The glare of the twin cities could be seen far out in the cold desert.
Four men, stumbling along wearily, occasionally estimated the distance with wearied eyes and plodded onward.
After a long silence Murray remarked:
"It"s just as well that the levitators gave out when they did. We were drifting mighty slow--making practically no time at all. Probably we"d have been spotted if we"d gone much further."
"Yeh?" Sime Hemingway conceded doubtfully. "But they may spot us anyway. We have no pa.s.ses, and none of us looks very pretty. As for Tolto, we could hide a house as easy as him."
"But we must go on," said Tuman, the Martian. "Yonder lights seem too bright, too numerous for an ordinary day. There"s some kind of celebration."
They trudged on for several hours more. Although weariness made their feet leaden and pressed on their eyelids, they dared not halt. Each one nursed some secret dread. Tolto thought of his princess, his child G.o.ddess, and mentally fought battle with whomever stood between him and her. Sime and Murray saw in those lights only war, swift and horrible. Tuman imagined a city full of enemies, ruthless and powerful.
Gradually, as they came closer, the lights began to go out one by one.
The city was going to bed.
An hour later they came to an illuminated post marking the end of a street. A teletabloid was affixed to this post, buzzing, but its stereo-screen blank. Murray found a coin, inserted it in the slot.
"Marriage of the Princess Sira and Scar Balta will be held immediately after the financial congress," the machine intoned briskly, and in time with its running comments it began to display pictures.
Sime, watching indifferently, caught his breath. It seemed to him that he knew this girl, who appeared to be walking toward him up a stately garden alley. She came steadily forward with a queenly, effortless stride. And now it seemed as if she had seen him, for she turned and looked straight into his eyes. It seemed that her expression changed from laughing to pleading. And he recognized the girl with the stiletto whom he had caught in his hotel room.
He said nothing, however. He could hardly explain the feeling of sadness that came over him. He stood silent, while the others commented excitedly over the overshadowing war news.
"It"s all in the box," Tuman said gloomily. "Many times I"ve helped cook up something like this. The boys in the central offices are laughing, or swearing, as the cast may be. The poor devils don"t own their own souls, if they"re equipped with any. I"d rather be here, expecting to be thrown into a cell by daylight!" He shivered in the night chill.
They ran into a little luck when they needed it most. A roving taxi swooped down upon them, hailed them for fares. They flew the rest of the way in. Their luck held. A city policeman, noting their stumbling walk as they lurched into a cheap hotel, did not trouble them for their pa.s.ses. He had seen many such men that night, soldier and civilian, with clothes b.l.o.o.d.y and torn. The excitement of the day, coupled with the fact that nearly everyone carried arms, had led to numerous fights, not a few of which ended fatally.
"Merc.l.i.te!" grinned the policeman, suppressing a hiccup of his own.
"And besides, that big "un would make two of me."
CHAPTER X
_One Thousand to One_
The scheme that Sira had imparted to Wasil was simple--simple and direct. Moreover, it was sure, provided it succeeded. Its execution was something else again. Its chances were, mathematically expressed, about as follows:
If every single detail worked as expected, a great and smashing success. Ratio: 1:1,000.
If one single detail failed, immediate and certain death for Wasil.
Ratio: 1,000:1.
The princess knew that the power of Wilc.o.x, his supporting oligarchy and the interplanetary bankers, was all based on the skilful use of propaganda. If the people of Mars and of Earth knew the forces that were influencing them, their revulsion would be swift and terrible.
There would be no war. There would be events painful and disastrous to their present rulers, but a great betterment of humanity"s condition.
The key to the situation was the news monopoly, the complete control of all broadcasting--of the stereo-screens, the teletabloids--that colored all events to suit the ends of the ruling group. The people of Mars as well as of Earth were capable of intelligent decision, of straight thinking, but they rarely had an opportunity to learn the truth.
They had now, by a knowing play on their emotions, directed by psychologists, been wrought to a point of frenzy where they demanded war. Their motives were of the highest in many individuals--pure patriotism, the desire to make the solar system safe for civilization.
