 CHAPTER XI. The Valley of the of the shadow of death. Driven crazy by the awful noise I had finally fallen, as many a victim of the valley of the howling rocks had done before. In falling I had knocked my head against a stone and had become unconscious. At last I gradually came to, and the first thing that I noticed, that brought me out of my stupor with a jerk, was the fact that absolute silence reigned. I sat up and looked around. Yes, I was still in the same valley, surrounded by whitened bones and rusted carapaces, but the oppressive den had ceased. Had the death-dealing howls been purely an artificial creation, and had they been turned off at my supposed de-cease? My late executioners had gone, so I was free to escape, if escape were possible. But first I wished to find out why the noise had stopped, ever the incorrigible scientist. So I rose to my feet and instantly noticed that my headset was off and was trailing on the ground. It must have been knocked off when my head struck the rock. I was just about to replace the phones over my ears when I heard a roar proceeding from them. And then I realized that the awful sound for which the valley was famous was not sound at all, but consisted merely in radiations of some sort which had been caught and translated into sound by my radio apparatus. There were some advantages, after all, in my possessing a different kind of sense of hearing from that prevalent on Poros. So I switched off my current and then replaced my headset. The next problem was to get out of the valley. Not being confused by the howling roar I had an advantage over the many victims who had preceded me. Undoubtedly it was this quite natural confusion which had rendered it impossible for victims in the past to climb the walls, and so had given these walls their undeserved reputation for unscalability. Even as it was, quite a while elapsed before I found sufficient crevices conveniently placed so that I could make my way to the top. Finally I stood at the rim a free man. And then I voluntarily went back down again into that valley of death. Why? Because being primarily an inquisitive scientist I wanted to procure samples of the howling rocks for purposes of analysis if ever I should be in the laboratory again. So I collected several different kinds of fragments and did them up in a knotted corner of my toga. Once more I scaled the steep walls and stood again at the rim. I was free. No one would ever look for me as I was officially dead. I could pass as a cupian, for my disguise was still intact, and I had freshly shaved that morning so as to make a presentable corpse. Life on Poros was ahead of me, and Poros held the princess Lila. The only fly in the ointment was that I had lost my sense of direction and so did not know where I now stood on the Formian or on the cupian side of the pale. Accordingly I proceeded with caution. After skirting the valley of the howling rocks I followed the pale, hoping to come at last to some gate which would furnish a clue as to which side I was on. A strong wind was blowing, as is usual on Poros, and I knew that of course it blew towards the sea. But as I did not know whether the sea lay east or west from here, the wind was of no assistance in enabling me to orient myself. The pale was a thirty foot sheer wall of glazed concrete running in practically a geodesic line across the country, sometimes through woods and sometimes through green fields. Where it ran through the woods, the trees and bushes along it, at least on the side which I was on, had been cut away for quite a wide swath, evidently for the purpose of preventing anyone from using them to surmount the walls. As I could see no one on top of the wall in either direction I followed this cleared space which made traveling considerably easier. There was no fear of detection except when I passed through open fields, but I had to do this quite frequently. One field contained a herd of the milk-giving aphids which I had nicknamed green cows. Their presence convinced me that I must still be in Formia, until I reflected that I did not know but that the cupians also raised them. At last I came to a road which ran along by the pale for a way and then curved off again. Down this road I walked until I saw ahead of me, where the road topped a slight rise, two ant men coming toward me. Instantly I concealed myself in a tartan bush at one side. Soon I heard their approach and suddenly noticing that I could not hear their voices I switched on my apparatus which had been disconnected ever since I had replaced my headset in the valley of the howling rocks. Thanks to my indestructo tube the apparatus was still intact. And now a strange low growl almost drowned out what they were saying, so that with difficulty I distinguished the following words, I could swear that I saw a cupian approaching on the road ahead of us, but now he is nowhere to be seen. Then the other said, Never mind what you saw, do you hear what I hear. We had better be on our guard for it sounds like the roar of some absolutely new and strange animal. It sounds to me, replied the other, more like the awful valley, only much softer. It seems to come from this tartan bush, shall we investigate? As he mentioned the valley I instantly realized what was the cause of the trouble. The radioactive fragments tied up in the corner of my toga had revealed my presence. If I wanted to escape I would have to leave my precious samples behind. With a sigh I undid the knot, dropped the pieces on the ground, and dashed through the back of the bush just as the ant men broke in through the front of it. It was lucky for me that my pursuers had no ordinary sense of hearing or they would have heard my departure. Safe in another bush I listened to their amazed remarks at finding the stones, but after puzzling and debating for some time they finally resumed their journey. I was about to return for my specimens when I reflected that they might attract other attention and might even serve as a clue to suggest that I was a convict escaped from the awful valley, so I reluctantly left them lying where they were. Instead of continuing along the road, however, I now retraced my steps to the wall, for the presence of the ant men had made me certain that I was still in formia, and hence it became necessary for me to find some place where I could get through to the other side. Accordingly I proceeded along beside the wall. The day was warm and moist, as are all days on poros, but as I went on the weather got hotter, damper and more oppressive. Finally the sky began to turn dark. Ah! said I, now it is evening and I shall be able to get my bearings by the pink light in the west. But no pink light appeared on any hand. Never before had I seen a night descend like this upon this planet. Then with a crash the sky was split in two by a living flame and the storm broke in all its fury. The roar of the thunder was like a continuous artillery barrage, spiral vortices of wind hurled the rain in my face and nearly twisted me off my feet as I anchored myself to a tree trunk to withstand its fury. But fortunately the storm was as brief as it was severe, and soon I was again pressing on beneath silver skies. In spite of the storm the weather kept on getting more and more oppressive until, on cresting a hill, I saw before me the cause of all the trouble. About two stads ahead there rose a solid wall of vapor stretching away to the horizon on either side into the silver clouds above and giving forth such an intense heat in my direction that I could scarcely bear it. Every now and then a few drops of scalding water would fall on me from above. This must be the boiling sea of which I had heard so much and which surrounds all continental poros. It was an impressive sight. The pale ended only about a stad ahead and yet for the life of me I could not summon up enough courage to try and pass around at its end. In fact I could not conceive how the wall ever could have been built even that far in the face of that terrific heat. Later I learned that it had been built little by little behind a huge screen of woven fireworm fur and only during offshore breezes at that. Well, there was nothing for me to do but turn around and retrace my steps back to the valley of the howling rocks and beyond in search of an opening through the wall. I was well beyond the valley when my earthly ears caught the sound of an approaching curcule and as the road was fortunately passing through the woods at the time I hid myself in a convenient tartan bush. But this time I displaced one of the huge leaves sufficiently so that with one eye I could cover the road. What was my joy to note as the car passed that it was of cupian make and held cupians? When the curcule was safely out of sight and hearing I resumed my march and soon came in view of a city of a type so different from any which I had previously seen on Poros that it might well have belonged to another world. I sat down in a hillside pasture beside the road amidst gently grazing aphids and gazed upon the beautiful sight. The city was set upon a rounded hill. On the very summit stood a group of monumental white buildings ornamented with domes, minarets, and stately columns. From this group down to the foot of the hill and across the plain toward where I sat there stretched a plaza of well kept silver sword flanked by walks and ornamental trees. The road ran square to the near edge of this park where it forked abruptly and skirted both sides of the lawn. Flanking this divided road and extending around the base of the hill stood a multitude of houses, gray concrete or stucco, with high-pitched red-tile roofs, nothing more different from the ant cities to which I was accustomed could be imagined. That I was at least in Cupia, the country of my princess, there could now be no question. And as if to resolve my last possible doubt night now fell, and the pink sky on my left assured me that I was, in truth, north of the pail, and that the hated country of my captivity lay far behind me. As the silver-gray faded overhead I realized that I had had nothing to eat since a condemned man's conventional hearty meal early that morning. So, utilizing the few remaining minutes of daylight, I fashioned a tartan leaf into a rude cup and filled it with green milk from the contented cows. Then, laying my weary body upon the ground and covering myself with tartan leaves, I turned in for the night and slept the healthy sleep of utter exhaustion. The next morning I awakened greatly refreshed and after breakfasting from the friendly aphids set off to enter the beautiful city. I was badly in need of a shave and my toga was must and soiled, but my disguise was still intact and without too much scrutiny I might still pass as a cupian. Yet I did not dare ask where I was, not knowing what the cupian customs might be with regard to strangers. My first desire was to procure a shaving knife and a clean toga, but I had no idea how to go about it. Informia there had been no shops, everything necessary had simply been issued, as in the army, but without even the need of signing a receipt, but quite likely the cupian custom was different. Then, too, I wanted lodgings and a job, but did not know how to go about this either. Fortunately, however, I overheard a conversation between two cupians which gave me a clue as to how to proceed. Yahoo! Jodak! one of them held the other. How is it that you are in Kuana today? My heart gave abound. Kuana, the