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Brute Hennessey plodded westward through the Xanthe Desert, naked,wearing no marsuit, his head bare to the thin, oxygen-poor Martian air.The two small moons shone in the star-spangled sky above the lonefigure, casting fantastic shadows on the sands.
But this was not the stupid, shambling Brute Hennessey of a few monthspast. He walked surely and proudly, and the light of intelligence shonein his eyes.
He called himself, now, Dark Kensington.
Dark's muscular body had not regained, quite, the firmness and tone ithad had before he was shot down at Solis Lacus, but he had recoveredgreatly from the bloated flabbiness of a few days ago. Most of that hadbeen water in his tissues, and resumption of normal physical activityhad wrung it out in short order.
As he plodded through the Martian night toward Ultra Vires, Dark wasremembering, with something of awe, that emotional explosion within himthat had occurred on his first sight of Goat Hennessey at the CanfellHydroponic Farm. It was this sudden, overwhelming recognition that hadwrung from his lips the cry: "_Father!_"
In that moment, memory had returned with terrible impact and he had beenoverwhelmed by the re-experience of those moments when he had stoodbefore the man he admired and loved as his father and had seen thebitter realization of rejection by that man written with the point of aknife.
Now he remembered it all. He remembered his childhood at Ultra Vires, heremembered Adam and their experiences together, he remembered theirtreks through the desert at Goat Hennessey's command, he remembered hisslaying of Adam and his acceptance of death at Goat's hands. Heremembered that he, Dark Kensington, was Brute Hennessey, somehowbrought to life once before in the Icaria Desert even as he had himselfregained life a second time in the vats of the Canfell Hydroponic Farm.
So Goat Hennessey was his father, apparently. And Old Beard, the realDark Kensington, vowed vengeance on Goat. Dark was able to view thiswith equanimity. He no longer felt any admiration or affection for Goat,whatever relationship might exist between them.
But, since he was Brute Hennessey and thus not old enough to be the realDark Kensington, how and why had he acquired the memories of DarkKensington? That question remained unanswered.
Phobos was setting for the first time that night when Dark reached thegreat hulk of Ultra Vires, manipulated one of the airlocks and enteredits dark corridors. There was no light, and a test of the light switchproved that the electrical system was no longer operating. But Dark knewevery inch of this place from early childhood. He felt his way throughthe pitch darkness to Goat Hennessey's old bedroom.
Probing about in the darkness, he discovered that Goat's bed was stillsupplied with mattress and crumpled blankets. This surprised himsomewhat, as any item of cloth on Mars had to be imported from Earth andwas far too valuable to abandon. But, apparently, these things had beenleft temporarily in Goat's abandonment of Ultra Vires and would bepicked up by truck later.
Deriving a certain humorous satisfaction from taking over the master'schamber, Dark curled up on Goat's bed and went to sleep.
He awoke the next morning with the glare of the desert sunlightreflected into the room. He arose, stretched and yawned. The room was amess. Goat had left the bed clothing intact, but he had turnedeverything else upside down in packing his personal effects to leave theplace.
There was still water in the reservoir, and Ultra Vires' plumbing systemwas still in operation. Dark bathed. He felt ruefully at the thickstubble of beard that had overgrown his face in the past few days, butGoat had left no shaving equipment behind.
Dark made his way down to the big kitchen. There were supplies of cannedfood there, and he found utensils and ate. He was hungry, but notravenous, and this surprised him a little, because he had had no foodsince he started out afoot from the Canfell Hydroponic Farm, four nightsago. But he was no hungrier than he would normally be after a night'ssleep.
As he ate, his eye fell on dishes stacked beside the sink. He wasstartled to notice that water still sparkled on them.
He arose and checked them. Yes, they were still wet.
There were remnants of fresh food in the garbage can.
People, here? Camping out? Or, more likely, someone passing through thedesert who had taken shelter here for the night? But he thought he wouldhave heard the roar of a groundcar leaving.
Thoughtfully, Dark finished his breakfast. It occurred to him thatperhaps some members of the Phoenix had taken refuge here after fleeingMars City. But most of them did not even know of the existence of UltraVires, much less its location.
At any rate, there was no reason to assume that anyone who happened tobe here would be unfriendly to him, in case they met by chance. He sawno reason to worry about it.
