The people on the dark side of this unhappy world had pale skins, although on their raids into the sunny side they quickly became dark.
Conversely, should the dark skins venture into the sunless side their skin at once began to lose its pigmentation.
How long this fantastic state of things had been going on Vargo did not know. From the accounts of early Lentoan and Minoan voyagers it had been so in their day.
In which case they must have nearly exterminated themselves,' averred the Professor.
On the contrary,' declared Vargo. Nature, always striving for a balance, he explained, had caused them, with a birthrate unknown elsewhere, to multiply, so that they became more instead of fewer. Thus, the conditions that had brought about the war had been aggravated, and what at first had been merely an inter-tribal war had become a desperate battle for survival.
'What will they do to us if we land?' asked Rex anxiously.
Curiously enough, no ship landing there has ever been involved in serious trouble,'
replied Vargo. They look forward to such visits because it has been the custom of visitors to barter foodstuffs, and other things useful to them, for a very beautiful green crystal which must occur in large quantities because, it being hard, they tip their spears with it.'
On Earth,' said the Professor pensively, there was once a famous explorer named Captain Cook who often called at cannibal isles. For a long time he was made welcome because he carried food and other useful things: but one day they turned on him and he was killed and eaten.'
I wouldn't trust these people of Kund too far myself,' admitted Vargo.
'Perhaps you would rather we did not stop there?'
'No - no. I didn't mean that,' protested the Professor. Sooner or later spaceships from Earth will explore the Solar System, so the guidebook I propose to write should be as complete as possible - like the Admiralty Sailing Directions for ships on the oceans of Earth.'
Rex did not say so, but he couldn't help feeling that the Professor's determination to make his manual complete was more likely to result in it never being written at all. But still, he reflected, the work would have to be done by someone, one day. Had the early navigators not been prepared to take chances the map of Earth would still be incomplete.
The truth was, he suspected, the wide variations in the peoples they had seen in their travels was upsetting the Professor's theory that originally they had all sprung from a common race, either within the Solar System or beyond it. What about the atmosphere?'
he asked Vargo.
Vargo said it was bad, containing a high percentage of helium; but it would be possible to tolerate it for a little while without spacesuits.
Their suits would be more comfortable, but if they wore them the difficulties of communication would arise.
In view of Vargo's disturbing revelations it was with some trepidation that Rex regarded the war-torn world of Kund when, after a long run in which everyone had a meal and some sleep, it came into view. The angle of approach was such that even from a distance it was possible to see the two halves, the light and the dark. Borron said he would land on the light side, which would be warmer than the other, but before doing so he would run a little way down the intermediate area to see if there was anything of interest. It was there, he thought, that people were most likely to be seen.
The general panorama was a dreary picture. What Vargo had said about the lack of vegetation was tru‘. Most of the surface of the globe presented to the visitors appeared to be desert. In other respects, too, Vargo's allegations were confirmed. Skirmishes were going on in several places.
One was large enough to be called a battle. Not that there was any order about it. The light skins and the dark skins were in a general mix-up, chasing each other or hammering at each other with clubs, in the style of every man for himself.
Quite a few were stretched out on the ground - ready for the table, as Toby put it.
'Well, there they are, still at it,' said Vargo. 'Do you still want to land?'
'Yes, but not in the battle,' returned the Professor. 'There's obviously not much to see, but I'd like a close view of these belligerent fools. In particular I'd like to examine their skins, for colour and texture.'
Borron, at Vargo's request, moved the ship farther into the light area and allowed it to settle gently on a bed of gravel near a ravine, on the edge of which stood a group of small, squalid huts. His idea, presumably, was to grant the Professor his wish to see natives at close quarters without the risk of becoming involved in the non-stop war.
Certainly it seemed as safe a place to land as anywhere, for had there been many people there they could hardly have failed to show themselves.
It so happened that there was nobody there at all, as the visitors learned when, without putting on their spacesuits - for they did not intend to stay - they walked the thirty paces or so from the ship to the village. To be precise, the visiting party consisted of the Professor, Toby, and Rex, Tiger contenting himself by sitting on the step to watch, and, as he said, have a smoke. None could have suspected what this casual arrangement was to mean to the whole party.
Approaching the houses the investigators were greeted by an abominable smell. The reason was not far to seek, for bones, looking like monkey bones, lay strewn about all over the place. Actually, the aroma was more of an animal smell than a human one, and it instantly brought back to Rex memories of the zoo. A heap of smouldering wood ashes suggested a recent feast, but no one commented on it.
The Professor, who was leading, stopped and hailed. There was no answer.
'No one at home,' he said, in a disappointed voice, and walked on slowly towards the doorway of the nearest house. Rex, having no wish to enter, for the smell outside was bad enough, strolled on towards the edge of the ravine, intending to see if it held anything of interest.
