Chapter VII: The Story of a Star

“Methought I saw
Life, swiftly treading over endless space.”
(+Hood.+)

Jupiter now lay before them as they pointed straight for his surface, and the Martian warrior soon recovered sufficiently to walk to the window and watch the great belted mass. His name was Werran, and he was an expert general of high standing, much esteemed for his numerous acts of bravery.

When he looked outside and beheld the countless worlds and planetoids crossing and recrossing in various orbits he became lost in thought. He had seen them through telescopes hundreds of times and knew their courses, recognising many of the globes from their positions and configurations, their distances and progress he also knew; but when he saw them, as from a stationary ship, speeding towards and passing them in a flash, the ship itself overtaking and passing with terrific speed all those travelling in the same direction, he could scarcely realise it. This, however, was nothing to what happened a few hours later.

From somewhere on their extreme right, discernible with the naked eye, came a faint glow like a phosphorescence; going to the glasses it was seen to be a ray of light from some distant star, seen on some floating stratum of dense ether, the star itself unseen in the infinity of space. Probably for millions of years the ray had been travelling at a velocity of nearly 187,000 miles per second, and they could see it far ahead travelling towards them, the light falling on the denser strata of ether in its path in a broad, straight ray. Adjusting their movements they drew nearer and nearer to this ray till they met and entered it, when they saw strange things—scenes that were travelling on the light beams, scenes that happened perhaps millions of years before, when these particular light-beams left their source. It might be the people had now ceased to exist, perhaps the world itself had now no existence, and no place in creation as a world, but the marvellous light-beams were carrying the record of a bygone time, on and on throughout the universe, showing every world that crossed their path, what things had been done at some infinitely remote portion of the infinite universe in the far distant past.

Thus was the history of a whole world laid bare, too rapidly for the sight to distinguish details, so the high-speed continuous photographic apparatus was at once set in motion. As they shot into the light-ray, with incalculable speed, it sped past them, and later they found that the lenses of the instruments had given them miles and miles of excellent pictures of the distant world, proving that it had been formed physically like Earth, and that all the various periods of its existence till the formation of man coincided exactly with those of Earth, and as the ship entered into and obstructed the light-beams there came the time when out of the darkness that was on the face of the deep there appeared lurid lights of phosphorescence and exploding gases, which became chemically united to form better and purer air and, eventually, an atmosphere; then land appeared, though the azoic rocks and land were incapable of supporting life and the world was small and deadly. Then followed long periods in which various forms of animal and vegetable life existed, each living its allotted time and dying, its remains resting upon the ground, each epoch in its turn adding to the size of the world and preparing it for the next form of life. First of all came the molluscs, to which the world was principally given over, for these sightless creatures needed no light; then came the fishes, which disturbed and aërated the waters by their movements; then came marine reptiles, and as the land became habitable, though soft, these were followed by every variety of reptiles, and after these had prepared the ground, all forms of animals except man; later came man and all the animals suited to live with him, and as the races of men progressed, their various actions of good and ill were imprinted.

For several days the voyagers travelled in this light-beam, unable even with the powerful instruments to penetrate the distance to its source, and at last they turned aside to resume their flight to Jupiter.

Eagerly running the films through the reproducer, they were almost overwhelmed to see the wonderful sights being presented to them as in a book. Although well known in theory, it seemed miraculous to prove by actual sight that the light was carrying on its beams the whole history of a world across the great infinity of space, unfolding it silently and swiftly to all who had eyes to see.

“That was the most awesome sight I ever beheld!” said Ross, deeply impressed.

“Had we gone forward,” said Godfrey, “we should have come to the world itself and seen what lives the people are leading to-day. If the world exists now!”

“Yes,” assented Gilbert, “but we might have gone on for years and then not have come to the source of light,” and then he continued, laughing, “if we get lost and can’t find Earth again, we can hunt up that beam and eventually locate the world it came from! It is so like our own that it would just suit us to settle on.”

With that began a general discussion on the probability of losing Earth and the possibilities that would open out in that case, for in the immensity of space where every point can be the centre of infinity, direction seemed of no account. But there was little danger of such a calamity, for so long as they did not travel beyond sight of the sun, or some member of the solar system, they could always return and locate themselves, for the movements of the planets were doubly clear to them by actual sight and not as diagrams drawn on a flat surface.

