wasnot greatly worried, but Closana seemed to feel that things had gone farenough.
Hitherto the girl had been quite evidently enjoying the consternationthat the _Viking's_ arrival had caused among the defenders of the city.Now she leaned far out from the open window and waved reassuringly. Asshe was recognized, defense preparations ceased and the gun crews beganto cover their weapons up again.
The _Viking_ settled gently down on the worn stone pavement of a squareplaza directly before the central tower. A ring of amazon spearmeninstantly formed to keep back the curious crowds, and other companieswere drawn up as a guard of honor. They saluted Closana with a shout anda surge of uplifted spears when she and Gerry stepped out the openedstarboard door. Then, when Angus McTavish came out with a group ofsenior officers a few seconds later, all the Amazon warriors droppedinstantly down on one knee while their spear-points rattled on thestones. The big engineer beamed through his beard, and tilted hisuniform cap to a more rakish angle.
"I have already stated that these folk are a verra discriminatingpeople!" he said with deep satisfaction. Closana turned to Gerry.
"It would be better to take only a few of your people along when we gointo see my father."
Gerry faced about, his glance running quickly over those of his crew whohad emerged from the hull and were standing nearby.
"Steve Brent stays here in command," he said quietly, "You come with me,Angus. And Portok. And one other...." He hesitated, then named OlgaStark. Later he was to wonder what evil genius had led him to select heras one of the party. He could not quite remember. Probably it was just adesire to take as varied and representative a group along with him aspossible. Closana looked annoyed at his choice, but did not comment.
* * * * *
They passed through the ranks of the spear-guard, and up to theoctagonal main door of the tower where carved golden leaves slid backinto the wall on each side. A blue light glowed around the inner frameof the door, and Closana held up her arm.
"Wait till the blue light fades, for it is Death," she said quietly.Then, as the light died out, they all stepped inside while the goldenleaves of the door closed clashing behind them.
They were in a winding corridor whose stone walls were faced withpolished stone and hung with ancient tapestries. The place was lightedby metal discs set flush in the ceiling, discs of a substance that gaveforth a soft and golden glow. Even this light, Gerry noticed, was sodiffused as to be shadowless. "The Land of No-Shadow!" he muttered underhis breath, remembering the phrase that had come to him earlier. Somehowthe friendly old Earth seemed very far away at that moment!
In an ante-chamber they met the first man they had seen since theyreached Venus, aside from the half-animal raiders of the Scaly Ones.This man was short and slight, with a very high forehead and unusuallylarge eyes. His skin had the same tawny tinge as that of the femininewarriors of his race, but he was more lightly built than they. He wore aloose yellow tunic, and his hair and thin beard were heavily shot withgray. Somehow he looked tired, and old even beyond his years, as thoughthe sands of his race were running very low.
"Rupin-Sang awaits your coming," he said to Gerry. As Portok and theothers from the _Viking_ came into sight, the Venusian stared at themwith strangely startled eyes. He said nothing more, but his glanceseemed to hold a strange, terrible haunting fear.
At the end of the corridor they stepped into a small golden car. A doorclosed behind them. The floor shot rapidly upward. A few seconds laterthe door of the lift-car swung open again and they stepped out into around chamber near the top of the great tower.
"Enter to His Highness Rupin-Sang, Lord of Savissa and the MountainLands, ruler of field and forest and castle, hereditary Warden of theGreat Sea!" the Venusian courtier said sonorously.
The room was circular, with glassless windows set in the walls every fewfeet. A warm breeze blew in to stir the tiny metal discs that hungaround near the tops of the walls in a sort of frieze, setting themswinging till they clashed together with a continuous jingling. A smallfountain murmured in the center of the room. A peculiarly shapedtelescope stood by one wall, and there were other scientific instrumentsof a type unfamiliar to the Earth-men.
* * * * *
In a big carved chair in the center sat a very old man, a rolledparchment lying across his knees. What remained of his hair and beardwere pure white. His face was lined and sunken. He half raised his armin a ceremonial gesture of welcome, but then a sudden expression ofalarm came over his face. He pointed with one shaking hand.