capital city of Kupia, and home of my princess. Fate was indeed repaying me well for all the hard knocks it had given me. The one dressed as Jodak answered, I have walked in from Katuth to register for a job here in Kuana. Can you address me to the ministry of work? And the two friends walked away, chatting together, while the germ of an idea sprouted in my mind. I, too, would be from Katuth looking for a job. Occasionally I passed some very officious-looking person armed with a short broadsword. I assumed these were Pinkwas or Perovian policemen. Finally, when I felt sure that Jodak had had plenty of time in which to report, I approached one of these policemen, told him that I was from Katuth, and asked him the way to the ministry of work. Too bad about the trouble in Katuth, isn't it? said he. I assented vaguely. Do you think that it was the fault of Count Kamal? he continued. He was getting entirely too garrulous and was likely at any moment to trap me into some damaging slip. I was just about to reply irrelevantly that Duke Lucky Strike was entirely to blame, when whom should I see walking down the street but my enemy and betrayer, Yuri? And at that instant he, too, saw me. Let me digress for a moment. I find that in writing down this account of my adventures I frequently use earth words instead of the more exact Perovian synonym. Thus I have just said Count and Duke, although these words are not strictly accurate. I might have said Bar-Sarkar and Sarkar instead, but I believe that a clear impression will be created on my readers, if this manuscript ever reaches the earth, by occasionally using earth words where this does not involve too great a stretch in their meaning. Well, as I was saying, here, to my surprise and horror, came the last person on Poros who I desired to see, namely Prince Yuri. Each of us was equally astonished to see the other, but Yuri was the first to recover his presence of mind. Pinqui, he shouted preemptorily to the Cupidan policeman, arrest that man and take him to the mangul, I myself will answer to the mango, and tell the mango that I forbid conversation with the prisoner. Then turning to me with a smile Yuri remarked, Welcome to Kauana, my friend. You are as welcome here as a spot of sunlight and have just as bad a habit of turning up. The last I heard of you, you were condemned to death. How you escaped from the ant men I know not, but perhaps you will find that Cupidan justice is sure then for me in. Then to the officer as I started to reply, Pinqui, if he says a word to me, to you, or to any one, strike him on the antennae, I have spoken. And he strode majestically away as the Pinqui seized me roughly by the arm and led me to the mangul, or jail, of the city of Kauana. At the mangul the Pinqui turned me over to the mango, to whom he repeated Yuri's message, whereupon I noticed a peculiar vindictive expression creep across the jailer's face. Then I was led to a cell and locked in. Once more I was out of luck. A few minutes ago I had been free and full of joy at finding myself in the city of my princess. Now I was in the toils again and, what was worse, in the power of the man who was my deadly rival for Lila's love, and who for ought that I knew, was already betrothed to her. At all events he was the most powerful single individual in Alcupia next to his uncle, the king. I was certainly in a jam, and to make matters worse, my jailer evidently had a thoroughly vicious personality. End of Chapter 11 CHAPTER 12 OF AN EARTHMAN ON VENUS This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by John Brandon. An Earthman on Venus. By Ralph Milne Farley. CHAPTER 12 A VICTIM OF URI But the malevolence of the jailer was not directed against me. For as he turned away after locking me in my cell he softly radiated the joyous information, any one who is an enemy of Prince Yuri has nothing to fear from Poblath. Then he was gone, evidently in spite of Yuri's popularity, there were some cupians who saw through him. And Poblath, the mango, must be one of these. Shortly afterwards he returned with food and spoke softly as he placed it before me. Walls have antennae, he quoted, so I will not radiate loudly to you. Be discreet, do nothing to anger Yuri. Bid your time, and if I can be of any particular service, let me know. Common enmity makeeth close friends. Evidently, Poblath was greatly given to Perovian proverbs. About one part, i.e. Perovian hour later, the mango brought Prince Yuri to my cell. Yuri had come to gloat over me, and to give in my presence his directions for my discomforture. Poblath, he declared, this man Cabot is a dangerous criminal. The charges against him are so serious that I must lay them in person before King Q. Cabot is a deaf mute born without antennae, but he has concocted with diabolical cleverness some artificial electrical antennae. No one is to be permitted to talk with him, and to make sure of this I now command you to take from him his apparatus. My jaw dropped with horror at the thought, but the jailer quickly came to my rescue. Oh sire, he said, the ancient law. I will see that no communication is had with him, but the ancient law prohibits depriving any person of his antennae. Yuri replied, this is not a person, it is an animal, and furthermore his apparatus is not antennae, strictly speaking. Poblath was equal to the occasion. The ancient law applies equally to animals, as you well know, my prince, and as for his antennae, they are antennae to me, unless King Q. rules otherwise. Leave his antennae then, snap Yuri, and remove his belt, but Poblath was obdurate and stood upon his rights. If his belt serves his antennae, I demand a kingly ruling, I have spoken. Yuri scowled, a ruling you shall have, he gritted, as he turned away. Meanwhile, keep the prisoner by himself. Your will is law, Poblath answered, with mock meekness. So at last I had a friend in Cupid, when the mango returned to bring me my supper, I determined to take him into my confidence. Poblath, I said, as a feeler, who rescued the princess Lilla from the Four-Means? It was Prince Yuri, he replied. It is the one decent act of his life, though his beautiful cousin does not seem to be particularly grateful to him for it. Then she is not yet betrothed to him, I asked. Not yet, nor ever, was the emphatic answer. Poblath, I declared, Yuri did not rescue the princess. I did. Can you get word to her that I am here? By the blue-horned wolfess, he ejaculated, can I? Just watch me. If you straighten this out, I said, I shall be most eternally grateful. At which the mango quoted sententiously, he who expects gratitude had not conferred a favor. Then he hurried away. Late that evening, he returned to my cell with the most exquisite specimen of Cupid femininity, whom he introduced as Bitha, maiden waiting to Princess Lilla. If Lilla was all that was desirable in a blonde, Bitha was all that was desirable in a brunette. Full lips, clear olive skin, dark, languorous eyes, a seductive form, a chestnut baby doll with smoldering southern passion underneath. She was a red rose overripe. Although my allegiance never wavered for an instant from the lovely Lilla, yet I must confess that the presence of this exotic beauty strangely stirred me. And she smiled at me, as though she thought me not half bad either. Then she spoke. I am betrothed to Publath, although secretly because my rank of Sarkari, Duchess, should prevent an alliance with a commoner. That brink Yuri, this was a particularly choice epithet to apply to Yuri, for brink is the name of the little hopping lizard that infests the concrete roads. That brink has been trying to make love to me, though in the most unflattering way in spite of my rank. His standing is such that I dare not oppose him openly. But Publath and I are friends of yours, since you are an enemy of our enemy. You may tell us your story without fear. So I told him in detail my entire adventures on this planet, from my finding myself beside the Silver Lake on the day of the explosion in my Boston laboratory, down to date, omitting, of course, the more intimate passages between myself and the Princess Lilla. When I finished, I could see that I was assured of their cooperation, not only because of our common hatred of Prince Yuri, but also because of the merits of my own case. The next step, Publath announced, is for Bitha to tell our mistress that you are here. Once the Princess knows this, we can be sure that she will confide in Bitha, and thus we can learn definitely where matters stand. Then the two lovers withdrew, leaving me to spend a far happier night than I had had any reason to expect. The next day passed uneventfully, evidently Yuri was having some difficulty in getting his desired ruling from the king, relative to my antennae. Nightfall again, brought with it the dark and beautiful Bitha, to her trist with the mango Publath. And Bitha brought news of the Princess, who sent word to be of good cheer, for her father, the king, was to inspect the Kiwana jail on the morrow. Just what good this would do me, I could not see, but I took Lilla's word for it, that this was good tidings. Preparatory to the visit, I obtained materials from Publath and shaved. On the next day, the third day of my imprisonment, Hugh XII, King of Hupia, attended by his suite, inspected the Kiwana jail, and in due course was conducted to my cell. The king was a broad-shouldered, narrow-hipped, athletic figure, looking like a well-preserved earthman of about fifty years of age. His complexion was bronzed, his nose slightly aquiline, and his hair iron gray, short and furry. His eyes were black and piercing, and his mouth and jaw firm. Justice, but not mercy, sat upon his kingly brow. He and I studied each other calmly for a few moments, and then I lost my calm. For in the royal suite stood my princess. I was about to cry out to her when her expression stayed me. So instead I merely acknowledged her presence with a bow and said, My life is, as ever, at the service of the princess Lilla. Where at the king turned to his daughter and asked, Who is this man who seems to know you, and who claims the honor of being a servitor of the royal house? But before she could answer, one of the suites stepped forward and declared, I know the prisoner sire, and he is none other than Miles Cabot, a great scientist from the planet Minos. Recently feasted and honored at the University of Formia. Surely his imprisonment must be a mistake. My new defender was the Cupidian professor who had stood at the head table at the banquet in my honor my first night in Mooney. Then, declared the king, this must be the Cabot of whom Prince Yuri spoke, urging us to consent that he be deprived of his artificial antennae. A great scientist he must be to have designed such an apparatus. But Yuri assures us that he is likewise a great criminal and a dangerous enemy of the Q dynasty, of which facts Yuri has promised us full particulars shortly. Speak, man, and tell us your version of your crimes. I hesitated, but the princess answered my unspoken thought. My good fellow, you need not fear to tell everything to my father the king. So I told. I told the whole story of my life on Poros, omitting nothing except my love for the princess Lila. It was nearly a whole path in the telling, and all those present hung on every word. When I was done, the king, amazed, turned to his daughter and inquired. Can this be true? Is the crown prince such a scoundrel that he would abduct the