Princess of Mars / Принцесса Марса. Уровень 2

I opened my eyes upon a strange and weird landscape. I knew that I was on Mars. I was not asleep, no need for pinching here. My inner consciousness told me as plainly that I was upon Mars as your conscious mind tells you that you are upon Earth. You do not question the fact; neither did I.

I found myself lying prone upon a bed of yellowish, mosslike vegetation, which stretched around me in all directions for miles. I seemed to be lying in a deep, circular basin, along the outer verge of which I could distinguish the irregularities of low hills.

It was midday, the sun was shining full upon me and the heat of it was intense. Here and there were slight outcroppings of quartz-bearing rock, which glistened in the sunlight. No water and no other vegetation than the moss was in evidence. I decided to do a little exploring as I was thirsty.

I sprang to my feet and, surprisingly, jumped up in the Martian air to the height of about three yards. I alighted softly upon the ground, however, without appreciable shock or jar. I found that I must learn to walk all over again, as the muscular exertion which carried me easily and safely upon Earth played strange tricks with me upon Mars.

I decided to explore the low structure, which was the only evidence of habitation in sight. I reached the low, encircling wall of the enclosure. There appeared to be no doors or windows upon the side nearest me. But the wall was only about four feet high so I cautiously gained my feet and peered over the top. The things that I saw surprised me.

The roof of the enclosure was of solid glass about four or five inches in thickness. Beneath this, there were several hundred large eggs. They were perfectly round and snowy white, and nearly uniform in size[13 - uniform in size – одинаковые в размере] being about two and one-half feet in diameter.

Five or six of them already opened. The grotesque caricatures, which sat blinking in the sunlight, made me doubt my sanity. They seemed mostly head, with little scrawny bodies, long necks and six legs. Later I learned those were two legs and two arms, with an intermediary pair of limbs, which they could use at will as either arms or legs. Their eyes were set at the extreme sides of their heads a trifle above the center and protruded in such a manner that they could be directed either forward or back. They could look in any direction, or in two directions at once, without the necessity of turning the head.

The ears, which were slightly above the eyes and closer together, were small, cup-shaped antennae, protruding not more than an inch on these young specimens. Their noses were longitudinal slits in the center of their faces, midway between their mouths and ears.

There was no hair on their bodies, which were of a very light yellowish-green color. In the adults, as I learned later, this color deepens to an olive green and is darker in the male than in the female. Further, the heads of the adults are not so out of proportion to their bodies as in the case of the young.

The iris of the eyes is blood red while the pupil is dark. The eyeball itself is very white and so are teeth. The lower tusks curve upward to sharp points which end about where the eyes of earthly human beings are located. Against the dark background of their olive skins their tusks stand out in a most striking manner, making these weapons present an especially formidable appearance.

Most of these details I noted later because I had little time to speculate on the wonders of my new discovery. As I stood watching the hideous little monsters break from their shells, I failed to note full-grown Martians from behind me.

The rattling of the ammunition of the foremost warrior warned me and I turned. And there upon me, not ten feet from my breast[14 - not ten feet from my breast – меньше чем в десяти футах от моей груди], was the point of that huge spear.

The man himself, for such I may call him, was fully fifteen feet in height. He sat his mount as we sit a horse, grasping the animal's barrel with his lower limbs, while the hands of his two right arms held his immense spear low at the side of his mount. His mount was ten feet at the shoulder; had four legs on either side; a broad flat tail, larger at the tip than at the root, and which it held straight out behind while running; a gaping mouth which split its head from its snout to its long, massive neck.

Like its master, it was bold, but of a dark slate color and exceeding smooth and glossy. Its belly was white, and its legs shaded from the slate of its shoulders and hips to a vivid yellow at the feet. The feet themselves were heavily padded and nailless.

I needed to get out of the point of the charging spear. I gave a very earthly and at the same time superhuman leap to reach the top of the Martian incubator. Successfully I landed a hundred feet from my pursuers and on the opposite side of the enclosure. My enemies were clearly surprised by my leap. Some of them seemed to be satisfied that I did not molest their young.

They were conversing together in low tones, gesticulating and pointing toward me. Now they looked upon me with less ferocity.

