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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4ce2a2a --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #64072 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/64072) diff --git a/old/64072-0.txt b/old/64072-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index eb57133..0000000 --- a/old/64072-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,853 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Lake of Fire, by Frank Belknap Long - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Lake of Fire - -Author: Frank Belknap Long - -Release Date: December 22, 2020 [eBook #64072] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LAKE OF FIRE *** - - - - - Lake of Fire - - by FRANK BELKNAP LONG - - When you've been to Mars, when you've struggled - with men and ships and supplies like some tremendous - Herculean figure in the morning of the world, - you'll never really feel at home on Earth.... - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Planet Stories May 1951. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - -Steve found the mirror in the great northwestern desert. It was lying -half-buried in the sand, and the wind howled in fury over it, and when -he bent to pick it up the sun smote him like a shining blade, dividing -his tall body into blinding light and wavering shadow. - -I knew it was a Martian mirror before he straightened. The -craftsmanship was breathtaking and could not have been duplicated -on Earth. It was shaped like an ordinary hand mirror; but its glass -surface was like a lake of fire, with depth beyond depth to it, and -the jewels sparkling at its rim were a deep aquamarine which seemed to -transmute the sun-glow into shimmering bands of starlight. - -I could have told Steve that such mirrors, by their very nature, were -destructive. When a man carries a hopeless vision of loveliness about -with him, when he lives with that vision night and day, he ceases to be -the undisputed master of his own destiny-- - -"She's alive, Jim," Steve said. "A woman dead fifty thousand years. -A woman from a civilization that flourished before the dawn of human -history." - -"Take it easy, Steve," I warned. "The Martians simply knew how to -preserve every aspect of a mirrored image. Say howdedo to her if you -like. Press your lips to the glass and see what happens. But don't -mistake an imitation of life for the real thing." - -"An imitation of life!" Steve flared. "Man, she just smiled at me. -She's aware of us, I tell you." - -"Sure she is. Her brain was mirrored too, every aspect of its -electro-dynamic structure preserved forever by a science that's lost -forever. Get a grip on yourself, Steve." - -I was hot and tired and dusty. My throat was parched and I didn't feel -much like arguing with him. But I had my reasons for being stubborn. - -"Men have found Martian mirrors and gone mad," I said. "Don't take any -chances, Steve. We don't know yet what it's rigged with. Why not play -it safe? A thousand cycles of direct current should melt it down." - -"Melt _her_ down!" Steve's eyes narrowed in sudden fury. "Why, it would -be murder!" - - * * * * * - -Steve got up and brushed sand from his knees. He held the mirror up so -that the red Martian sunlight caught and aureoled the splendor of a -face that offered a man no chance of help if he ever let go. - -A pale, beautiful face, the eyes fringed with long, dark lashes, the -lips parted in a mocking smile. A living image capable of mercurial -changes of mood, unnaturally still one moment, smiling and animated the -next. - -_One thing at a time_, I thought. _Don't drive him too hard._ - -"Some men have carried them about for years," I said. "But just -remember what falling in love with an image can mean. You'll never hold -her in your arms, Steve. And compulsions can kill." - -"She's alive as flesh-and-blood is alive," he said, glaring at me. - -"Easy, Steve!" - -I could see that I was going to have trouble with my stout-hearted -buddy, Captain Stephen Claymore. - -He could have stared at a mountain of gold unmoved. He could have knelt -with a wry chuckle, and let a handful of diamonds trickle through his -wiry, bronze-knuckled hands, in utter contempt for what diamonds could -buy on Earth. - -He could have thrown back his head and laughed, at wealth, at glory, -at anything you want to name that men prize highly on Earth. But a -beautiful woman was a temptation apart. A beautiful woman-- - -Steve grabbed my arm. "Look out, Tom!" he cried. "Watch it!" - -The bullet whizzed past like a heat-maddened insect. Steve leapt back, -and I flattened myself. - -The attack was no great surprise. When people take up a new way of -life, when they pull up stakes and go striding into the sunrise, strife -paces after like a ravenous hound, red tongue lolling. When the first -colonists from Earth swarmed into the crumbling Martian cities a good -third of them ended up in stony desolation with their hearts drilled -through. - -They danced to riotous tunes, calling for louder music and stronger -wine, and they fought savagely to set up little kingdoms of tyranny -eighty feet square. - -Everywhere