Rapidly they approached the mighty Jupiter, looming before them like a giant golden ball, and they all stood at the windows fascinated by the glorious sight of one of the moons passing before him as a dark, semi-opaque object with an iridescent border.

A few hours later the _Regina_ was again in the heavy atmosphere, and Godfrey inquired, “What are you going to do with these people for the trick they played us when we came before?”

“We will see,” replied Dennis. “If they are friendly now, we will be friendly too and let bygones be bygones;” and Ross, whose turn it was at the time to pilot the vessel, caused her to settle to within twenty feet of the ground, and connected the protecting current to the outer casing to prevent possible damage being done by the Jovians.

Of course they landed at a different part of the planet this time, and below them the people came running up from all directions. These people could not have been of the same constitution as the Terrestrians, for considering that the specific gravity on the surface is more than double that of Earth, the inhabitants might reasonably be expected to be proportionately larger and heavier. Heavier they must have been, but they were of the average Earth size and slighter in build.

They crowded below, gesticulating and talking volubly, but in the ship their combined voices could not be distinguished by Werran, so the current was switched off as the Jovians appeared friendly, and Werran stepped outside and held up his hand for silence, which is a sign understood on every planet, apparently. In a few seconds all was quiet and in his commanding voice the interpreter asked them to give him and his companions every assistance during their visit, at the same time requesting to speak with the principal personage. Whether they understood his language or the concentrated thought of it was difficult to say, but at once the governor of the town approached under the escort of an armed guard, and asked if the visitors were friendly—from whence they came and for what purpose?

Werran gave the desired information, then, feeling his head beginning to swim, he stepped inside the vessel and translated all that had passed, he speaking in Martian language, as he had done from the start, for soon after his forced imprisonment he had unthinkingly spoken in his own tongue, forgetting his hosts were ignorant of it, whereas they replied in English, equally oblivious of the fact that English was a dead letter to their captive. This was not noticed till some time had elapsed because, in his near presence, the serious thought accompanying the words on both sides made the actual speech a mere matter of form, so that they conversed with Werran in English, he speaking the Martian tongue, though he alone was able to converse with the Jovians, either by thought or language.

In the meantime, the Jovians were busily discussing the situation, and whether it was that the people were different from those they had first met, or that the presence of an interpreter gave an air of ‘quality’ to the expedition, the Jovians seemed disposed to give the travellers every assistance. They appeared to know little about the grub asked for and talked over the question with Werran at great length, till all in the ship grew impatient. At last Werran came inside and said, innocently, “They don’t seem to understand what grub it is you want, so I have asked them to bring all the animals they have and you can take your choice.”

“Oh, Great Bona!” gasped Godfrey, in dismay, while the others roared with laughter. “There will be a Noah’s Ark soon! We shall have to stay here for years to go through every variety of living thing on the face of Jupiter!” and he sat down quite overcome, glaring round at the laughter of his companions.

Werran could not understand it, but then he never could understand laughter, for the Martians do not laugh. It seemed to him so strange that the Earthians should crease their faces and make noises and hold their sides when they were pleased. He kept his face perfectly serene under the influence of both pleasure and pain, for it was considered bad form on Mars to alter the expression in the slightest degree, no matter what the circumstances. Consequently, he was amazed that his companions—who seemed to him refined and educated—should occasionally lose all self-control and give themselves up to peculiar contortions of the features, often ending in tears and a holding of the sides. Nor could he understand why they seemed nonplussed at his request to bring out _all_ the animals. They had none on Mars, and his idea of what an animal was seemed very vague.

“There’s nothing for it but waiting to see what they’ll bring us,” said Ross, laughing.

In a few hours the Jovians brought some hundreds of animals, native to the locality, but it was impossible for Godfrey to make a selection, as not one of them bore any resemblance to Earth animals, and there were no grubs or any form of caterpillar amongst them. They were of all sizes, from that of a mouse to a mammoth, and of endless variety; all seemed extremely friendly, looking trustfully at the strangers in passing, and Godfrey averred he saw one of them deliberately wink at him, but when the others looked, the creature’s eyes were filled rather with sadness and reproach than with frivolity, though it seemed to brighten up when Godfrey was charged with maligning it, but this might have been fancy.