princess royal and then falsely claim the credit for her rescue? To which Lila replied, I know nothing of Prince Yuri's complicity in my abduction, though it seems to fit in with his other acts. But I do know that he has claimed undeserved credit, which is an unforgivable breach of the cupian ethics of fair play. The king called to one of his courtiers, go forthwith and order the prince to repair immediately to our quarters. We shall sift this matter to the bottom. And turning on me, if your story proves false, it will go hard with you. But if your story proves to be true, it will go hard with Prince Yuri. And he swept from my presence followed by his suite. And last of all, by the princess Lila, who turned and smiled sweetly on me, just as she was leaving. No further word came from the palace all that day, but late that afternoon Prince Yuri visited the cell with a number of his courtiers. He was furiously angry. Hoblath was with him, endeavoring to calm him down and to divert him from seeing me. But Yuri was insistent. As the door of my cell was flung open, the prince started to abuse me. How dare you malign a member of the ruling house, he thundered. How dare you lie and involve the princess Lila in your lies. I have a mind to kill you on the spot, and thus rid the planet of your foul presence. And he would have gone on if I had not had a sudden inspiration. Yuri, said I, you wuffous brink math lab. I'll get your number. The effect was electrical. The princess' face went white with rage. Then he calmed and a smile overspread his face. Pardon me, sir. But I'll get yours, he replied with a low bow. Hoblath interjected. You poor fool, Cabot. Prince Yuri is the best dualist in all Cupidia. A brink may hop once too often beneath the Kirk Kool. I quoted. But come. I see that we do not rush at each other as they do inform you. What are supposed to be the formalities here? You will learn soon enough Yuri growled scowling ominously. But Hoblath more kindly explained. Each of you chooses an attendant, and then the attendants tie you together, and you kill with knives. This reminded me of Mark Twain's gattling guns at fifteen paces. I chose Hoblath, and Yuri chose one of his own sweet. A peculiar harness was then produced, consisting of a double belt. One half of this was buckled around Yuri's waist. But when they came to buckle me into the other half, my radio apparatus, which was concealed beneath my toga, furnished an obstacle. And so there was nothing for me to do but take it off. This, of course, would render me entirely deaf during the fight. Which fact might prove somewhat disadvantageous? But before they took away my hearing, they explained fully to me just how the dual would be conducted. And I cautioned Hoblath to keep a firm hold of my apparatus, and not let it get into the hands of any of Yuri's henchmen even for an instant. Otherwise, I said the ancient law might easily become violated. Then I shed my antennae, and stood once more, an earthman, ready to battle for my existence against the inhabitants of Poros. We were belted together, face to face, waist touching waist. Each of us held a short, sharp dagger in his left hand, cupions being a left-handed race. While the right hand of each of us seized the left wrist of his opponent, the idea was for me to try and stab Yuri to death before he could stab me and vice versa. Yuri had the advantage on the offensive, for he held his dagger in his strong hand, whereas I held mine in my weak. But conversely, I had the advantage on the defensive, for it was my strongest hand which warded him off. No spoken signal could be given because of my receiving set being off, so Hoblath held up his hand and both of us watched it. Then when he let it fall, we started to wrestle. Yuri might be the most perfect physical specimen in all cupio, but I was from a planet with a greater attraction of gravity necessitated a greater strength on the average. However, I soon perceived that these Perovian duels are not to be won by strength alone. There were tricks and faints by which one's opponent could be tired out, and I was a mere novice, while Yuri was regarded as the most expert duelist on all Poros. We tumbled and rolled about on the floor, with first his knife and then mine near its mark. At last we both struggled to our feet again, and swayed back and forth for a moment. And then gradually Yuri's dagger began to descend. Strain as I would, I could not stay at slow and steady progress toward my heart. A gleam of exultation filled the eye of my opponent. The point of his knife pricked my breast and began to enter. In a few seconds it would be over, and I should fall a victim to an alien race. A strange train of ideas ran through my affrighted mind. Alien race. Japanese, Fujitsu, the very thing, the Onar nerve. Suddenly, shifting my grip on his wrist, I forced my thumb into the sensitive spot, and instantly his knife, about to pierce my heart, dropped instead from his nervous fingers, and clattered harmlessly to the floor. And now what was the etiquette of the situation? I turned my glance from Yuri's eyes to those of Publeth, and saw the latter frantically motioning me to kill. To kill, nothing would give me greater pleasure. But as I returned to the task, I noted the princess Lilla standing in the crowd, with a look of terror on her face. Her appealing eyes showed that she was speaking to me, probably urging me to spare the prince. So she cared for the scoundrel after all. In disgust, I threw my own knife into a corner and signaled to Publeth to remove the belts. He did so reproachfully, and then handed me my receiving set. Something prompted me to put it on in haste, and it was well that I did so. For as I snapped the earphones in place, I heard Yuri shout, quick, two of you, cover, cabot, and the mango. Instantly, each of us was forced to the wall with a sharp broadsword at our breast, while Yuri seized the princess, and surrounded by the rest of his suite, made a hasty exit from the cell-room. Recording by Chad Jackson An Earthman on Venus by Ralph Milne Farley Chapter 13 Kidnapped As Yuri surrounded by his bodyguard, dragged Princess Lilla from the room, I had an inspiration. I remembered the superstitious legend about me, which prevailed among the farmer ants of Formia. Halt, I shouted. My electrical antenna can kill as well as radiate speech. Let no man move a foot if you would escape the lightnings of heaven, which I have power to loose upon you. The whole party stopped dead in their tracks, and watched me, fascinated. Drop your points, I ordered the two who guarded Poboth and me. Quick, before I blast you. They obeyed, and I walked fearlessly across the room. Let one man stir and you all die, I continued as I pushed between the guards and wrenched the princess from her cousin's nervous arms. Now, out of here, all of you. In sheer relief, like men awakened from a trance, they bolted through the door. Fine work, Poblath remarked, himself greatly relieved, but you should have detained them all as prisoners. Good riddance to bad rubbish, I replied, and besides, who knows how soon one of them might have moved and not have been blasted, and thus have spoiled my entire bluff? The princess clung to my arms, then raising her eyes to mine with a smile, she said, again you have saved me, Miles Cabot, and again I am yours. And I am always yours, my princess, I replied. She stamped her foot, then said sadly, ever you remind me that I am a princess, and as a princess I must demand more respect from you, Miles Cabot. Gently I released her, and she lingeringly departed, leaving me alone with Poblath. I felt let down and futile, the victim of an anticlimax. What next? And then ensued a period of waiting. Days passed, and I still remained an inmate of the Kuanah jail. No word from Princess Lola, no word from King Q, no word of Prince Yuri, although rumor had it that he had fled into Formia, fearing the wrath of the king. I heard that a group of the younger politicians in the popular assembly, headed by Prince Toren, had suggested to the king that he demand an apology from Queen Formus for the first abduction of the princess, and that he demand extradition of Yuri on the charge of attempting the second. But King Q was in a ticklish position, being the ruler of a subject race, and holding his position merely by grace of Formus, whom he hated, as she well knew. If he were to present any such demand as this, the least that he could expect would be an immediate counter-demand for my surrender. Formus might demand his abdication in favor of Yuri. Even war might result, which the Kupians were unarmed to resist. This would mean tons of explosives dropped upon Kuanah from Formian airplanes, thousands of Kupians ground between fierce mandibles, and then another treaty more degrading even than that of Mooney. So King Q resorted to diplomacy, rather than to ultimatums, and finally reached a tacit understanding whereby Queen Formus disclaimed responsibility for the kidnapping and made a gift to the Princess Lola, and whereby Prince Yuri was permitted to remain undisturbed in Formia and I in Kupia. Upon the consummation of the agreement between the two countries, I was led out of prison and conducted to the Royal Palace, where I was received in honor by the King and Princess. The palace was one of the monumental white buildings on the brow of the hill around which the city of Kuanah is built, the rest of the group being the university. Lola greeted me cordially as an old friend, but of course in the presence of the King, neither of us dared show any stronger sentiments. King Q patted me warmly on the cheek. Well done, Miles Cabot, he declared. We welcome to Kuanah the Scientist of Menace, Formus by her treachery, has lost your great abilities, and Kupia is the gainer thereby. The old hag may gnash her mandibles in vain, but father, father, the Princess interjected remonstratingly, do be careful, remember that you occupy your throne merely by the grace of the conquerors. And by the disgrace of my ancestors, he added, grimacing. But father, she continued, walls have antennae. Even now word of your utterances may be on the way to the imperial city. And she laid her golden curly head beguiling on his broad shoulder. Somewhat mollified the King murmured, I know, I know, and I must be careful, but the enslavement of my people irks me, even though I spring from a line of eleven servile kings. Would that there were some way of striking off the yoke and ridding the face of Poros of these beasts with human minds and wufus hearts? Spoken like a king, I cried. No then, King Q and Princess Lola, that if ever such a day comes, Mal's cabbage can be counted on to fight in the vanguard of the army of liberation. Brave words, Lola replied in a subdued tone, but foolish as well. We are only brinks, Formus is a wufus, and it is futile to struggle against fate. She sighed. Q sat down heavily on his throne and put his head in his hands. I considered it tactful to withdraw. Quarters were found for me near by the palace, and the Ministry of Work assigned me, for my two parts a day, to the machine shop of the Department of Mechanics at the University. Tickets were issued to me as an advance on my pay, and this enabled me to make many necessary purchases from the government shops to replace the articles borrowed during my incarceration in the man ghoul and to buy presents for Publoth and his fiancee. Among my purchases was the most elaborate and expensive