anarchy reigned, and haggard-eyed, desperate men crouched -behind smoke-blackened ruins and held off other men as greedy as -themselves. They fought and died by dozens, by hundreds, their minds -inflamed by the quickly-made discovery that the Martian cities were -vast treasure troves. - -You had to go prospecting, you had to search, and when you found your -own shining treasure you didn't want to share it with any man alive. - -Steve had his gun trained on the wall ahead when he ducked down at my -side. - -"Yes, sir," I whispered, half to myself. "This is going to be rough!" - -"They asked for it!" Steve said. - -His gun roared twice. - -From the wall ahead came a burst of gunfire in reply. - -"If they think they're going to get this mirror away from me--" - -I looked at his grim, sweat-beaded face. "I'll help you fight for it," -I said. - -"So nice of you," he grunted. - -"Then maybe you'll have sense enough to bury it face down in the sand." - - * * * * * - -Guns went off thirty feet directly in front of us. Red sand geysered -up, granite cracked and splintered. You could feel the awful heat of -the blazing exchange of bullets. - -I could see faces between the chinks. Malignant faces moving from -peep-hole to peep-hole like scavenger birds hopping about in the desert. - -I was aiming at one of the peep-holes when Steve groaned and sagged -against me. His gun arm sagged, and I could see that a bullet had -pierced his shoulder high up. - -"I'm sorry, Tom," he whispered, hoarsely. "I was careless, damn it!" - -"Never mind, Steve," I said. - -"Now they'll close in and get you. Better take my gun. You can use two -guns." - -"I won't need two guns, Steve," I said. "I'm walking into the open with -my hands raised." - -"You're crazy!" he breathed, his eyes on my face. "We're outnumbered -five to one. They'll drop you the instant you step out from behind this -wall." - -My gun was hot and smoking. I smiled and tossed it to the sand. - -"I'll be back in a minute and fix up that shoulder," I said. - -"You'll be walking to your death," he said. "They've been trailing us -for days, hoping we'd stumble on something. They must have seen me pick -up that mirror." - -"They trailed us because they thought we looked experienced, rugged," -I said. "They thought we were following a map. They just haven't got -what it takes to go prospecting for themselves. They're hyenas of the -desert, Steve." - -"All right--hyenas. That means they won't respect a white flag. If you -walk out with your hands raised they'll burn you down before you've -taken five steps." - -I steadied my helmet and unloosed my collar so that I wouldn't feel -cramped. - -"Don't worry, Steve," I said. - -I knew they saw me the instant I stepped out from behind the wall. - -The silence was ominous, and I could feel their eyes upon me, hot and -deadly. - -I didn't raise my hands. It didn't seem quite right to let them think I -was seeking a truce. A man may be a fool to play fair with killers, but -something made me change my mind about raising my hands. - -I'd give them their chance--ten seconds. I wouldn't try to bargain for -those ten seconds by walking toward them under false colors. I'd just -trust to luck and-- - - * * * * * - -Steve had never seen the weapon I held in my palm. It was a tiny -electrostatic accelerator tube, capable of flexible, high precision -control of ions with energies up to twelve million electron-volts. - -It was a simple thing--and unbelievably destructive. It made no sound -at all. But ten seconds after I clicked it on, the desert directly in -my path was glowing white hot. - -Just a glow, white, dazzling for an instant. Then a dull rumbling shook -the ground and the wall opposite blackened and crumbled. The heat was -like a blast of incandescent helium gas from a man-made sun. - -I turned and walked back to where Steve was lying. - -"I didn't want to do it that way," I said. "But I had no choice. It was -them--or us." - -Steve seemed not to realize we were no longer in danger. There was fear -in his eyes, and he was staring at me as if I'd just returned from the -dead. - -In a way I had. A man may die fifty deaths while counting off ten -seconds in his mind. - -"I'll give you something to help you sleep, Steve," I said. - -It didn't take me long to dress and bind up his wound. He winced once -or twice, but he never took his eyes from the mirror. - -"You promised to bury it face down in the sand," I said. - -He looked at me. "You know better than that," he said. "I promised -nothing of the sort." - -"It's like falling in love with a ghost, only worse," I said. - -"That's where you're wrong. There's nothing ghostly about her." - -I mixed him a sleeping draught, using the little water we had left. - -In five minutes he was snoring. I pried the mirror from his fingers and -propped it up against a rock, so that he could see her face when he -woke up. - -Then I stretched myself out in the sand, kicked off my shoes and stared -up at the sky. The sun was just sinking to rest, and there was a thin -sprinkling of stars in the middle of the sky. - -The stars seemed cold and immeasurably remote. - -Would it work out? - -Could it possibly