1899- Journey to Mars

“That sounds like tenderfoot work to me,” Pat said.

“It’s not,” Ekka said. “Sometimes the hardest work is very calmly assembling your gun so you can shoot it properly when the moment comes.”

Pat took off his hat and scratched his head. “Ma’am, if you think it’s necessary, I’ll do it.”

“She does,” Billy said. “And so do I. Get the Argent flying, and come running as fast as you can. Tell Eddie that his Princess is in trouble. That should light a fire under him.”

“I’ll do it,” Pat said. He pushed his hat back on his head. He turned and left.

“I’d better go too,” Ekka said. She turned to Billy, put her hand to his neck and kissed him.

“On your way down can you send up John Carter, Ian and Avi?”

“I’ll do that. If Guthrie comes back without our boy...”

“I’ll find him and bring him home. I promise.”

[ 82 ]

Dakota Gostman emerged from the narrow crevice into a large chamber with a hollow in the center and a shaft of pale pink morning light from above. He leaned out until he saw a sliver of daylight. They were near the surface here. He had found a way out.

While the voices he followed had gone silent, the tension in the air was palpable, as if someone had recently been there mere moments before. He was strongly aware of the need for quiet.

The creature in his arms looked up at him with two beady black eyes, then it it tucked it’s lon

g, narrow snout into the crook of his arm, as if to say he didn’t care to see what was coming. At least it was no longer making any sounds.

The stone beneath Dakota’s feet was smooth, but the dust from the desert sands above covered everything. When he looked down he saw tracks along the perimeter of the walls and down the gently sloping spiral walk. The hollow in the center, mere yards away from him, lent a sense of great depth. Also, his nose picked up moisture. His throat was already dry and his lips were chapped.

The voices began again. The curvature of the walls and the hollow, unadorned nature of the place lent the sounds an echo that blurred the words. He couldn’t make out a single thing. It was even possible they weren’t conversing in English. If he could catch a single word, then...

Dakota thought on it for a moment. He could not return without finding out something. He would be in plenty enough trouble as things stood, but if he had story to tell that could somehow help the beautiful lady and her people, then he might escape having his breeches dusted up with a whooping.

He made an instant decision, and with it, a calmness came over him. He turned and knelt and placed the creature back inside the crack from which they had emerged. The creature looked up at him and Dakota covered his lips with his fingers, pleading silence from the thing.

The creature waddled backwards into the crevice and hid itself in the shadows.

He turned back to the cavern and listened a moment longer. The sounds were definitely coming from below. To the right the spiral patch around the walls of the chamber led upward to the surface. To the left they led down, and no doubt toward both the sounds of the voices and toward the water.

He crept along the walls until he made a complete circuit around, then leaned out and looked downward. There was only a small portion he could see of the opposite lower side, and beyond and below it, an even narrower slice of walkway. The chamber was definitely larger on this level, and opened up as one descended like a bell jar or on of those beakers his father had in his laboratory.

Dakota made two more circuits before the whispering voices were close enough. It was then he recognized one of them. It was the voice of the man who had tried to kill him in the Argent. What his crewmates were calling a mort.

The conversation below halted abruptly.

A hand clamped down hard on Dakota’s shoulder. He tried to spin around but could only manage to turn his head slightly. He needn’t have. The slight, pungent odor had been there in the air around him all along. He should have recognized it. Dakota was in the literal clutches of yet another of the Conklin clones.

[ 83 ]

John Carter, Ian MacKenzie, Avinash Rathmandu and Tardos Mors joined Billy and Dejah Thoris on the parapet.

“Are the warriors ready?” Dejah asked Tardos.

“Yes, my Princess. They are prepared to fight to the death.”

“What’s harder sometimes,” Billy said, “is fighting so that you can live. That requires some smarts.”

“Billy is right,” John Carter said. “Princess Dejah, please allow me and Ian to offer our arms to assist you in this fight. But more than that, let us help you plan this one. We are experienced from fighting many large battles.”