INTRODUCTION
"Two Worlds" is the second part in three loosely connected stories "Tales of Mars", written in 1924 and published in book form in 1925. "Two Worlds" was initially published in a heavily abridged form in the July-August 1924 issue of the magazine "Man and Nature". While each story can be read on its own, we recommend reading the first installment, "Professor Dagin's Observatory" before this one. This story is followed by "Towards a New Sun".
TWO WORLDS
1. An Emergency Meeting at Doctor Ni-Astu-Sol's
A radio-aerobile noiselessly flew up to a tall cylindrical building, which stood alone along the side of the Ambrosia Canal.
Doctor Ni-Astu-Sol stepped out of the aerobile onto a fold-out platform on the roof of the house and cast an absent-minded glance around him.
Deimos was rising from the east.
Its narrow crescent was reverberating, broken up by the dark waters of the canal.
In the direction of Deimos sped three suburban messenger aerobiles, flashing in the dark sky with long rows of lights.
To the west, over the City of the Sun, the gigantic fiery columns of the evening papers were burning in the sky.
Opening the door on the roof of the house, Doctor Ni-Astu-Sol, in an electric chair, silently descended to his office.
The soft light of the radio-lamp only illuminated a huge table, completely crammed with instruments. The entire office was draped in shadow.
Doctor Ni-Astu-Sol was short, bare-headed, with a large, protruding broad forehead that had developed at the expense of his face. He was dressed in light clothes like chiton.
He was apparently concerned with something, because at that moment, taking off his dark specially-designed glasses, he went to the radio-telephone and grabbed the receiver. A second later, a slender, miniature figure appeared in the metal mirror by the radio-telephone, also dressed in chitonesque clothing.
- "What's the matter, father?"
- "I need to see you immediately, Gi-Sol. Bring your husband and Engineer Ok-ya-gi with you."
- "Well, I do have them here... I can see about procuring an aero now."
Five minutes later, a radio-aerobile descended over the house, carrying Anu-Ala-A, Gi-Sol's husband and editor of the newspaper "Interplanetary News".
Two men and a woman silently entered the office.
Doctor Ni-Astu-Sol walked up to the wall and pulled one of the system's levers. On all sides, the office was enveloped in impenetrable blinds - a shield.
- "This will be more secure from the newspaper reporters..." - he said, greeting the visitors. He then sat down in a huge easy chair and began in a low, slightly cracked voice.
- "I apologize, for I intend to occupy your thoughts for some time today. You're all equally close to me. You, Anu-Ala-A, the husband of my daughter, and you, Ok-ya-gi, the fiancé of my second daughter, Ni-Sol, who of course you still don’t know has disappeared without a trace. Please, Ok-ya-gi, don't make these tragic gestures! I didn't invite you here for this. Have patience, everything will come in due course. I'm already more than one thousand years old, and you, of course, know that I was born near Ismenius Lacus, in the city of Ismenakh. That city suffered a terrible fate. It was destroyed by our satellite, Phobos, which was once our colony, when it fell into that area. I escaped by a miracle, only getting into my friend's aerobile before the start of the general panic.
"The entire northern hemisphere was destroyed. The area that once existed between the cities of Boreosyrtis, Ismenius and the Oxus Canal turned into a fiery-molten mass from the incredible force of the impact. In this liquid fire, our entire northern hemisphere's culture had burned down.
"The climate changed, and tropical temperatures set in all over the planet. Our waterless seas have filled up with water again, demolishing our cities and destroying our arable land.
"It was a difficult time. Later, it took a lot of work to curb nature, which had severed the chain of our power. Meanwhile, the fiery-liquid mass at the site of the fallen satellite had cooled down, and the entire northern hemisphere was covered with gigantic, lush, prehistoric vegetation. A fait accompli had put us in an incredible situation. The southern hemisphere represented the epitome of incredibly advanced technology and culture, while the northern hemisphere represented the epitome of emerging prehistoric life.
"Needless to say, this area was left completely isolated by the Supreme Council of Mars, and all of the intellects and scientists were sent there so that they could confirm in practice of all of science's findings and conclusions. With incredible interest, we had observed the appearance of the first, prehistoric lifeforms... And, finally, we saw the first humanoid creature, our distant ancestor. This happened relatively recently. The Supreme Council kept it a secret, and we had to guard it. The appearance of this humanoid creature had caused a great commotion in the Council.
