"Certainly, Mr. Thacher. I'll be glad tospin you a story. And I'm sure it will be interesting enough to keep youawake."
* * * * *
They ran through the groves of dead trees, leaping across the sun-bakedMartian soil, running silently together. They went up a little rise,across a narrow ridge. Suddenly Erick stopped, throwing himself downflat on the ground. The others did the same, pressing themselves againstthe soil, gasping for breath.
"Be silent," Erick muttered. He raised himself a little. "No noise.There'll be Leiters nearby, from now on. We don't dare take anychances."
Between the three people lying in the grove of dead trees and the Citywas a barren, level waste of desert, over a mile of blasted sand. Notrees or bushes marred the smooth, parched surface. Only an occasionalwind, a dry wind eddying and twisting, blew the sand up into littlerills. A faint odor came to them, a bitter smell of heat and sand,carried by the wind.
Erick pointed. "Look. The City-- There it is."
They stared, still breathing deeply from their race through the trees.The City was close, closer than they had ever seen it before. Never hadthey gotten so close to it in times past. Terrans were never allowednear the great Martian cities, the centers of Martian life. Even inordinary times, when there was no threat of approaching war, theMartians shrewdly kept all Terrans away from their citadels, partly fromfear, partly from a deep, innate sense of hostility toward thewhite-skinned visitors whose commercial ventures had earned them therespect, and the dislike, of the whole system.
"How does it look to you?" Erick said.
The City was huge, much larger than they had imagined from the drawingsand models they had studied so carefully back in New York, in the WarMinistry Office. Huge it was, huge and stark, black towers rising upagainst the sky, incredibly thin columns of ancient metal, columns thathad stood wind and sun for centuries. Around the City was a wall ofstone, red stone, immense bricks that had been lugged there and fittedinto place by slaves of the early Martian dynasties, under the whiplashof the first great Kings of Mars.
An ancient, sun-baked City, a City set in the middle of a wasted plain,beyond groves of dead trees, a City seldom seen by Terrans--but a Citystudied on maps and charts in every War Office on Terra. A City thatcontained, for all its ancient stone and archaic towers, the rulinggroup of all Mars, the Council of Senior Leiters, black-clad men whogoverned and ruled with an iron hand.
The Senior Leiters, twelve fanatic and devoted men, black priests, butpriests with flashing rods of fire, lie detectors, rocket ships,intra-space cannon, many more things the Terran Senate could onlyconjecture about. The Senior Leiters and their subordinate ProvinceLeiters-- Erick and the two behind him suppressed a shudder.
"We've got to be careful," Erick said again. "We'll be passing amongthem, soon. If they guess who we are, or what we're here for--"
He snapped open the case he carried, glancing inside for a second. Thenhe closed it again, grasping the handle firmly. "Let's go," he said. Hestood up slowly. "You two come up beside me. I want to make sure youlook the way you should."
* * * * *
Mara and Jan stepped quickly ahead. Erick studied them critically as thethree of them walked slowly down the slope, onto the plain, toward thetowering black spires of the City.
"Jan," Erick said. "Take hold of her hand! Remember, you're going tomarry her; she's your bride. And Martian peasants think a lot of theirbrides."
Jan was dressed in the short trousers and coat of the Martian farmer, aknotted rope tied around his waist, a hat on his head to keep off thesun. His skin was dark, colored by dye until it was almost bronze.
"You look fine," Erick said to him. He glanced at Mara. Her black hairwas tied in a knot, looped through a hollowed-out yuke bone. Her facewas dark, too, dark and lined with colored ceremonial pigment, green andorange stripes across her cheeks. Earrings were strung through her ears.On her feet were tiny slippers of perruh hide, laced around her ankles,and she wore long translucent Martian trousers with a bright sash tiedaround her waist. Between her small breasts a chain of stone beadsrested, good-luck charms for the coming marriage.