While the Martians are immense, their bones are very large and they are muscled only in proportion to the gravitation which they must overcome. The result is that they are much less agile and less powerful, in proportion to their weight, than an Earthman. In fact, if one of them were transported to Earth, he could not lift his own weight from the ground. My feat then was as marvelous upon Mars as it was upon Earth. I was a wonderful discovery to them.

Each of them was armed with several other weapons in addition to the huge spear which I described. They had rifles of a white metal stocked with wood. The wood was much prized on Mars as it was hard to grow. The metal of the barrel is an alloy composed principally of aluminum and steel which they learned to temper to a great hardness.

After conversing for a short time, the Martians turned and rode away. One of them stayed alone by the enclosure. He definitely was the leader of the band. He threw down his spear and small arms and came around the end of the incubator toward me. He was entirely unarmed and naked except for the ornaments strapped upon his head, limbs and breast.

When he was within about fifty feet of me, he unclasped an enormous metal armlet and put it in the open palm of his hand. He tried to tell me something but I did not understand the language. I guessed that he was making overtures of peace[15 - was making overtures of peace – предложил мир].

Placing my hand over my heart I bowed low to the Martian. He understood the action right. I took the armlet from his open palm, clasped it about my arm above the elbow; smiled at him and stood waiting. His wide mouth spread into an answering smile. Then we turned and walked back toward his mount. At the same time he motioned his followers to advance. They started toward us on a wild run, but were checked by a signal from him.

He exchanged a few words with his men, motioned to me[16 - motioned to me – показал жестом] that I would ride behind one of them, and then mounted his own animal. The fellow designated reached down two or three hands and lifted me up behind him on the glossy back of his mount.

The entire cavalcade then turned and galloped away toward the range of hills in the distance.

IV. A Prisoner

Ten miles after, we were nearing the edge of one of Mars' long-dead seas. In a short time, we gained the foot of the mountains. After traversing a narrow gorge, we came to an open valley. At the far extremity of it was a low tableland upon which I saw an enormous city. We entered the city by a ruined roadway that led out from the city but only to the edge of the tableland. Then it ended abruptly in a flight of broad steps.

As we came closer to the buildings, I saw that they were abandoned. They seemed uninhabited for years or even ages. Toward the center of the city was a large plaza. Some nine or ten hundred creatures of the same breed as my captors camped upon this and in the buildings immediately surrounding it.

All were naked with the exception of their ornaments. The women looked much like the men. But their tusks were much larger in proportion to their height and curving nearly to their high-set ears. Their bodies were smaller and lighter in color. Their fingers and toes had the rudiments of nails, which were entirely lacking among the males. The adult females ranged in height from ten to twelve feet.

The children were light in color, even lighter than the women. They all looked precisely alike to me, except that some were taller than others; older, I presumed.

I saw no signs of extreme age[17 - extreme age – старость] among them and no difference in their appearance from the age of maturity. All looked about forty.

Only about one Martian in a thousand dies of sickness or disease. Possibly about twenty take the voluntary pilgrimage down the river Iss[18 - the river Iss – река Исс]. No living Martian knows where leads the river and no Martian ever returned from there. The other nine hundred and seventy-nine die violent deaths in duels, in hunting, in aviation and in war. But perhaps by far the greatest death loss comes during the age of childhood. Vast numbers of the little Martians fall victims to the great white apes of Mars.

The average life expectancy[19 - average life expectancy – средняя продолжительность жизни] of a Martian after the age of maturity, about forty, is about three hundred years. It would be nearer the one-thousand mark if it were not for the waning resources of the planet[20 - waning resources of the planet – истощающиеся ресурсы планеты] and the almost continual warfare between the various communities.

As we neared the plaza, hundreds of the creatures immediately surrounded us. They seemed anxious to pluck me from my seat behind my guard. A word from the leader of the party stilled their clamor. We proceeded across the plaza to the entrance of a magnificent building.

The building was low, but covered an enormous area. It was made of gleaming white marble with gold and brilliant stones. The stones sparkled and scintillated in the sunlight. The main entrance was some hundred feet in width and projected from the building forming a huge canopy above the entrance hall. There was no stairway, but a gentle incline to the first floor of the building opened into an enormous chamber encircled by galleries.

