Chapter 4: Damis' Decision

Damis stared at Turgan for a moment as though unable to comprehend the old man’s words.

“Gone?” he repeated stupidly. “She has slain herself?”

“No,” replied the Kildare, his face still working in grief; “she is gone from us. She has been captured by Glavour’s minions.”

“Her dagger--?” asked Damis hesitatingly.

“Is gone with her,” replied Turgan.

The Nepthalim started toward the space ship but a thought wave from one of the Martian envoys stopped him in mid-stride.

“Wait, Man of Earth,” came the message. “The heavens are eternally watched by our people and none can enter or leave the vicinity of Mars unknown to us. My comrade is now inquiring of each of the observers whence came the Jovians and where they have gone.”

Turgan and Damis waited impatiently. Presently the second Martian sent a thought wave to their minds.

“The Jovian ship approached Mars using Phobus, one of our moons, as a screen to its movements. It was close to the planet before it was seen. When challenged, the ship sent a message saying that it was captained by Toness, an Akildare of Earth and an enemy of the Jovians. The Grand Mognac was engaged and the matter was referred to the Mozar of Chinamonot, the nearest city. Thinking they were your followers, he directed them to land here. The Grand Mognac is enraged beyond measure that, after so many ages of failure, the Jovians have made a successful raid on our planet. The Mozar will pay for his indiscretion with his life.”

A groan burst from Turgan’s lips. Damis stood for a moment stricken with grief, and then sprang in giant leaps toward the space flyer.

“Come, Turgan!” he cried. “We may overtake them yet. At least we can avenge if we cannot save.”

The Kildare followed him more slowly.

“Where, oh, Nepthalim,” he asked, “will we find them in the trackless wastes of space?”

Damis paused at the words.

“Why, between here and Earth,” he replied. As he did so a thought crossed his mind which was revealed by the sudden expression of dismay which clouded his features. “Earth, Venus, Mercury, Moon, Jupiter--all are under the rule of the Sons of God,” he cried.

“And to any of them, Glavour’s ship may have fled,” replied the Kildare. “Before we start in pursuit, it is best to find, if we can, in what direction the ship went.”

Frantically, Damis strove to muster his thoughts and hurl a question at the two Martians who stood beside the transporter cylinders. Before the thought had been fully formed, an answer reached him.

“I have been inquiring, Nepthalim, why, when our observers saw that the ship contained Jovians, they were not destroyed. One of the observers who watched them tells me that their ship landed between your ship and the only instruments of destruction which could be brought to bear on them. The Jovians poured out and attacked your crew who were all out of the ship. They were so mingled that it would have been impossible to destroy them without encompassing the destruction of your men as well and we could not blast their ship into nothingness without also destroying yours. When they rose again they carried one of your crew a prisoner and so they were not blasted out of the heavens. They took a course which carried them behind Phobus where they were shielded. When next seen, they were headed away from your planet.”

“If Glavour came to Mars, Lura is dead by now,” said Turgan sorrowfully, tears coursing down his cheeks. “Glavour is not one to await the fulfillment of his desires and Lura had her dagger. Her soul is now with Him whom we are taught to glorify. His will be done!”

“If it be His will,” replied Damis. “Don’t give up, Turgan, we may save her yet.” He turned to the Martians and formed a thought message in his mind.

“Has your science any way of telling us who was in command of the Jovian ship?” he asked.

“Were your men who lie dead familiar with the features of the Jovian Viceroy?”

“Yes, all of them.”

“Then we will search the brains of the dead. The pictures that are in the living brain fade rapidly when death comes, but the last impression of these men was a powerful one of fighting and hatred and some traces may remain. I will search.”

The huge slug crawled over the ground to the body of the nearest dead Terrestrial. In one of his many hands he carried a shiny metal tube from which crimson rays flickered and played over the head of the dead man. The skull disintegrated under the influence of the strange instrument until the brain lay naked and exposed to the fierce glare of the Martian sun. The Martian delicately connected two wires terminating in metal plates to the tissue of the brain and attached the other ends of the wires to a metal circlet which he clamped about his middle. For some moments he remained motionless and then crawled to the body of the second dead Earthman. One after another he examined each of the eighteen dead bodies. When he had completed he crawled over to Damis and Turgan.

“Put these bands about your brows,” he commanded in thought language as he handed to each of them a metallic band similar to the one clasped about him. The two Earthmen quickly adjusted the bands. “Let your minds remain a blank and in them will be reproduced the impressions I have gathered from the brains of your dead followers.”