Finishing breakfast, Dark went down to the storeroom and picked outthree marsuits, for Old Beard, Happy and Shadow. There was a large-sizedsuit there that he thought might accommodate Happy's bulk, but hewondered how Shadow, with his flat build, was going to manage one.
Nakedness felt quite natural to Dark, especially since he remembered hisidentity as Brute, but it occurred to him that it would look peculiarto anyone he might meet before leaving Ultra Vires--or, for that matter,on his way back to the Canfell Hydroponic Farm. So he donned a marsuithimself, leaving off the helmet.
Carrying the other three marsuits, he went down the corridor to themotor pool.
Dark remembered that Goat had always kept four groundcars on hand. Therewere three here now, all in advanced stages of dismantlement.
At one of them, a small figure in black tunic and loose trousers wasbending over, head and arms plunged into the bowels of the engine.
Dark hesitated. He had found his intruder, perhaps a traveler who hadrun into engine trouble in the desert and had fortuitously been nearenough to take shelter here while making repairs. But, again, there wasno reason to anticipate unfriendliness.
Carrying his marsuits, Dark walked up to the groundcar, overhearing amuffled bit of profanity as he approached. The unfortunate mechanicevidently heard his footsteps, because he was greeted with:
"I wish to Phobos you'd stay down here and _try_ to help me, instead ofspending all your time snooping around this deserted shack!"
The voice was muffled, but it was definitely feminine and definitelyirritated. Dark grinned and replied drolly:
"I'm sorry, but this is the first time you've asked me to help you."
With an audible gasp, the woman disentangled herself, in dangeroushaste, from the groundcar engine and faced Dark.
They stared at each other, in mutual shocked recognition.
There was Dark Kensington, bearded, his arms full of marsuits, and therewas Maya Cara Nome, sleeves rolled up, her lovely face streaked withgrease.
Dark's jaw dropped. Maya's lips formed a round, astonished O.
Then, with a squeal, she hurled herself on him, throwing her arms aroundhis neck. Dark staggered back, overwhelmed by marsuits, an abundance ofwriggling femininity and a babble of happy and-completely unintelligiblewords gushed against his bearded cheek.
He managed to disentangle himself by the dual process of dropping themarsuits and holding Maya forcibly at arm's length. She gazed up intohis face, her own awed and radiant, and was able to reduce her own wordsto connected sentences.
"You're not here," she said positively. "You can't be here. You're dead.I saw you killed. You must be one of the ghosts of Ultra Vires."
She wriggled free and threw her arms around his neck again, announcinghappily, "But you're a solid, _comfortable_ ghost, and I love you!"
Again, Dark managed to get her at arm's length and looked down seriouslyinto her face.
"Did I hear you correctly?" he asked soberly. "Did you say you love me?"
"I did. And I mean it. Oh, Dark, how I mean it!"
He pulled her to him. He kissed her gravely. Then he held her close inhis arms, while she rested her head contentedly against his shoulder.
"What," he asked at last, "are you doing here, tinkering with agroundcar
?"
"Nuwell and I were on our way to Mars City by helicopter, when it failedand crashed," she explained. "This was the only place near enough for usto make it afoot, and the marsuit radios don't have the range to callfor help. We've been here more than two weeks now, trying to repairthese groundcars."
She looked at the machine she had been working on and shook her headruefully.
"I don't think any of them can be fixed," she said. "Nuwell, it turnsout, doesn't know a damn thing about machinery, but I was taught a gooddeal about mechanics when I was trained as a terrestrial agent. Evenwith three groundcars to supply parts, there are some things missingthat I don't think I can jury-rig substitutes for."
She turned back to Dark.
"But you're dead!" she exclaimed. "I know you are, because we carriedyour body with us to the Canfell Hydroponic Farm. How in space can yoube here, alive and kissing, when you made such a beautiful corpse?"
Dark explained the circumstances to her; how he had awakened in the vat,how he had been able to breathe underwater, how the sight of GoatHennessey had revived in him the memory of his identity as Brute, how hehad been able to walk across the desert without a marsuit.
"If you're Brute Hennessey, I know why you aren't dead," she said whenhe had finished. "We fell in with a party of Martians on our way here,and they told me about certain embryonic changes they made on you andAdam before Goat kidnapped your mothers and brought them to Ultra Vires.Qril--he's the Martian I talked to--said that these alterations not onlypermit you to live in a free Martian environment, but give youextraordinary regenerative powers."