work out? Was I sticking out my neck in a gamble -so big it was like attempting to pierce the sun, and hammer out a -new humanity on a great blazing anvil heated to millions of degrees -centigrade? - -I laughed, alone with my thoughts. Nothing dared, nothing gained. What -does a man gain by striking bargains with the mouse in himself? - - * * * * * - -I awoke in the cool dawn. The morning mists had rolled back and the red -desert looked almost beautiful in the sun-glow. - -Steve was sitting up, staring at the mirror. The light shifted -suddenly, and I could see the radiance which smouldered in the depths -of the glass. - -I got up, walked to the wall and peered over Steve's shoulder. The girl -was looking at him, her face so beautiful it fairly took my breath -away. It was as though after a lifetime of wandering she'd found the -only man in the world for her. - -Her face was bright with sympathy, with compassion for Steve. But -Steve sat slumped in utter dejection, his eyes burning holes in his -face. He didn't even look up when I spoke to him. - -"She knows, Tom," he whispered, hoarsely. "She turned pale when that -bullet hit me. She was relieved when you dressed the wound. She's been -watching over me all night, like an angel of mercy." - -"You'll need her more and more," I said. "You know what the end will -be, Steve. Complete hopelessness in an empty room." - -He stood up, his face savage. - -"I never asked your advice," he ground out. "I'm not asking it now." - -"I've got to save you, Steve," I said. - -"I love her, do you hear? I don't care what happens to me!" - -I picked up the mirror before he could guess my purpose. I swung about -and I brought that rare and beautiful object down on the rock Steve had -been sitting on. - -There was a splintering crash, a crackling burst of white flame. - -[Illustration: There was a splintering crash, a crackling burst of -flame....] - -Steve gave a great despairing cry. He stood for an instant staring down -at the shattered fragments of the mirror. Then he came at me like a -charging bull, his eyes bloodshot. - -I clipped him lightly on the jaw. - -"That's all I wanted to know, Steve," I said. "Thanks, pal." - -I looked down at him, lying in a crumpled heap at my feet. - -I was glad he hadn't fallen on his wounded side. He was plenty sturdy, -and he came from a long-lived family, and I didn't think a little clip -on the jaw could hurt him. I hoped he'd forgive me when he woke up. -That was important, because I thought a lot of Steve. - -When you've been to Mars, when you've fought your way through the red -and raging dust storms, and labored beneath the naked glare of the -sun, and juggled with men and ships and supplies like some tremendous -Herculean figure in the morning of the world, you'll never really feel -at home on Earth. You'll see the world of ordinary men and women as a -vision of Lilliput, too small to be measurable in terms of human worth. -You'll be lost and helpless, blind and staggering beneath the weight -of a memory you can't throw off. A memory of bigness, too much bigness, -integrated into your every fiber, as much a part of you as the beating -of your heart. - -You'll lurch and over-reach yourself, you'll never feel at home on -Earth, never really at home. You'll find a way to come back to Mars. - -I smiled down at Steve. - -So Steve had come back to go prospecting, like an ordinary greed-driven -man, and only I knew he was one of the scant dozen great constructive -geniuses who had made possible man's conquest of space. - -He was an engineer, a physicist and--a man in need of a partner. So -I'd just stepped up and introduced myself. Tom Gierson, who knew every -square foot of Mars. For my purpose one Earth name was as good as -another, and Tom Gierson had a sturdy ring. - -Hard-bitten Tom Gierson, bronzed by the harsh Martian sunlight, as much -at home in the desert as the sturdy little spiked plants that thrust -their way up through the parched soil when the spring begins to break. - -Steve's finest achievement was years in the past, but he was a young -man still, with a young man's need of a woman as great as himself to -share every moment of his waking life. That woman was waiting for him, -but I had to be sure that he'd really go berserk if I smashed the glass. - -I was sure now. - -I raised my arm, and out of the ruins the Martians came. - - * * * * * - -Steady hands lifted Steve up, and a hushed silence ringed Steve round. - -"Azala," I said. "Where is she--" - -Then I saw her. She was advancing straight toward me through the glare -of sunset on desert sand, a shining eagerness in her eyes. The girl of -the mirror, young and straight and alive, her hair the color of red -sand and sunset glow, her eyes twin dark stars. - -She paused before me and raised her eyes in questioning wonder. - -"Go to him," I said. "He will never love another woman. I can promise -you that." - -She ran to Steve with a little glad cry and fell to her knees beside -him. I wanted to break through the circle and slap Steve on the back, -and wish him all the happiness on Mars. The first Earthian to wed a -Martian, and it was tremendous, and I wanted to tell Steve-- - -But