silk toga which I could obtain in the city, so as to enhance my standing and dignity at court functions. A few days after my release, the King honored me with an invitation to dinner with him and the Princess alone, and this was followed within a few days by a banquet to some of the leading nobles, Sarkars and Barsarkars, and professors of the University, Babas. On this latter occasion, I met the Coupian professor, who had stood at the head table at the banquet at Muni, and who had later identified and befriended me at the Kuwana Jail. He was Ha Baba, Professor of Mechanics, Head of the Department to which I was attached. He now sat at my right, and we speedily became great friends, a fact which was shortly to play an important part in my life and in the history of the whole planet. It was on his recommendation that I had been assigned to his department by the Minister of Work. Time sped rapidly during the succeeding days. My duties, which consisted in machine design, were interesting, though a bit out of my line. Of the twelve parts which make up a parovian day, about four were required for sleep, and only two for work, thus leaving six, the equivalent of nearly twelve earth hours for meals and recreation. Recreation is the chief vocation of Coupia, and is conducted under the direction of the Minister of Play, who is the most important member of the King's cabinet. I was duly assigned to a hundred, i.e. Athletic Club, consisting of 147 members under the leadership of an elective Puda, assisted by two Bar Pudas. The hundreds are grouped together by twelfths, into thousands, each led by an elective equate, and so the grouping continues on the analogy of the defunct armies of the Coupian nations which existed prior to the Great War of the Formian Conquest. As I have already intimated, a similar organization obtains in the Imperial Air Navy of the Ant-Man. The games are mostly athletic in their nature, consisting in running, jumping, throwing stones at a mark, strapped dueling with blunt knives dipped in pitch, wrestling, etc. Sons normally enter their father's hundred as soon as there is a vacancy, and wives and daughters are organized into auxiliary hundreds. Teams, representing each hundred, compete annually within their thousand. The winning teams compete within their regiment, and so on up. Badges are awarded to the final winners and a special prize to the hundred whose members capture the most badges. Then there is competitive marching and complicated evolutions in squads of twelve, conducted by each hundred as a whole. This organized recreation is entirely optional, except as to the marching, which in my hundred occurred only twice a second, i.e. every sixty days, so I have plenty of time to spend as I saw fit. I made frequent visits to the Department of Electricity and became quite intimate with its professor, Oya Buh. I also became acquainted with Jhababa, Professor of Mathematics. The observatory fascinated me. Never for a moment is the huge telescope with its revolving cylinder of mercury left unguarded. Here sits constantly Buh-Teddin, or one of his assistants, while four students scan the sky for an occasional rift in the clouds. This vigil, maintained throughout the ages, and a similar vigil at Muni, have resulted in a knowledge of space comparable with ours in spite of the clouds which envelop porous. The Perovians have long been an opinion that both Mars and the Earth are inhabited, but that the other planets are not. Constant demands were made on me to lecture before the students and to submit to physical examinations, but as all this came during my work time, it did not interfere with my recreation. The wing of the palace devoted to Lilla and her attendants lay near to my quarters and not far from the machine shop, and could be reached by an outside door without passing through the rest of the palace. Thither I came as a frequent visitor by invitation of the princess. In fact, to be perfectly frank, I spent nearly my entire spare time there. She had an unquenchable, sunny disposition and a keen sense of humor. She had no particular accomplishments, and yet possessed that trait often overlooked and yet more valuable than any mere parlor tricks of tactfulness, sympathy, ability smooth over the rough places of life, and to enrich with her personality every gathering which she favored with her presence. I certainly was on top of the world, or rather of the planet Poros, and to make my contentment complete, my old aunt friend Dogo was detailed as attaché of the forming ambassador, and brought with him my pet Buntloat and Lilla's pet Mathlab, which we had left behind in Watusa. Meanwhile, my scientific attainments were attracting considerable attention, until finally Lilla informed me that her father had reached the conclusion that these attainments would furnish an excuse for elevating me to the lesser nobility. The real basis for my elevation was of course my rescue of the princess, but the king had not dared to give this reason for fear of offending the sensibilities of queen Formus. In due course of time, my promotion occurred, and I became a bar-sarker, entitled to wear a red circle over where my heart ought to be, i.e. on the right side of my toga. Lilla gave a special dinner to celebrate this, and invited Betha and Publath. In fact, she was always getting up special occasions on one pretext or another, for she was very fond of devising new ways of cooking alta and mathlab, and the red lobster-like aphid parasite, and of trying these dishes on her friends. We played at a four-handed game resembling checkers, and a pleasant time was had by all. After the game, we sat on a little veranda in the warm, soft evening air, two pairs of lovers blissfully happy. Dogo had not been invited. He would not have fitted in. Being a sexless female, what could he know of love? And then too, I had begun to learn that, except in educational circles, where science knows no national boundaries, there was very little fraternizing between the Koopians and their conquerors. The social barrier between Dogo and me, which resembled the pale between our two countries, was the only drawback to an otherwise idyllic life. But as Publath would say, the claudious day may have its sunshine, meaning just the opposite to our every cloud has its silver lining. For one day I received a letter from King Q, announcing, as a special mark of his favor, my betrothal to the Duchess Batuh. Horrified, I rushed to the apartments of my princess and obtained entrance. She too had heard the news and was in tears. My rank or not, Batuh or no Batuh, you are mine, mine, she sobbed as she clung to me, while I covered her with kisses. If it were not for Yuri and your criminal record, we could flee into Formia, but here in Coupia my father is supreme. If you were still a commoner, you could marry or not as you chose, within your own class, but as a bar-sarkar you must marry as the king directs. Isn't there anything we can do about it, I demanded? Nothing, she replied. A princess cannot marry lower than a full sarkar, which is a rank that you can attain only by performing some distinguished service for your country. Our only hope lies in accepting fate for the present and in striving to get you a sarkar ship before the wedding. And think of poor Batuh. This will be as much of a blow to her and to Poblath as it is to us. But to our surprising consternation, Batuh took the news very philosophically. The kings will be done, she said, with a pretty little pout and shrug. Myles Cabot is not a bad match after all, and if rank prevents him from having the princess and prevents me from having the mango, why not solace ourselves with each other? And she glanced trebly up at me. But somehow the idea did not appeal to me at all. I must have looked at Batuh with much of the same expression of horror as the princess had worn the day of our first meeting at Watusa when I was still an unkempt earth man. For Batuh laughed and said, Come, come, Myles, do not look thus. Am I so horrible that you cannot learn to love me, even to please our gracious king? Batuh stopped that foolishness at once, ordered Lola. You make me sick. But Batuh instillantly replied, Cannot I flirt with my own Bathroth, oh princess? She left the room smiling. She was merely trying to hide a broken heart, I apologized. Warat Lola wheeled on me furiously and said, Don't you dare stand up for that creature? So I desisted. I certainly was in a fix, engaged to a girl whom I didn't love, but who had apparently determined to put up with me, estranged from the girl whom I did love, forced to play false with the first man who had befriended me in Kupia and no way out in sight. What was I to do? I thought of renouncing my rank, but this I found was impossible, and besides such a step would put the princess even further out of my reach. But Thoth bore up nobly, much too nobly, in fact. Pabla sent me a brief note reading, I expect a new gratitude, but I did expect a square deal, and then refused to receive me when I hastened to the mangle to explain. I took Hababa into my confidence, but he had no suggestion to offer, for I had, as yet, done nothing to deserve a sarkership. As time passed, I saw less and less of Lola and more and more of Botha, but I managed to keep from being left alone with the latter. The date of our wedding was set, and drew nearer and nearer. We were to be married in state by the king himself. I could not help admitting that my bride was an exquisite creature, but I did not, could not love her. Though if I had never met the princess Lola, I could doubtless have lived very happily with Botha. But how can the eagle's lover mate with a parakeet? At last the eve of my wedding arrived. After supper I dragged my footsteps to the quarters of the princess to spend with her the last few paths, which I should ever be free to spend, for on the morrow I was to become a married man. Botha, my affianced bride, met me, and the princess was nowhere to be seen. Oh, Cabot, Cabot, entreated Botha as she seized my hands and gazed into my eyes. Cannot you bow to the inevitable? Is life with me such a horrible fate? I can be very sweet, if you will, but let me try. You have never once kissed me yet. Is that the way you treat your betrothed? Kiss me, Cabot, kiss me, kiss me, kiss me. And still holding me with her amber eyes, she slid her hands up my arms, and drew her fragrant presence close to me. But I broke away abruptly from her spell and demanded, Where is my princess? Surely you will not rob me of my last few hours of freedom. But thus shrugged her pretty shoulders. Your princess, it is always your princess. Well, what should I care? For tomorrow you are mine, holy mine, and even a princess will not pirate the husband of a Sarkari. Find her yourself and gather flowers while it yet is day, and with another shrug she left the salon. Tomorrow, why tomorrow I may be myself with yesterday's seven thousand years, I quoted softly, as I pulled the signal cord for the maid. The maid informed me that her mistress had not been seen since early morning. It was not like little of thus to leave her whereabouts unknown for such a long time. So I rushed out into the streets and began to make inquiries. If I had been less agitated, I suppose that I would have been more systematic. But as it was, I soon learned from a pinky that the princess had been seen walking southward over the plaza shortly before noon. So I hastened down to the plaza and started questioning people. At last my search was rewarded, for several people reported that they had seen a woman apparently much agitated, picked up by an ant man and carried southward. So hiring a kerkel at the nearest garage, I started in pursuit. A few stats outside the city, I came upon an ant kerkel lying beside the road. Gyroscope trouble evidently. I parked my car and got out to investigate. As I was standing there gazing at the fallen kerkel, a bandage was suddenly thrown about my eyes from behind. Then I smelled the pungent anesthetic fumes of decoction of saffer root, and my struggles ceased. 