The Nyctalope on Mars 2: The Triumph of Love

by Jean de La Hire

  Then another guard came in, and went to stand to the right of a sellette that remained empty. That signified that one of the accused would be judged and sentenced in absentia. The Brothers’ curiosity was redoubled—but it was replaced by amazement when the third accused person appeared; this one was unknown to the 12. His courageous and straightforward bearing, his strange eyes, like those of a nocturnal predator, his frank and calm face, imprinted with great nobility and radiant with intelligence, all made an impact on the judges. But who was he? Where had he come from? Obviously, he was one of the Terrans of whose impending arrival Oxus had given warning the previous day—and he was alone! He must, therefore, have come from the distant Earth, alone!

  Within the hoods, eyes sparkled with admiration, but also with hatred—for this was the enemy, the rival, the brother, fiancé or lover of one of the 15 young women!

  Disdainfully, without looking at anyone except Oxus, the stranger went to sit down in the sellette to Koynos’ left. The guard who followed the unknown man placed himself to his right. Then Oxus, without getting up, said: “Judges, swear the oath.”

  Standing up as one, the Brothers pronounced, in harmony: “We swear to be impassive and just, to weigh the evidence for and against impartially, and, if the accusations are proved, simply to apply the law of the Fifteen.” And they resumed their places in the armchairs.

  Then the accuser got up and pushed back his hood, revealing Kipper’s face. In a cold, clear voice, he said: “If the accusation is a lie, I will take the place of the accused and the punishment merited by the crime of which they are accused shall be applied to me.”

  “That is the law of the Fifteen!” cried the judges, in unison.

  “Let the accuser speak,” said Oxus. “We shall judge.”

  The preliminaries ere ended; the real drama began.

  Kipper extended his right arm and pointed at Koynos, whose earnest gaze was fixed on Oxus. “This man,” the accuser said, “is Koynos, Commander of the Fifteen, the first among us after the Master. He is a traitor!”

  Kipper’s extended arm shifted and his finger designated the empty seat. “There,” he went on, “should be Alpha, Koynos’ companion and accomplice.” Then, pointing to the stranger: “This man is Saint-Clair, the Nyctalope, the enemy of the Fifteen.” At that famous and prestigious name, which all of them knew by virtue of often having heard it cited by Koynos himself, in his accounts of his journeys of exploration through the most savage regions of Earth, the 12 shuddered—but Kipper continued.

  “We do not know the circumstances that preceded Koynos’ treason—Koynos will tell us that himself, if he is honest and courageous—but, thanks to deductions based on facts, we can affirm this: men, of whom Saint-Clair is the leader, have taken possession of the radiomotive station in the Congo. Documents found at the station have informed Saint-Clair that the 15 young women abducted from Paris were on Mars, prisoners of the Fifteen. By reconstructing the radioplanes abandoned at the station, Saint-Clair has been able, with an undetermined number of men, to undertake the interplanetary voyage. The Terrans have landed at a location on Mars unknown to us—but what we do know is that Koynos is Saint-Clair’s accomplice.”

  Kipper paused momentarily, then resumed in a tone that was increasingly dry and cutting.

  “Perverted by his own prisoner, Koynos, having departed after Alkeus to meet the Terrans whose coming the Master foresaw, lied on his return in saying that only one radioplane had left Earth and that Alkeus had eliminated it. Is Alkeus dead? Koynos affirms it; it is probable. But Alkeus’ sacrifice has been in vain, since Koynos has indicated to the Terrans a propitious and danger-free landing-point—for, logically, by following the documents found in the Congo base, the Terrans could only have arrived at Argyre Island. These conclusions are damning, so far as Koynos is concerned, but we have better than that—we have certainties.”

  Kipper took a deep breath. Then, still in the same tone—which would have seemed monotonous without the intense interest that his words had—he continued. “At yesterday’s Council meeting, Alpha, Koynos’ companion, could not appear. Where was he? On reconnaissance, said the duty schedule. A lie! Alpha, acting on Koynos’ orders, was carrying a message to the Terrans who had arrived on Mars. And here is the proof!”

  Kipper, opening his jacket, brought a large stiff envelope out of the inside pocket, which he opened. He took out a piece of blotting-paper and a photographic negative.