how could I tell him that Martians had numerous ways of watching -Earthians, the very best being mirrors which were really two-way -televisual instruments. How could I tell him that the alert Martian -women had all been trained to watch and observe Earthians day and -night? And all the while the Earthians thought they were carrying about -with them, in beautiful jeweled artifacts of a dead culture, the living -images of their heart's desire! - -Steve was awake now and sitting up straight, and the image was warm and -alive in his arms. But how could I make Steve understand? I had a wild -impulse to say: "I'd change places with you if I could, Steve. She's -just about the cutest kid I know." - -You get to thinking that way when you've mingled with Earthians around -desert campfires, studying them as you'd study a new neighbor who comes -knocking at your door, the neighbor you fear at first and are never -quite sure of until you really get to know and like him. - -You see, we had so much to offer one another. A young race, -constructive, brawling, shouting its defiance to the stars. And an old -race, imaginative, sensitive, heirs to a civilization on the wane, but -needing just a few Steves to make it young and great again. - -I'd picked Steve because he was one of the shining ones of Earth. I'd -known from the start that persuading him to wed a Martian woman would -take plenty of doing. - - * * * * * - -Earthians are funny that way. Love to them is a complex thing, a web -that has to be skillfully woven right from the start. Beauty alone -isn't enough. You have to say to them: "You'll never hold that woman in -your arms. Can't you see how hopeless it is?" - -Then the iron goes deep. If a love flies straight in the teeth of -despair and comes out all right in the end, it will be as strong as -death. - -So I'd arranged for Steve to stumble on the mirror, to pick up that -two-way televisual circuit into a very special paradise for two. And -I'd opposed and warned him just to make sure he'd think of himself as a -man facing hopeless odds to win through to an undying love. - -On the other side it was easier. Azala had fallen in love with Steve -before we put her on the other end of that televisual circuit. But -seeing him wounded and in need of her had turned it into what Earthians -call a great love. - -Perhaps Earthians would someday smash the aura that had flamed about -the heads of the Martian rulers for fifty thousand years. - -I'd done my best to smash it. I had gone simply and humbly among -Earthians, seeking a fresh wind to trundle the cinders of a dying -culture. - -I dreamed of Martians and Earthians standing equal and strong and -proud, hands linked in friendship, cemented by bonds of kinship, -separated by no gulfs such as now yawned before me, separating me from -Steve. - -I wanted to shout: "Good luck, Steve, Azala. You're good kids and you -deserve the best." - -Then I remembered that Steve was nearly forty, not quite a kid by -Earthian standards. But, looking at Azala, I was pretty sure that Steve -still had his best years ahead of him. - -I wanted to go up to him and shake his hand for the last time. But now -the hands of my people were tugging at my shoulders, stripping off the -Earthian garments I'd worn so long with scant respect for my desire to -be as human and regular as the next guy. - -They got the suit off, and then I saw the old familiar cloak, purple -and billowing out with shimmering star images, and I shuddered a little -because I knew I'd never really feel at ease wearing it from that -moment on. - -They got me into the cloak and they bent down and straightened the -stiff imperial folds and I was suddenly bored and deathly weary. - -A chill wind from the stars seemed to blow over me, but I stood -straight and still, and allowed them to fasten on the cloak the great -glowing jewel I'd worn from childhood. - -Steve saw me then. He was sitting up very straight, his hand on Azala's -tumbled, red-gold hair, and I heard him say: "Holy smoke." - -I stared down at the jewel, blazing and shuddering and shivering in -the desert air, and I shut my eyes tight, wishing for the first time -in my life that it did not proclaim me Tulan Sharm, the Glorious One, -Temporal Ruler of the Seven Cities before Whom the Stars Bowed. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LAKE OF FIRE *** - -***** This file should be named 64072-0.txt or 64072-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - https://www.gutenberg.org/6/4/0/7/64072/ - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Lake of Fire</div> -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Frank Belknap Long</div> -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'>Release Date: December 22, 2020 [eBook #64072]</div> -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> -<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net</div> -<div style='margin-top:2em;margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LAKE OF FIRE ***</div> - -<div class="titlepage"> - -<h1>Lake of Fire</h1> - -<h2>by FRANK BELKNAP LONG</h2> - -<p>When you've been to Mars, when you've struggled<br /> -with men and ships and supplies like some tremendous<br /> -Herculean figure in the morning of the world,<br /> -you'll never really feel at home on Earth....