14. In disgrace. I awakened to find myself lying bound in a wood. The time was apparently the next morning. My first thought was to worry about Lilla. My next was to wonder who was to blame for my seizure. Yuri undoubtedly. But if so, had he not misplayed? If he had let me alone, I should by this time be marrying Sarkari Bitha. And once married to her, I could no longer interfere between Lilla and Yuri. Lilla might even consent to marry the prince out of peak. My thoughts were interrupted by the return of my captor, who proved to be an ant man, numbered 356-1-400. He was a young ant and bore no dual numbers. I started to speak. But he warned me to be silent. To make sure of my obedience, he bit me savagely. Once more, as on my first day on this planet, I experienced intense pain, followed by oblivion, and then conscious paralysis. When I awoke paralyzed, I found that my captor was carrying me. The fact that he was an ant man confirmed my suspicions of Yuri. But the fact that he was carrying me furtively through the woods, instead of on the main highway, convinced me that I was still in Kupia. My bonds were still on, but had become very loose. Immediately I decided that my one chance of escape lay in concealing my recovery from the paralysis when this recovery should occur. So I awaited my opportunity. Thus we proceeded for about a path and a half, but suddenly my captor halted and pricked up his antennae. I too listened. Directly ahead of us, there came a long drawn howl. The call of a wolfess, nearer came the sound. We were in a field at the time, and I could see that the ant man was looking around for a likely tree in which to take refuge. But the bordering woods were all scrub, with not a single sizable tree in sight. So my captor laid me down and advanced toward the sound of the oncoming wolfess, evidently determined to bluff it out and attack before being attacked. Then the purple terror bounded into the open. One lone ant man is no match for a wolfess. Though my captor fought bravely, he was slowly driven back, contesting every parastat of the way. When the two were nearly upon me, I realized that my langore was gone. I undid my bonds, I stood erect, then I found a heavy stick. My captor was entirely engrossed in this conflict. Now was my chance to crush him with my club, and then escape while the wolfess devoured his remains. Fate was indeed kind to me once more, so I crept stealthily forward, and then brought my club down with a crash on the head of the wolfess. For my sense of fair play, my sporting sense had abruptly changed my mind, and I had rescued the underdog instead of killing him. Now I was again his captive. Undoubtedly, Destin, this time to have eggs laid in me by Queen Formus. The ant man stood for a moment astounded, and then wheeled around. I still held my club. There was now no reason why I should not kill him, too, if I could. But he did not charge. Instead he said, Let us not fight. You have saved my life, and so I owe you yours. A life or a life. No one shall ever say that three-five-six-dash-one-dash-four-hundred is ungrateful. Go in peace. Look amissed approaches. My excuse shall be I lost you in the fog. If you, too, are grateful, you will tell the same story. Then the fog, a frequent phenomenon of poros, closed upon me, and I saw my captor no more. I lay down, covered myself with tartan leaves to keep off the wet, and waited for the fog to lift. And the next thing I knew it was morning. In spite of my last fast, since supper two days ago, I felt refreshed by my sleep, and at once set out through the woods, in as nearly a straight line as I could, in the hope of striking a road. The straight line was easy, as the eastern sky was still faintly pink, and likewise it was easy to head north along the road when I finally reached one. But when, at last, I came to a city, it turned out to be Ketuth, rather than Kiwana. Before seeking food or anything else except a much-needed drink of water, I found a pinkey and asked him if he had heard any recent news from Kiwana, relative to the disappearance of the princess. News from Kiwana? Disappearance? He repeated in surprise, surely not. The princess has been here safe and sound for two days, and left only a few para-paths ago by the Kiwana road. So I had just missed her. If I had entered the city a bit later, I should have passed her on the road. My tickets were not sufficient to hire a kerkul, and besides now that I knew Lila was safe, I was in no hurry to face Bithu, whom I had left waiting at the joining stand, as it were. So after breakfast I set out on foot for Kiwana, thirty stads away carrying some lunch. Around noon, when I had just eaten my lunch on a stone by the side of the road, a kerkul passed me headed for Kiwana. I hailed its single occupant and was given a lift the rest of the way. He turned out to be the chief of Pinkus of Ketuth, bound for a conference with the mango of Kiwana. I welcomed the chance to get inside the Kiwana jail, face to face with my old friend, Poblath. For this opportunity would enable me to give him my long deferred explanation of my relations, or rather lack of relations, with his Bithu. It was three days since I had shaved, and I must have presented an uncanny sight. In fact, the chief had intimated as much as I got aboard his kerkul. So when Poblath saw me, his jaw dropped and he seemed convulsed with fear. Go away, dead man, he begged. I confess it all. I did hire the ant man to assassinate you. But now that you have my confession, return in peace to the land beneath the boiling seas and leave me alone. So that was why I had been kidnapped. Well, at least it let Yori out of being an absolute fool. Poblath, old friend, I replied, I am not dead. The ant man lost me in the fog. And I have returned not to curse you, but rather to thank you. For you have saved me from an unwished marriage. And then I got across the explanation which he had so long denied me. When I had finished, there was no longer any doubt in Poblath's mind that I was still his friend. And he warmly patted my jaw, the conventional Perovian token of friendship. But I fancied that his sweetheart, Bithu, would not be so easy to appease. From the jail I went to my room for a shave and a clean toga, and then repaired to the garage where I had rented the kerkul, my intention being to try and arrange to pay for the loss on the installment plan. But to my surprise the kerkul lulu informed me that my kerkul had been found, with its gyro still running, standing beside the wrecked ant car, and had been brought back to Kiwana intact, so that all I owed was an extra day's rent, for which he would gladly trust me until next ticket day. On returning again to my rooms, I found a messenger with a peremptory summons to attend the king forthwith, in spite of the fact that it was now nearly time for the evening meal. Evidently, all Q had heard of my return. He had, when I entered the audience chamber, I entered the presence of an awful wrath. Q was seated on his royal couch, and standing beside him was a she-woofus named Bitha, never before had I so stirred a woman's rage, and I hoped never to do so again. The king demanded an explanation which I gave readily enough, but which did not convince him in the least. Cabot Bar Sarkar, he spoke, I do not believe you. Concerned for the safety of the princess is very commendable, but if it were that which actuated you, you would have inquired first from me, and would have learned that she had left a note with me, giving word of her departure for K-tooth. No, you took the absence of the princess as the mere convenient excuse to desert your bride at the joining stand, unmindful of the high honor which I was conferring on you in giving the hand of a Sarkari to you, lately a commoner, nay, even a beast from another world. Whether or not she will still have you is for the lady to say, but as for me, you have greatly incurred the royal displeasure, and I am almost minded to revoke your rank. You came to us from among those accursed formians under whose thrall to my amchafing. Verily, I believe the ancient proverb, no good cometh out of formia. Go, I have spoken, but I have not spoken, interjected Bitha, ever the disrespectful, no base earth thing that no one can injure the pride of Bitha with impunity. You who could have given me your love, or even merely your hand, and have received in return a love the passion of which is unequaled on this planet, chose instead to meet out to me, who am your social superior, the worst insult which a man can give to a woman. I condescend to link myself with a commoner, and for reward am treated as dirt, and ground under heel like a brink. Never can you wipe out this insult. Never shall I reconsider my present determination not to marry you. For this relief many thanks, said I to myself. But you still have me to cope with, she continued. You brink math lab, earth man. A particularly delicate touch putting earth man as the climax of a list of distasteful creatures. Bitha will have her revenge, she concluded. Never fear. Now I have spoken. I drew a long breath, as one who has just finished receiving a flogging. So that was over. The lady is now a very good friend of mine, and begs me to tone down this transcription of her tirade. But why not tell the story just as it happened? As I respectfully withdrew from the audience chamber, an attendant softly radiated into my antennae that the princess desired to see me at once in her apartments. More trouble, but I was wrong, for Lilla received me most tenderly and graciously. Supper was laid for two. I took her in my arms. At last we seated ourselves side by side on a couch by the table, and the meal was served. I was unable to bear your marriage to another, she explained. Especially, as you did not seem to be trying to do anything about it. But how can a math lab struggle in the jaws of a wuffa's, I interjected, quoting whatopoblath's proverbs. Lilla smiled indulgently and continued her story. There was no one here whom I could trust, so I finally called upon Dogo. He met me on the outskirts of the city, and carried me to K-Tooth in his curtool to try and devise with you some means of escaping from Beetha. But his curtool broke down en route, and he had to continue on foot, and by the time that he reached the city, you had disappeared. When you failed to show up for the wedding, Beetha acted like one drunk with saffron route, and has continued so ever since. Dogo said word to me at K-Tooth, and I returned. Then I told her my adventures. She sympathizing tenderly with my misfortunes and thrilling at my conquest of the wuffas. Now that Hoblath is our friend again, we have little to fear from Beetha. She said Beetha is a mad little wanton, and would cool off if let alone. But Poblath, for all his philosophy, is a commoner, and so was to have been expected to misunderstand