Escape on Venus v-4

by Edgar Rice Burroughs

  That name meant nothing to me then. It was to mean much, later.

  Chapter X

  AS WE THREE talked, the major domo came sinuously toward us, more shark-like than ever. "You stand here and talk, slaves," he accused, "when you should be watching for guypals. For this you should be beaten.. Separate! Patrol the pool. If a child is harmed you all die—most unpleasantly."

  So we fell to walking around the pool with the other two guards, and some of us were always looking up at the sky; though for what, I hadn't the remotest idea.

  After the major domo left the patio, I fell in beside Kandar. "What are guypals?" I asked.

  "They are large birds of prey," he said—"really very dangerous. If it were not for the guards they would come down and carry off the children. As it is, guards or no guards, you never can tell when they will come. If they do, some of us may be killed. They are terrific fighters and absolutely without fear."

  It seemed to me a lot of foolishness, guarding children against birds, when there weren't any children nor any birds. At least I hadn't seen any. It would have been much more sensible, I thought, to let us sit down and rest until the children came out into the patio.

  As guypals don't fly at night, we were dismissed as soon as it got dark, and taken to the slaves' compound, where we were fed a nasty mess and herded into a shed to sleep on filthy grass mats. Yron's slaves evidently didn't fare any too well.

  I wondered about Duare. Was she being well treated? Was she safe? Would I ever see her again? I fell into a fitful sleep worrying about her.

  At dawn the next day, after a vile breakfast, we were taken to the patio again and told to look out for guypals and guard the children. "If the guypals are as dangerous as you say," I remarked to Kandar, "why do they give us wooden tridents? What can we do with a piece of wood against such fierce birds?"

  "All we can do is the best we can," he said. "They are afraid to arm us with metal tridents—we might turn on them. You know, these Myposans are at heart arrant cowards."

  "Well, I hope I see a guypal today," I said—"anything to break the monotony. I'd even like to see one of their children—it might attract a guypal or two. Where do they keep these children of theirs, anyway?"

  Kandar laughed and pointed into the pool. "There," he said. "There are the children."

  I looked into the pool, but saw nothing but the few strange looking fishes I had occasionally seen the previous day. "I see nothing in there," I said, "but a few weird-looking fishes."

  "Those are the children," said Kandar.

  I looked at him in surprise for a moment, until I got the idea.

  "I see," I said. "We have people like that in my own world; being childless, they lavish their affection on dogs and cats. These people have adopted fishes."

  Kandar shook his head. "You are quite wrong on both scores," he said. "In the first place these people have no affection to lavish on anything; and, in the second, these are their children," and he pointed to the fishes swimming playfully about the pool.

  "You are very amusing," I said.

  "I didn't intend being. I am really quite serious. You see, these fishlike creatures are really the children of Yron and his mate."

  "It is incredible," I said.

  "But a fact. Human beings, such as we, bring forth young that somewhat resemble themselves. Many of the beasts do likewise. Some creatures lay eggs in which the embryo develops. The Myposan females bring fish into the world—fish that eventually develop into Myposans.

  "If you look closely you will see that the largest of these creatures is already developing hands and feet. Later it will slough its tail; then it will become an amphibian and crawl out on land. Slowly its head and face will change, becoming more human; it will walk erect, and it will become a Myposan; but it will still have gills as well as lungs and be partially amphibious."

  I looked closely at one of the darting fishes, and plainly saw rudimentary hands and feet. Somehow it seemed shockingly obscene.

  "I owe you an apology," I said to Kandar, "but I really thought that you were joking. So these are the 'children' we are guarding! The little darlings. Papa seems quite solicitous about their safety, but he and Mamma don't pay much attention to them otherwise."

  "The Myposans are absolutely devoid of affection. They have no word for love. Their protective instinct is strong, however—a purely biological reaction against racial extinction. They will protect these little monstrosities with their lives."

  "These are very young, I suppose," I said.

  "They are more than a year old. The females come into their pools to spawn once a year, and give birth to thousands of tiny fishlike creatures—some say as many as a million. These almost immediately find their way out into the lake through the subterranean channels which connect all these pools with the Lake of Japal . Where they go is not definitely known; but probably out into the ocean, where those that survive remain for a year, of course most of them are devoured by the larger denizens of the sea. In the case of Yron's mate only three survived from last year's spawning."

  "These may not even be hers," I suggested.

  "Oh, yes they are," Kandar assured me. "Some instinct always guides the little rascals back to the pool in which they were spawned."

  "I don't see how anyone can tell," I demurred.

  "Instinct again," said Kandar. "These creatures are endowed with a congenital antipathy for similar creatures devoid of identical genes. If one of another spawning should blunder into this pool in search of his own, these creatures would set upon it and either drive it out or kill it.

  "The parents, especially the females, have the same instinctive power of recognition of their own. Myposan slaves have told me that it is not uncommon for none of a female's own spawning to return, all having been devoured at sea. If, in such a case, the young of another female blunders into her pool, she immediately recognizes that it is not hers and destroys it."

  "I presume that is a provision of Nature to prevent inbreeding," I suggested.

