City of the Beast

Chapter Two THE ASTOUNDING TRUTH

VARNAL is more real to me, even in my memories, than ever Chicago or New York can be. It lies in a gentle valley in the hills, which the Martians term the Calling Hills. Green and golden, they are covered with slender trees and, when the wind passes through them, they sound like sweet, distant, calling voices as one walks past.

The valley itself is wide and shallow and contains a fairly large, hot lake. The city is built around the lake, from which rises a greenish steam, a delicate green that sends tendrils curling around the spires of Varnal. Most of Varnal's graceful buildings are tall and white, though some are built of the unique blue marble which is mined close by.

Others have traceries of gold in them, making them glitter in the sunlight. The city is walled by the same blue marble, which also has golden traceries in it. From its towers fly pennants, gay and multicolored, and its terraces are crowded with its handsome inhabitants, the plainest of whom would be a sought-after beau or belle in Wynnsville, Ohio-or, indeed, Chicago or any other great city of our world.

When I first came upon the city of Varnal, led by that wonderful girl, I gasped in awed admiration. She seemed to accept my gasp as the compliment it was and she smiled proudly, saying something in her then incomprehensible language.

I decided that I could not be dreaming, for my own imagination was simply not capable of creating such a vision of splendor and loveliness.

But where was I? I did not know then. How had I got there? That I still cannot answer fully.

I puzzled over the second question. Evidently the matter transmitter had had a fault. Instead of sending me to the receiver on the other side of the lab building it had sent me hurtling through space-perhaps through time, too-to another world. It could not be Earth-not, at least, the Earth of my own age. Somehow I could not believe it was any Earth, of the past or the future.

Yet it could not be the only other obvious planet in our solar system-Mars-for Mars was a dead, arid planet of red dust and lichen. Yet the size of the Sun and the fact that gravity was less here than on Earth seemed to indicate Mars.

It was in a daze of speculation that I allowed the girl to lead me through the golden gates of the city, through its tree-lined streets, towards a palace of shining white stone. People, men and women dressed-if dressed is the word-similarly to the girl, glanced in polite curiosity at my white lab coat and grey pants which I was still wearing.

We mounted the steps of the palace and entered a great hall, hung with banners of many colors, on which were embroidered strange emblems, mythical beasts and words traced out in a peculiar script which also reminded me of Sanskrit.

Five galleries rose around the hall and in the centre a fountain played. The few simply-dressed people who stood conversing in the hall waved cheerfully to the girl and gave me that same look of polite curiosity I had received in the streets.

We walked through the hall, through another doorway and up a spiral staircase of white marble.

Here she paused on the landing and opened a door that at first looked like metal but on closer observation proved to be wood of incredible hardness and polish.

The room in which I found myself was quite small. It was barely furnished, with a few rugs of brightly dyed animal skins scattered about and a series of cupboards around the walls.

The girl went to one of these cupboards, opened it and took out two metal circlets in which were set radiant gems of a kind completely unknown to me.

She placed one of these on her head and indicated that I should imitate her with the second. I took the circlet and fitted it over my own head.

Suddenly a voice spoke inside my skull. I was astonished for a second, until I realized that here was some kind of telepathic communicator which we physicists had only speculated about.

"Greetings, stranger," said the voice, and I could see the girl's lips move, framing those lovely, alien syllables. "From where do you come?"

"I come from Chicago, Illinois," I said, more to test the device than to convey information which I guessed would be meaningless to her.

She frowned. "Soft sounds and very pleasant, but I do not know that place. Where in Vashu is that?"

"Vashu? Is this city in a land called Vashu?"

"No-Vashu is the whole planet. This city is called Varnal, capital of the nation of the Karnala, my people."

"Do you have astronomy?" I asked. "Do you study the stars?"

"We do. Why do you ask?"

"Which planet is this in relation to the sun?"

"It is the fourth from the sun."

"Mars! It is Mars!" I cried.

"I do not follow you."