"The commander of the Martian guard - Tsi-Go-Ti, saw a terrible threat to our culture in this appearance. He demanded the immediate destruction of this new creature, which had an amazing ability to rapidly reproduce. If, indeed, the threat of our second satellite Deimos falling had not been eliminated, Tsi-Go-Ti's insistence, perhaps, would have had enough grounds.
"Deimos would have fallen into the southern hemisphere of Mars and turned everything into a fiery liquid mass. And the further development of a generation of humanoid culture would have the opportunity, having exterminated the remnants of our surviving culture, and ourselves, to seize dominance over Mars. But we've had too much insight into this, as well as examples right before our very eyes: the fall of our own satellite Phobos and, finally, the fall of the Moon into our ancient neighbor Earth. This led us to invent something special, Yutli gas, which can explode if necessary. It's able to hold and guide our satellite to the direction and position that we desire. It could overcome the force of gravity, and could show us a movement of our planet that would be independent from the sun, if we ever so required. Therefore, the members of the Supreme Council, including myself, did not support Tsi-Go-Ti's fears.
"The council had decided the existence and further development of the humanoids. A secret expedition was sent to this location to study the life there, which was led by my daughter Ni-Sol. The members of this expedition returned today and have informed me that Ni-Sol has disappeared, and they haven't been successful in finding any trace of her. I was instructed to assemble a small, second expedition to search for her. This expedition will consist of all of us. Tomorrow, early morning, we must take off.
"Our destination is in the northeast. 40° latitude and 87° longitude. That's all!..."
- "But, dear doctor..." - Ok-ya-gi, who had been silently and attentively listening this entire time, had a question. - "I hope that's not all. Did you say Ni-Sol's life was out of danger? Suggesting otherwise would be terrible."
- "Yes, you can rest easy on this. I'm inclined to see something else in her disappearance. Tomorrow, during the trip, I'll read you her last letter. You'll find that you'll understand more then. You, dear Anu-Ala-A, will come with me to the Council meeting. It starts in a half hour and we need to hurry. And you, dear Gi-Sol, how do you plan to spend the night?"
- "I'd like to go to the Interplanetary Club, if Ok-ya-gi won't refuse my company."
- "Very well, see you tomorrow."
2. Kri-Sharptooth Meets the "God of the Mountains"
Early in the morning, when the whole tribe was still asleep, Kri went into the forest. He made his way to the forest lake, where on the sloping banks in the golden sand lay large colored shells.
Tragedy had struck the tribe.
For three days the women had been weeping, the men were gloomy and did not go hunting. No happy songs were heard.
Bikanjapur-Whitebeard, the elder priest, had in vain had offered sacrifices on the black stone.
Close to the black stone that the tribe worships, was a spring of fresh water.
Now the spring suddenly dried up.
The black stone was angry. The black stone took vengeance.
Who has angered the black stone?
That night Kri had a dream... ...He is sitting by the black stone. The bright sun is streaming, pushing through the green leaves. The black stone lies silent, solemn. The rays of the sun cannot reach it - tree branches envelop the stone on all sides. All around is a greenish light. It's as if the stone is lying under a lake, water all around.
Kri sees that a gray-haired kaiya had come out of the forest to the black stone.[Author's note: Kaiya: An ape-like creature.] Why did the gray-haired kaiya come to Kri?
Kri had only seen them once. Far away, on the other side of the mountains they live. They don't like the people of fire. They used to own all the forests, lakes and mountains. And now the people have defeated them. Kri wanted to question her, but she suddenly came close to him and spoke to him herself.
- "The tailless kaiyas made fire and defeated us. But the tailless kaiyas do not understand what the stones say. I'll tell you what the black stone wants.[Author note: Primitive man deified natural phenomena that he did not understand and believed in miracles; science has explained all these phenomena.] Find, Kri, a shell, white like foam, with edges like blood. Find it and place it on the black stone. Then there will be water. There will be great joy in the tribe. Peace will reign among all the kaiyas."
Kri awoke.