</p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Planet Stories May 1951.<br /> -Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that<br /> -the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>Steve found the mirror in the great northwestern desert. It was lying -half-buried in the sand, and the wind howled in fury over it, and when -he bent to pick it up the sun smote him like a shining blade, dividing -his tall body into blinding light and wavering shadow.</p> - -<p>I knew it was a Martian mirror before he straightened. The -craftsmanship was breathtaking and could not have been duplicated -on Earth. It was shaped like an ordinary hand mirror; but its glass -surface was like a lake of fire, with depth beyond depth to it, and -the jewels sparkling at its rim were a deep aquamarine which seemed to -transmute the sun-glow into shimmering bands of starlight.</p> - -<p>I could have told Steve that such mirrors, by their very nature, were -destructive. When a man carries a hopeless vision of loveliness about -with him, when he lives with that vision night and day, he ceases to be -the undisputed master of his own destiny—</p> - -<p>"She's alive, Jim," Steve said. "A woman dead fifty thousand years. -A woman from a civilization that flourished before the dawn of human -history."</p> - -<p>"Take it easy, Steve," I warned. "The Martians simply knew how to -preserve every aspect of a mirrored image. Say howdedo to her if you -like. Press your lips to the glass and see what happens. But don't -mistake an imitation of life for the real thing."</p> - -<p>"An imitation of life!" Steve flared. "Man, she just smiled at me. -She's aware of us, I tell you."</p> - -<p>"Sure she is. Her brain was mirrored too, every aspect of its -electro-dynamic structure preserved forever by a science that's lost -forever. Get a grip on yourself, Steve."</p> - -<p>I was hot and tired and dusty. My throat was parched and I didn't feel -much like arguing with him. But I had my reasons for being stubborn.</p> - -<p>"Men have found Martian mirrors and gone mad," I said. "Don't take any -chances, Steve. We don't know yet what it's rigged with. Why not play -it safe? A thousand cycles of direct current should melt it down."</p> - -<p>"Melt <i>her</i> down!" Steve's eyes narrowed in sudden fury. "Why, it would -be murder!"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Steve got up and brushed sand from his knees. He held the mirror up so -that the red Martian sunlight caught and aureoled the splendor of a -face that offered a man no chance of help if he ever let go.</p> - -<p>A pale, beautiful face, the eyes fringed with long, dark lashes, the -lips parted in a mocking smile. A living image capable of mercurial -changes of mood, unnaturally still one moment, smiling and animated the -next.</p> - -<p><i>One thing at a time</i>, I thought. <i>Don't drive him too hard.</i></p> - -<p>"Some men have carried them about for years," I said. "But just -remember what falling in love with an image can mean. You'll never hold -her in your arms, Steve. And compulsions can kill."</p> - -<p>"She's alive as flesh-and-blood is alive," he said, glaring at me.</p> - -<p>"Easy, Steve!"</p> - -<p>I could see that I was going to have trouble with my stout-hearted -buddy, Captain Stephen Claymore.</p> - -<p>He could have stared at a mountain of gold unmoved. He could have knelt -with a wry chuckle, and let a handful of diamonds trickle through his -wiry, bronze-knuckled hands, in utter contempt for what diamonds could -buy on Earth.</p> - -<p>He could have thrown back his head and laughed, at wealth, at glory, -at anything you want to name that men prize highly on Earth. But a -beautiful woman was a temptation apart. A beautiful woman—</p> - -<p>Steve grabbed my arm. "Look out, Tom!" he cried. "Watch it!"</p> - -<p>The bullet whizzed past like a heat-maddened insect. Steve leapt back, -and I flattened myself.</p> - -<p>The attack was no great surprise. When people take up a new way of -life, when they pull up stakes and go striding into the sunrise, strife -paces after like a ravenous hound, red tongue lolling. When the first -colonists from Earth swarmed into the crumbling Martian cities a good -third of them ended up in stony desolation with their hearts drilled -through.</p> - -<p>They danced to riotous tunes, calling for louder music and stronger -wine, and they fought savagely to set up little kingdoms of tyranny -eighty feet square.</p> - -<p>Everywhere anarchy reigned, and haggard-eyed, desperate men crouched -behind smoke-blackened ruins and held off other men as greedy as -themselves. They fought and died by dozens, by hundreds, their minds -inflamed by the quickly-made discovery that the Martian cities were -vast treasure troves.</p> - -<p>You had to go prospecting, you had to search, and when you found your -own shining treasure you didn't want to share it with any man alive.</p> - -<p>Steve had his gun trained on the wall ahead when he ducked down at my -side.</p> - -<p>"Yes, sir," I whispered, half to myself. "This is going to be rough!"