Escape on Venus v-4 Read online

  "And where is Korva?"

  "It is a country far to the south."

  "How far?"

  "I do not know exactly—several thousand kobs, however."

  "Did you not tell Ka-at that your country lay ten million four hundred thousand kobs from Brokol?" she demanded. "Were you lying then or now?"

  "I was not lying at all. The world from which I originally came is not Korva, and that other world is ten million four hundred thousand kobs from Brokol."

  "By what name is it known?" she asked.

  "The United States of America ."

  She wrinkled her brows in thought at that; and a strange, puzzled expression came into her eyes. She seemed to be straining to bring some forgotten memory from the deepest recesses of her mind, but presently she shook her head wearily.

  "The United States of America ," she repeated. "Would you tell me something about your country? I cannot see what you could expect to gain by lying to me."

  "I shall be glad to tell you anything you wish to know," I replied, "and I can assure you that I shall not lie to you."

  She arose from her throne and stepped down from the dais. "Come with me," she said, and then she turned to one of her priests. "I would examine this man alone. You may all leave."

  "But, Loto-El-Ho-Ganja," objected the man, "it would be dangerous to leave you alone with this man. He is an enemy."

  She drew herself up to her full height. "I am Loto-El-Ho-Ganja," she said. "I know all things. I have looked into this man's eyes; I have looked into his soul, and I know that he will not attempt to harm me."

  The fellow still hesitated. "Such a thing has never been done," he said.

  "You heard my command, Ro-ton," she said sharply. "Do you, my high priest, dare question my authority?"

  He moved away at that, and the others followed him. Loto-El-Ho-Ganja led me across the room toward a small door. The throne room of this goddess, if that was what she was, was even more elaborate than that of Duma, the jong; but its wall decorations were gruesome—rows of human skulls with crossed bones beneath them; doubtless the skulls and bones of human sacrifices.

  The small room to which she led me was furnished with a desk, several benches, and a couch. The benches and the couch were covered with furs and cushions. Loto-El-Ho-Ganja seated herself on a bench behind the desk. "Sit down," she said, and I seated myself on a bench opposite her.

  She asked me about the same questions that Duma had, and I gave her the same answers that I had given him; then she asked me to explain how there could be another world so far from Venus, and I gave her a very sketchy explanation of the solar system.

  "Sun, planets, moons," she said musingly, "moons and stars."

  I had not mentioned stars. I wondered how she could have known the word.

  "Before they brought me before you," I said, "I was told to speak only when I was spoken to, and to ask you no questions."

  "You would like to ask me some questions?"

  "Yes."

  "You may," she said. "Ro-ton and the lesser priests would be shocked," she added, with a shrug and a smile.

  "How did you know about stars?" I asked.

  She looked surprised. "Stars! What do I know about stars? I am Loto-El-Ho-Ganja. That answers your question. I know many things. Sometimes I do not know how I know them. I do not know how I knew about stars. In the back of my mind are a million memories, but most of them are only vague and fragmentary. I try very hard to piece them together or to build them into recognizable wholes," she sighed, "but I never can."

  "Of course you are not a Brokol," I said. "Tell me how you came to be here, a living goddess among alien people."

  "I do not know," she said. "That is one of the things I can never recall. Once I found myself sitting on the temple throne. I did not even know the language of these people. They had to teach me it. While I was learning it, I learned that I was a goddess; and that I came from the fires that surround Amtor. My full title is Loto-El-Hotanja Kum O Raj," (literally Most High More Than Woman Of The Fire; or, for short, Fire Goddess) "but that is too long and is only used on state occasions and in rituals. Ro-ton and a few of the others I permit to call me just Loto in private." She pronounced it lo'to, and as it means Most High, it was still something of a title. "You," she added graciously, "may call me Loto while we are alone."

  I felt that I was getting on pretty well, to be permitted to call a goddess by her first name. I hoped that she was going to like me so well that she wouldn't care to drink my blood, or even bathe in it.