And so he went to the forest lake for a white shell with edges like blood.
He walked lightly.
He believes that if he brings the shell, there will be water in the spring. And he will be greatly honored by the tribe. Priest Bikanjapur will then give him his daughter Obinpuru, whom Kri has loved for a long time, as a wife.
Kri came to the forest lake. And, indeed, he found a shell, white like foam, with edges like blood.
In plain sight it lay half buried in the sand.
The gray-haired monkey did not lie. Everything she said, so it went.
Kri now goes back to the black stone.
He is cheerful.
Kri sings.
- "The black stone will take vengeance no more. Kri brings it the shell. There will be water in the spring again. Good! Obinpuru has braids as long as vines, eyes as dark as the black stone. Strong and dexterous Obinpuru. Ay-la-lyai! Kri loves Obinpuru. He will take her as his wife!"
The forest came close to the rocky mountains. Near the mountains, in a clearing, lay the black stone.
Kri approached it and without fear laid the shell down.
He waits. Now the water is flowing in the spring...
And he sees that coming to the spring is a large cave ka.[Author's note: Ka: A bear-like creature.]
Kri's heart trembled, beat in his chest, like a boat on the waves on the shore. He took out an arrow with a stone tip and drew his bow. He aimed straight for the heart.
But now he dropped the bow.
The ka turned around.
Its chest all gray and its ears gray. Sacred beast - it cannot be killed! Maybe it's the spirit of the black stone...
The ka roared, and rushed towards him...
Kri stands in silence.
Breath hoarsely escapes from the chest of the beast. White foam falls from its muzzle onto the grass.
The ka is close.
Kri can already see his face in its evil, yellow-rimmed eyes...
And suddenly, a bright light, like lightning, cuts through the green meadow's twilight...
The ka falls at Kri's feet.
But to the right, at the very edge of the clearing stands a creature unseen with hand raised, out of which a fiery arrow flew, killing the ka - the spirit of the black stone.
The God of the Mountains!
Kri fell on his knees and covered his face with his hands.
A mortal must not see a god!
But his eyes were not closed, and through his fingers they see, that leaving into the green dusk of the forest, the god of the mountains is smiling.
3. Ni-Sol Creates a New Religion
Ni-Sol deliberately hid from the expedition. Finally, after spending several days searching for her in vain, they decided that Ni-Sol was probably dead; everyone unanimously decided to leave without her, especially as the deadline for departure had already passed, the botanical collections were complete, and the experiments in radio-zoology had been conducted.
Ni-Sol was extremely happy about this. She found herself a cave in the rocky mountains, where she had settled. Not far from the cave lay a black stone, and a spring of fresh water.
So as not to waste time walking to the spring daily, where the cave ksami, who represented a serious threat to life, dwelled in abundance, among other things, she had diverted water to her cave, and caused the spring by the black stone to cease to exist.[Author's note: Ksami: A bear-like creature]
This latter circumstance had certainly expelled the cave ksami, but had also caused great unrest in the tribe, and upended the firmly established humanoid way of life.
It had begun from the very moment when Ni-Sol had met the humanoid Kri at the black stone, who was looking at the dried up spring in holy terror.
Wanting to save him from the cave ksami, she came out of her hiding place and Kri saw her.
Kri immediately went to the camp and told the priest about the "God of the Mountains" that he had met, and how it now was necessary to make sacrifices to this new, omnipotent deity who with lightning, had killed the spirit of the black stone, in the form of a ka.
This ridiculous message almost cost Kri his life. New ideas are always difficult to impart, and in most cases, prophets are stoned to death.
The same thing happened with Kri. The priest agitated the tribe against him, and Kri only saved his life by fleeing, being warned in time by his beloved, Obinpuru.
However, the new idea, which was met with such hostility, did not vanish without a trace, but began to sprout.
Near daily pilgrimages to the black stone began, led by the priest Bikanjapur. The ka slain by Ni-Sol - the spirit of the black stone - was solemnly buried near the spring. Three days later the priest predicted his resurrection. He made sacrifices on a black stone, burning birds, pieces of meat from slaughtered animals and sacred stems of reed, muttering incantations and observing the dried up spring.
But the spirit of the black stone was mute to prayers. The spring remained the same.