  “This is the blotting-paper that took an imprint of the last lines of Koynos’ message, and this is a photographic negative that shows those characters in their normal orientation. Listen judges! I shall read it. You shall check and verify the text and the handwriting by reading it in your turn. The first lines are not very distinct, but they can be deciphered.” And he read: “…the electro-mirrors that Alpha will give you, whose mechanism he will explain. If the Martians discover you, you are doomed—and you can do nothing against the XV. I pity you. K.” Then, summoning the slave on duty with a sign, he gave him the blotting-paper and the negative—and the slave circulated the accuser’s papers among the judges.

  Oxus remained as impassive, immobile and severe as the statue of some mythological judge.

  Koynos, very pale, his arms folded across his broad chest, holding his head straight and calm, had closed his eyes as if to collect his thoughts. He had not even shuddered at the revelation of the written proof that damned him. He was not even reflecting on the fact that Xavière had driven him to the folly of committing the puerile imprudence of leaving an imprint of his message on a blotter. He was only thinking of the fate that awaited him, which was very simple: within an hour, he would no longer be alive.

  As for Saint-Clair, he was looking at Koynos, his eyes and his face expressing affectionate pity.

  Meanwhile, the piece of blotting-paper and the negative were returned to Kipper, who put them in the envelope and returned it to the inside pocket of his jacket. The accuser began to speak again, slowly this time.

  “The rest is obvious. Alpha reached those to whom Koynos sent him. He handed over the message. By persuasion or force, Saint-Clair took over the aircraft, taking Alpha’s place and departing for Cosmopolis—a 14-hour journey. A mild night is conducive to daydreams. Koynos was seen by the Master on the terrace of his house, waiting for Alpha. It was Saint-Clair who arrived! Koynos was undisturbed. He offered his hand to the enemy of the Fifteen; he introduced him into his house; he took him to the young woman—this Xavière, who has perverted Koynos and driven him mad—and he left the two lovers together in order to go, piling aberration upon immorality, to forget his treason and console himself in his weakness in the arms of another young woman: Xavière’s own sister, the accursed Yvonne, who caused the despair and death of Alkeus…”

  Kipper paused, and his lips maintained the expression of immense scorn that he had put into his words. Then, briskly, he concluded:

  “Judges! I accuse Koynos of a lack of the respect due to the Master, by virtue of lying words; I accuse Koynos of treason against the Fifteen and alliance with their enemies, by actions of which irrefutable proof has been furnished; I accuse Koynos of having gravely compromised the secrecy and the security of the Fifteen by introducing the leader of those enemies into a house in Cosmopolis. With regard to Koynos, I have spoken!

  “Judges! I accuse Alpha, Koynos’ companion, of having broken his oath by not revealing to the Master the criminal mission with which Koynos charged him; I accuse Alpha of complicity in Koynos’ treason. With regard to Alpha, I have spoken!

  “Judges! I accuse Saint-Clair of taking possession of the radiomotive station in the Congo; of presumably having killed the two companions who were guarding it and maintaining its operation; of having stolen the documents containing the plans of the Fifteen’s radioplanes; of having stolen the aircraft used by Alpha; of introducing himself, without the Master’s authorization, first into Cosmopolis and then into the house of an affiliate.

  “Judges! All these cr
imes, of which, lacking proof to the contrary, Koynos, Saint-Clair and Alpha are guilty, are punishable by death.

  “Judge!”

  And Kipper, satisfied, let himself fall back into his seat.

  “Judges!” Oxus said. “Does the accusation appear to you to be true and proven, even if only in regard to one of the grievances? For Koynos, speak!”

  The scene was terrible in its strangeness. One after another, the judges rose to their feet.

  The first said: “More than one!”

  The second said: “One alone!”

  The third said: “Several!”

  The four said: “All!”

  And so on, until the twelfth. None said that the accusation was not true and proven; they varied in the number of grievances admitted as indisputable, but they were all in agreement as to the indisputability of at least one of the grievances.

  When the last of the judges had spoken, Oxus raised his right hand and said, in a tone of great sadness: “That is sufficient! Koynos, you are condemned to death. Have you any declaration to make that might warrant a second judgment?”