“There’s your Noah’s Ark, Godfrey, my boy,” said Dennis. “All the varieties of animals in the kingdom are at your feet, take your choice, only get a little one! that frisky one there would fill the saloon.”

“It’s all very well for you fellows to stand there and chaff,” replied Godfrey, shortly. “It’s a great pity three great hulking fellows like you cannot employ your time to better advantage! If these are specimens of Jovian bugs we’d better get back home again, for there are no apparatus here to deal with any of that lot.”

“Werran!” exclaimed Gilbert, laughing, “just ask them if they’ve any nice little grubs to trot out for our friend here, there’s a good chap! tell them these insects are too full-grown for him, and not the right kind.”

Werran delivered the message, but the folks had done their best and could do no more, so matters were at a dead-lock. In a fit of desperation, Godfrey turned to Werran, saying, “We want a grub that will stand fire, Werran, old chap. Ask them to burn the whole lot, and then we’ll take those that live and thrive on it.”

The message was duly and seriously given, but the Jovians had no sense of humour as propounded by Terrestrians, for they refused to do anything more and seemed rather huffy at the ingratitude of their visitors.

“You three are running this show,” said Godfrey, with an air of disclaiming all connection with the business. “What are you going to do? Take the lot, or none?”

“No! we’re letting you run it, old man! you know you said you could manage the people splendidly,” remarked Ross, laughing, receiving a glare from Godfrey as a reward for his too-ready memory.

“That’s just where we want your advice as an expert,” said Dennis, banteringly. “We’d like to have the lot, so as to give you every encouragement, but the ship won’t hold them;” then turning to Ross, he asked, “_Had_ we come to _Jupiter?_ and what part of him did they say? I forget.”

“Upon my word, I’ve completely forgotten!” said Ross.

“So have I!” chimed in Gilbert, laughing.

“Great Bona!” cried Godfrey, with a start, “you _are_ a brilliant triad, I must say! you undertake two journeys, hundreds of millions of miles, to say nothing of a war or two by the way, and the only address you have is—‘a grub, Jupiter’—and Jupiter is about fourteen hundred times larger than Earth. And I give up all my important work on Earth to play dummy to three idiots! Let us go home again till you grow a bit older! I’m surprised at you!” he continued, sarcastically. “I said I should have to look after you, and upon my word you need it. If any one had told me that you three scientists could come all this distance and bring me with you, like a toy on a string, without knowing what you want and where to find it, I’d have—eaten ’em. A grub on Jupiter! upon my word, it does you great credit and I feel quite proud of you. A grub on——” and Godfrey, following the example of his three companions, gave way to long and uncontrollable laughter.

Their mirth so affected Werran, that after staring hard first at one, then another, he found himself following their example, first smiling, then laughing like his companions, which surprised him so much and was withal so comforting that he continued to laugh long after the others could laugh no more, but sat looking stolidly at one another with tear-streaming faces. It thus fell to the lot of four Britons to have the honour of causing the first Martian laugh.

“Can none of your fuzzled brains remember?” asked Godfrey, in gasps.

“Don’t! Godfrey,” begged Ross. “I can’t laugh any more; my sides ache as if they were raw.”

“We shall have to spin round the planet’s surface till something recalls the instructions,” said Dennis.

“Ay!” agreed Gilbert, and turning to Werran, said, “Will you tell those folks down there, Werran, please, that we are much obliged—we did not want to look at their stock for ourselves, but for a friend, and we’ll call again!” and he stepped towards the switch-board as unconcernedly as if he had been walking out of a shop.

Werran gave the message, though it is to be hoped he wrapped it up rather more daintily, and a few minutes later they were wandering over the surface of Jupiter in search of the forgotten locality. The landscape that unfolded itself below them was as unlike Earth as it was possible to be. There was a great deal of water, both salt and fresh, but the strangest feature lay in the vegetation, for all the grass was long, broad, and thick in the blade, and the trees had heavy, leathery leaves covered with stiff, bristly hairs and as strong as the giant cactus of Earth. The explorers were constantly stopping to collect samples of this strange vegetation and specimens of the geology and mineralogy of the planet, and to hold converse with various inhabitants.