  "On the contrary it is a provision of Nature to ensure inbreeding," said Kandar. "The Myposans never mate with offspring outside their own families. After you have been here a little longer, you will be struck by the startling family resemblances and characteristics. You still see that Yron and his mate look and act alike; and if you ever witness a gathering of the clan, you will be struck by the remarkable resemblances."

  I was about to ask some further question; what, I do not now recall, when I heard a shrill scream from overhead and the whir of wings.

  "The guypals!" cried Artol.

  Chapter XI

  GUYPALS! They were large birds and ferocious. There must have been a dozen of them. They dove for us and for the pool. We poked and struck at them with our wooden tridents, and they zoomed and dove again.

  People came running from the house. Yron and his mate were among them. There was a great deal of noise and a great deal of excitement. The warriors who came had metal tridents, but these the guypals eluded. They seemed to know that the wooden weapons wielded by the slaves could not do much damage.

  The Myposans were blowing furiously and flapping their gills. All were screaming orders and advice. It was bedlam. The noise should have frightened off almost anything. We were doing pretty well; and keeping the guypals at a distance, when one of them eluded us and dove straight for the pool. It looked as though one of Mrs. Yron's little darlings was about to get his.

  You can't get up much enthusiasm about succoring a fish. At least I can't; but I had a job to do; and it was only natural that, being what I am, I should do the best I could to acquit myself worthily.

  I imagine that I just don't think such things out. I act quite mechanically. Had I stopped to think, I should have said to myself, "These may be children to some; but they are just fish to me, and if I save them they will grow up to be three more enemies. I shall let them die;" but I said nothing of the kind to myself. I imagine that what crossed my mind and influenced me was a subconsc
ious reminder that I had been given the job of protecting these creatures and that nothing else counted. Of course it all happened in the fraction of a second. The guypal dove for the pool, and I drew my r-ray pistol and blew a hole through it. It crumpled and fell into the pool; then I turned the pistol on the others which were circling about awaiting another opportunity to elude us. Three more dropped, and the others flew away.

  Yron approached me. I thought he was going to express his indebtedness to me, but he did nothing of the sort. He didn't even thank me for saving his little darlings.

  "What is that thing?" he demanded.

  "A pistol," I replied.

  "What is a postol?" he asked.

  "This," I said.

  "And it killed the guypals?" he asked.

  "I killed the guypals. Without me the pistol could not kill them—unless," I added, "they had touched it."

  "Could it kill anything else?" he asked.

  "Certainly—anything."

  "Me?"

  "You and all your people," I assured him.

  "Give it to me, slave," he demanded.

  "Certainly," I said, holding it out toward him, "but if you touch it it will kill you."

  He drew back, and commenced to blow. His gills flapped. "Throw it away!" he commanded.

  He might as well have asked me to cut off my right hand and throw it away. I was saving that pistol for some future emergency. You may wonder why I had never used it on these people in a break for freedom. It was because I had never yet found conditions such that I might hope to escape and take Duare with me, and I certainly had no intention of trying to escape without her.

  I just grinned at Yron and shook my head. "I may need it," I said, "if the people of Mypos do not treat my mate and me well."

  Yron fairly danced up and down. "Throw it away, slave!" he screamed. "I, Yron, a noble of Mypos and your master, command you."

  "And I, Carson of Venus, a prince of Korva, refuse."

  You could have heard Yron's gills flap a city block away, and he was blowing like a whale—which he didn't at all resemble. I don't know whether or not fish have high blood pressure; but I am sure Yron didn't, as otherwise he would have exploded. I think I have never seen any other creature in the throes of such a terrific rage—the more terrific because of its futility.

  "Seize him!" he screamed at several of his warriors who had come to the pool following the alarm. "Seize him and destroy that thing!"

  The warriors had been interested listeners to our altercation. They had heard me say that whoever touched my pistol would die; so they came forward warily, each one intent upon permitting some one else to be first. They were very polite in this respect. There was no rude elbowing of others aside in order to be the first to seize me.

  "That is close enough," I said, pointing the pistol at them.

  They halted in their tracks, looking very uncomfortable.

  "Spear him!" commanded Yron.

  I pointed the pistol at Yron. "When the first spear is raised, you die," I told him. The warriors looked questioningly at him.

  "Hold!" cried Yron. "Do not spear him—yet. Wait until I have gone."

  "You are not going until you have countermanded that order," I told him. "I think that perhaps we had better discuss this matter so that there may be no more misunderstandings; they are always annoying and sometimes fatal."

  "I do not discuss anything with my slaves," replied Yron, haughtily.

  I shrugged. "It is all the same to me," I said, "but remember this: If my mate and my friend Kandar, here, and I are not treated well, you die. I can kill you any time I wish."

  "Your mate? You have no mate here."

  "Not here, but in the palace of Tyros . She was purchased for him in the slave market. You'd better advise him to treat her well. At the same time arrange to release us and return us to the place where we were captured."

  "Such insolence!" he cried. "Wait until Tyros hears of this. He will have you killed."