  “No,” replied Koynos, curtly, opening his eyes—whose severe and earnest gaze he fixed on Oxus’ face.

  “Very well!” said the Master, meeting the stare of the man who had long been his deputy and friend without bravado, but also without weakness. “Koynos, you will be executed at the close of the tribunal.”

  The immobile judges manifested no sentiment. The dark hoods, at any rate, hid the expressions on their faces from the eyes if the Master, the accuser and the accused.

  Then, in a different, drier tone, the Master continued: “Judges, does the accusation of complicity with Koynos, with regard to Alpha, appear veridical and proven? Speak!”

  And the terrible ceremony began again. There were 12 affirmative responses.

  The Master concluded by saying: “Henceforth, Brothers, companions and slaves have a sacred duty to put Alpha to death, without explanation, as soon as they encounter him. Brother Koynos and the companion Alpha will be replaced in their ranks, powers, prerogatives and duties at tomorrow’s Council meeting.”

  “Honored be the Master!” cried the 12, with one voice.

  Without pausing, Oxus went on: “Judges, with regard to Saint-Clair, does the accusation appear to you to be true and proven with respect to any of the grievances enumerated? Speak!”

  Twelve implacable affirmative responses answered the question.

  “That is sufficient!” the Master said. “Saint-Clair, you are condemned to death. Have you any declaration to make that might warrant a second judgment?”

  “Yes,” replied Saint-Clair—and he stood up.

  His reply and his movement were like a thunderbolt for the accuser and the judges. Retained in their seats by respect for the ritual, they shifted therein, their cowled heads turning to one another, and a confused murmur ran through the two rows of sedated men.

  Koynos looked at Saint-Clair with sympathetic interest. As for Oxus, he did not even tremble.

  Standing up straight, smiling and sure of himself, Saint-Clair waited for the agitation to calm down.

  Oxus re-established silence with a gesture. “Speak!” he said.

  In a voice that was cold and tranquil at first, but which soon warmed up and became animated, sometimes nuanced with irony, Saint-Clair spoke. “To begin with, I refute the accusation on several points. Although it is true that I took possession of the radiomotive station in the Congo, and that I introduced myself, without having received authorization from the man you call the Master, first into Cosmopolis, and then into a Brother’s house, it was for motives which, for any man, have nothing criminal about them. I shall explain them, if necessary—but I declare immediately that the other points of the accusation are false, and are lies! I have not killed the two companions who were guarding and maintaining the operation of the radio station in the Congo. Breton and Normand are alive, still in charge of and maintaining the operation of the station.”

  At these words, the 12 muttered. Koynos smiled, Oxus raised his right hand. “What proof have you that you’re telling the truth?” asked the Master.

  Saint-Clair shrugged his shoulders and replied: “Send a man to Earth. A note signed by me will render him inviolable. He will see and make a report.”

  “Very well!” said Oxus. “Go on!”

  “It is also untrue that I have stolen the aircraft that Alpha used. That aircraft, as the accuser knows perfectly well, is in Koynos’ house, intact and undamaged. It is also untrue that I have stolen the Fifteen’s plans, documents and radioplanes. The plans and documents are at the Congo station; as for the radioplanes—which I have, moreover, constructed almost in their entirety—they are at a particular location on the Martian surface. The plans, documents and radioplanes, as well as the radiomotive station, are at your disposal. You may take them back as soon as you have returned the 15 young women, whom I accuse you, in my turn, of having kidnapped and imprisoned.”

  The last sentence had been stated in a clear, curt and cutting tone, but it was so logical and unexpected that it had an impact on the 12, the accuser and Oxus himself. No muttering greeted it. It had a particular impact on the Master, who glimpsed further possibilities.

  Saint-Clair, however, went on: “I refuse to recognize you as judges; I do not even want to see you as enemies. In the bizarre conflict that I am mounting against you, you have been the provocateurs and the criminals. You have killed several of our people, and we have only taken such reprisals as our mission to liberate the 15 young women has obliged us to take. Your Alkeus is dead—but he killed Admiral de Ciserat and two other men! Are you thinking beings or brutes? Is force the entirety of your law? In view of the admirable works of your intelligence, your labor, your audacity and your organization, and in view of the august visage of this Oxus, who is your Master, I cannot believe that you have not incorporated any moral element into your statutes and regulations!”