Terrestrial history shows that in times past Earth had been given over to engines, carriages, and cars, and trains running on rails which lay upon the ground and bridges and entered tunnels in the hills, and many of the beauty spots on Earth had been covered with these unsightly lines and wires for transmitting electric current and sending messages from place to place. All these things had long ago disappeared and the Earth had been much improved thereby; but here, in certain districts, were lines on which goods were sent, but what was the motive power could not be seen, except that it was of enormous strength, for when the force of the _Regina_ was directed to resist one of these loads in order to test it, the dial registered a force of over one thousand horse-power. There was an entire absence of pneumatic tubes for transmitting luggage, but perhaps this unseen force and single guide-line would be as effective as Earth-methods, or more so.

The Jovians spoke of Earth as “Gorok,” which to them signifies ‘small’; Mars they call “Lazak,” or ‘ruby,’ because, as seen from the surface of Jupiter through his atmosphere, Mars appears blood-red, which recalls the fact that Jovian blood is colourless, and contains few red corpuscles though rich in hæmoglobin and, consequently, possesses great power of absorbing oxygen, the people, therefore, being healthy and strong. Their own planet is named “Milak,” which signifies ‘beautiful garden’; the sun they call “Kulik,” or ‘learned’; and it was noticed that most of the proper names terminated with the explosive sound of k.

Suddenly, as they were flying over a village, Gilbert shouted, “Now I remember! the Bonian told us we should get what we wanted beside a mountain with a crater like a flat cross.”

“So he did!” agreed Ross, “he said the people would meet us there.”

“I remember it, too, now!” also assented Dennis.

“Do you really!” broke in Godfrey, ironically, “blessed memory! and is this haven of rest at hand?”

“Yes!” replied Dennis, laughing, “it is close before us and we shall be there in a minute!”

Slowly the vessel skimmed over a city, then a village, and then a few straggling houses, and beside the crater of an extinct volcano lay a long building having a roof of some glittering metal which was unknown on Earth and which shone strangely in the peculiar light cast by two differently coloured moons.

Coming to a stand above the building they saw many people gathering together on the ground below, and Werran, as usual, spoke to them. It was plain that they were expected, and after a brief conversation Werran returned to tell them that they had at last reached their goal and their difficulties were now at rest, for here, the only place on the whole surface of Jupiter, were cultivated the germs which were wafted on ether to Bona, the floral paradise of the solar system.

Godfrey was now a different being; all banter was put aside for the nonce in the seriousness of the work he had undertaken, and full of his subject, he kept Werran busy asking and translating innumerable questions and answers relating to the life-history of the little creature he had come to cultivate. He and Werran then landed and entered the building, but the air was too oppressive for a long stay, and after a matter of ten or fifteen minutes they were obliged to return to the ship for recovery and rest, after which they resumed their work, Werran becoming quite as interested in the small organisms as Godfrey himself. This caused them to be constantly entering and leaving the ship, and Godfrey soon enlisted the services of the three others, so that before very long all five were working, each with fixed duties, and matters progressed so well that Godfrey was in high spirits. Fortunately, also, as the days wore on, they became more and more accustomed to the air until they were able soon to remain in it for several hours at a time, although, remembering the adventure in Mars, the vessel was never left without one or other of the owners in charge, well-disposed as the Jovians appeared.

In the garden of this place, called “Kulametik” was a strange beast, like the one that had caused the death of so many of the Jovians, and, on inquiry, they gained much information about this curious animal, which made them feel sorry they had imputed wrong motives to the natives they had met on their first visit.

They learned that the particular insect, the germs of which are sent to Bona, is a variety of remarkable habit. Although living in distinct colonies, they are symbiotic, and do not grow to perfection unless there is a certain beast living near them. Such an instance is by no means isolated, for there are, on Earth, many forms of bacilli, for example, which, to arrive at perfect development, must be placed side by side with amœbæ; if they are thus placed on culture-plates and both fed, the samples taken from them for independent culture must also be symbiotic, and contain both bacteria and amœbæ so that both may grow together, if results are to be depended upon. For this purpose the people at Kulametik imported an animal of enormous bulk from a distant land called Carakulak, in which district alone it was bred.