the situation. I wanted to say that Lilla herself had entertained exactly the same misunderstanding as Poblath, but instead I merely remarked, I too am a commoner, Lilla dearest. You are not, she indignantly replied. You are a bar-sarker, and have the heart of a king. Could the Princess Lilla love a commoner? The Princess Lilla once spent a whole night in the arms of a commoner, I remonstrated, and was just as safe and free from insult as she would have been in the arms of her mother, she added. But Yuri believed otherwise, or said that he did, and threatened that unless I would by my silence assent to his version of my rescue, he would tell the king, who would have believed the worst, and would have cast me out. So as long as I thought that you were hopelessly doomed, I held my peace, but I was very sad. After the meal, Lilla and I sat for a long time together on her little balcony discussing plans. I shall marry you, assented my Princess, even if we have to flee together to islands beyond the boiling seas. That was all very well but quite impractical. The boiling seas were impassable, unapproachable even. Formia was barred to us by my criminal record, and by the presence and influence there of Yuri. Cupia was barred to us by the wrath of King Q due to my treatment of his favorite, and Formia and Cupia constituted the entire world. For us to hide disguised was impossible because of my own earth-born deformities. So although I gloried in Lilla's love, my joy was sobered by realization that marriage between us was impossible. And what about the situation when King Q should die, and Prince Yuri should succeed to the crown? We had that to look forward to. End of Chapter 14, Recording by John Brandon A new game. But with Lilla's love and trust I could not despair. As I kissed her good night with her warm throbbing girlish body held fast in my arms, a single star shone down upon us for an instant through a rift in the circumambient clouds. Was it my own planet, the earth? I wonder. During the succeeding days I saw much of Lilla and nothing of B'thu. And ever I racked my brains for an idea which would point the way out of my difficulties. My only hope was to perform such a distinguished service for my adopted country that the king would relent, would forgive me, and would promote me to the rank of Sarkar. The most distinguished service which a Cupian can render is to invent a new and popular game. So I set about to do something in that line. And at last the idea came, a whiz of an idea. As Hababu, head of the Department of Mechanics, had advised me to seek this means of distinction, so it was to him that I first confided my plans. At my request, Prince Toren, who had aided me so efficiently in devising my radio set in the laboratories of Muni, was detailed to assist me in this new endeavor. He and a young draftsman and a young chemist said to work with me to build a new game. And what was this new game? Target shooting with army rifles. Explosives were already known to porous, being used for blasting and for airplane bombs. With the aid of the young chemists, I adapted these explosives to be sufficiently slow burning to drive a rifle bullet without injuring the gun. In a surprisingly short time, we had turned out a crude rifle which would actually shoot. The heads of the mathematics and astronomy departments, Jababu and Bhutan, were then led in on the secret, for the purpose of computing trajectories and assigning the sights and windleaf, which they did by an adaptation of the principles employed in computing the orbits of celestial bodies. 147 rifles were then turned out and presented to my athletic club. My club tried out the rifles, and when at last they began to get bullseyes, they went wild over the new sport. The king heard and relented sufficiently to send for me and compliment me. After being thoroughly tried out in my 100, rifle shooting was next introduced into the clubs to which my three assistants belonged and became popular there as well. The idea spread and soon all the clubs throughout the kingdom were clamoring for guns. The mechanical laboratory at Kuanah was made over into a huge arsenal and the chemical laboratory into a huge munitions factory, while the athletic clubs of Kuanah and the vicinity detail some of their members to work overtime in my two plans. The Kupians will always work overtime in the cause of play. Target practice soon became the national sport of Kupia. The craze even reached such dimensions that Queen Formus finally dispatched a special mission to Kuanah to study the movement and report whether it could not be put to some practical use. The report of that mission is now one of my most treasured processions, and a frame reproduction of their conclusions now hangs upon my office wall. The end mission concluded, and so reported to their Queen, that the new game had absolutely no practical application, but that if it kept the crazy Kupians quiet and took their minds off their troubles, he might prove a valuable contribution to simplifying the enforcement of the Treaty of Muni. And so, indeed it seemed. Toran neglected politics to become a proficient shot, and his anti-Formian movement rapidly subsided, all of which was exactly as I had planned. The collapse of the Toran movement so pleased the exile Prince Dury that he sent a special ambassador to his brother, offering to assist in introducing the new sport to the Kupians at Muni. But I fear the Greeks even when fairing donuts, as we used to say at Harvard. So Yuri's kind offer was declined. We did, however, present a sample rifle and some of our powder to the authorities of the Imperial University of the Anment at their request, for we could not very well refuse. Finally, King Ku himself condescended to sit in at the conferences between Hababu, Bhuvten, Jababu, Toran, and myself. He had been pruding a good deal recently on the indignities inflicted on his people by Queen Formis, with whom he hadn't had several disputes lately. And the committee work seemed to divert and cheer him up greatly. But still, I was not made a Sarkar, although I learned from Lila that Hababu had urged this on the King. The influence of Besu Sarkari was still too strong. In fact, it was rumour that she now aspired to make herself Queen of Kupia. Well, I did not mind, better even one of her sons on the throne than Yuri. Having got the new game well underway, I next turned to my old love, Radio. First, I obtained some stones from the Howling Valley, which was easy because of my deafness to radio waves. But I was unable to put them to any practical use. Then I devised a simple wave draft for absorbing the ordinary carrying waves of Pravian speech. Also, I arranged a variable condenser, which could so alter the capacity of the Kupian antennae that selective sending and reception were possible. These two devices were combined in a small box, which could easily be carried on a man's head and be coupled to his antennae. My third invention on these lines was a broadcasting set, whereby the normal Kupian sending range of four parrots, about 50 yards, was increased to half a stat, about half a mile. And now, in my frantic quest for a Sarkarship, I introduced a still further new game, namely Marching Evolutions on an Extended Scale. Strictly speaking, this was really an adaptation of an old game, rather than the creation of a new. For March information had always been popular in Kupia. But my three new radio devices made it possible to perform these evolutions by twelves of thousands. We tried it out in our own 12,000. The commander broadcasts his orders to the selective-tuned headsets of the Eklats, and they in turn to the Putas, each of whom then directed his hundred at ordinary wavelength. This Regimental Evolutions went through like clockwork, and this idea spread to the other 12,000s of the country. But still, I was not made a Sarkar. I then turned my attention to the construction of two huge engines, one of which we mounted on a Kirkwool, and one on the Concrete Base in the courtyard of the University Machine Shop. The purpose of these engines was for the present kept secret, but I had a feeling that it would win me the Sarkarship, even if everything else failed. As a result of my inventions, Kinku himself unbent to invite me to occupy the reviewing stand with him on Peace Day, when the annual athletic prize giving was to take place. This was a signal honour which even Sarkars my envy, but it was not a Sarkarship. The morning of the 500th anniversary of the Peace of Mooney, 358 Emperor of Endnotation, Dawn, Claire and Dazzling, by 460 o'clock, 9 o'clock in Earth time, the whole plaza and the fields beyond were jammed with marching clubs. The Minister of Play, who stood with me on the reviewing platform at the Crest of University Hill, along with the rest of the cabinet, Prince Toren and a few leading nobles and professors, sadly remarked that he was afraid the maneuvers would have to be given up. I replied with a smile that I guess not, though he was unable to figure out how evolutions could be possible with that huge crowd. Pistol shooting had recently been introduced as a tentative subject for next year's games. R&R Committee of Five all were revolvers strapped to our sides as a special badge in recognition of our responsibility for the gala occasion. The house stops and roads were crowded with Coupian feminity. All was ready for the grand opening. I adjusted the controls of the big sending set and dispatched Poplath, who had been detailed as my aide for the day, to inform the King that the time had arrived for his address. As King Coup XII stepped up on the stand at just 500 o'clock, 10 o'clock in Earth time, practically the entire male population of Coupia gave him the United States Army present arms in absolute unison. It was an inspiring sight. I noticed that the King seemed extremely pale and nervous, but I did not give this much thought at the time. Then I yielded the sending set to him, and he began his speech of welcome, a very different speech from what had been expected, but one which will go down in history, and which every Coupian schoolboy throughout the ages will commit to memory, as American boys do the Gettysburg address. Thus spoke King Coup. 358 years ago today, our forefathers submitted to the indignities of the Treaty of Mooney, and the stigma of that infamous treaty attached to the Q dynasty, which was then founded. For twelve generations, Coupia has been under the dominion of a race of animals. Animals possessed of human intelligence, it is true, but still merely lower animals. Now the part of our deliverance is at hand. Those rifles which you hold were designed not for play, but rather for the killing of formients. The bullets which have been issued to you this day contain the highest explosive known to Peruvian science. With these weapons you are invincible. Today, with your support, Coupia will become free, and the Q dynasty will wipe out forever the stigma of its birth. Are you men or slaves? If you be slaves, you will bow to formice, your sons, and descendants forever will warily serve out their time in her workshops. She will have veto power over all your laws, and your pressing king will give his body as food for her maggots, and your future kings will cower before her. But if you be men, you will today offer up your lives for your country, that Coupia may at last be free. A murmur as of a great angry sea arose from the crowd and smote upon my