He never reached it.
Over the brink, without the slightest warning, hooting like owls, poured a swarm of miniature human beings of such bestial appearance that Rex turned and fled incontinently towards the ship. It was their size that shook him as much as anything. Not more than three feet tall they looked more like animals than men. They had practically no foreheads; their noses were broad and flat and their mouths enormous. Their skins were pale in colour, so even in his panic Rex realized they must have come from the dark side of the globe, possibly having made their way into enemy country along the bottom of the ravine in order to raid the village. He did not get far. Something struck him between the shoulder blades and knocked him flat on his face.
The rest was sheer nightmare. Gasping, for the breath had been knocked out of him, he scrambled to his feet only to be knocked down again by the surging mob. Getting up again, not knowing whether he was on his head or his heels, as the saying is, he became aware that Toby was standing over him, yelling, and swinging a weapon of some sort.
There was a crashing report, and in a dazed sort of way Rex realized that Tiger was taking a hand; and to good purpose, for at the gunshot the uproar ceased as abruptly as a radio switched off.
For two or three seconds the savages stood as if stricken with paralysis, and the short respite gave Rex and Toby a chance to reach the door of the ship, on the step of which Tiger was standing with the rifle in his hands. With a shout he fired again, shooting over the heads of the natives, and that was enough to put them to flight. But by this time the Professor had run out of the house, and, of course, met the crowd going the other way. In an instant he was knocked off his feet. Yelling, he was picked up, and in another moment had been carried out of sight over the lip of the ravine.
Everyone outside the ship raced for the spot. Rex found himself gazing into a chasm so deep that he recoiled with a cry of dismay. The sides were steep but not precipitous, and ended at a lake from which the people of the village no doubt got their water, as a narrow path, cut in the nearer bank, descended to it. Down this path, held by his arms and legs, the Professor was being carried by his captors. Tiger
tore after them, shouting. Compared with the natives he looked enormous, and to them must have appeared a terrifying figure, a giant. Anyway, they fled in such haste that they dropped their prisoner, and crowding each other forced some of their number off the path so that they went bumping and rolling down the steep bank.
When the rescue party reached the Professor he was sitting on the ground looking more than somewhat dishevelled. 'Please take care not to step on my glasses,' he pleaded. '
Those little ruffians knocked them off. Dear me. I really began to think I was going to end my career in a stew pot.'
They helped him up, and making their way slowly to the top, came upon the lost glasses, fortunately not broken.
Quite an alarming little business,' observed the Professor as he put them on. 'But then,' he added, if we go poking about other people's property we must expect a little trouble sometimes.'
As they reached the top, cries from below made them turn and look down.
The natives were coming back, and the reason was plain to see. In hot pursuit was a large party of blue-skins who had presumably struck the enemy trail and followed it.
'I think it would be a good idea if we moved on,' remarked Tiger. There's going to be a rough-house here presently and if we get caught in it we may still end up on a spit over the fire.'
I agree,' returned the Professor. Certainly this is no place for a picnic. Indeed, if we stay we may find ourselves the meat in the sandwich, as the doctor would say. You can bring one of these spears along, Rex, for a souvenir,' he concluded, indicating a number of weapons that had been dropped in the mêlée.
Rex picked one up. It was a crude instrument - a rough wooden handle to the end of which had been lashed a pointed slither of shining, green, glass-like substance. Reaching the top of the ravine they stopped to look back and saw a conflict raging too far below to cause them any anxiety.
Before going on board the Professor took the weapon from Rex and examined the point closely.
He chuckled as he handed it back. One lesson we have learned is that values are local. I mean, things that are precious in one world can have no value on another. That, of course, is the result of supply and demand, and the uneven distribution of elemental materials throughout the universe. Here, for instance, having no other use for it, they can afford to tip their spears with precious stone - emerald, to be precise.'
'Emerald!' exclaimed Rex.
Unless I am mistaken, yes. Emerald can occur in very large lumps at home, but always being badly flawed it is hard to get even a small piece of clear, transparent crystal. These people, it seems, have a large supply of the stuff, and finding that it splits easily along the flaws have put it to practical use instead of using it as a sign of wealth, as is done on Earth. Well — well. We are learning quite a lot. But I hear sounds that suggest we should be well advised to go on board and remove ourselves from this abominable little planet. I think we have seen as much as we need of it.'
They all filed into the ship, which rose clear of the ground just as the first of the warring tribes appeared over the edge of the ravine, still fighting. 8 The Terror The next planetoid on Borron's chart was, in his own language, named Stontum. They did not reach it. They never saw it. It was one of the larger bodies on the outer edge of the galaxy, the most distant from Mars, and the turning point from which the return journey would begin.