On Jupiter there is only one language, which is spoken in all parts of the planet, and telepathy is in universal use, consequently, when the Bonians sent their message, all the people on Jupiter on the same ‘waves’ disturbed by the Bonians received the same message. It so happened that the people at Carakulak received the message, which was the cause of their excitement when the _Regina_ settled in their midst, for they had been expecting and hoping to see the ship which had travelled so far in so short a time. Understanding what was wanted, and knowing they sent the large animal to Kulametik for the same purpose, they no doubt considered they were doing the Terrestrians a kindness in presenting them with one of the beasts that were necessary to the full development of the insects at the farm at Kulametik, where the naturalists in charge would not have one to spare.

These great beasts were perfectly harmless, living or dead, provided death came naturally, or in any other way than from a broken spine; for when the spine was fractured, especially near the throat, there came from the spinal cord or marrow, if exposed, an oozing which was exceedingly volatile, and instantly became converted into a gas so deadly as to cause immediate death to every living thing within a radius of fifty feet of the carcass. When the natives saw the beast slip through the rope and hang head downwards they feared it might slip away altogether and break its weak and brittle neck; this explained why they had run helter-skelter at the first sign of danger.

This great risk made the travellers dubious about taking so dangerous a creature on board, lest it should inadvertently come to grief against something, and end their careers suddenly whilst in space; but it was found, fortunately, that the variety of grub that needed the close presence of such a beast would not suit Earth, so they felt considerably relieved. They stayed on Jupiter a little over a month, during which time Godfrey gained all information possible with regard to the life-history and culture of the strange and interesting creatures, the rest of the party rendering valuable assistance. In a special room which had been made out of what had originally been three cabins, they fixed up apparatus and dishes and some strange boxes given them by the people of Kulametik, in which colonies of over fourteen million eggs or germs were coming forward. These would produce some millions each in the course of a year or so, and when Godfrey felt confident in proceeding with them and understood what to do in each phase of their existence, the visitors took their leave, full of gratitude to their kind hosts, and sailed away to Mars in order to return the borrowed Martian. Werran was quite overcome at the parting, as were they all, for in their close and friendly companionship and their intimate association in the realms of space they had all become like brothers. They tried to persuade him to stay with them, but his friends and family were in Mars and he would not hear of them being taken to Earth, which had not a very good reputation on the planet, though many were anxious to risk going there, or indeed anywhere, to escape the threatened doom, foolishly forgetting, as Werran had himself strongly pointed out at the time of the attempted seizure of the _Regina_, that the end could not come for many generations hence; the present inhabitants were, themselves, in no immediate danger, and there was certainly no necessity to be hysterical in the matter. He longed to go back to his native country, nor could they blame him, for there seems ingrained in the soul such an intense affinity with the land of one’s birth, that however far one may be removed from it, and no matter how happy one may be, there is felt such a strong yearning and love for one’s native land as makes the return to it the subject of many a longing heartache.

Treacherous as the Martians might appear in their fervent desire to save their posterity when the chance seemed suddenly to be placed before them, they were Werran’s own countrymen and Mars his native soil, and nothing would induce him to leave it, and as the voyagers sought out and hovered over the locality from which he had been kidnapped, the natives again congregated in crowds. They still appeared antagonistic, but bearing past experiences in mind they were not aggressive, but stood sullenly watching the ship’s every movement as Werran was gently floated down. Then the _Regina_ rose and over the house where Werran lived a dark object was seen to fall and then rest. A few seconds later there was a blinding flash, and, brilliant in the glaring sunshine even, there shot downwards a powerful red light. Then the _Regina_ soared upward like a giant bird, becoming smaller and smaller till lost to view. Still the light poured down its powerful ray, continuing to illumine Werran’s house for three days and nights, and when this faded and finally went out in a series of fizzles and splutters, still the metal cup, inverted like a mushroom, remained perfectly poised, floating over the house as a further reminder to him and his warlike compatriots of the _Regina_, although they needed no souvenir to keep her memory green, for as long as doomed Mars holds sensate beings, so long will the story of the _Regina_ figure in Martian history.