From the despondent faces of the humanoid pilgrims, Ni-Sol had begun to understand that every day they were more and more reluctant to make sacrifices and looked with disbelief at the priest, who was trying with all his might to restore the authority of the black stone.
The three-day period which the priest had proclaimed for the resurrection of the stone's spirit had expired.
Doubt in the power of the black stone, against their will, had crept into their hearts...
Then one day Ni-Sol saw that Kri had been exiled from the tribe. He had come to the dry spring early in the morning, before sunrise. In his hands he had a large bundle of white flowers, which he placed near the spring.
This was the first sacrifice to the new god!
For a long while, Kri knelt and stretched out his arms towards the rocky mountains. The mountains were silhouetted in black against an emerald-pink sky that was starting to light up. And when the sun finally ascended from behind the mountains and splashed its pinkish rays, Kri's figure froze in solemn ecstasy with outstretched arms.
In that moment, he was gorgeous.
Ni-Sol's heart fluttered. Unfamiliar, painfully sweet sensations were swept up in a jubilant whirlwind of delight.
He prays to her, Ni-Sol, the "God of The Mountains"!
This bronze savage - a humanoid, so childishly naive in his ecstasy and helpless in his heroism, at that moment seemed to her more beautiful and mighty than all her people.
"He prays to the 'God of the Mountains' to revive the spring," thought Ni-Sol. - "Well, the 'God of the Mountains' accepts the prayer! Tomorrow, the spring will come to life! Its jets will sound out in a silver ringing over the pointed stones, like diamond ribbons stretching out over the emerald grass, heralding a new religion to the tribe. Let tomorrow begin a new, 'great era' in the tribe's evolution!
"And tomorrow let this exiled savage, despised by all, become all-powerful and revered by all. The 'God of The Mountains' knows how to reward for bringing joy, especially since it costs nothing to the 'god', except... the daily labor of walking for water..."
4. The Death of Obinpuru
On the forest lake there were many islands completely overgrown with trees. After being expelled from the tribe, Kri had found shelter on one of them.
Obinpuru alone knew about his whereabouts. She sometimes came to the lake, and Kri, hearing her enticing call, had transported her to the island in a canoe that he had made.
On the island there were no animals, and it was safe for dwelling. When he was free from foraging for food, Kri was engaged in his favorite pastime - carving.
For several subsequent days he depicted, with a sharp stone chisel on a flat shell, the "God of the Mountains" with lightning, striking the ka - the spirit of the black stone.
He was so engrossed in his work that he forgot everything around him.
In all this time he left the island only once, when he, at the spring of the black stone, brought white flowers in offering to the "God of the Mountains". But on the same day he returned to the island and again resumed his work. But he didn't finish working, for on that day grave and terrible things happened.
At noon, Obinpuru's enticing call from was heard from the shore.
Kri transported her in the canoe. They walked far onto the island and settled down in an open meadow, completely overgrown with white flowers.
Obinpuru, agitated and weeping, began to speak. She would not go back to the tribe anymore. She had run away from there forever. She wants to be Kri's sa now.[Author note: Sa: Wife.] Her father kept her imprisoned in a pit. He hates Kri and made a vow to kill him.
Kri thought for a long while.
Suddenly, an unexpected smile drove a gloomy shadow from his face. His eyes sparkled with glee.
"Listen, Obinpuru - you will be my sa. We will go far, far away from the tribe and live alone. The black stone and your father will not take vengeance upon us, we believe in the 'God of the Mountains.' Smile, Obinpuru!"
And Obinpuru smiled.
They embraced and, sitting side by side, began to make their happy plans for the future. In the canoe, they can reach the end of the lake and from there, they'll go into the forest. The mountains start beyond the forest. It won't be difficult to find a comfortable cave there. Kri has two spears, arrows and strong arms - should the future look grim!
When they got tired of going over all sorts of scenarios, they began to play. Obinpuru ran away, Kri caught up with her. With the dexterity of a kaiya, they climbed the trees and hid from each other in the dense emerald foliage.
