1899- Journey to Mars

“Very well, then,” Dejah said. “Here in my father’s kingdom, we are outnumbered. We are also outgunned. Enemy forces have met my father in battle and my father has lost. He has been wounded, and his doctors have taken him into the deep caverns, along with the women and children. Our forces are...decimated. But I am my father’s daughter, and I stand here, in the Atmosphere Factory.”

“Here?” John Carter asked. “In this hall? I see no Atmosphere Factory here.”

Dejah paused. She scanned each face in turn, looking for any outward sign of possible treachery among them.

“It is the greatest secret. But Lady Bixie has already read the thought in mind. She will tell it.”

“ ‘Tis not my secret ta tell. I’m readin’ your thoughts ‘cause you be a sender. Dats how de people know to follow you. ‘Cause you send to them.”

“And you?” Dejah asked.

“I be’s a receiver, and a little bit a sender. Tell de folks, if you want ta. I daren’t do so.”

“The winthorne plant,” Dejah said. “They are the factory. There are millions of the golden plants covering the canal floor. They are the source of our air.”

“That what about this factory you keep talking about?” Ekka asked.

“The upper halls are over our heads, with towers into the daylight. Its strength is legendary. No army has ever taken its walls, but the enemy now might have the strength. It is...”

“Empty,” Billy said. “Isn’t that right? That’s the best kind of secret—one that’s hollow.”

“Yes,” Dejah admitted.

“There is a fight brewing,” John Carter said. He gestured to the halls through the pillars around them, where there were candles and roaring fires and feasts going on. Someone was playing an odd yet pleasing tune on a reed ins

trument somewhere out there, and the sounds bounced off the rock and echoed in the great cavern. “Tomorrow, isn’t it?”

“That is correct,” Dejah stated. “My spies tell me forces are this night crossing the canal south of the great metal house.”

“Who?” Dakota asked.

“Mort Prime. A tinker. An inventor. A madman. They say he has a new toy of sorts, aside from his many metal men. During the day the great mirrors flash in the sky as if he signals the very heavens.”

“Koothrappally,” Billy stated.

Dejah looked at him in puzzlement.

“A friend,” Billy said. “He is there with your Mort Prime and his mirrors.”

“There is a man there,” Dejah said. “A strange brown man. You say he is your friend.”

“I have come to fetch him,” Billy said. “That’s why we came.”

“And how far did you come?”

“A long way,” Ekka said quietly. “Billy or I will tell you all about it after dinner.”

“About this battle,” John Carter interrupted. “How many fighters do you have, and what are the reports of the enemy’s numbers? And armaments? I have only seen swords among your men. Do you have any rifles?”

Dejah placed her empty wine tankard on the table before her and shooed away the manservant who attempted to fill it. “We number but two hundred. The enemy...ten thousand. If by rifles you mean arms that fire projectiles at a distance, then yes, we have those. They are for long range, however, not close-up fighting.”

“This is the Alamo, then,” Billy said. “We would help you, but we didn’t come all this way to lose a...to fight a war.”

“Nor have you been requested to fight one,” Dejah said. She looked down at the table and rested her hands in her lap.

“We have to get back to the Argent,” Billy said. “Edgar, I am going to need you to begin assessing the damage and affecting repairs. We have spare parts for the transmogrifier. Any leaks in the hull must be found and plugged. It sounds like there won’t be much sleep for us.”

“Your sky ship,” Dejah said. “It is...broken?”