeming now like the tatters of a burstballoon than portions of a once living creature, dropped from the bodyof the _Astronef_, and floated away down into what had been their nativeelement.
"Difference of environment means a lot, after all," said Redgrave tohimself. "I should have called that either a lie or a miracle if Ihadn't seen it, and I'm jolly glad I sent Zaidie down below."
"Here's your coffee, Lenox," said her voice from the upper deck the nextmoment, "only it doesn't seem to want to stop in the cups, and the cupskeep getting off the saucers. I suppose we're turning upside downagain."
Redgrave stepped somewhat gingerly on to the deck, for his body had solittle weight under the double attraction of Saturn and the Rings that avery slight effort would have sent him flying up to the roof of thedeck-chamber.
"That's exactly as you please," he said, "just hold that table steady aminute. We shall have our centre of gravity back soon. And now, as tothe main question, suppose we take a trip across the sunlit hemisphereof Saturn to, what I suppose we should call on Earth, the South Pole. Wecan get resistance from the Rings, and as we are here we may as well seewhat the rest of Saturn is like. You see, if our theory is correct as tothe Rings gathering up most of the atmosphere of Saturn about itsequator, we shall get to higher latitudes where the air is thinner andmore like our own, and therefore it's quite possible that we shall finddifferent forms of life in it too--or if you've had enough of Saturn andwould prefer a trip to Uranus----"
"No, thanks," said Zaidie quickly. "To tell you the truth, Lenox, I'vehad almost enough star-wandering for one honeymoon, and though we'veseen nice things as well as horrible things--especially those ghastly,slimy creatures down there--I'm beginning to feel a bit homesick forgood old Mother Earth. You see, we're nearly a thousand million milesfrom home, and, even with you, it makes one feel a bit lonely. I vote weexplore the rest of this hemisphere up to the pole, and then, as theysay at sea--I mean our sea--'bout ship, and try if we can find our ownold world again. After all, it _is_ more homelike than any of these,isn't it?"
"Just take our telescope and look at it," said Redgrave, pointingtowards the Sun, with its little cluster of attendant planets. "It lookssomething like one of Jupiter's little moons down there, doesn't it,only not quite as big?"
"Yes, it does, but that doesn't matter. The fact is that it's there, andwe know what it's like, and it's _home_, if it _is_ a thousand millionmiles away, and that's everything."
By this time they had passed through the outer band of clouds. The vast,sunlit arch of the Rings towered up to the zenith, apparently spanningthe whole visible heavens. Below and in front of them lay the enormoussemicircle of the hemisphere which was turned towards the Sun, shroudedby its many-coloured bands of clouds. The R. Force was directed stronglyagainst the lower ring, and the _Astronef_ descended rapidly in aslanting direction through the cloud-bands towards the southerntemperate zone of the planet.
They passed through the second, or dark, cloud-band at the rate of aboutthree thousand miles an hour, aided by the repulsion against the Ringsand the attraction of the planets, and soon after lunch, the materialsof which now consented to remain on the table, they passed through theclouds and found themselves in a new world of wonders.
On a far vaster scale, it was the Earth during that period of itsdevelopment which is called the Reptilian Age. The atmosphere was stilldense and loaded with aqueous vapour, but the waters had already beendivided from the land.
They passed over vast, marshy continents and islands, and warm seas,above which thin clouds of steam still hung, and as they swept southwardwith the propellers working at their utmost speed they caught glimpsesof giant forms rising out of the steamy waters near the land, of otherscrawling slowly over it, dragging their huge bulk through a tremendousvegetation, which they crushed down as they passed, as a sheep on Earthmight push its way through a field of standing corn.
Other and even stranger shapes, broad-winged and ungainly, flutteredwith a slow, bat-like motion through the lower strata of the atmosphere.
Every now and then during the voyage across the temperate zone thepropellers were slowed down to enable them to witness some Titanicconflict between the gigantic denizens of land and sea and air. ButZaidie had had enough of horrors on the Saturnian equator, and so shewas content to watch this phase of evolution working itself out (as ithad done on the Earth thousands of ages ago) from a convenient distance.Wherefore the _Astronef_ sped on without approaching the surface nearerthan was necessary to get a clear general view.
"It'll be all very nice to see and remember and dream about afterwards,"she said, "but I don't think I can stand any more monsters just now, atleast not at close quarters, and I'm quite sure that if those things canlive there we couldn't, any more than we could have lived on Earth amillion years or so ago. No, really I don't want to land, Lenox; let'sgo on."
They went on at a speed of about a hundred miles an hour, and, as theyprogressed southward, both the atmosphere and the landscape rapidlychanged. The air grew clearer and the clouds lighter. Land and sea weremore sharply divided, and both teeming with life. The seas still swarmedwith serpentine monsters of the saurian type, and the firmer lands werepeopled by huge animals, mastodons, bears, giant tapirs, mylodons,deinotheriums, and a score of other species too strange for them torecognise by any Earthly likeness, which roamed in great herds throughthe vast twilit forests and over boundless plains covered with grey-bluevegetation.