</p> - -<p>"They asked for it!" Steve said.</p> - -<p>His gun roared twice.</p> - -<p>From the wall ahead came a burst of gunfire in reply.</p> - -<p>"If they think they're going to get this mirror away from me—"</p> - -<p>I looked at his grim, sweat-beaded face. "I'll help you fight for it," -I said.</p> - -<p>"So nice of you," he grunted.</p> - -<p>"Then maybe you'll have sense enough to bury it face down in the sand."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Guns went off thirty feet directly in front of us. Red sand geysered -up, granite cracked and splintered. You could feel the awful heat of -the blazing exchange of bullets.</p> - -<p>I could see faces between the chinks. Malignant faces moving from -peep-hole to peep-hole like scavenger birds hopping about in the desert.</p> - -<p>I was aiming at one of the peep-holes when Steve groaned and sagged -against me. His gun arm sagged, and I could see that a bullet had -pierced his shoulder high up.</p> - -<p>"I'm sorry, Tom," he whispered, hoarsely. "I was careless, damn it!"</p> - -<p>"Never mind, Steve," I said.</p> - -<p>"Now they'll close in and get you. Better take my gun. You can use two -guns."</p> - -<p>"I won't need two guns, Steve," I said. "I'm walking into the open with -my hands raised."</p> - -<p>"You're crazy!" he breathed, his eyes on my face. "We're outnumbered -five to one. They'll drop you the instant you step out from behind this -wall."</p> - -<p>My gun was hot and smoking. I smiled and tossed it to the sand.</p> - -<p>"I'll be back in a minute and fix up that shoulder," I said.</p> - -<p>"You'll be walking to your death," he said. "They've been trailing us -for days, hoping we'd stumble on something. They must have seen me pick -up that mirror."</p> - -<p>"They trailed us because they thought we looked experienced, rugged," -I said. "They thought we were following a map. They just haven't got -what it takes to go prospecting for themselves. They're hyenas of the -desert, Steve."</p> - -<p>"All right—hyenas. That means they won't respect a white flag. If you -walk out with your hands raised they'll burn you down before you've -taken five steps."</p> - -<p>I steadied my helmet and unloosed my collar so that I wouldn't feel -cramped.</p> - -<p>"Don't worry, Steve," I said.</p> - -<p>I knew they saw me the instant I stepped out from behind the wall.</p> - -<p>The silence was ominous, and I could feel their eyes upon me, hot and -deadly.</p> - -<p>I didn't raise my hands. It didn't seem quite right to let them think I -was seeking a truce. A man may be a fool to play fair with killers, but -something made me change my mind about raising my hands.</p> - -<p>I'd give them their chance—ten seconds. I wouldn't try to bargain for -those ten seconds by walking toward them under false colors. I'd just -trust to luck and—</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Steve had never seen the weapon I held in my palm. It was a tiny -electrostatic accelerator tube, capable of flexible, high precision -control of ions with energies up to twelve million electron-volts.</p> - -<p>It was a simple thing—and unbelievably destructive. It made no sound -at all. But ten seconds after I clicked it on, the desert directly in -my path was glowing white hot.</p> - -<p>Just a glow, white, dazzling for an instant. Then a dull rumbling shook -the ground and the wall opposite blackened and crumbled. The heat was -like a blast of incandescent helium gas from a man-made sun.</p> - -<p>I turned and walked back to where Steve was lying.</p> - -<p>"I didn't want to do it that way," I said. "But I had no choice. It was -them—or us."</p> - -<p>Steve seemed not to realize we were no longer in danger. There was fear -in his eyes, and he was staring at me as if I'd just returned from the -dead.</p> - -<p>In a way I had. A man may die fifty deaths while counting off ten -seconds in his mind.</p> - -<p>"I'll give you something to help you sleep, Steve," I said.</p> - -<p>It didn't take me long to dress and bind up his wound. He winced once -or twice, but he never took his eyes from the mirror.</p> - -<p>"You promised to bury it face down in the sand," I said.</p> - -<p>He looked at me. "You know better than that," he said. "I promised -nothing of the sort."</p> - -<p>"It's like falling in love with a ghost, only worse," I said.</p> - -<p>"That's where you're wrong. There's nothing ghostly about her."</p> - -<p>I mixed him a sleeping draught, using the little water we had left.</p> - -<p>In five minutes he was snoring. I pried the mirror from his fingers and -propped it up against a rock, so that he could see her face when he -woke up.</p> - -<p>Then I stretched myself out in the sand, kicked off my shoes and stared -up at the sky. The sun was just sinking to rest, and there was a thin -sprinkling of stars in the middle of the sky.</p> - -<p>The stars seemed cold and immeasurably remote.</p> - -<p>Would it work out?</p> - -<p>Could it possibly work out? Was I sticking out my neck in a gamble -so big it was like attempting to pierce the sun, and hammer out a -new humanity on a great blazing anvil heated to millions of degrees -centigrade?