"I am sorry. Somehow I have arrived here from the third planet, which we call Earth. That is where Chicago is!"

"But there are no men on Negalu, the third planet. Only steamy jungles and monstrous beasts!"

"How do you know so much about the planet?"

"Our ethercraft have visited it and brought back pictures."

"You have space-ships-but…" I was at a loss.

This was too incredible for me to accept all at once. I questioned her more closely and soon learned that the Earth her people knew was not the Earth I bad left. It seemed to be an Earth that had existed millions of years ago, during the Age of Reptiles. Somehow both space and time had been crossed. That matter transmitter had more to it than we'd guessed!

Another thing puzzled me. The people did not appear to have a great deal of technology visible in the city-yet they had space-ships.

"How could this be?" I asked her.

"We did not build the ethercraft. They were a gift from the Sheev-as were these mind-crowns.

We have a science of our own but it cannot compare to the great wisdom and knowledge of the Sheev."

"Who are the Sheev?"

"They are very great and few of them still live.

They are remote and of an older race than any on Vashu. Our philosophers speculate on their origin, but we know little about them."

I let that go for the time being and decided it was about the moment to introduce myself.

"I am called Michael Kane," I said.

"I am Shizala, Bradhinaka of the Kanala, and ruler in the absence of the Bradhi."

I learned that the Bradhi was about the equivalent of our 'kang', although the title did not suggest that the man who held it possessed absolute power.

Perhaps Guide would be a better one-or Protector? Bradhinaka meant, roughly, Princess-daughter of the King.

"And where is the Bradhi?" I asked.

I saw her face become sad and she glanced at the ground.

"My father disappeared two years ago-on a punitive expedition against the Argzoon. He must have been killed or, if he was captured, killed himself. It is better to die than become a prisoner of the Blue Giants."

I expressed my sympathy and did not feel the time right to ask what the Argzoon or Blue Giants were. She was evidently deeply moved by the memory of the loss of her father, but showed great self-control in refusing to burden someone else with her grief.

I felt immediately like trying to offer her some comfort. But, considering I knew nothing of the moral code and customs of her people, that might perhaps have been disastrous.

She touched her circlet. "We only need to wear these for the time being. The Sheev have given us another machine which should be able to teach you our spoken language."

We conversed a little longer and I learned much of Mars-or Vashu, as I was already beginning to think of it.

There were many nations on Mars, some friendly towards the Kanala, some not. They all spoke recognizable versions of the same root language. This is supposedly true of Earth-that our language was originally a common one; but in our case the changes have been extreme. This was not the case, I learned, on Vashu.

Mars's seas still existed, Shizala told me, though apparently they were not so vast as Earth's. Varnal, capital of the Karnala nation, was one of a number of countries, with rather hazily defined borders, which existed on a large land-mass bigger, but in roughly the same geographical position, than the whole of the American continent.

Travel was effected in two main ways. Most ordinary travel relied on the dahara, a riding and carriage beast of great strength and endurance. But many nations had a few aircraft. As far as I could make out, these relied on atomics-which none of the Vashu peoples understood. These had not been gifts of the Sheev, I learned, but must once have belonged to the Sheev. They were incredibly ancient by all accounts and could not be replaced when destroyed. Thus they were only used in emergencies. There were also ships incorporating some sort of atomic engine, and sailing ships of various kinds. These plied the few rivers of Vashu-rivers which were shrinking with almost every year that passed.

For arms, the Vashu warriors relied primarily on the sword. They had guns-Shizala showed me hers. It was a long-barreled, finely made weapon with a comfortable grip. I could not quite see what it fired or on what principle it worked, but as Shizala tried to explain haltingly I concluded that it was some sort of laser gun. What an incredible amount of power, I thought, was packed into its chambers, for we scientists had always argued that a laser hand-gun was out of the question, since the power required to produce the laser ray-tightly focused light which could cut through steel-relied on a very big generator. Wonderingly, I handed the gun back to her. These guns, not gifts of the Sheev but probably looted from their now lost or completely ruined cities by Shizala's remote ancestors, were also used infrequently, since once the charge was finally expended it could not be replaced.

