But the Martian only grinned owlishly. He knew as well as did Carr that
Ora would have her way.
"Risky--pooh!" she returned. "I'm not afraid. We have our ray pistols
and the funny torpedoes you brought from Mars. Besides, I don't believe
it's as bad as you think."
Carr shrugged his shoulders. After all, they probably would not
encounter any of the savages here in the forest. Beings of far greater
intelligence were responsible for those rays, that much was certain.
Besides, they'd be three able-bodied men out there to watch over her,
and he'd make sure she didn't get too far away from the ship.
* * * * *
Carr was first to step from the opened manhole to the soft carpet of the
Titanese forest. He found the air cool and crisp, with a tang of ozone
assailing his nostrils. There was a pulsating motion in it that he could
hardly define; it seemed that it massaged his cheeks and raised the
short hairs at the nape of his neck and on his forearms as if they were
electrified. Those vibrations Detis had told them about were actively at
work.
The gravity was even less than on Mars, though slightly greater than
that of Europa. Mado was entirely at ease, and the Europans would not be
bothered by the slight change in their weight. But Carr would have to
take it easy, as he'd done ever since leaving Earth. His muscles were
too powerful for his body on these smaller worlds, though this was a
mighty advantage if he took care not to over-exert.
A melodious whistling note rose high somewhere in the depths of the
forest and trailed off into eery silence. The sky was overcast with gray
clouds and the light was poor, of little more than twilight intensity on
Terra, this being partly due to the masking of the sun by the clouds and
partly to their tremendous distance from that radiant body. Odd that it
was not colder, he thought. Probably those vibratory radiations of
Saturn's rings had something to do with the temperature in addition to
their other effects.
Detis was on his knees, examining a queer specimen of purplish moss
which had drawn his eye. The eternal scientist in the man could not be
downed. Mado had come out armed with one of the bulky kalbite
torpedo-projectors and was looking around belligerently.
Ora drew herself erect and took a deep breath as soon as her feet
touched the ground, her eyes bright and her cheeks flushed with
excitement. "Oh, Carr," she breathed, "it's marvelous; an
honest-to-goodness virgin forest. We've neither of us ever seen one, you
know. Aren't you thrilled?"
"We-e-ll," he admitted, "I've always looked forward to wandering in just
such places. But, with you along, and thinking of those barbarians we
saw--"
"Silly. I'm as capable as any of you. And, even if I couldn't look out
for myself, I know that you will be at my side." She pursed her lips and
tossed back her head provocatively.
What was a man to do?
* * * * *
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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