Philip Francis Nowlan
The Prince of Mars Returns
UUID: d11876ee-5a3c-11e6-8e4c-0f7870795abd
This ebook was created with StreetLib Write (http://write.streetlib.com)by Simplicissimus Book Farm
Table of contents
Chapter 1 To Mars
Chapter 2 Lil-rin of the Ta n'Ur
Chapter 3 The Birrok
Chapter 4 I Wed Lil-rin
Chapter 5 Honeymoon And Disaster
Chapter 6 Intrigues of Gakko
Chapter 7 I Trail Gakko's Villains
Chapter 8 I Rescue Lil-rin
Chapter 9 I Become a Legend
Chapter 10 Danan of the Atl Antin
Chapter 11 In the Desert
Chapter 12 Attacked!
Chapter 13 The Tables Are Turned
Chapter 14 We Reach Gakalu
Chapter 15 Condemned by Gakko
Chapter 16 The Crash of Doom
Chapter 17 Alar-Lur of Mars
Chapter 1 To Mars
I,
Captain Daniel J. Hanley, chief meteorologist of the General Rocket
Corporation, had no intention of going to Mars when I stepped into
the new space car and pressed gently but with finality on the
gravity-screen lever.I
was conscious only of a great urge to get as far away as possible
from a certain young woman who had--but why go into details about
that? It is enough that I didn't fully realize what I was doing.And
as a result, here I was, the first man ever to pass beyond the
stratosphere of Earth, actually hovering a scant mile above a Martian
landscape, trembling with suppressed excitement and giving not a
thought to the girl who had driven me to my mad, premature plunge
into space.I
faced infinity with reckless abandon, and found that I liked it. What
did it matter if the end came in a day, week, or month? Why, there
were no days, weeks, or months in interplanetary space! Only eternal,
blazing noon on one side of my tiny craft and everlasting midnight on
the other, while countless galaxies gleamed upon me in new glory from
all sides.That
I landed on Mars, instead of some other planet, was due solely to
chance. In hurling my tiny craft madly, blindly away from Earth I
happened to set it on an orbit that brought it closer to Mars than to
any other heavenly body. As I drew nearer, the planet grew in size
and in interest, until it entirely filled the great lens of my
wide-angle scope. Its mountain ranges and peculiar canals became
plainly visible.I
manipulated my rocket blasts a bit and swung closer. There was no
indication that the canals were man-made. Rather they seemed furrows
caused by glancing blows of meteors. And there were many craters
which, though small like those of the moon, appeared to be the result
of head-on meteoric impact.As
the planet grew still larger, I could see that there were no oceans
and continents in the sense that we know them on Earth. Nevertheless,
the divisions between the ice caps, polar seas, solid vegetation
belts, canal-irrigated sections, and finally the vast and eternally
dry, red equatorial belt, were clear and sharp. The northern and
southern hemispheres, widely divided by this belt, seemed duplicates."Why
not inspect the planet at close range?" I asked myself.So
here I was, easing down over a countryside such as no man of Earth
had ever seen.Through
the forward port I gazed upon a country of scrubby, dwarfed,
cactus-like trees and shrubs, stretching away drably to where a
ribbon of water--one of these much discussed "canals"
sparkled. To my left, toward the equatorial belt, the vegetation
became more dwarfed and sparse, until its pale, yellow-green blended
into the deeper, reddish tint of the arid desert.To
my right, a rolling plain swelled into distant hills heavily covered
with the yellow-green foliage. On the horizon, a range of gaunt,
jagged mountains flashed and shimmered like crystal in the pale, cool
sunlight."Quartz!"