  "I shall call you Carson ," she said. "Like so many other things that I cannot understand, I seemed to be drawn to you, from the moment I first saw you, by some mysterious bonds of propinquity. I think it was when you said ' United States of America .' That name seemed to strike a responsive chord within me. Why, I do not know. United States of America !" She whispered the words softly and slowly, almost caressingly; and there was that strange far-away look in her eyes.

  Chapter XXVII

  LOTO AND I were getting on famously when there came a scratching at the door. "Enter!" said the Fire Goddess.

  The door was opened, and Ro-ton stood scowling on the threshold.

  "I thought I told you we were to be left alone," said the goddess with some asperity.

  "I come from Duma," said Ro-ton. "He wishes to offer a sacrifice to Loto-El-Ho-Ganja," and he looked straight at me with a very nasty expression on his green face.

  "If he insists, I shall accept his sacrifice," said Loto; "but I shall reserve the right to select the victim," and she looked so meaningly at Ro-ton that he turned a dark green, which faded almost immediately to a sickly greenish white. "It will probably be one of those who disobey me."

  Ro-ton faded from the scene, closing the door after him; while Loto tapped her sandalled toe upon the floor. "He aggravates me so," she said. "Whenever I demonstrate any liking for a person, he runs immediately to Duma and gets him to select that person as an offering. One of these days I am going to lose patience and select Ro-ton myself. That would be a great honor for Ro-ton, but I don't think he'd enjoy it."

  "Is it true," I asked, "that you drink the blood of the sacrificial offerings?"

  Her eyes flashed angrily. "You are presumptious!" she exclaimed. "You have taken advantage of my kindness to you to ask me to divulge one of the most sacred secrets of the temple."

  I stood up. "I am sorry," I said. "Now I suppose I must go."

  "Sit down!" she snapped. "I am the one to decide when you are to go. Have you no manners?"

  "I have never before had the honor of being entertained by a goddess," I said; "so I do not know just how to act."

  "You are not being entertained by a goddess," she said. "You are entertaining one. Goddesses do not entertain any one, especially slaves."

  "I hope that I am entertaining you, Most High," I said.

  "You are. Now tell me more about the United States of America . Has it many cities?"

  "Thousands."

  "Any as large as Brokol?"

  "Most of them are larger. One has nearly seven million people."

  "What is that city called?" she asked.

  " New York ."

  " New York ," she repeated. " New York . It seems just as though I had heard that name before."

  Again we were interrupted by scratching on the door. It was a priest to announce that Duma, the jong, was coming to the temple to pay his respects to Loto-El-Ho-Ganja. Loto flushed angrily, but she said, "We will receive him. Summon the priests to the holy chamber." When the priest was gone, she turned again to me. "I cannot leave you here alone," she said; "so you will have to come with me."

  We went out into the throne room. It was what she called the holy chamber. Loto told me to stand over at one side; then she took her place on the throne. Priests were arriving. Ro-ton came. They made a barbarous spectacle in that skull-decorated room, with their green skins and their plumes of office.

  Soon I heard the sound of drums, first at a distance
; then drawing nearer; and presently Duma entered, preceded by drummers and followed by fully a hundred officers. They stopped before the dais and bowed seven times; then Duma mounted the dais and sat on a low bench next to Loto-El-Ho-Ganja. Every one else in the room remained standing. You could have heard a pin drop, it was so quiet.

  They went through a sort of stupid ritual for a while, Duma standing up every few seconds and bowing seven times. When that was over they commenced their conversation. I could hear every word.

  "Ro-ton tells me that you have refused my sacrifice," said Duma. "That is something that has never before happened."

  "I did not refuse it," replied Loto. "I simply said that I would select the victim."

  "That is the same as refusing it," said Duma. "I wish to select my own offering."

  "You may," said Loto, "but I have the right to refuse any offering that is not acceptable. You seem to forget that I am Loto-El-Ho-Ganja Kum O Raj."

  "And you seem to forget that I am the jong of Brokol," snapped Duma.

