1899- Journey to Mars

“Pretty damn near,” Edgar said. “But I can fix it. I can fix anything.”

Dejah Thoris regarded Billy. “I have ordered a watch set on your sky ship. It has been camouflaged so that any looking down upon it from above will see nothing but rock. Any, that is, except for a Golden Man.” She turned to look up at Guthrie, who stood stockstill. “I will send a small guard back with you.” She glanced around the table. “But I can see that all of you are tired beyond any reckoning. Won’t you sleep awhile? The great battle will not come until the sun goes down tomorrow.”

Dakota yawned, as if on cue. Ian and Avi likewise yawned and stretched.

“Dere she goes. Ma’am, but you be’s a powerful sender. You be making Lady Bixie sleepy by sayin’ so. You must watch what you be sayin’, or peoples be takin’ you at your word and fallin’ on dere swords.”

Dejah laughed. “I have been carefully taught since childhood what a princess may say and what she may not. Have no worries. I cannot lead you into darkness unless you cross me. I have taken an oath”

“Dat be the furtherest t’ing from our minds.”

“Edgar,” Billy began, “are you okay going with Dejah’s guard back to the Argent? I’m afraid I need a little nap time as well.”

“I’m up for it,” Edgar said. Billy watched Edgar Burroughs carefully. The young man’s response may have been to Billy, but his eyes were on Dejah Thoris. At that moment, Billy knew that Edgar was in love.

Oh, sonny, Billy thought. You don’t want to go there. She has her cap set for Carter, and it’s the women who choose us, not the other way around.

“It’s settled then,” Billy said. He pushed his plate away from him and stood, yawned and stretched. “Let’s all call it a night.”

“My guard will show you to your quarters,” Dejah said.

[ 74 ]

Before they could leave, Guthrie asked Dejah if he could speak with her and Billy privately. The threesome stepped out from under the pavilion into the one-quarter light of the cavern.

“Ask her, Guthrie,” Billy said.

“Your Highness, several times you have spoken of a Golden Man. Will you describe him for me?”

Dejah nodded. “I have never seen one, which is why I am alive, but those few who survived encounters with him—I do not know for sure whether it is one Golden Man, or many—each relate the same tale. He is tall, as you are, but he wears no clothing or war harness. His proportions are, for the most part, that of a man, but he has no eyes, no ears, no apparent openings in his body. He kills, however, upon a whim.”

“In what way does he kill?” Guthrie asked.

“At a distance or at no distance at all. He may strike a lone man from among a hundred with a golden ray from his forehead, or his whole body may blaze as the sun and burn every soul within fifty paces. Those who gaze upon him from farther away may become blind. I do admit that you are not such as he. You are like unto Mort Prime’s Metal Men, but for your coloring.”

“Why do you ask, Guthrie?” Billy said.

“Master. I must know. I am responsible for your life and for the lives of Ms. Ekka and Master Dakota. But I must tell you something, Master Billy.”

“Tell me? Tell me what?”

“Master Tesla deemed that I could not tell you unless it became necessary.”

“Spit it out, Guthrie.”

“I am not what I seem to be. Not wholly.”

“You’re a robot, Guthrie. What else could you be?”

“That I am, sir. But I am...one of a kind. Master Tesla was given a small orb by someone. This orb contained all that I am. The orb included the instructions for building this body.” Guthrie tapped his chest. “However, the origin of the orb was not of our star.”

“What a strange creature you are, Guthrie,” Dejah said.

“I am stranger than any of Earth could know. My primary function is to find this Golden Man and to end his existence. My secondary function—programmed in the form of a command by Father Tesla—was to protect Master Billy and Ms. Ekka. Father Tesla, it has been said, is a hundred years ahead of his time in the way of knowledge. He would have to be a thousand years to be able to invent such as I. Possibly, ten thousand.”

Billy nodded, slowly. “I think I understand. There must be a war going on a lot bigger than any on Earth or Mars. We encountered six-limbed aliens on the Moon and they nearly killed us. Now this Chinese fellow, Fu Manchu, has space stations, singleships, copies of people, and even the ability to travel between the worlds. Why, then, doesn’t he have anti-gravitation?”

“Invasion,” Guthrie said. “Ultimately, it means invasion from another star. Why would they freely give the technology of spaceflight to their minions on Earth, but not give the secret to travel between the stars? The answer is, of course, that they are coming.”