"All right," Erick said. He, himself, wore the flowing grey robe of aMartian priest, dirty robes that were supposed to remain on him all hislife, to be buried around him when he died. "I think we'll get past theguards. There should be heavy morning traffic on the road."
They walked on, the hard sand crunching under their feet. Against thehorizon they could see specks moving, other persons going toward theCity, farmers and peasants and merchants, bringing their crops and goodsto market.
"See the cart!" Mara exclaimed.
They were nearing a narrow road, two ruts worn into the sand. A Martianhufa was pulling the cart, its great sides wet with perspiration, itstongue hanging out. The cart was piled high with bales of cloth, roughcountry cloth, hand dipped. A bent farmer urged the hufa on.
"And there." She pointed, smiling.
A group of merchants riding small animals were moving along behind thecart, Martians in long robes, their faces hidden by sand masks. On eachanimal was a pack, carefully tied on with rope. And beyond themerchants, plodding dully along, were peasants and farmers in an endlessprocession, some riding carts or animals, but mostly on foot.
Mara and Jan and Erick joined the line of people, melting in behind themerchants. No one noticed them; no one looked up or gave any sign. Themarch continued as before. Neither Jan nor Mara said anything to eachother. They walked a little behind Erick, who paced with a certaindignity, a certain bearing becoming his position.
Once he slowed down, pointing up at the sky. "Look," he murmured, in theMartian hill dialect. "See that?"
Two black dots circled lazily. Martian patrol craft, the military on theoutlook for any sign of unusual activity. War was almost ready to breakout with Terra. Any day, almost any moment.
"We'll be just in time," Erick said. "Tomorrow will be too late. Thelast ship will have left Mars."
"I hope nothing stops us," Mara said. "I want to get back home whenwe're through."
* * * * *
Half an hour passed. They neared the City, the wall growing as theywalked, rising higher and higher until it seemed to blot out the skyitself. A vast wall, a wall of eternal stone that had felt the wind andsun for centuries. A group of Martian soldiers were standing at theentrance, the single passage-gate hewn into the rock, leading to theCity. As each person went through the soldiers examined him, poking hisgarments, looking into his load.
Erick tensed. The line had slowed almost to a halt. "It'll be our turn,soon," he murmured. "Be prepared."
"Let's hope no Leiters come around," Jan said. "The soldiers aren't sobad."
Mara was staring up at the wall and the towers beyond. Under their feetthe ground trembled, vibrating and shaking. She could see tongues offlame rising from the towers, from the deep underground factories andforges of the City. The air was thick and dense with particles of soot.Mara rubbed her mouth, coughing.
"Here they come," Erick said softly.
The merchants had been examined and allowed to pass through the darkgate, the entrance through the wall into the City. They and their silentanimals had already disappeared inside. The leader of the group ofsoldiers was beckoning impatiently to Erick, waving him on.
"Come along!" he said. "Hurry up there, old man."
Erick advanced slowly, his arms wrapped around his body, looking down atthe ground.
"Who are you and what's your business here?" the soldier demanded, hishands on his hips, his gun hanging idly at his waist. Most of thesoldiers were lounging lazily, leaning against the wall, some evensquatting in the shade. Flies crawled on the face of one who had fallenasleep, his gun on the ground beside him.
"My business?" Erick murmured. "I am a village priest."
"Why do you want to enter the City?"
"I must bring these two people before the magistrate to marry them." Hei
ndicated Mara and Jan, standing a little behind him. "That is the Lawthe Leiters have made."
The soldier laughed. He circled around Erick. "What do you have in thatbag you carry?"
"Laundry. We stay the night."
"What village are you from?"
"Kranos."
"Kranos?" The soldier looked to a companion. "Ever heard of Kranos?"
"A backward pig sty. I saw it once on a hunting trip."
The leader of the soldiers nodded to Jan and Mara. The two of themadvanced, their hands clasped, standing close together. One of thesoldiers put his hand on Mara's bare shoulder, turning her around.
"Nice little wife you're getting," he said.