"_Aie_--woe to the City of Larr! The hour of the fulfilment of theprophecy is at hand! Woe to Larr, with its walls and towers!"
Closana hurried to her father's side. A moment later the old man hadregained his calm. He greeted them with formalized speech of welcomefull of old phrases, then added:
"Forgive my agitation when you first entered, _hiziren_, but it broughtto mind the doom-filled phrases of what we of Savissa call the Prophecyof Jeddah-Khana."
"What is that?"
"It is a very old prophecy, carved in an ancient runic script on thestone walls of one of the vaults under this tower. Tradition says it wasput there by the Old Ones who built this city, and of whose science weare the unworthy heirs." Rupin-Sang bowed and touched his forehead as hementioned the Old Ones. "The Prophecy states that the day will come whena red-skinned man and a dark-haired woman and a ruddy, bearded giantwill come together to the city from afar, and that within a monththereafter the Golden City of Larr will crumble and return to the dust."
"But surely you don't take such old legends seriously!" Gerry said. Theold man smiled.
"My head tells me not to, but superstition is strong in we of Savissa.However--I can take comfort from the fact that the old legend alsoprophecies a re-birth for Savissa after the great catastrophe. Butenough of this talk of portents and legends! I give you welcome toSavissa, and to the city of Larr. Also, I thank you for rescuing myyoungest daughter from the Scaly Raiders. Whence come ye?"
Gerry sketched in hasty phrases the outline of present conditions onEarth and Mars, and told of their trip through space to Venus in the_Viking_. Rupin-Sang nodded without showing any particular surprise.
"And so that's the story," Gerry concluded. "We're curious about some ofyour conditions here. The women warriors, for instance...."
"It was not always so in the land of Savissa," Rupin-Sang said with afaint smile. "In the days of the Old Ones there was a natural balance ofthe sexes. But, as the slow centuries passed, the birth rate graduallychanged. Now one child in five thousand born in Savissa is a male. Thefew men we do have are needed for certain administrative and scientificwork, particularly the supervision of the alta-radium mines in themountains from which we get the raw material for the alta-ray tubes thatare our greatest protection against invasion."
"I saw the tubes on the walls," Gerry said, "but why is it that yourmobile forces are armed only with primitive weapons like bows andarrows?"
"Because we cannot possibly mine and produce enough of the alta-radiumto do more than supply the defences of the city and of the barrierforts. The possession of the secret of that ray has kept our bordersfree from the Scaly Ones except for isolated raids like the one youencountered today, but we cannot arm our troops with the ray."
"And the gas-guns of the Scaly Ones?"
"They are a good weapon--but we have not the materials to manufacturethem on this side of the border."
"Sounds like what we used to call a 'balance of power' in the days whenEarth was torn by wars," Gerry said with a smile. "But tell me one thingmore. I notice that in this land you speak an archaic form of Martian."
"The Tempora-scope can tell you the story better than my words."
Rupin-Sang nodded to his attendant, and a cloth cover was removed from abroad metal disc that was attached to some kind of a machine. He toucheda control lever, and the mechanism began to hum. Blinds were droppeddown over the windows, so that the room was fill
ed with a murkytwilight. The humming sound grew steadily louder. Now the metal discglowed with a brilliant light. Momentarily its polished surface cloudedover, as though obscured by a thin fog, and then the mists driftedaside.
* * * * *
Before them they saw the Universe as it was in the youth of the world,when roaring volcanoes were still active on the Moon and the rings ofSaturn were just drifting out from the girth of that spinning sphere. Itwas as though they were looking out through a circular window somewherein the sky. The machine gave a perfect illusion of reality, not merelytri-dimensional but touching all the senses as well. They could hear theroar of new-made satellites spinning off into the void, and the rush ofburning gases. They could smell the scent of molten rock.
Then time passed! The planets began to