antennae. The sporting nature of the proposition appealed to them fully as much as any sentiments of patriotism. The king turned to me, I saluted, and in front of that huge assemblage, he pinned upon my breast the long-forgotten insignia of Field Marshal of the armies of a nation. Simultaneously Prince Toren and the three professors displayed the insignia of general. Hababu stepped to my side as my chief of staff, while the other three donned their selective tuners and descended from the platform to take command of their several corps. The stage was all set for the final denowment. The king spoke again. Little Coupians who were willing to die for king and country raised their hands aloft, upshot every hand on the hill and plain below. I seized the phones and shouted, Then forward into Antlan for Coupia, King Ku and Prince Lila. For Coupia, King Ku and Prince Lila, shouted my army in reply, and the march toward Formia began. But some Coupian had betrayed us, for at this instant there appeared at the crest of the hill overlooking the city a horde of antmen who debouched in perfect order on the fields beyond the plain. Thank God that they had now arrived before the king's speech. But even as it was, things were bad enough. Our advanced companies recoiled in terror before the Black Assault. Five hundred years of servile peace are not well calculated to develop a nation of fighters, as a Toren frankly trying to rally his troops but in vain. It had been easy enough to plan to attack the antmen. But five hundred years of submission had bred a tradition of Formian omnipotence, and this tradition at once revived when the Formians appeared. A gaze with horror at the scene. Here were thousands upon thousands of presumably intelligent human beings armed with the most powerful weapons which modern science could produce, and yet retreating in superstitious fear before a handful of unarmed ants. Had the high resolves of a few power paths to go degenerated to this? Why didn't my men use the rifles? Let them fire a few shots and they would realize their power. So seizing the phones again I turned them to Toren's wavelength and radiated. For God's sake stop! Never mind your whole army. Just hold two or three men, get them to use the rifles on the enemy. Use your own pistol too. Toren did not know who God was, but he sensed the agony of my appeal and he gathered the idea. Seizing the nearest kupion by the shoulder he swung him around, at the same time discharging his own revolver. An ant man exploded. The kupion, fascinated, fired his own rifle with equal success. Then a Toren's parametry command, a few more of his men halted long enough to try their rifles on the enemy. At each shot one formion exploded. The effect was splendid. Our men stopped. Form ranks again. Open fire. And advance once more toward Formia. The tradition of Formian invincibility was destroyed forever. Messengers now came with word that hundreds of carcals were bringing up ant reinforcements over all the roads leading from the border. But what could Jaws avail them against dumb dumb bullets? I learned later that the ants had attacked certain outland towns of our country earlier in the day, expecting to make easy work of them and to rack a vengeance on the unprotected inhabitants. But our casualties there had been surprisingly light. In the village of Beane, in the Ocarzi Mountains, rocks were used on the attackers and the chancellor Mark Fine Target Practice had suggested to some bright local mind the use of rifles, with which the ant men had been repulsed with ease. At Bart Lap, one of the enemy had indiscreetly mentioned that rifles were the cause of the war, and immediately rifles were effectively produced. In most of the other instances the Formians had been recalled to reinforce the attack on Kuana. Now a new development occurred, for a fleet of airships appeared on the horizon, and presently high explosive bombs began dropping with frightful havoc among my astounded troops, who once more broke and ran. In a few power paths the planes would be over the city. A dispatch pobleath owned a run to the university, and soon my human sense of hearing was rewarded by a sharp crack, crack, crack from the machine's building. The first plane toppled and fell, the second, and then the third. The others sensing a power beyond their ability to combat wheeled and withdrew. Our armies reformed and once more advanced toward Formia. The first of my huge secret machines, an anti-aircraft gun, had spoken. Soon messengers brought word that intense fighting was in progress for the possession of the third gate. Of course it would be many days before our forces could reach the western two gates, but the bulk of the populations of both countries lived near the third gate, due to the mountainous nature of the country to the west. Then came news that the Formians at the third gate had been flanked by some of our men who had surmounted the pale wood-scaling ladders. The third gate fell into the hands of Kupia. Our victorious armies were on enemy soil. It was war to the hilt, and the fact that the Formians had invaded and attacked first satisfied the sporting sense of all Kupia. A special detachment of Mooney-trained aviators and mechanics had gone at once to the three planes as soon as we had shot them down, and now one of them arose into the air fully repaired. The moment had arrived for the final master stroke in the new Kupian national game, war. For the second huge machine in the courtyard of the Department of Mechanics was a 16-inch barbed coast artillery rifle, which had been trained upon the imperial city of the Anqueen by exact elevation and azimuth carefully computed by Bhutan. The huge gun boomed forth, again and again it boomed as our spotting plane reported for adjustment of fire. Finally, just at nightfall, the signal came to cease firing. The imperial city, from which Queen Formis had been directing her troops, had been totally destroyed, and with it presumably the queen and her friend Anadai, the renegade Yuri. Our armies still pressed forward into Formia, protected from air attack by the three repaired planes and by the anti-aircraft gun, which had been sent forward by Kerkul. I was jubilant. But not so, apparently, King Ku. What is the matter, sir? I asked. Why do you look so down on this glorious day of deliverance? Are you thinking of our poor boys who have fallen? No, he replied. I did not dare to tell you before, for fear that you're well known in Petua City would disrupt our plans. But now you can know. The princess Lilla has been missing since morning. The fact that all her clothes are intact except her sleeping robe leads me to think that she must have been kidnapped during the night. My god, I ejaculated in English. Then turning the command over to Hababu and instructing him to move his headquarters to the third gate in the morning, I hastened to the apartments of my sweetheart. Sue met me there in tears and said, My princess is dead. My princess is dead. Last night, through carnivans with me, Prince Yuri drugged her with saffron root and spurred her away to the imperial city of Formia. I knew all your plans, except the purpose of your two huge cannons, or I should have warned Yuri of those, too. I thought merely to spoil your victory and so gain my revenge. The old king, too, has spurned my amorous advances as I declare war in Coupia. But Coupia has won in spite of me, and as a punishment for my guilt my beloved mistress has been killed. There could be no doubt of it. Every living thing in the city of the queen had been destroyed. My victory was turned to ashes and despair I sunk upon a couch. But comforting arms stole around my shoulders and a soft voice spoke in my antennae. Cabot, can you ever forgive me? I love you so that I would willingly give back to you your princess just to make you happy. But alas, she is lost to us forever. Can we not solace ourselves with love for each other? Cabot, I love you so, my dear, and her fragrant voluptuous intoxicating presence wrapped herself around my tired body and despondent soul. 16 Cabot tells the world There on the same couch on which I had often caressed the princess, I held in my arms her betrayer, the lovely Bitha. So soon does love forget. So soon love does not forget. Casting aside the seductive betrayer of my princess, I sprang to my feet resolving never to give up hope until I actually saw Lilla's dead body and even then to remain true to her in death. Bitha's last chance had come and gone. She had played her last card and lost. Although it was now night, I had once called my aid and summoned a squad out of my own hundred, which had been retained as the king's bodyguard. Then, requisitioning a fleet of curtools, we set out for the imperial city, leaving Poblath with his former love, Bitha. Tamer, if you can, and good luck to you, was my parting admonition? The trip was made in record time. By the light of our flash lamps, we found that the ruins were guarded by several hundred antmen. So we set for reinforcements to be furnished in the morning, and then we bivouacked for the night, taking turns, keeping awake, and sniping at the enemy whenever they showed a light or came within the beams of ours. Early in the morning a company of Cubians reported to me and we had once began the assault of the ruins, carrying our objective, with but little difficulty. Then came the individual fighting in the corridors, and in this the antmen were not at so great a disadvantage. They ambushed our soldiers, they pushed rocks on them from above, and all in all, they made away with half of our force, before the remaining handful of defenders broke and fled from the city. Our survivors were put to work exploring. The mangled body of Queen Formus was hailed with joy, but no signs were discovered of either Yori or Lilla, although occasionally we would come upon an enemy straggler and kill him. Finally, unrounding a turn, whom should I meet face to face but the antman, who had let me go after I had rescued him from the Wuffas. I recognized him at once. Yahu, number 356-1-400, I hailed him, a life for a life. Nay, he replied, for you owe me nothing on that score. But if you will spare me I will repay you well. Your life is already yours, I said. Then said he, I will lead you to the princess. I could have embraced the uncouth creature for joy. But suspecting a trap, I gathered nearly a squad of my soldiers before following the antman. He led us into the subterranean depths of the city. Several times we had to remove fallen fragments which barred our way, and once we had to wait until explosives could be obtained to blast a passage, but at last we came within sight of an undamaged dungeon, where Lilla lay chained alive and well. Yet even as we hailed her through a crack in the debris, we saw two antmen enter the dungeon through another passage, untrain the princess, and carry her away. Quick as a flash I remembered my revolver and opened fire through the crack, blasting one of her abductors. But as I drew a bead on the other, my weapon was knocked from my hand. Turning angrily, I beheld our guide, standing over me. I fulfilled my bargain, he said, when I showed you the princess. Now I owe you no more. Those four means are my fellow countrymen, and I have saved one of them, at least, from the horrible death. And lost me my princess, I shouted angrily. We were now surrounded by my squad with drawn rifles, but they dared not fire for fear of hitting me. I