"They must be extraordinary, if they permit me to come to life againafter being stabbed in the heart and having my belly burned out with aheatgun," observed Dark.
"That's because your tissues aren't dependent on oxygen-carboncombustion," explained Maya. "According to Qril, when oxygen is nolonger available to you, your cells utilize direct solar energy. Thatwould prevent your tissues from dying while the damaged area of yourbody is under repair."
She looked at him in sudden awed realization.
"It would seem, darling, that you're virtually indestructible!" shesaid.
Dark laughed.
"Perhaps so," he said. "But I don't hanker to experiment along thoselines any more than necessary. Dying is a very unpleasant experience,even if I do come to life again."
"Oh, Dark," said Maya, remembering. "I'd like for Qril to see you, andmaybe he'll give us some more information. They came back here threedays ago and, for some reason, have just been hanging around outside,under the walls. Let me get on a marsuit, and I'll take you to him."
"Here, put on one of these," suggested Dark, picking up the one he hadselected for Old Beard.
Maya wriggled into it. The Martians, she said, were on the other side ofUltra Vires, so they left the motor pool and walked down one of the longcorridors together, Maya clinging to Dark's arm with one hand andcarrying her marshelmet under her other arm.
They were halfway across the big building when Nuwell Eli appearedaround a corner about thirty feet ahead of them. He stopped, staring, atthe sight of Maya's companion.
"Maya," he began, as they neared him. "Who ...?"
Then he recognized Dark.
With a terrified yelp, Nuwell turned and raced back down the sidecorridor at top speed. They heard the clack-clack of his heels on thestone floor, fading in the distance.
Dark and Maya stopped and looked at each other.
"It must have been quite a shock to him, too, to see you risen from thedead," she said. "I don't believe he's as happy to see you as I was,Dark."
"No, his joy seemed considerably mitigated," replied Dark gravely. "But,Maya, this raises a rather serious question which hadn't occurred to mebefore, in the happiness of our reunion."
"What's that, darling?"
"You're a terrestrial agent and, as such, you put me under arrest. It'strue, you tried to free me later. But didn't you tell me that night thatyou were engaged to marry this man, Nuwell Eli?"
"Yes," she admitted in a small voice. "But--"
"I haven't had the pleasure of meeting the gentleman before," continuedDark, still in the same grave tone. "But you and he were going back toMars City together, and, for some reason, it occurs to me that you andhe planned to be married as soon as you could get there."
Maya was somewhat stunned at this evidence of mind reading.
"That's true," she said in a very small voice.
"Now," said Dark, "you tell me that you love me. You must admit thatthe question raised by this is rather serious. Does this declaration oflove--which, I assure you, is reciprocated completely--imply a radicalchange in your past course of action? Or, since you're still aterrestrial agent, can I expect to be arrested again as a preliminary toyour joining Mr. Eli in the holy state of matrimony?"
Maya looked up into his face, and burst out laughing.
"I may have put it jokingly," protested Dark, a little taken aback, "butI'm serious, Maya."
"I know you are!" she giggled. "That's what makes it so funny. Answeringyou in the same vein, Mr. Kensington, I don't intend to put you indouble jeopardy!"
Dark raised his eyebrows quizzically.
"I arrested you and you were killed resisting arrest," she explainedmischievously. "I've discharged that duty as a terrestrial agent, so Idon't think I'm either required or entitled to arrest you again. And asfor the other, well, I am a little sorry for Nuwell, but I do love you,and I won't marry Nuwell, since you're alive. But I can't marry you,Dark."
Dark was stunned at this.
"Why not, Maya? You mean, because you're a terrestrial agent?"
"No, it isn't that. I'm planning to resign as an agent, as soon as I getback to Mars City, and that wouldn't stop me, anyway. The reason I can'tmarry you is simply that you haven't asked me."
Dark laughed, a rollicking, relieved laugh, and swept her into his arms.
"Maya, darling, I ask you now!" he exclaimed. "Will you marry me?"
"Yes, Dark," she answered demurely.
She leaned back in the circle of his arms and looked up into his face,seriously.
"Whither thou goest, I will go," she said, very quietly. "If you're arebel, Dark, I'll be a rebel, too. I want to be with you, and help youin whatever you do."
Rebels of the Red Planet Page 13