  "To a goddess, a jong is only another mortal," said Loto, icily. "Now, if you have no further matters to discuss, I permit you to withdraw."

  I could see that Duma was furious. He turned dark green, and he fairly glared at Loto. "A jong has warriors," he said, angrily. "He can enforce his wishes."

  "You threaten me?" demanded Loto.

  "I demand that I be permitted to select my own offering." Duma was fairly shouting now.

  "I told you that you might name your selection," said Loto.

  "Very well," said Duma. "It is the slave, Carson, with whom you have been closeted alone for hours, defying the traditions of the temple."

  "I decline your offering," said Loto.

  Duma leaped to his feet. "Take that slave back to his cage," he shouted. "I'll attend to this woman later. Now I declare that she is no goddess, but that I, Duma, am a god. Let those who accept me as their god bow seven times."

  That was the last I heard, as several warriors had seized me and hustled me out of the holy chamber.

  They took me back to my cage and locked me in. Jonda was still in the adjoining cage; and when I told him what had happened, he said that I didn't have long to live now. "That's what comes of getting mixed up with goddesses and jongs," he added.

  "They were going to kill me anyway," I reminded him. "At least this way nobody's going to drink my blood."

  "Maybe Duma will," he suggested. "You say he's god now. If that is so, he can select you for his first sacrifice."

  "I wonder if the people will stand for his ousting Loto-El-Ho-Ganja," I said.

  "If a jong has plenty of warriors, his people will stand for anything," said Jonda.

  "Loto-El-Ho-Ganja seemed all-powerful to me," I said. "The high priest and the jong did her homage and stepped around for her until Duma lost his temper."

  "Look!" exclaimed Jonda, pointing. "Who is that they're bringing? I've never seen a human woman here before."

  I looked and was shocked. "It is Loto-El-Ho-Ganja," I said.

  "So Duma is a god now!" said Jonda.

  Two warriors were escorting Loto-El-Ho-Ganja. They were not rough with her. Perhaps they felt that she might still be a goddess regardless of what Duma had proclaimed, and one doesn't willingly offend a goddess.

  They were coming toward our cages; and presently they stopped in front of mine, unlocked the door, and pushed Loto in with me.

  Chapter XXVIII

  I HAVE HAD many strange experiences in my adventurous life, but being locked up in a cage over night with a goddess was a new one. Loto appeared dazed. I imagine the shock of her fall from Olympus was terrific. "What happened?" I asked.

  "This is the end," she said. "Thank God, this is the end. I feel it."

  She spoke in Amtorian, all but one word: God. That she spoke in English! There is no word for God in Amtorian. Most High More than Woman of The Fire is the nearest approach to the name of a deity that I have ever heard here. Where did she learn that one English word? I asked her; but she only looked more dazed than ever, and said that she did not know. "Why is it the end, Loto?" I asked.

  "He has condemned me to death," she said, and then she laughed. "I, who cannot die, am condemned to death. But he has condemned you, too—you and this other prisoner—and you can die. I wish that I might save you."

  "You tried to, Loto," I reminded her. "Why did you do that? It has cost you your life."

  "I liked you," she said. "I was drawn to you by some power I do not understand."

  We three, Loto, Jonda, and I, condemned to death, talked together long into the night. They told me strange, almost unbelievable things about these green Brokol people. They told me that their blood was not red; but white, like the sap of some plants, and that they ate no meat, though they drank the blood of warm-blooded animals.

  I asked about the tiny Brokols I had seen hanging from trees, and they told me that the Brokol females laid small, nut-like eggs which were planted in the ground. These grew into trees; and, in a matter of years, bore the fruit I had seen hanging. When the little Brokols were ripe, they dropped from the trees, wild, untamed creatures that had to be captured and disciplined.

  Each family usually had its own orchard of Brokol trees, the one I had seen, belonging to the royal family. Guypals, the great birds with which I had become familiar at Mypos, accounted for many little ripening Brokols, which accounted for the armed warriors guarding the royal orchard. Here was a race of people who not only had family trees, but family orchards.

