1899- Journey to Mars
Ekka and Guthrie joined them just in time to hear Billy’s last words. Guthrie said, “I have no need for sleep, Billy. It would be my pleasure to take the watch while all of you sleep. And Dakota can ride the bicycle to recharge me during everyone’s waking hours.”
“We will take you up on that,” Billy said.
John said, “Real sleep, all night long. It’s been a while since I experienced that.”
The others noticed Ekka was no longer dressed as the demure housewife of Billy Gostman. She wore her low-cut black leather corset with the brass and silver brads and interlacing silver designs. The designs also served as strategic armor to protect against sword strikes. Her footgear was soft, knee-high black leather boots with flat heels. Ekka’s thighs were exposed all the way to the hip, and the small, red leather pants she wore were cut off at the top of the thigh at an angle that went up to the brass studded leather weapons belt at the side of her waist. Although eye-catching, they allowed her to move very fast, and in agile, almost acrobatic movements. Her arms were bare, except for fingerless black leather gloves with small brass and silver studs across the knuckles. Her wide belt had three knives in sheaths and two cross-draw pistols in black leather holsters. She was ready for war.
Ian said, “Lassie, are ye sure yer not some fabled Norse goddess? Ye are a most formidable woman, and I am glad ye are on our side.”
Ekka put an arm around Ian’s huge neck and kissed his bearded cheek. “I am happy to be at your side, my large warrior friend.”
Ian blushed, and Billy grinned at both of them, “She makes me blush all the time, too.” He winked at Ekka, who smiled back.
[ 53 ]
Two days later, Eddie felt his heart go cold as he looked at the red planet through the telescope. He turned toward the others, “There’s something going on.”
Billy said, “What is it?”
“Explosions. Big ones.”
Billy hurried to the telescope. He adjusted the lenses to his eyes and immediately saw them, looking like minute, reddish cotton balls on the surface. Another one expanded from a yellow-orange blink of brightness and slowly grew before his eyes. They were in two locations, and no other places. Billy wondered where in the blue blazes Koothrapally could be and if he was in the apparently peaceful no man’s land between the two areas of fighting. Things were getting more and more dangerous, and they hadn’t even located their friend for rescue.
Ekka asked, “What can you make out?”
“It looks like two groups are fighting. I can’t tell anything else.”
John asked, “Do you think your friend is in the battle?”
“I have no idea.” He turned his eyes back to the telescope and saw the blinks almost immediately. Koothrappally was sending his message: Do not come for me. Too much danger here. K. Billy saw he was sending the message from the great canal centered between the two warring factions.
Billy told the others, “Koothrapally is there. He sent a message saying for us to abandon him.” He looked at them, “We are all involved in this, so we must all decide on what our next action will be.”
No one said anything for several moments, then John Carter said, “It would be in my best interest for us to leave. That way I can take Avi to India.” He took a deep breath and continued, “But I never left a man on the field of battle if I could reach them while they were alive. It is something that galls my soul to think of leaving someone who needs my help. I say we go get him.”
Ian nodded, and his blue eyes had a fierce light. “He is why we came.”
The others agreed. Billy said, “Thank you all. I will signal him that we are coming, and for him to continue to tell us where he is located.” He returned to the command console and flipped up an ornately carved two-foot-by-two-foot plank of thin, polished mesquite to reveal a hidden bank of elevated typewriter keys made of brass, with ivory letters and numbers on them. In a line below them on the console were several interlaced gears and four sliding levers in slots. Billy twisted a small knob to the left of the keys and faint lights hidden along the sides of the area illuminated everything for clarity.
John said, “What sort of contraption is that?”
“A Cognimor. I type in my message on the keys, and it holds the message until I finish, then it will send the message out in morse code using a signal lamp on the front of the ship.”
“Is it steam operated?”
“Yes, along with a few other things I invented. It can store the message and re-send it on any schedule I give it.”
“What else does it do?”
“Well, it also receives messages and interv
erts them to words on a printed page, which comes out here,” He pointed to a slot on the command console, “so that if I’m busy, I don’t have to stop what I’m doing and read the morse.”
“That could be handy.”
Billy typed in the message, worked the gears and levers, then closed the wooden lid. “There, it’s percolating now.”
John and Billy could see the blips of light illuminating the front of the vessel. Almost immediately an answering blink of lights came from Mars. The paper slid out of the slot and Billy read it. “It’s from Koothrappally. It says ‘If you must come, I will wait for you in the tower by the gold’, and that is all it says.”