  "Not before I have killed Tyros. Tell him that." I thought I might as well play up my advantage while I could, for it was evident that he was already afraid of me.

  "How can you reach Tyros in his palace?" he demanded.

  "By killing every one who tries to stop me—commencing with you," I said, twirling my pistol around my index finger.

  "I don't believe that you could do it; you are just boasting," said Yron.

  "I shall prove it," I said, leveling my pistol at him.

  At that, he dove into the pool and disappeared. I found it difficult not to laugh, he cut such an amusing figure in his fright. All the slaves and warriors were standing around watching me—at a respectful distance.

  I waited for Yron to come to the surface. I was going to give him another scare, but he didn't come up. Five minutes passed, and nothing happened—except that the warriors slowly dispersed, going back into the building. Finally only we slaves remained in the patio.

  "Yron must have drowned," I said to Kandar.

  "By no means," replied Kandar. "He may be out in the lake by this time, or in a grotto at the bottom of the pool, or back in his palace."

  "But how?" I asked.

  "These people are amphibians," explained Kandar. "They can remain under water for considerable periods of time. Also, they have underwater corridors that lead from their pools out into the lake, as well as other corridors that lead to smaller pools within their palaces; and there are usually grottos, which are really parts of the pools, far under water, where they can remain in hiding, breathing through their gills."

  Kandar told me a great deal about these Myposans, but nothing that was later to stand me in better stead than the description of these underwater corridors. He did not like the Myposans, upon whom he looked with the utmost contempt. He said that they were neither fish nor human, and their arrogant egotism irked him no end.

  "They consider themselves supermen whose destiny it is to rule the world, forcing what they call their culture on all other peoples Culture!" he snorted, and then words failed him.

  "We have had peoples like that in my own world," I said, "led by such men as Genghis Kahn and Attila the Hun who wrecked the culture and civilization of their times and set the world back many centuries; and I suppose we shall have others."

  "And what happened after them?" asked Kandar.

  "Civilization struggled slowly from the mire into which they had plunged it, as I suppose it always will struggle back after each such catastrophe; but to what glorious heights it might have attained had they never lived!"

  Chapter XII

  THE NEXT DAY dawned like any other day. The intense light of the Sun, filtering through the two cloud envelopes, imparted a brilliance comparable to that of an April day in our own northern hemisphere when the sky is lightly overcast by fleecy clouds; yet, for me, it was to be no ordinary day. It was to mark a definite, a drastic change in my fortunes.

  With other slaves, I was still guarding the horrid little creatures in the pool. I daydreamed of Duare. I lived again the high moments of our lives together. I planned. I schemed fantastic schemes for our escape; but, when all was said, I was still a slave.

  The major domo came into the patio with four warriors. They were garbed differently from those I had seen on the grounds of Yron's palace or elsewhere. Their trappings were more ornate.

  Kandar was patrolling at my side. "Members of the jong's guard," he said. "I wonder what they are doing here."

  We were soon to learn. Led by the major domo, they approached us. The major domo confronted me. His gills flapped idly; and he blew a little, as befits one who addresses a low slave.

  "Slave," he said, "you will accompany these warriors."

  "Why?" I asked.

  Then his gills did flap, and he blew angrily. "Because I say so," he bellowed.

  "That is not enough," I said. "I don't like it here, but I don't intend going some place that may be worse."

  "Enough of this," snapped one of the jong's warriors. "Come, slav
e! and come alive, or we will take you dead." He came toward me.

  I drew my pistol, and the major domo seized the arm of the warrior. "Careful!" he cautioned. "With that thing he can kill you—and he will."

  "He threatens one of the jong's guard?" demanded the warrior.

  "I do," I said. "I threaten them all and I can kill them all. Ask any of Yron's people if I speak the truth."

  "Why hasn't that thing been taken from him?" demanded the warrior.

  "Because whoever touches it dies," said the major domo.

  "Tell me where I am going and why," I insisted, "and then perhaps there will be no reason for killing."

  The major domo and the warriors stepped to one side and whispered together; then the former said to me, "There is no reason why you should not know. The noble Yron, as a mark of his loyalty and high esteem, has presented you to our beloved jong."

  So! The noble Yron was getting rid of a dangerous and undesirable alien by passing him on to his ruler. The loyal Yron! I had to smile. Had the German Kaiser presented Trotsky, armed with a bomb, to the Czar of Russia the acts would have been somewhat analogous.

  "Why are you smiling?" demanded the warrior spokesman.

  "I am happy," I said. "I shall be delighted to go to the palace of Tyros , and I will go willingly on one condition."

  "Slaves do not make conditions," growled the warrior.

  "I am an exception," I said; "you have never before seen a slave like me." I twirled my pistol about my finger.

  "Well, what do you want now?" demanded the major domo.

  "I think that Yron should also present Kandar to his jong. Kandar is a much more valuable slave than I, and if Yron really wishes to demonstrate his loyalty and high esteem he should present a really royal gift to his jong—two princes instead of one; the Crown Prince of Japal and the Crown Prince of Korva." Of course I didn't say Crown Prince; I said Tanjong.