  When a woman planted an egg, she stuck a little marker in the ground beside it to identify it, just as our home gardeners place markers every spring in their gardens so that they will know which are beets and which tomatoes when they come up.

  Because of guypals and insect pests the infant mortality of the Brokols is appallingly high, not one in a thousand reaching maturity. However, as the Brokols are polygamous and both the ground and the females extremely fertile, there is little danger that race suicide will exterminate them. I might mention that no dogs are allowed in the orchards.

  During a lapse in the conversation, Loto suddenly exclaimed, "I did not drink human blood. While I was Loto-El-Ho-Ganja Kum O Raj, I could not tell you; but now that I have been deposed I am free to speak."

  "Somehow, I could not believe that you did," I told her, "but I am glad to hear it from your own lips."

  "No," she said, "it was Ro-ton, Duma, and a few of the more favored priests who got the blood to drink. It was only their craving for blood which ever induced them to sacrifice a human slave, as these were considered very valuable as workers. Most of the offerings were Brokols who had incurred the displeasure of Duma or Ro-ton, but they did not drink the blood of these. I did not even kill the victim; Ro-ton did that. I merely presided and repeated a chant; but the priests let the people think that I drank the blood, in order to impress them. It seems that the common people must be afraid of their goddess in order to be held under control."

  "You and Carson speak of strange creatures of which I have never heard," said Jonda, the godless one.

  "Let us talk of something else then," said Loto. "I should like to hear more about the United States of America , of New York — New York — New York —" She whispered the name slowly, drawing it out; and her eyes were dreamy and introspective. Suddenly she exclaimed, "Betty! Betty! Betty! I'm getting it!" She was terribly excited. "Call—call—Betty call. I almost have it! Oh, God, I almost have it! Brooklyn ! Now I have it! Brooklyn !" Then she swooned.

  I tried to revive her, but she didn't respond; so I had to let her lie there. I knew that she would regain consciousness eventually.

  What she had said mystified me. What could she know about Brooklyn ? I had mentioned New York , but never Brooklyn; yet I could not be mistaken—she had said Brooklyn plainly. And what did she mean by call, and who was Betty? When she came to, I intended to get an explanation, if I could. Could it be that there was another American on Venus, whom she had seen and tal
ked with? If I had reached the Shepherd’s Star, another might have done so. Perhaps he had been a prisoner here, maybe an offering with whom she had talked before he died. I must find out! But what good it would do me, other than to satisfy my curiosity, I did not know; for was I not to die on the morrow?

  Thinking these thoughts, I fell asleep.

  It was morning when I awoke. I was alone. Loto was not in the cage, and the door was still securely locked!

  Chapter XXIX

  I AWOKE Jonda, but he could give me no information. He was as much mystified as I. Something tells me that I shall never see Loto again and that I shall carry this unsolved mystery to the grave with me.

  Shortly before noon Brokols commenced filing past our cages. They were going toward the "bull ring" that Jonda and I had once cleaned. Many of them stopped and looked at us, commenting, usually in a most uncomplimentary manner, upon our looks and antecedents.

  Presently they came for us—a couple of dozen warriors. I wanted to use my pistol, but I decided to wait until we got in the arena and I could wreak greater havoc.

  The warriors were much concerned and not a little upset by the absence of Loto. They saw that the lock of the door had not been tampered with. When they asked me how she had escaped, I could only say that I did not know. They took us to the arena, which was crowded with Brokols. It was very quiet, nothing like a Spanish bull ring or an American baseball game when they have a large audience. There was little conversation, no cheering, no shouting. When Duma entered with his family and entourage, the place was as quiet as a tomb.

  Jonda and I were standing in the center of the arena with our guards, one of whom left us and went and spoke with Duma. Presently he returned and said that Duma wished me to come to him. Half the guards accompanied me.

  "What became of the woman?" demanded Duma, overlooking the fact that I had not bowed to him either four times or once.

  "That is a stupid question to ask me," I told him.