</p> - -<p>I laughed, alone with my thoughts. Nothing dared, nothing gained. What -does a man gain by striking bargains with the mouse in himself?</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>I awoke in the cool dawn. The morning mists had rolled back and the red -desert looked almost beautiful in the sun-glow.</p> - -<p>Steve was sitting up, staring at the mirror. The light shifted -suddenly, and I could see the radiance which smouldered in the depths -of the glass.</p> - -<p>I got up, walked to the wall and peered over Steve's shoulder. The girl -was looking at him, her face so beautiful it fairly took my breath -away. It was as though after a lifetime of wandering she'd found the -only man in the world for her.</p> - -<p>Her face was bright with sympathy, with compassion for Steve. But -Steve sat slumped in utter dejection, his eyes burning holes in his -face. He didn't even look up when I spoke to him.</p> - -<p>"She knows, Tom," he whispered, hoarsely. "She turned pale when that -bullet hit me. She was relieved when you dressed the wound. She's been -watching over me all night, like an angel of mercy."</p> - -<p>"You'll need her more and more," I said. "You know what the end will -be, Steve. Complete hopelessness in an empty room."</p> - -<p>He stood up, his face savage.</p> - -<p>"I never asked your advice," he ground out. "I'm not asking it now."</p> - -<p>"I've got to save you, Steve," I said.</p> - -<p>"I love her, do you hear? I don't care what happens to me!"</p> - -<p>I picked up the mirror before he could guess my purpose. I swung about -and I brought that rare and beautiful object down on the rock Steve had -been sitting on.</p> - -<p>There was a splintering crash, a crackling burst of white flame.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus.jpg" alt=""/> - <div class="caption"> - <p>There was a splintering crash, a crackling burst of flame....</p> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>Steve gave a great despairing cry. He stood for an instant staring down -at the shattered fragments of the mirror. Then he came at me like a -charging bull, his eyes bloodshot.</p> - -<p>I clipped him lightly on the jaw.</p> - -<p>"That's all I wanted to know, Steve," I said. "Thanks, pal."</p> - -<p>I looked down at him, lying in a crumpled heap at my feet.</p> - -<p>I was glad he hadn't fallen on his wounded side. He was plenty sturdy, -and he came from a long-lived family, and I didn't think a little clip -on the jaw could hurt him. I hoped he'd forgive me when he woke up. -That was important, because I thought a lot of Steve.</p> - -<p>When you've been to Mars, when you've fought your way through the red -and raging dust storms, and labored beneath the naked glare of the -sun, and juggled with men and ships and supplies like some tremendous -Herculean figure in the morning of the world, you'll never really feel -at home on Earth. You'll see the world of ordinary men and women as a -vision of Lilliput, too small to be measurable in terms of human worth. -You'll be lost and helpless, blind and staggering beneath the weight -of a memory you can't throw off. A memory of bigness, too much bigness, -integrated into your every fiber, as much a part of you as the beating -of your heart.</p> - -<p>You'll lurch and over-reach yourself, you'll never feel at home on -Earth, never really at home. You'll find a way to come back to Mars.</p> - -<p>I smiled down at Steve.</p> - -<p>So Steve had come back to go prospecting, like an ordinary greed-driven -man, and only I knew he was one of the scant dozen great constructive -geniuses who had made possible man's conquest of space.</p> - -<p>He was an engineer, a physicist and—a man in need of a partner. So -I'd just stepped up and introduced myself. Tom Gierson, who knew every -square foot of Mars. For my purpose one Earth name was as good as -another, and Tom Gierson had a sturdy ring.</p> - -<p>Hard-bitten Tom Gierson, bronzed by the harsh Martian sunlight, as much -at home in the desert as the sturdy little spiked plants that thrust -their way up through the parched soil when the spring begins to break.</p> - -<p>Steve's finest achievement was years in the past, but he was a young -man still, with a young man's need of a woman as great as himself to -share every moment of his waking life. That woman was waiting for him, -but I had to be sure that he'd really go berserk if I smashed the glass.</p> - -<p>I was sure now.</p> - -<p>I raised my arm, and out of the ruins the Martians came.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Steady hands lifted Steve up, and a hushed silence ringed Steve round.</p> - -<p>"Azala," I said. "Where is she—"</p> - -<p>Then I saw her. She was advancing straight toward me through the glare -of sunset on desert sand, a shining eagerness in her eyes. The girl of -the mirror, young and straight and alive, her hair the color of red -sand and sunset glow, her eyes twin dark stars.</p> - -<p>She paused before me and raised her eyes in questioning wonder.</p> - -<p>"Go to him," I said. "He will never love another woman. I can promise -you that."