Lost Race of Mars

Chapter 12

An hour later, Jim and Sally were on their way back across the desert to the colony. Their hearts were pounding with excitement.

Safe inside the camera were a dozen full-color three-dimensional photographs taken inside the Martian cave. They has also brought away with them small samples of the different cave plants. In the back of the sled lay a piece of the light-giving plant, and a stem of the water-storing plant with an unbroken pod at the end, and a few sprigs of the air-manufacturing plant.

Dr. Chambers was waiting for them at the air lock, pacing up and down anxiously. The moment their sled came through, he ran up to them.

“Well? Did you find them?”

“They found us, Dad,” Jim said.

“They guided us right to the cave,” added Sally. “And they didn’t mind about letting us take photos, or anything. They even gave us little pieces of their plants.”

Dr. Chambers took the camera as if it were full of priceless diamonds and rubies. “Hurry up!

Get those breathing suits off! We’ve got to develop these films!”

He did not have a darkroom himself, but Martin Huber had arranged for him to use the photographic equipment at the college. By five in the afternoon the prints had been made.

They were beautiful. They showed the Martians in their natural color against the background of their caves.

“This is fantastic!” Martin exclaimed when he entered the darkroom. “It means—the Old Martians are still alive—Jim and Sally were telling the truth all the time—”

“Of course they were,” Dr. Chambers said. “Where’s a telephone? I want to talk to Mr.

Frahm.”

A short while later Jim and Sally and Dr. Chambers were once again in the office of the colony director. Mr. Frahm held the twelve photographs carefully on the palm of one big hand. He went through them, looking for a long time at each one, and arranged them on his desk in a row. The expression on his face was strange. He looked astonished and annoyed and pleased all at the same time.

Almost five minutes of uncomfortable silence passed. Then the director said, in his slow, heavy voice, “If these are fakes, they’re the cleverest I’ve ever seen.”

“They aren’t,” Dr. Chambers answered silently.

“That’s what I keep trying to tell myself,” agreed the director. “But I can’t believe it yet. It’s absolutely incredible that there should still be a civilization out there! And yet—I can’t argue with these pictures.” He shook his head sadly. “I owe the three of you an apology. I was very rude to you Sunday night.”

“We understand,” Dr. Chambers said. “After all, we were asking you to take the word of two children about something fantastic—and we had no proof at all. But now we do.”

“Yes. Now you have proof. But we’ll never see these Martians with our own eyes.”

“Perhaps we will, someday,” Dr. Chambers disagreed. “If Jim and Sally can convince the Martians that Earth men won’t harm them. It’ll take time, but perhaps we can persuade them to trust us, eventually.”

“I hope so,” Mr. Frahm said.

“and in the meanwhile,” added Dr. Chambers, “we have these marvelous plants. Do you know what one of them can do? It grows in desert sand. It doesn’t need warmth or sunlight or water. And it breaks down the iron oxide in the sand and releases oxygen! We can plant them all over the desert. And when there are enough of them, releasing oxygen into the air, it will be possible for Earth men to go outside the dome without breathing suits!”

Mr. Frahm nodded. “And the other plant, the one that sucks up water from deep below the surface and stores it in pods—we can plant that one, too. And in a generation or two we can restore Mars to the way it was before the deserts came.”

The news was revealed to the colony the next morning. It caused a sensation. There was cheering and shouting in the streets. Jim and Sally were famous.

By radio beam the startling news was sent to Earth. A few hours later Earth sent back facsimiles of the front pages of several Earth newspapers. Bold black headlines told of the discovery:

Jim and Sally were a little dazed by all the excitement. One day they had been outcasts, the next heroes. It was all hard to believe.

“I hope things calm down soon,” Sally said, later that night. It was well past bedtime, but there had been visitors and calls and other interruptions.

“If this is what being a hero is like,” Jim said, “I don’t think I like the idea.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Dr. Chambers advised. “The fuss won’t last forever. The importance of your find will.”

“Dad,” Sally said, “will the plants from the caves really make it possible for men to live on Mars without domes?”

Dr. Chambers shrugged. “We think so, Sally. But not for a long time. First we have to ask the Old Martians for seeds—that will be a job for you and Jim. And then we have to begin growing the plants and helping them spread all over. If each of them releases just a little bit of oxygen, why, once enough plants are growing there’ll be air that’s fit to breathe. If the Martians had thought of planting the air plants in the desert, they might not have had to live in caves.”

“I think they wanted to live in caves,” Jim said. “They didn’t have the energy to go farming all over Mars.”

“I suppose you’re right, Jim. They’re an old and tired race. It takes a lot of get-up-and-go to start a project like this. They don’t have what it takes any more. So it’s our job to bring Mars back to life.”

The telephone rang for the fiftieth time that evening. Dr. Chambers went to answer it. While he was gone, Jim and Sally thought about what their father had said. The Old Martians no longer had the drive and ambition to revive Mars. But the men of Earth, using the plants developed in the caves, could do the job. And some day men and women would walk around on Mars without breathing suits.

Dr. Chambers came back into the room. He was grinning broadly. “I’ve just had some very good news,” he announced. “That was Mr. Frahm calling.”

“What did he want, Dad?”

Dr. Chambers beamed. “He just received a message from the Earth government. My research grant has been extended indefinitely.”

Mrs. Chambers smiled. “Indefinitely, Roy? Is that what they said?”