The bright, flaming spirit of self-sacrifice burned clear above the haze and smoke of pa.s.sion.
What would happen if all these eager millions of two neighboring planets were to learn the true state of affairs? Sira knew what transpired in those secret conventions, when double guards stood at all doors and at the infrequent windows; when all communication was cut off and the twin lenses of the telestereos and the microphones were dead. Prince Joro had told her, with weary cynicism. But Joro had also told her that the oligarchs guarded this vital and vulnerable point with painstaking care.
Sira had reached inside their first defense, however. Wasil was loyal to his salt, but he had both loyalty and affection for Princess Sira.
As the day of the interplanetary financial conference leaped into being, he was on his way to the executive hall that lay resplendently on the south ca.n.a.l bank, ready to lay down his life.
The hall proper was really only the west wing of the magnificent, high-arched building. Its brilliant, polished metal facade reflected the light of the rising Sun redly. The east wing, besides housing various minor executive offices, also contained the complicated apparatus for handling the propaganda broadcastings. On the roof, towering high into the air, was a huge, globular structure, divided into numerous zones, from which were sent various wave bands to the news screens both on Mars and on Earth. The planetary rulers had taken no chances of tampering with their propaganda. The central offices, where news and propaganda were dramatized, were in another building, but as everything from that source had to pa.s.s the reviewing officer, a trusted member of the oligarchy himself, in his locked and guarded office, this did not introduce any danger of the wrong information going out to the public.
When Wasil reached the broadcasting plant, he was admitted by four armed guards. He locked the door behind him, to find his a.s.sociates already busy, testing circuits and apparatus. Stimson, the chief engineer, was sitting at his desk studying orders.
A few minutes later he called the men to him. There were three others besides Wasil: young Martians, keen, efficient, and, like most technies, loyal to the government that employed them.
"Sure are careful to-day," Stimson grunted, scratching his snow-white hair, which was stiffly upstanding and showed a coral tinge from his scalp. "Must be mighty important to get this out right. Wilc.o.x personally wrote the order. If any man fumbles to-day, it"s the polar penal colony for him!" The Sun-loving old Martian shivered.
"And here"s another bright idea. Only one man"s to be allowed in the plant after the circuits are all tested! How"n the name of Pluto will he handle things if a fuse blows? But what do they care about that!
We"re technies! We"re supposed to know everything, and never have anything go wrong!"
"But why only one man?" cried Scarba, one of the a.s.sociate engineers.
"It"s asking too much! I"ll not take it on, far as I"m concerned. My resignation will be ready soon"s I can get a blank!"
"I too! I"m with you, Scarba!" "We work like dogs to get everything in first-line condition, and then--" The hard-working and uncomplaining technies were outspoken in their resentment.
"Oh, I see your point," Stimson agreed. "I could stand Balta, but Wilc.o.x is just one too many for me. But do you boys think for one minute we could get away with a strike?" He laughed angrily. "I can remember when the technies were able to demand their guild rights. But you boys weren"t even born then. Now, let"s get this straight:
"We are going to do just as we are told. Wilc.o.x, of course, never explains an order, but the reason for having only one operator on the job is simply to concentrate responsibility on that one man. There will be no excuse if he fails. Before the convention starts, and after it is over, there will be a message to send out. The convention itself will be secret, as usual. During the convention, there will be some kind of filler stuff from the central office."
"Yeh!" snorted one of the men. "That"s the dope, all right. One of us is stuck, but if it"s me I"ll walk out and head for the desert."
Stimson looked at him with a sardonic smile. "I forgot to mention: the doors will be locked and barred, and of course there"s no such thing as windows."
Wasil whistled. "They"re sure careful. Well, Stimson. I haven"t a thing to do all day. I"ll take it on."
They all looked at him, not sure that they had heard him right.
"What"s the matter, sonny?" Stimson said slowly. "Too much Merc.l.i.te last night? You"re shaking!"
"It"s an opening!" Wasil insisted.