I muttered. "They must be pure quartz!"I
brought my craft gently down on the bank of the little river that
meandered along the "canal" or valley. With trembling
fingers I opened the valve of one of the test chambers and watched
the pressure gauge.I
had feared an uncomfortably rare air, but the gauge registered a
pressure no less than that of mountainous regions at home. There was
more carbon dioxide and more hydrogen, but the oxygen content was
about the same as on Earth! I could leave my little metal shell and
walk around on a new planet!Excited,
I threw back the hatch at the top of my little hemispherical craft
and leaped out joyously. I landed, not where I expected-but fifteen
or twenty feet beyond. I had forgotten that I would weigh only about
a third as much as on Earth.But
with a little practice, I found I could gauge my muscular effort
instinctively to the desired distance. It was a delightful amusement,
leaping twenty-five or thirty feet with the effort of an eight or ten
foot jump. But finally I gave some consideration to my position."And
now," I told myself, "here I am on an utterly strange
planet. I have no idea what dangers I may have to face. I don't know
whether intelligent beings live here or, if they do, what their
attitude toward me might be. It might be just as well to have an ace
in the hole. I'll hide my ship, mark the spot well, and then if by
any chance things should get too hot for me, I'll have the means in
reserve to do a fade-out."I
studied the banks of the stream. Obviously the little river was at
high-water mark. That was good. There would be no more powerful
current than this to wash my ship away then, for it was my intention
to sink her in the middle of the stream.Again
I climbed aboard, closed the hatch. Letting my space car drift a few
feet above the water, I maneuvered over the center of the stream and
then submerged. The ship went about ten feet below the surface. I had
previously unloaded the equipment I meant to use, so nothing remained
but to put everything in order, enter the airlock, adjust the
pressure, and dive down and out through the port.I
realized, as I donned my woolen shirt, leather breeches and puttees,
that the sun did not shed as much warmth on Mars as on Earth. It
seemed scarcely more than half the size to which I was accustomed. As
I rolled up my blankets, I had little doubt I would need them after
nightfall.As
yet I had seen no sign of animal life. But there were many spots on
Earth where a visitor would find none for miles. So that proved
nothing. I strapped a heavy automatic to my thigh, clasped on a
cartridge belt. As an extra precaution, I slipped a smaller automatic
in a shoulder holster which I put on under my shirt. For the rest, I
thought, my hunting knife and short-handled axe might prove
serviceable.Marking
the position of my submerged spacecraft by carefully sighting the
distant mountain peaks on crossed lines, I shouldered my light pack
and hiked toward the gleaming, flashing mountain range.It
was glorious to weigh no more than about sixty pounds, and yet have
muscles that had been accustomed to carrying one hundred seventy.
Walking did not give them the exercise they demanded after the long
period cooped up in the little space ship, so I ran with exhilarating
lightness, practicing long and high leaps as I went and shouting, at
times, from sheer, unrestrained joy.I
had gone about five miles when I first saw her.The
scrubby undergrowth had given way to another cactus-like type of
vegetation, the trees of Mars, slim and tall with stubby, blunt
branches. They bore no leaves. Rather, both trunks and branches
seemed to be leaves in themselves, pale yellow-green and
semi-transparent. A thin syrupy sap ran freely from one, which I
scored with my axe.The
sudden flash of a movement somewhere ahead of me arrested my eye.
Abruptly I halted, standing motionless, alert. I saw nothing but the
yellow-green trees. I shifted my axe to my left hand. Quietly my
right fist rested on the butt of my automatic. I advanced, poised for
instant action.From
somewhere ahead came a metallic twang. I ducked. A heavy missile
thudded into the trunk of a tree directly behind me. Then a girl
stepped confidently forth, about twenty feet away.Evidently
she thought she had hit me, for her first reaction was to start back
at the sight of me standing there. Hastily she dropped the four-foot
tube she held in her hand, and in something like a panic, tugged at a
kind of quiver or a sheath slung across her shoulder until she held
another tube pointed straight at me. For some moments we stood
motionless, gazing at each other in amazement.I
had rather expected to find life of some sort on Mars, and was even
hoping to find intelligent creatures of some sort. But to find a
pretty, golden-haired Amazon, in green kilts, soft leather leggings
and loose, sleeveless blouse that did not by any means conceal her
slender form--well, that took my breath away!
Chapter 2 Lil-rin of the Ta n'Ur
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!