Their akashasard-or ethercraft-apparently numbered five in all. Three of these belonged to the Karnala and one each to friendly, neighbouring nations-the Iridala and the Walavala. Although there were pilots who could operate them, none of the folk of Vashu had any idea how they worked.

Other benefits which a few chosen nations had received from the mysterious Sheev included a longevity serum which, once taken, did not need to be taken again. Everyone was allowed to use it and it gave up to two thousand years of life! Because of this very few children were born, so the population of Vashu remained comparatively small. No bad thing, I reflected. I could have listened to Shizala for hours, but at length she stopped my questions with a smile.

"First we must eat. The evening meal will be served soon. Come."

I followed Shizala as she led me from the little room and down into the main hall, which was now furnished with several large tables at which sat men and women of Kanala, all handsome and beautiful and chatting gaily.

They all rose politely, though not servilely, as Shizala took her place at the head of one of the tables. She indicated the chair on her left and I sat down. The food looked strange but smelled good.

Opposite me, on Shizala's right, sat a dark-haired young man, superbly muscled. He wore a simple gold bangle on his right wrist and he put his arm on the table in such a way as to show it off.

Evidently he was proud of it for he wanted me to see it. I guessed it to be a decoration of some kind and thought no more of it.

Shizala introduced the man as Bradhinak-or Prince Telem Fas Ogdai. The name did not sound like a Karnala name, and it soon transpired that Bradhinak Telem Fas Ogdai was from the city of Mishim Tep, a friendly nation some two thousand miles to the south. He was, so it seemed, a witty talker though, of course, I could not understand what he said. Only a person wearing a circlet could communicate with me.

On my left was a pleasant-faced young man with long, almost white, fair hair. He seemed to be making a special effort to make me feel at home, offering food and drink, asking polite questions through Shizala, who translated for us. This was Darnad, Shizala's younger brother. Apparently the succession to the throne of Varnal was determined by sex and not by age.

Darnad was apparently chief Pukan-Nara of Varnal. A Pukan, I learned, was a warrior, and a Pukan-Nara a warrior leader. The chief PukanNara was elected by popular vote-by civilians and warriors alike. I assumed from this that Darnad's position was therefore no honorary one, and that he had earned it through prowess and intelligence.

Though he was personable and charming, the people of Varnal did not judge a man merely on his appearance but on his merit and record.

I was already beginning to pick up a few words of the Vashu tongue by the time the meal was over, and we adjourned into an ante-room to drink a beverage called basu, a sweetish drink I found quite palatable but which, frankly, did not at that time seem as good to me as good, old-fashioned coffee. Later I was to discover that basu grew on one and then I preferred it to coffee. Like coffee, it is a mild stimulant.

In spite of the basu, I began to feel quite sleepy and, always alert to her guests' needs, Shizala sensed this.

"I have had a room prepared for you," she telepathed. "Perhaps you would like to retire now."

I admitted that the day's surprising experiences had taken a lot out of me. A servant was called and Shizala went with us up the stairs to the second floor of the palace. A dim bulb burned in the room, giving adequate light, Shizala showed me a bell-rope very like old-fashioned bell-ropes on Earth. It was close to the bed and was used to summon a servant. She left her circlet behind when she left. Before she did so she told me that anyone could use the circlet and the servant would know how.

The bed consisted of a wide, hard bench, on which was a thin mattress. A large fur rug was laid over this, and it seemed rather too heavy, since the day had been very warm. To some, perhaps, the bed would have been too austere but, as it happened, it was the kind I preferred.

I fell asleep immediately, having shed my clothes, and I awoke only once in the middle of the Martian night-which is, of course, longer than ours-feeling very cold. I had not realized how much the temperature could change. I pulled the rug about me and was soon asleep again.