A magnificently uniformed hotel servant called a private car, drew the vitrine curtains, and saluted as the car lifted sharply into the chilly night air. The car sped across the ca.n.a.l to the jeweled city across the water, to a residence district whose magnificence even the pale night light revealed.
The two women entered a mansion of glittering metal and came to a private apartment.
"Everybody"s gone to bed," said the girl, addressing her maid.
"That"s one thing we can be thankful for."
"Yes, Your Highness. Did you discover anything of importance in the man"s room?"
"No. Draw me a bath, Mellie. He--he caught me--and kissed me!"
The maid, with flasks of perfume and aromatic oils in her hand, paused, discreetly impudent.
"You seem not displeased, Your Highness."
"But of that he had no inkling." And Princess Sira laughed. "I left him standing, utterly at a loss. He took me for a common a.s.sa.s.sin, and yet he wanted to kiss me. That pleased me. But if he had valuable information he kept it. And I promised him death for his kiss."
As Princess Sira, claimant to the throne of a planet, slipped into the tepid waters of her bath, Mellie stood by, her smooth little Martian"s face disturbed. For she loved her mistress, and could not comprehend the things she did under ambition"s sway.
"Your Highness, couldn"t you let your royal friends do these dangerous things for you?"
"For what? For fear? And how could a Martian princess who knows fear lay claim to a throne? No, Mellie, one gets used to it. The enemies of the house of Sira are ever alert. Didn"t they murder my father and my mother, and my only brother? My peril in this palace is as great as in the room of a terrestrial detective. Only their fear of the people--"
She was interrupted by the tinkling of a bell. The maid left the alcove, and returned a moment later with the news that Joro, Prince of Hanlon, awaited the princess"s pleasure in the ante-room.
"At this hour!" exclaimed the princess. "Did he say what brought him here?"
"Something about a new plot."
"Plots! They fall thicker than rain on Venus. Bid him wait."
Fifteen minutes later, swathed in a trailing orange silk robe that made her look like a Venus orchid, she greeted the prince.
"Greetings, Joro. We seem to have the unusual this night."
The prince, a thin, elderly man of medium stature, smiled admiringly.
His sharp features and bright little b.u.t.ton eyes gave some hint of the energy which suffused him. Here was a man both ruthless and loyal to his royal house. He addressed her by her given name.
"The hour seems to make no difference with you; Phobos has set, but as long as you are awake there is loveliness enough. I have come, dear one, to tell you that success is ours at last!"
Sira smiled. "I will restrain my joy, my good Joro, until I hear the price."
"Always the same!" Joro chuckled. "A price, "tis true, but not too heavy, since you are, in a manner, fond of him."
"I"ve had vague promises from Wilc.o.x," Sira said, with a wry smile. "I would rather trade places with Mellie than be espoused by that madman."
"Not Wilc.o.x, but Scar Balta. He is badly smitten, for which I can not blame him. He has great political power, and the backing of the military. He could have dictated better terms, but for love of you has yielded, point after point. He wants nothing now but your hand in marriage, and is prepared to cede to the royal cause all the advantages he has gained--"
"Not to mention," Sira interjected, "the royal prestige he will gain with the common people."
Joro laughed, a little impatiently.
"True, true! But after all, what does the support of the people amount to? They are powerless. If you are ever to establish your royal house you must have other help."
"And I suppose," Sira continued sweetly, "that you have also arranged a deal with the central banks and the secret war interests?"
Joro coughed uncomfortably.
"As a matter of fact--you see, my dear princess, there are certain commercial interests--transportation, mining, and so forth. They have defied the power of the bankers. They are likely to upset our whole order of society. They need a set-back. And the military men are chafing at their inaction. The war will be ended before too much harm is done, by agreement of the interplanetary bankers. You see--"
"No!" Sira interrupted him coldly. "No! No! No! Oh, I"m sick of the whole thing! I"m sick of the men I know! I hate Scar Balta, and you too. I would rather be the wife of a common interplanetary patrolman than queen of Mars! I withdraw, now!"
Joro, struck by her vehemence, paled. The muscles of his jaw lumped.
From a pocket he took a portable disk-radio, an inch in diameter, and spoke a few words. From outside there was a sudden uproar, shouts and curses. The draperies moved, as with an outrush of air caused by the careless handling of an airlock, and the temperature dropped suddenly.
Sira was irresolute only a split second. With a cat-like leap she seized a short sword from the wall, made a lunge at the prince. But Joro, the veteran of many a battle of wits and arms, parried the stroke with the thick barrel of his neuro-pistol, caught the girl"s wrist and disarmed her. The screams of the maid went unheeded.
From the other parts of the palace came sounds of struggle, the clashing of sword on sword.
"Sira! Sira!" Joro panted, struggling to hold the girl. "You must give up your impractical ideas! Take the world as it is. Do as I tell you and you"ll not be sorry."
"I relinquish my claims!" the girl cried fiercely. "To-morrow I will publicly announce that decision. All my life has been spent feeding that hopeless ambition. Now I will be free!"
"I am loyal to the monarchy," Joro grunted, pinioning her arms at last. "I will guard your interest against yourself."
He began to shout:
"Hendricks, Mervin, Carpender, Na.s.sus! Here, to the princess"s chamber."
Several men, after further delay and fighting, responded. They wore civilian blouses and trousers, but there was that something in their alert carriage that proclaimed them trained fighting men. One of them sat down with a grunt on the threshold, holding his hand to a bleeding wound under his armpit. He appeared to be mortally wounded.
Most of the others carried minor wounds, showing that the palace guards had put up a good battle in the sword-play. Both sides had refrained from using the neuro-pistols for fear that the beams, which readily penetrated walls at short range, might injure the princess.
"Let go!" Sira wrenched herself free. "Where is Tolto? Has Tolto turned traitor? How did you get past Tolto?"
"Do not use that ugly word against me. I implore you!" Joro protested.
"What we are doing is out of loyalty to the monarchy--not treason. The monarchy is of greater importance than individuals. Consider your duty to the rule of your fathers! As for Tolto--"
He issued a curt command, and there was the sound of movement.
Presently four men staggered in, one to each leg, each arm, of the most impressive giant Mars had ever produced--Tolto, to whom there was no G.o.d but the one divinity: and Princess Sira was she. Slow of perception, mighty of limb, he had come into her service from some outlying agricultural region of the red planet. His tremendous muscles were hers to command or destroy, as she wished. He would not have consented to this invasion of her home, she knew!
And he had not. Joro had been too wise to try. A dose of _marchlor_ in a gla.s.s of wine had done what fifty men could not have accomplished by main strength. Tolto was in a drugged sleep.