How far it was from Lentos in terms of Earthly miles, Rex, of course, had no idea, for such things as time and distance, in his own standard of measurement, had lost their meaning. In any case, the matter does not arise, because long before they were within sighting distance of the new objective the ship was involved in one of those holocausts which they knew could occur, and on their early voyages they had feared. Familiarity with space travel had lulled their apprehensions, and it was now, when the peril was almost forgotten that they met it head on, so to speak.
Where the thing actually had its origin they did not know, except that it must have been in outer space, millions of miles away, or the whole Solar System must have been affected.
They became aware that something tremendous was happening, or had already happened, when the ship was filled with a blinding white light that grew and grew in intensity until it seemed to scorch the eyeballs. Rex closed his eyes and put his hands over them; yet so intense was the light that it penetrated his hands and eyelids and still reached his brain. What had happened he did not know, but he was sure this was the end for all of them.
The light grew brighter for perhaps two minutes, and at the peak persisted for several more; then, slowly, it began to fade - white to yellow, to orange, orange to red, red to purple and finally black.
Rex opened his eyes. Everything was dim, and fast becoming darker. 'What was it?' he managed to get out, in a thin voice. Actually, he was surprised to find the ship still intact.
'I would say a Nova,' answered the Professor. `You may remember me speaking of them.
They are often visible from Earth.'
'You mean - a star blew up?'
Say, rather, destroyed itself by thermo-nuclear fission, probably as the result of a collision.'
As the ship did not appear to have been damaged Rex began to recover from his shock. '
How far away was it?' he asked.
`No one could answer that question,' returned the Professor. 'The explosion may have occurred long ago, but so far away that the light has only just reached us. The light from some of the distant stars, fast though it travels, may be hundreds of years reaching us.
Even the light of the sun takes eight minutes to reach Earth, so that the sunrise you see actually occurred eight minutes earlier.'
Inside the ship it was now so dark that Rex could only just see the others.
'Where are the stars, anyway?' asked Tiger, who had joined Vargo and Borron at an observation window.
It must be remembered that, from the ship, stars were always visible, some large some small, all around. Usually there were several planetoids in sight, for the ship was in the thick of the belt that lies between Mars and Jupiter. Rex, looking out, could see none. All was black.
By this time Borron was giving orders in a tense voice. Pressure began to crush Rex in his seat and he knew that the progress of the ship had been accelerated to the limit of en durance. This lasted for several uncomfortable minutes. Then Borron rapped out another order. At once the pressure began to relax. A few minutes later Rex had to hold his seat to remain in it. No one spoke. What was happening Rex didn't know, but he was terribly afraid. Obviously something was wrong.
Fear dried his lips as the last faint light gave way to utter darkness.
He could see nothing, inside the ship or out. He cried out involuntarily as something struck the ship with a vicious swishing noise and made it rock. It was the absolute darkness that made it so frightening. He knew it was no use asking for light because the ship carried no artificial lighting apparatus. There was no need for it. In the ordinary way it was always light because there was no night. Even when planetoids passed between them and the sun the brightness was only slightly dimmed. Why had the ship bumped? It could only mean that there was a force of some sort outside.
At last Vargo spoke. 'We have run into a zone of atmosphere caused by the explosion.
With it came dust or frozen particles of gas. That is why it is dark. It will pass. How long that will take it is impossible to say. It depends on the volume of the zone.'
'But can't we get out of it?' cried Rex.
'Borron tried. You must have felt the pressure,' came Vargo's voice in the darkness. `But he had to stop,' he went on. 'It was too dangerous to continue. Several planetoids must have been engulfed in this same cloud, so to proceed would be to invite collision with one of them.'
`Do you mean we've actually stopped?' asked Rex.
'Relatively speaking. By which I mean the energy has been cut. But we are still moving with the cloud - being carried along by it. That is why there is no longer any noise.<
br />
Everything - gas, dust, and probably some lesser planetoids - are all moving in the same direction at the same speed.'
The Professor spoke. 'Obviously there can be no indication of how long these conditions are likely to persist,' he said. 'Too many are involved.
Eventually I imagine, the dust will disperse sufficiently for us to see what we are doing, and that, surely must depend on the size of the cloud, which is an unknown quantity.'
'Always provided,' returned Vargo calmly, 'that the cloud is not dragged into the orbit of one of the larger bodies around us. Eventually, of course, that is bound to happen. The dust will fall somewhere. Let us hope that it thins sufficiently for us to get our bearings before that occurs.'
'The dust might fall on Earth,' suggested Rex.
'That would not be the first time the Earth and its satellite Moon have been showered with meteoric dust and gas,' asserted the Professor. 'The ancient records contained in the Old Testament of the Bible leave us in no doubt of that.'
03 Now To The Stars Page 7