was at the mercy of our guide. He had too much respect for the dumb dumb bullets, however, and was easily hauled off of me and placed under arrest. My men then proceeded to hack their way into the dungeon, and we had once followed the trail of the princess. This was not easy, for the city was a total wreck. A hundred ways reseted themselves, through which her captor might have crawled. So we withdrew and threw a cordon around the entire city, dispatching a few searching parties again into the interior. This was made possible by additional reinforcements from headquarters. As luck would have it, the ant-man finally made his appearance, with Lilla held tightly in his jaws. At the very point, in the line of centuries, where I happened to be, instantly a dozen rifles covered him. But he radiated the peremptory command, Stop! Put down your rifles. Put them down, I ordered. Now, he continued, if a rifle is raised again, I bite, and the princess dies. She lives only on condition that I am given safe passage, with her as my prisoner. Once within our lines she will be treated well, for she will prove a valuable hostage to support the demands of Formus for a return to power. Formus is dead, I objected. One Formus is dead, he replied, but there are always maggots, which we can fatten to make a new queen. At this point Lilla interjected faintly, Bite, O Formian, for I would die rather than betray my country. But I said you may proceed, not a rifle will be raised against you, for the princess must be saved. Nothing, however, had been said about revolvers, and evidently the ant-man was unacquainted with that weapon. As he passed through our lines, heaping a careful watch on the rifles of our sentries, I fired my revolver from the hip, and the ant dropped dead. A moment later Lilla was clasped safely in my arms. Tenderly we greeted each other, she was parched and hungry, and our first task was to give her food and drink, which were easily found among the ruins. Then came explanations. She had awakened to find herself in the dungeon about noon of the day before. Yuri had informed her that the Cupidian attack had been met and stopped, and that airplanes were about to destroy Kiwana. Then he had been hardly called away, and she had seen no one since. She could hardly believe us when we told her that the attack had been a success, that Queen Formus was dead, and that the power of Formia was broken forever. When she had rested, I had once sent her home under guard in a curt tool, and myself proceeded to headquarters to learn how the war was progressing. Much as I longed to accompany her, my first duty was to my adopted country. To number 356-1-400, before leaving, I gratefully offered an honorable freedom in Cupidia. But he scornfully replied that he would rather die fighting for his own country. I respected his attitude, and so gave him a safe conduct through our lines, to rejoin his own troops. Later in the war his number was reported to me as being among the casualties. At headquarters I found Ha Baba in fine spirits. The power of Formia was broken indeed. Watusa had fallen into our hands and with it a number of planes, which thus were added to our steadily growing air force. Curt tools were patrolling all the roads, shooting antmen at sight. Ha was particularly jubilant about what had happened at Muni. Early on peace day the Cupidian students had somehow received word of what was afoot. Joining with the slaves, they had slightly outnumbered the antmen, their present, and had captured the university after a fierce struggle, thus preventing the antmen from removing or destroying the priceless gems of knowledge stored there. When our vanguard arrived, our students were already in control. In the days that followed our advance progressed, city after city fell into our hands, insufficient numbers and containing sufficient supplies, so that we did not have to give any thought to the quartering or feeding of our men. All that was necessary was a steady stream of ammunition, proceeding from Kauana to our outposts. I had given strict orders that Dogo and Yuri were to be taken alive. The former, because I wished to spare him as a friend, the latter because I looked forward with extreme pleasure to seeing him executed for treason. But neither was captured. The numbers of all dead antmen were taken and turned in, but Dogo's number was not among them, and to this day I do not know what became of him or of Yuri. It was my ambition to exterminate the entire race of antmen from the face of Poros, with the single exception of my friend Dogo. But this wish was not to be gratified, for as the Formians retreated southward, our lines of communication became more and more extended, and our troops more and more undisciplined. Gradually the Formians obtained rifles, particularly from the two cities which had been bombed. Then they made stand and sent out snipers, and this netted them more rifles. Our people began to grumble. The widows and orphans of the slain did not appreciate the honor which had been thrust upon them. The sport-loving cupians in the field chafed under military restraint, and demanded to be returned home to their games. At a considerable number of the populace were even heard to say that two-year slavery to Formia was far better than a lifelong slavery in the army of a military dictator, meaning the four or five weeks since the war had started. So reluctantly King Q concluded a new peace with what was left of Formia. A new pale was set up far to the south of the old. Formia had to bear the entire cost of the war. Antmen were forbidden to carry arms or to enter Cupia, and all their airships were confiscated. The kings of Cupia reserved veto power over Formian laws forever, but King Q wisely decided not to demoralize Cupia by the introduction of Formian slaves. Our university set up a branch at Mooney in order that the glamour of that name might not be lost. Our bravest soldiers and our war widows were rewarded by grants of land and of city residences in the captured territory, which almost completely alleviated the popular discontent. Not until the treaty was concluded did I return from the field. The papers were signed in the same hall at Mooney, which had witnessed the degradation of Cupia 500 years ago, for defeat is bitterest at the scene of a former victory, as Poblath remarked. And on the occasion of the present treaty, Q surrounded by his generals and in the presence of the signatories was crowned king of all poros. This idea, by the way, was due to Poblath, the philosopher, and it won him a bar Sarkar ship, which came in very handy. There was much decorating with medals and handing out of promotions. Needless to state, the king made me a Sarkar, and the assembly not to be outdone voted to make me a Winko, or Field Marshal for life. Now marriage was possible between Lilla and me, and also between Bitha and Poblath. For Bitha had proven to be a good sport, and had finally accepted him. And as Lilla had prophesied, Bitha settled down and became a most quiet and domestic wife. The proudest and happiest moment of my entire life was when upon the joining stand of Kiwana in the presence of the assembled multitude, King Q pronounced the words which made Lilla my wife. We spent our honeymoon camping out on the most beautiful rocky island in the middle of Lake Luna, which nestled in the hills and surrounded by deep woods about a thousand stads to the northward of Kiwana. I had discovered the place by accident while on an airplane trip to an isolated mountain community immediately after the war, for the purpose of conferring decorations on the first company which had stood its ground against the onslaught of the ant men. The walls of the island rise sheer, some nine peristats from the water's edge, save where in one spot a sloping lawn runs through a cleft on the rocks down to a sandy beach. The interior of the island slopes gently from the cliffs down from all sides to a little pond in the center and is about equally divided between lawn and stately grove. Here Lilla and I plan to build. Here we spent many golden days swimming and fishing and climbing, but mostly just looking into each other's eyes. At our first dip in the water, I was horribly embarrassed. In the first place, I had to shed my headset, which always puts me at a disadvantage, and in the second place my wings came unstuck and fell off, and my matted hair exposed my ears so that I stood before her an earth man with all my horrible earthly deformities. Yet still she loved me. Our honeymoon was idyllic and ideal, but all good things must end, and we finally had to return to the city to take up my duties, for added to my honors was a place in the royal cabinet as minister of play, the former incumbent having died during my absence. I have various projects in hand for my adopted country. Already a network of radio stations is going up throughout the land. A systematic extermination of the whistling bee is underway by means of anti-ackraft artillery. Various earth devices are being tested out in our laboratories as fast as I can recall them to memory. And I have resumed, but with great precautions, my experiments on the wireless transmission of matter, in which work Tauron is assisting. Lila and I occupy an old suite in the palace, and entertain constantly among our most frequent guests are my old friend Poblath and his completely tamed wife. But often I wonder what has become of Dogo and Yuri. In spite of present prosperity, Hupia is not safe, if the renegade prince still lives on the planet. But I hope that Dogo survives, and that we shall meet again. Fate now seems to be through with its hard knocks, but happy as I am, I occasionally wonder what is going on in dear old Boston. Whether America's world war allies ever repaid the billions which they borrowed, whether our country joined the League of Nations in time to save the world from a Second World War, etc., etc. And I have a yearning to write home. Of course, the obvious step for me was to attempt communication by radio, so I built a particularly powerful sending set with long wavelength. But the lack of any reply convinced me that my signals were not being received on earth. So recently I got together my old committee of five, Hababa, Boutedin, Jababa, Toran, and myself. And together we designed a super gun and a streamlined projectile and computed the necessary powder charge and principles of aiming, so that we could shoot the projectile to the earth. Then I prepared this manuscript in quadruplicate, with three of which copies I shall try to reach the world. For this purpose each copy will be placed in a gold cylinder and be swathed in the fur of the fire worm. That particular creature which dares to live almost at the edge of the boiling seas, because its matted fur is the most perfect insulator against heat known on porous. The swath cylinder will then be packed into the interior of the projectile and a covering put on, especially calculated to resist the devouring heat of passage through the atmosphere of the two planets. The projectile will be weighed, its center of gravity will be determined, and its moments of inertia will be tested. The firing data being corrected accordingly, it will be placed in the gun. Then at exactly the appointed time, the gun will be discharged, and may God speed my message on its way to you, my earth brethren. The End Miles S. Cabot Recording by John Brandon End of an Earthman on Venus by Ralph Milne Farley