In the evening they lit a fire and went to bed. Obinpuru soon fell asleep, but Kri sat for a while and looked at the blue sky. Large greenish stars were twinkling there. Vague and indefinite thoughts, like the wind passing through the leaves of trees, rushed through his brain. A string of questions arose before him, as incomprehensible to him as the whole world around him.
Kri tore his gaze from the sky. Everything there had overwhelmed him with a grandiosity and mystery, to which he could not find an answer in his brain's poor thoughts. The soil was more comprehensible.
Obinpuru slept with her hands behind her head. Her chest rose evenly in time with her breathing. Half-open lips were whispering something in a dream. Kri leaned down to her face and her hot breath burned him. A whirlwind of desire began to shake his heart. His head was spinning. The white flowers were emitting a sharp, tart fragrance... But now an unfamiliar feeling of timidity was present, of excruciating tenderness and pity.
- "Obinpuru is tired, no need to disturb her sleep."
He looked at the fire. The flame wavered, about to go out. He needed to find branches. Kri noiselessly stood up and followed the twigs to the shore.
A barely perceptible splash of water caught his attention.
A long canoe was approaching the island. In it, Kri saw three warriors with battle spears and the white beard of Bikanjapur, who was sitting at the stern oar.
Kri instantly understood the situation. The danger was great. Through the dark green of the leaves, a dying fire flickered like a dull crimson blot. He had betrayed his sanctuary.
Kri barely had time to run to the fire and get his spears, when the enemies had already appeared in the clearing.
Obinpuru woke up and, seeing her father walking behind the warriors, understood what was happening.
Kri issued a battle cry and, without waiting to be attacked, entered himself into combat. In doing this, he had bought himself some time and pierced one warrior with his first spear. Thus, with arms widely extended, he fell face down into the grass. The other two, attempting to flank him, dispersed, and hid behind the trees. Bikanjapur did not join the fight. Hiding behind the trees, he was shooting arrows. One of his arrows pierced Kri's leg.
Kri realized that he had better retreat to the shore. There, he'll be protected by the water.
Avoiding the jabs of the spears thrown at him, hiding behind the trees, he began to slowly retreat towards the water.
But at that moment, an arrow fired by Obinpuru had struck down the second warrior. This unexpected assistance had changed the situation.
Kri stopped his retreat and lunged at the last warrior.
At that moment, he heard a faint moan from Obinpuru... He understood what had happened, and together with the anger of despair, felt a surge of new strength.
Shooting the arrow, Obinpuru had inadvertently stepped out from behind a tree, and the cost of her heroic act was her life.
Bikanjapur drew his bow, and the arrow he fired pierced Obinpuru's chest. With a moan, Obinpuru fell near the tree...
At this time, Kri had freed himself from his last enemy, knocking him to the ground with a blow to the head from his spear. Bikanjapur saw this... It was time to think about saving his own life. He was a coward by nature. As fast as his obesity allowed him, he ran across the clearing to the canoe...
Kri didn't pursue him. He leaned over Obinpuru, who lay motionless in the grass.
Pulling the arrow out from her chest, he had extinguished her barely perceptibly beating life, though the eyelids of her closed eyes still fluttered.
Kri did not understand death. Something huge, threatening and always unexpected, it burst into the world around him. But life as a whole was the same as always.
Only individual parts of it disappeared without a trace. And therefore, Kri could not understand that parts can disappear forever even if the whole is always unchanged, even though the whole is composed from these parts.
And now he thought that the life of Obinpuru, escaping like steam from the opening of the wound, transformed into some animal, bird or plant. It did not disappear without a trace, but only merged with the eternal and unchanging world surrounding it.
The "God of the Mountains" can bring life back into the body.
The "God of the Mountains" is omnipotent!
This thought came to Kri unexpectedly and completely enslaved him. Taking Obinpuru's body in his arms, he slowly walked along the shore to his canoe ...
After placing Obinpuru's body at the bottom of the canoe, Kri paddled out into the middle of the lake and noticed the empty canoe in which his enemies had arrived. The canoe was circling in the middle of the lake, slowly carried away by the current.
Kri realized that Bikanjapur must have fallen into the water and fallen prey to one of the lizard-like creatures that lived in abundance in the lake.
This had slipped through his mind, and left no trace. He was too preoccupied with his own thoughts, too thirsty for a miracle...