Damis sprang suddenly upward and smote with all of his force at the air. Out of nothingness had materialized the form of a huge Jovian clad in the uniform of Glavour’s guards. His blow went harmless through the thin air and the Jovian swung a massive ax. Just before the blow landed the Jovian disappeared and a thought wave from the Martian impinged on Damis’ brain.

“Spare your energies, Nepthalim,” the message said. “What you saw was not a Jovian but was the last impression stored in the brain of the man who met his death under a blow of the ax which seemed to be striking at you. I am merely reproducing in you the emotions and experiences that man felt. Had I allowed the phantom blow to land, you would now be cold in death, so great was the strength of the impression. Now make your mind again a blank and I will reveal to you what was in the mind of another at the instant that his death came upon him.”

Before the Nepthalim’s startled gaze, another Jovian appeared.

“Havenner!” he cried as he recognized the principal officer of Glavour. The equerry came forward slowly, blood dripping from a wound in his leg. He swung his ax but it went wide of the mark. Again he struck, but two Terrestrials attacked him from the rear and he whirled. For a moment, Damis had a chance to watch the conflict which was raging about him. Nine of the huge Jovians were engaged in deadly combat with a dozen of the Terrestrials who still remained on their feet. In the door of the space ship stood Lura, watching the conflict with frightened eyes. One after another of the Earthmen were stricken down. Suddenly a Jovian rushed at Damis but the scene went blank before the raised ax could strike him down.

“Have you seen enough or shall I show you the scenes in the brains of the others?” asked the Martian.

“I have seen and recognized nine of the Jovians,” replied Damis, “yet among them was not the one I feared. Let me see into the brains of the others that I may be sure that Glavour was not among them.”

Another scene materialized before him. It was merely a variation of those he had already seen. In the brain of one of the Terrestrials he saw the landing of the Jovian ship and the sudden outrush of the Sons of God, armed only with the forty-pound axes they used at close quarters. In none of the scenes did he see the huge form of Glavour. He removed the band with a sigh of relief.

“I broke Glavour’s arms a few days back,” he said to Turgan, “and it is probable that that prevented him from following us, even if he felt that he could leave the Earth in the turmoil which Toness had undoubtedly raised. It means that Lura is safe for the present, for Havenner would not dare to do other than to bring her to the Viceroy. We must follow them and endeavor to rescue her. I will ask our friends if they can plot her course for us.”

“I have inquired as to that,” replied the Martian to Damis’ unspoken question, “and find we cannot. Soon after the ship left the surface of Mars, our observers sighted a Jovian fleet of a hundred flyers in the asteroid belt between here and Jupiter. They are nearly through the belt now and are headed toward your planet. Their path will bring them within a few thousand miles of Mars and every instrument on the planet is trained on them. While the Grand Mognac believes that Earth is their destination, never before have the Jovians approached us in such force and it may be that Tubain will try to avenge his former defeats by an attack in force. We have no instruments to spare to keep track of a lone flyer unless it changes its course and approaches us. There is one more source of information. I will examine the brains of the dead Jovians. Perhaps they know their leader’s plans.”

From the first Jovian the Martian turned away with an expression of disappointment.

“There is nothing in his brain but a scene of the fight with your followers, yet it may cheer you to know that at the last he felt fear, the emotion the Jovians boast is foreign to them,” said the Martian. “I will examine the other.”

With his crimson ray he removed the covering from the brain of the second Jovian and connected his wires. For a few moments he was motionless and then he removed the wires and crawled rapidly toward Damis.

“Nepthalim, here is what you wish,” came his thoughts, jumbled in a chaotic state of excitement. “This man had a wonderful brain and the impressions of the last month are clear and distinct. Attend carefully and leave your mind a blank.”

On the Martian plain buildings suddenly materialized before the Nepthalim’s gaze. With a cry of astonishment he saw himself facing Glavour in defiance. Lura, who had been crouching behind him, ran into one of the buildings. Act by act, Damis saw the fight between himself and the Jovian Viceroy repeated. The Viceroy, one arm dangling uselessly, was whisked away in his chariot. The scene faded and another took its place. The Viceregal palace was beleaguered by thousands and scores of thousands of shouting Terrestrials. The Jovians sought with rays and with atomic bombs to disperse them, but where a score were blasted into nothingness or torn into fragments, a hundred fresh men took their place. Suddenly the Jovian rays began to fail. The Earthmen had found the secret source of power which supplied the palace and had cut it.