</p> - -<p>She ran to Steve with a little glad cry and fell to her knees beside -him. I wanted to break through the circle and slap Steve on the back, -and wish him all the happiness on Mars. The first Earthian to wed a -Martian, and it was tremendous, and I wanted to tell Steve—</p> - -<p>But how could I tell him that Martians had numerous ways of watching -Earthians, the very best being mirrors which were really two-way -televisual instruments. How could I tell him that the alert Martian -women had all been trained to watch and observe Earthians day and -night? And all the while the Earthians thought they were carrying about -with them, in beautiful jeweled artifacts of a dead culture, the living -images of their heart's desire!</p> - -<p>Steve was awake now and sitting up straight, and the image was warm and -alive in his arms. But how could I make Steve understand? I had a wild -impulse to say: "I'd change places with you if I could, Steve. She's -just about the cutest kid I know."</p> - -<p>You get to thinking that way when you've mingled with Earthians around -desert campfires, studying them as you'd study a new neighbor who comes -knocking at your door, the neighbor you fear at first and are never -quite sure of until you really get to know and like him.</p> - -<p>You see, we had so much to offer one another. A young race, -constructive, brawling, shouting its defiance to the stars. And an old -race, imaginative, sensitive, heirs to a civilization on the wane, but -needing just a few Steves to make it young and great again.</p> - -<p>I'd picked Steve because he was one of the shining ones of Earth. I'd -known from the start that persuading him to wed a Martian woman would -take plenty of doing.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Earthians are funny that way. Love to them is a complex thing, a web -that has to be skillfully woven right from the start. Beauty alone -isn't enough. You have to say to them: "You'll never hold that woman in -your arms. Can't you see how hopeless it is?"</p> - -<p>Then the iron goes deep. If a love flies straight in the teeth of -despair and comes out all right in the end, it will be as strong as -death.</p> - -<p>So I'd arranged for Steve to stumble on the mirror, to pick up that -two-way televisual circuit into a very special paradise for two. And -I'd opposed and warned him just to make sure he'd think of himself as a -man facing hopeless odds to win through to an undying love.</p> - -<p>On the other side it was easier. Azala had fallen in love with Steve -before we put her on the other end of that televisual circuit. But -seeing him wounded and in need of her had turned it into what Earthians -call a great love.</p> - -<p>Perhaps Earthians would someday smash the aura that had flamed about -the heads of the Martian rulers for fifty thousand years.</p> - -<p>I'd done my best to smash it. I had gone simply and humbly among -Earthians, seeking a fresh wind to trundle the cinders of a dying -culture.</p> - -<p>I dreamed of Martians and Earthians standing equal and strong and -proud, hands linked in friendship, cemented by bonds of kinship, -separated by no gulfs such as now yawned before me, separating me from -Steve.</p> - -<p>I wanted to shout: "Good luck, Steve, Azala. You're good kids and you -deserve the best."</p> - -<p>Then I remembered that Steve was nearly forty, not quite a kid by -Earthian standards. But, looking at Azala, I was pretty sure that Steve -still had his best years ahead of him.</p> - -<p>I wanted to go up to him and shake his hand for the last time. But now -the hands of my people were tugging at my shoulders, stripping off the -Earthian garments I'd worn so long with scant respect for my desire to -be as human and regular as the next guy.</p> - -<p>They got the suit off, and then I saw the old familiar cloak, purple -and billowing out with shimmering star images, and I shuddered a little -because I knew I'd never really feel at ease wearing it from that -moment on.</p> - -<p>They got me into the cloak and they bent down and straightened the -stiff imperial folds and I was suddenly bored and deathly weary.</p> - -<p>A chill wind from the stars seemed to blow over me, but I stood -straight and still, and allowed them to fasten on the cloak the great -glowing jewel I'd worn from childhood.</p> - -<p>Steve saw me then. He was sitting up very straight, his hand on Azala's -tumbled, red-gold hair, and I heard him say: "Holy smoke."</p> - -<p>I stared down at the jewel, blazing and shuddering and shivering in -the desert air, and I shut my eyes tight, wishing for the first time -in my life that it did not proclaim me Tulan Sharm, the Glorious One, -Temporal Ruler of the Seven Cities before Whom the Stars Bowed.</p> - -<div style='display:block;margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LAKE OF FIRE ***</div> -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0;'>This file should be named 64072-h.htm or 64072-h.zip</div> -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0;'>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in https://www.gutenberg.org/6/4/0/7/64072/</div> -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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