Here, too, they found mountains for the first time on Saturn; mountainssteep-sided, and many Earth-miles high.
As the _Astronef_ was skirting the side of one of these ranges Redgraveallowed it to approach more closely than he had so far done to thesurface of Saturn.
"I shouldn't wonder if we found some of the higher forms of life uphere," he said. "If there is any kind of being that is going to developsome day into the human race of Saturn it would naturally get up here."
"I should hope so," said Zaidie, "and just as far as possible out of thereach of those unutterable horrors on the equator. That would be one ofthe first signs they would show of superior intelligence. Look! Ibelieve there are some of them. Do you see those holes in themountain-side there? And there they are, something like gorillas, onlytwice as big, and up the trees, too--and what trees! They must be sevenor eight hundred feet high."
"Tree-men and cave-dwellers, and ancestors of the future royal race ofSaturn, I suppose!" said Redgrave. "They don't look very nice, do they?Still, there's no doubt about their being far superior in intelligenceto those other brutes we saw. Evidently this atmosphere is too thin forthe two-headed jelly-fishes and the saurians to breathe. These creatureshave found that out in a few hundreds of generations, and so they havecome to live up here out of the way. Vegetarians, I suppose, or perhapsthey live on smaller monkeys and other animals, just as our ancestorsdid."
"Really, Lenox," said Zaidie, turning round and facing him, "I must saythat you have a most unpleasant way of alluding to one's ancestors. Theycouldn't help what they were."
"Well, dear," he said, going towards her, "marvellous as the miracleseems, I'm heretic enough to believe it possible that your ancestorseven, millions of years ago, perhaps, may have been something likethose; but then, of course, you know I'm a hopeless Darwinian."
"And, therefore, entirely horrid, as I've often said before, when youget on subjects like these. Not, of course, that I'm ashamed of my poorrelations; and then, after all, your Darwin was quite wrong when hetalked about the descent of man--and woman. We--especially thewomen--have _as_cended from that sort of thing, if there's any truth inthe story at all; though, personally, I must say I prefer dear oldMother Eve."
"Who never had a sweeter daughter than----!" he replied, drawing hertowards him.
"Very prettily put, my Lord," she laughed, releasing herself with agentle twirl; "and now I'll go and get dinner ready. After all, itdoesn't matter w
hat world one's in, one gets hungry all the same."
The dinner, which was eaten somewhere in the middle of thefifteen-year-long day of Saturn, was a more than usually pleasant one,because they were now nearing the turning-point of their trip into thedepths of Space, and thoughts of home and friends were already beginningto fly back across the thousand-million-mile gulf which lay between themand the Earth which they had left only a little more than two monthsago.
While they were at dinner the _Astronef_ rose above the mountains andresumed her southward course. Zaidie brought the coffee up on deck asusual after dinner, and, while Redgrave smoked his cigar and Zaidie hercigarette, they luxuriated in the magnificent spectacle of the sunlitside of the Rings towering up, rainbow built on rainbow, to the zenithof their visible heavens.
"What a pity there aren't any words to describe it!" said Zaidie. "Iwonder if the descendants of the ancestors of the future human race onSaturn will invent anything like a suitable language. I wonder howthey'll talk about those Rings millions of years hence."
"By that time there may not be any Rings," Lenox replied, blowing one ofblue smoke from his own lips. "Look at that--made in a moment and gonein a moment--and yet on exactly the same principle, it gives one a dimidea of the difference between time and eternity. After all it's onlyanother example of Kelvin's theory of vortices. Nebulae, and asteroids,and planet-rings, and smoke-rings are really all made on the sameprinciple."
"My dear Lenox, if you're going to get as philosophical and ascommonplace as that, I'm going to bed. Now that I come to think of it,I've been up about fifteen Earth-hours, so it's about time I went andhad a sleep. It's your turn to make the coffee in the morning--ourmorning, I mean--and you'll wake me in time to see the South Pole ofSaturn, won't you? You're not coming yet, I suppose?"
"Not just yet, dear. I want to see a bit more of this, and then I mustgo through the engines and see that they're all right and ready for thatthousand million mile homeward voyage you're talking about. You can havea good ten hours' sleep without missing much, I think, for there doesn'tseem to be anything more interesting than our own Arctic life downthere. So good-night, little woman, and don't have too many nightmares."
"Good-night!" she said; "if you hear me shout you'll know that you're tocome and protect me from monsters. Weren't those two-headed brutes justtoo horrid for words? Good-night, dear!"
A Honeymoon in Space Page 19