  Saint-Clair paused. He paraded his masterful stare over the immobile hoods, within which eyes were gleaming. Then, in the pregnant silence, he resumed speaking.

  “How is it that you have been able to disgrace yourselves, you who seem to me so noble and so great? You want to conquer a world, and you do not even know, as a terrestrial mountain shepherd does, how to conquer the heart of a young woman? Had you any need to commit these infamous rapes? Could you not, since you felt the need of female companions to ameliorate your life of science and strife, have spent a few months on Earth making yourselves beloved? In the entire course of your superhuman existence, you have only made one mistake, which is a stupidity even from the viewpoint of your grandeur! One alone—but it was sufficient to tarnish you, and, I deduce, to divide you and to strike you inconsequence with sterility and powerlessness, to import the ferments of weakness, rebellion, anarchy and death into your marvelous organization!”

  It was heroic! The 12, and Kipper himself, held their breath. Tears ran from Koynos’ distressed eyes. Leaning his elbow on the arm of his chair, with his hand on his temple, Oxus looked at Saint-Clair with admiration.

  Carried away by his ardent and generous soul, however, and also attaining—perhaps without meaning to—the most brilliant diplomacy, Saint-Clair continued. “The accuser has called me an enemy of the Fifteen! Me—an enemy of the Fifteen! An enemy of those men that I would have loved to have commanded! Men who, finding the Earth too small for their ambitions, too narrow for their progress, have been able to dedicate themselves for years to work in secret and then embark upon the divine folly of attaining and conquering a new world! Enemy! That’s insane! I would have been proud to be, like Koynos, a Commander of the Fifteen! I would have been glad to be, like Alpha, merely a companion! As a Commander, though, I would never have permitted the crime or the stupidity of thinking that, in order to possess a woman, it is sufficient to take her in one’s arms and violate her! As a companion, I would have betrayed you and denounced you—and if, by that means, I had been a
ble to prevent you from committing the stupidity and the crime, I would have been happy to pay for my treason with my life!” He made a violent, expansive gesture—then, suddenly calm, he went on: “But I shall not argue any longer. If you persist in considering me as an enemy, kill me! And my blood—for human beings, like worlds, are obedient to superior laws—will fall back upon your heads and you will be blinded by it, and that blindness will lead you to defeat, to shame, to powerlessness and to death—but if you want to see me for what I truly am, listen to this…”

  Majestically, Saint-Clair sat down on the sellette as if he were placing himself on a throne and, in the tone of a polite and powerful parliamentarian explaining the conditions of a peace-treaty, said: “This is what I propose. You shall receive my companions—whom Koynos will locate—in Cosmopolis, with guaranteed security for them and for you. You shall bring us the 15 young women. I shall talk to them. Those who, after what I have said to them, wish to return to Earth, will be taken back to the Congo station, whence my dirigible, the Condor, will take them to Paris, where they will be reunited with their families. Those who wish to remain here shall stay, free to live as they intend and choose, among us and among you. You and I, with our companions, whose fidelity is proven, are the only ones who possess the secret of the radiomotive station, the point of departure for the occupation and conquest of Mars. My men have brothers, sisters and families on Earth. They will persuade them to come here. Thus, without any danger of being invaded by elements of dissociation, you can make Cosmopolis into a true colony, furnished with all the necessary elements of a human society. Everyone, beginning with me, will swear fidelity and obedience to the law of the Fifteen, and, in collaboration, the leaders will elaborate and complement that law in order to accommodate on the one hand, women, and on the other, free men, who are neither Brothers, nor companions, nor slaves.

  “If you do not accept these proposals, you will kill me—and you will make of the young women what you please, and my companions will die, and all the great things that are in preparation at the Congo station will easily be destroyed by you; and you will, at the same time, have soiled your work and cursed your actions with sterility, for nothing durable can be built on foundations of hatred and bloodshed. If you do accept, I will put my forces and those of my companions at your disposal; the love of women will come as a bonus and the consequence will be the unshakable foundation of a new humankind. I have spoken!” Rising to his feet again, facing Oxus, he added: “You are the Master here; I ask your permission to leave the room in order that discussion can take place in my absence, if it is your desire that my propositions should be discussed…”