He wasn't interested in the fate of Bikanjapur.
When he came ashore, dawn had begun...
Approaching the black stone, even from a distance, Kri saw that the spring had come to life. The transparent jets sound out in a silver ringing, falling over the pointed stones.
The "God of the Mountains" kept their word.
5. The Expedition Sets Out on Their Search
The radio-aerobile rushed silently along the Gulf of Aurora, beyond which, in an endless straight line, the Yamuna Canal was gleaming blue.
It was still early.
Regular life in the cities had not yet begun, only along the entire length of the Gulf of Aurora, occupied by arable land, were electric tractors crawling in different directions, operated by mechanical workers. The latter of these were made of a soft, tissue-like alloy of rubber and cleveite, and the internal radio mechanism which coordinated their movements, was controlled by the main radio station's waves.[Author's note: Cleveite: A rare radioactive mineral, found in the northern USSR.]
"We have a three hour trip..." - said Dr. Ni-Astu-Sol - "I will read you, as promised, the last letter of Ni-Sol."
"'Dear father, I, finally, am in this fairy-tale world! I have a feeling now as if I had been born again and forgotten, forever, all of our culture, all of our knowledge. Giant horsetails are rustling above me. I am standing by an indigo forest lake. On the sands in front of me lies a dead aerali.[Author's note: Something that looks like a prehistoric trilobite.] Its two large eyes, on a fat shieldlike head, are fixed upon me. Understand, through many millions of years, these eyes reminiscent of polished diamonds in a case, are looking at me... The members of my expedition exasperate me. Your selection of scientists proved to be a failure. Here, we need people who are willing and able to brave danger. This whole world is one continuous danger, one continuous flame of life and struggle for life. I managed to find the dwelling of humanoids without much difficulty. In the northeast, at 40° latitude, 87° longitude, is where the offshoots of the rocky mountains are located. Humanoids have settled in the caves there. I have found a very convenient cave where a black cave ksami, which the humanoids call a ka, previously lived. I've started a systematic and detailed study of their lives.
"'And I could not imagine what an invaluable service the reporter's invisibility suit you had sent provided me. It protects me from all danger.
"'In our cities, I hated this harmful invention, which had brought me no little grief. Not wanting to disfigure myself, I wouldn't wear glasses, which all our ladies did to 'see' the invisible reporters, and avoid the danger of their innermost secrets appearing on the fiery columns of the aerial newspapers.
"'I hope to soon please you with a great deal of data in the field of radiozoology.
Your Ni-Sol.'"
The doctor finished reading.
Gi-Sol spoke first.
"I've always known that my sweet sister is very exalted. The blood of her mother boils in her, a poetess, who sings of this world's delights... But in any event, this is all very interesting.. I am grateful to you, father, for this journey. I'm fed up with our Interplanetary Club and the All-Planet Radio-Opera."
Anu-Ala-A laughed, and his hairless, wrinkled, always gloomy face, with its beak-shaped nose, grew cheerful.
- "I bet that Ni-Sol will fall in love with one of the humanoids!"
- "And I'd advise her that it would be better to fall in love with a dizaa. It would be more original and cause me less grief..." [Author's note: "Dizaa": Like a prehistoric dinosaur.] Ok-ya-gi interjected and went towards the aerobile's front rounded window, where the magnifying apparatus was placed.
- "Look, in the distance, our prehistoric world has turned green!"
Indeed, in a bluish-transparent haze, surrounded by high rocky mountains, an immense emerald expanse of lush and gloomy vegetation was spreading out over the basin.
Above it, in transparent - golden - purple strips, the clouds were floating.
High, sheer mountains, as if for that specific purpose, had separated this gloomy, prehistoric world, which endlessly enslaves man, from the modern world, which has traversed an infinitely long path of development, and is now completely enslaved by the power of man.
- "Tell me dear doctor", - Ok-ya-gi asked, - "how was all this complex evolution of life able to form here without the sun's involvement? I'm an engineer and I don't quite understand this..."
Ni-Astu-Sol stepped up to the helm and glancing at the aero-compass, changed the direction of the aerobile.