About forty or fifty male Martians assembled around the steps of a rostrum on the floor of this chamber. On the platform, there was an enormous warrior. He was loaded with metal ornaments, gay-colored feathers and leather trappings set with precious stones. From his shoulders depended a short cape of white fur lined with brilliant scarlet silk.

What struck me most[21 - what struck me most – что меня поразило больше всего] is that the creatures were entirely out of proportion to the desks, chairs and other furnishings. Those were of a size adapted to human beings such as I. Evidently, there were other denizens on Mars. But the evidences of extreme antiquity of these buildings demonstrated they could belong to some long-extinct and forgotten race of Mars.

The leader and I proceeded into the audience chamber. There were few formalities observed in approaching the Martian chieftain. The chieftain rose to his feet and uttered the name of my escort. In turn, he halted and repeated the name of the ruler followed by his title.

My captor, whose name was Tars Tarkas, was virtually the vice-chieftain of the community, and a man of great ability as a statesman and warrior. He explained briefly the incidents connected with his expedition, including my capture. When he concluded, the chieftain addressed me at length.

I replied in our good old English tongue merely to convince him that neither of us could understand the other. But I noticed that when I smiled slightly on concluding, he smiled back. It convinced me that we had at least something in common – the ability to smile, therefore to laugh. But I was to learn that the Martian smile is merely perfunctory, and that the Martian laugh may cause strong men to blanch in horror[22 - blanch in horror – побледнеть от ужаса].

The ideas of humor among the green men of Mars are widely at variance with our conceptions. The death agonies of a fellow being are provocative of the wildest hilarity. Their chief form of commonest amusement is to inflict death on their prisoners of war in various ingenious and horrible ways.

The assembled warriors and chieftains examined me closely, feeling my muscles and the texture of my skin. The principal chieftain then signified a desire to see me perform. He started with Tars Tarkas for the open plaza and motioned me to follow.

On the way here, Tars Tarkas was holding my arm and I could walk properly. Now, I was not attempting to walk, but went skipping and flitting about among desks and chairs like some monstrous grasshopper. After bruising myself[23 - bruising myself – набив синяки] severely, I tried to creep, but this did not suit the Martians and a towering fellow roughly jerked me to my feet.

As he banged me down upon my feet, his face was bent close to mine and I did the only thing a gentleman might do under such circumstances. I swung my fist squarely to his jaw and he went down like a felled ox[24 - felled ox – поверженный бык]. I expected the Martians to fight for him but suddenly they broke into wild peals of laughter and applause. None of them approached their fallen fellow.

Tars Tarkas came to me and gave me his hand. Thus, we proceeded to the plaza without further mishap.

They first repeated the word “sak” a number of times, and then Tars Tarkas made several jumps. He repeated the same word before each leap. Then, turning to me, he said, “sak!” I saw what they were after[25 - I saw what they were after – я понял, что им нужно от меня]. I “sakked” with such marvelous success that I cleared a good hundred and fifty feet, and landed squarely upon my feet without falling. Then I returned by easy jumps of twenty-five or thirty feet to the little group of warriors.

They wanted me to repeat the leap immediately, but I was both hungry and thirsty. Every time they repeated the commands to “sak”, I motioned to my mouth and rubbed my stomach.

Tars Tarkas and the chief exchanged a few words. The former called a young female among the throng and gave her some instructions. He then motioned me to accompany her. I grasped her proffered arm and together we crossed the plaza toward a large building on the far side.

My fair companion was about eight feet tall. She just arrived at maturity[26 - arrived at maturity – достигла совершеннолетия], but not yet to her full height. She was of a light olive-green color, with a smooth, glossy hide. Her name, as I afterward learned, was Sola, and she belonged to the retinue of Tars Tarkas. She conducted me to a spacious chamber in one of the buildings fronting on the plaza.

The room was well lighted by a number of large windows and was beautifully decorated with mural paintings and mosaics.

Sola motioned me to seat upon a pile of silks near the center of the room. She made a peculiar hissing sound. In response to her call, I saw a new Martian wonder. It waddled in on its ten short legs, and squatted down before the girl like an obedient puppy. The thing was about the size of a Shetland pony. Its head bore a slight resemblance to that of a frog, except that the jaws were equipped with three rows of long, sharp tusks.

V. I Elude My Watch Dog