“You heard it the first time! Indefinitely! That means we stay here on Mars as long as we want to, and no more deadlines for going home. That is—uh—you do want to stay on Mars, don’t you?” Dr. Chambers looked at his wife. “Ether—how do you feel about staying here longer?”

“Do I have to answer that, Roy? You know I’ll always go wherever your work takes you—even if it’s to Mars!”

“And how do you feel about it?” Dr. Chambers said to Jim and Sally. “If you want to go back to Earth at the end of the year, just say the word. But I ought to warn you that you’ll make a lot of people on Mars unhappy.”

Jim grinned. Mars had become more appealing in the past twenty-four hours. “Of course we’ll stay, Dad.”

“You didn’t have to ask us, really,” Sally said.

Then Jim and Sally exchanged glances. They had both thought of the same thing at the same time.

Mitten lay curled at Sally’s feet. Jim and Sally glanced down at the Mars kitten.

Jim said hesitantly, “There’s one thing, Dad—uh—well, I mean—”

“Yes? What is it?”

Jim fidgeted uncomfortably. He reached down and scratched the Mars kitten behind the ears.

Sally explained, “It’s about Chipper, Dad.”

“Chipper? Good heavens—I had almost forgotten about him!” Dr. Chambers explained.

“Well, we haven’t, Dad,” Jim said. “I mean, Mitten here is a good pet, and we like him. But we couldn’t just abandon old Chipper, could we? He’s probably wondering when we’ll come back to get him. And if we never come back—”

Don’t you think they could ship him up here?” Sally asked. “As a special favor to us? He and Mitten would be great friends. And I’m sure old Chipper would love the low gravity here.”

Dr. Chambers scratched his head quizzically. “Well, I’m not sure how they’ll like the idea—but, tell you what, kids. I’ll ask. Fair enough?”

“Okay, Dad.”

The next day, everything was settled. Mr. Frahm himself came over to explain the arrangements.

“We’re all glad you people have decided to stay,” the director said. “I’ve place you in a special category—you’re not temporary visitors, but you’re not permanent visitors either, unless you want to be. You’re research personnel, here on an indefinite basis.”

“That sounds good enough,” Dr. Chambers answered.

“About your laboratory,” the director continued. “Up till now we’ve been a little skimpy with your equipment, I know. But things are going to be different from now on. If you need anything, just say the word. If it’s available on Mars, you may have it—and if it isn’t available, we’ll requisition it from Earth.”

“I appreciate that very much,” Dr. Chambers replied.

Director Frahm looked straight at Jim and Sally. But he was smiling, now, and they didn’t squirm. “Now, you two—the key personnel in this operation. You’re going to be our ambassadors to the Old Martians. You job is to visit them regularly, obtain information about them, and try to make them like us. You’ll also be in charge of getting seeds from them for the air and water plants. Think you can handle these responsibilities?”

“Yes, sir!” Jim and Sally answered together.

The director said, “The same offer I made for you father goes for you. Anything you need to help you in your work will be made available. I’ve already received one requisition. Your father tells me that you need a specific large black-and-white tomcat named Chipper. I’ve checked our inventory and find that we have no such equipment at present on Mars. Therefore I’ve ordered it from Earth. Chipper will be coming up on the next rocket.”

“Yippee!” Jim yelled.

“Of course,” Director Frahm went on, “you’ll have to continue your schooling. Visits to the Martians must wait for after school. And also, you’ll notify the council any time you go out in the desert. No more unannounced trips. You’re valuable personnel. We can’t take any risks with you.” Mr. Frahm chuckled. “I think that’s about it. Dr. Chambers, I like to thank you and your wife and Jim and Sally for having come here. You’ve done us a great service already, and I’m sure you’ll continue to be valuable members of the colony.”

“Thank you, Mr. Frahm,” Dr. Chambers said.

“Maybe we didn’t cooperate with you as much as we should have, but you have to understand our viewpoint, too. We just couldn’t see the importance of impractical research -

until this stubborn boy and girl of yours showed us. Thanks again. And good night.”

It was very late now. But Jim and Sally were too restless to sleep. There had simply been too much excitement during the day.

“Let’s go to the surface level,” Jim suggested. “I want to take a look at the night sky.”

Jim and Sally and Dr. and Mrs. Chambers took the nearest elevator to the upper level. Nearly everyone was asleep. The colony was quiet.

They looked up, through the transparent dome, at the black curtain of the Martian sky.

Overhead drifted the tiny moon Deimos. The stars were brilliant sparklers, hardly twinkling at all in the thin atmosphere.

And down toward the horizon a greenish dot could be seen—Earth. Somewhere out there were New York and Paris and London, were the Grand Canyon and the Pyramids and the Taj Mahal. They seemed like phantoms out of a dream. Earth was so terribly far away. All that matter now was Mars, which had once been covered by the cities of little soft-eyed people, and which someday would be thronged with the cities of Earth men.

Sim and Sally and their parents stared for a long while at Earth. Then they turned away. Earth could take care of itself. But here on Mars there was so much work to do. Mars was where they would make their home from now on. They were Earth men no more.

After a while they grew tired of watching the stars. They turned away and went back below to go to sleep. Tomorrow would be a busy day. And so would be all the tomorrows that came after tomorrow, for years to come, out here on this strange, new world in space.