- "I'm ready to answer your question, Ok-ya-gi. What we call life, we see in this amazing miracle of nature, is the organic cell. This living cell was created at a time when the planet was still luminous, like the fading Sun and stars. It did not need sunlight then, and only later, when the planet had cooled down, did life start to adopt the Sun. In this case, we see a vivid example of the birth of life on our dead planet, where the entire animal world is already extinct, and the plant world continues only due to our artificial support. And now, the fall of our satellite Phobos was enough for the fading flame of life to flare up again..."
- "Well, and what about the primeval 'paradise', the idea of which had occupied the bygone religions of our planet for so long? Our poets love to remember this now forgotten 'paradise'."
- "You'll be freed from this idea soon, dear Gi-Sol. You'll see what cruel and terrible struggles are happening in this world. Everything eats each other there. Death was older than 'paradise', and its breath has extinguished life's flames, in order to leave some combustible material for life's future, eternal flame.
"I, unfortunately, must halt our sweet chatter, as we have reached our destination.
"We'll descend here, near these rocks, and go into the forest, taking only the things we need with us."
6. In The Prehistoric Forest
The companions were in a gloomy, prehistoric forest for the second day.[Translator's note: "Sputnik" is the word for both "satellite" and "companion"] They walked towards the rocky mountains, where Ni-Sol reported that the humanoids had been living.
Life's flame burned brightly all around. A warm, damp wind drove clouds of golden plant pollen from the forest swamps and lakes. And in every such speck of dust, the fire of life burned.
And from every such speck of dust a new plant arose.
Near the gigantic, overgrown horsetails, to which the forest lake adjoined, Gi-Sol saw a beautiful white flower washed ashore.
- "This is the male oriyali flower..."[Author's note: Our Vallisneria flower.] - Ni-Asta-Sol explained. - "Its history is very interesting. It's a symbol of the separation of the animal from the plant. The plant is at the bottom. When the time comes for fertilization, the plant drops a female flower on her long stem towards the water's surface.
"In the male flower, nature has developed a stem that is too short. He can't reach the surface. But the act of fertilization must be performed. The male flower then makes a heroic effort, detaches himself from his stem and floats to the surface. Approaching the female flower, he gives her the flame of life, and then he himself is carried away by the wind and dies. This beautiful impulse to sacrifice onesself for the future is the basis of life ..."
Gi-Sol suddenly screamed, grabbing Anu-Ala-A's arm in horror.
- "What is that?! Look!"
In the thicket of horsetails, a muffled footfall was heard.
Breaking the young shoots, a huge gobri suddenly jumped out.[Author's note: A prehistoric diprotodon.] With indescribable fury, he rushed at the companions.
Everyone was at a loss.
Their traveling packs and weapons were thoughtlessly left a few fathoms from the lake. Luckily, Ok-ya-gi had taken a radio-revolver with him. At the very last minute, when the gobri was two strides away, Ok-ya-gi fired.
An incredibly bright beam, like a thin fiery whip, lashed the green damp twilight.
The Gobri fell heavily onto the grass at the same moment.
Everyone leaned with curiosity over this huge, elephant-sized, dead animal.
Only Dr. Ni-Astu-Sol was crawling on his knees on the grass and fumbling around with his hands, looking for his glasses that had fallen in the confusion, while minding the gobri.
At the same time, he continued to speak in the same instructive tone as he had a few minutes before.
"Well, do you know what kind of animal it is? It's a simple mouse. Developing gradually, it has reached such a size. Does it surprise you? Where are my glasses?"
Everyone laughed and began to look.
A new noise was heard in the thickets...
Anu-Ala-A grabbed the doctor's hand. "Hurry, to our packs! We'll put on the invisibility suits... Who knows what other surprises are in store for us..."
But at that instant, a huge mob of humanoids jumped out from the thicket. The skins of cave ksamis covered their naked, hairy bodies at the hips. In their hands were spears with sharp stone heads. Some had heavy stone axes.
With a furious roar, some of them surrounded the dead gobri, while the others rushed in pursuit of our companions.
- "Kaiyas! Kaiyas!" - they shouted, brandishing their weapons.
The first to be surrounded was the doctor, who lagged behind.
Ok-ya-gi, and all the others with him who had managed to run to their packs, were forced to turn back for the doctor's rescue. Only Ok-ya-gi had managed to pull out the invisibility pants... Along the way, he had managed to put them on... The lower part of his torso became invisible... This made a stunning impression on the humanoids. The upper half of Ok-ya-gi's body was hanging in the air, waving its arms.
Indescribable horror had engulfed the humanoids. They fell on their knees and, bowing down to the ground, began to shout out the same word in guttural, plaintive voices.
- "Ni-Sol! Ni-Sol! Ni-Sol!"
The doctor approached Ok-ya-gi.
- "Can you understand any of this?"
- "I can't even hope to understand."
- "And you, Anu-Ala-A?"
- "Totally obscure darkness."
- "I can hear that they're pronouncing something similar to my sister's name."
- "That's what we've all heard, Gi-Sol. But this is the very thing that is most incomprehensible to us."
- "That fact is nevertheless there. The humanoids are acting peacefully towards us. Look, they are calling us to somewhere, and quite respectfully at that."
- "I think that we should go with them," said Anu-Ala-A. A reporter's passion for sensational adventure had flared up in him.
- "I also believe that this is the quickest way to comprehend the incomprehensible."
- "And I agree with you," said the doctor.
Taking their packs, they set off.
The humanoids went ahead, clearing the way. They shouted something in piercing, joyful voices.
The thickets of horsetail soon ceased. High rocky mountains rose behind the vast open glade. Over the entire clearing, huge bonfires were burning.
Black resinous smoke rose in heavy clouds towards the sky. Around the fires, in all directions, a huge crowd of humanoids was scurrying. Some, who were cutting the slain gobri into pieces, rushed to meet them.
When all the companions approached the camp, their faces assumed the same expression of incredible surprise...
Walking towards them, smiling, was Ni-Sol, the humanoids falling to their knees before her, covering their faces with their hands.
7. Conversation Among the Present "Gods"
In the evening, everyone was sitting by the cave at the top of the rocky mountains and was looking out at the evening expanse that was spread out before them. Down in the clearing, bonfires burned with crimson flames.
The fumes rose like bluish clouds over the forest. In the forest, the animals were screaming.
Occasionally, huge wings of nocturnal birds had darkened the air.
Ni-Sol spoke.
- "When I first came to the humanoids, they were still ruled by a cult of stone and beast. This tribe calls itself the Marasatuk. Another tribe lives on the other side of the mountains. It's smaller.
"At first I was fascinated by this cruel world. I had helped the humanoids in their struggle with nature. They demonstrated no small amounts of heroism. Being seen once, when I shot a ksami and struck it down, the humanoids began to consider me the god of the mountains. Am I, Ni-Sol, a god!? Could you even imagine something like this... Having thus passed on to a cult of human gods, this tribe had made an enormous leap in its historical development. However, don't envy me... They took you, of course, also for gods, coming to my aid to rule the world and their tribe.
"But I very soon saw this enormous abyss of time between them and myself. I felt a terrible loneliness and longing. Life is a continuous stream of perpetual motion, carrying everything forward. Every second, every hour, every day of life takes us further and further. And with all of our desire to go back, it's impossible, this stream won't release us. Every second we're enriched with experience and knowledge. Every day passed cannot be the same for us today as what came before. The question rose up before me: what are we going to do with these creatures?
"In our culture, we have gone so far from them that we do not need them at all. We cannot even make them our slaves. Our mechanical workers are more convenient and productive for us. Having transformed labor into creativity, and attaining this happiness, we don't need these creatures at all..."
Everyone was deep in thought.
The darkness thickened. In the clearing, in front of the crimson flames of the bonfires, the humanoids scurried about, brandishing stone axes.
Their huge, bizarre shadows hideously snaked on the scorched clearing.
- "They dance their sacred dance in honor of us, the gods who have arrived..." - Ni-Sol spoke after a long pause.
Above the forest, rose the orange crescent of Deimos. Close to it, a shooting star flared up and sped downwards.
- "Look! An aerobile taking off from Deimos."
- "How absurd! A prehistoric world and aerobile communications."
Ni-Sol laughed and threw her arms around Ok-ya-gi's neck.
- "Do you know, what is permanent and eternal?"
- "The feeling of love..."
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