Zarlah the MartianGrisewood, R. Norman (Robert Norman)
Science
Zarlah the Martian
Grisewood, R. Norman (Robert Norman)
Mars (Planet) -- Fiction; Science fiction
It was late in the afternoon when a feeling of intense hunger reminded
me that I had not tasted food for twenty-four hours. I contented myself,
however, with a light meal at a neighboring cafe, knowing the danger of
eating heavily at this time. To my great surprise, I found that this
small amount of food was evidently all my system required. Not only was
my hunger appeased, but, while returning to my rooms, I was conscious of
a strength and vigor which were entirely new to me, and which I now
remembered I had first experienced upon awakening. Could it be that the
super-radium current, possessing the wonderful regenerating rays that
had brought perpetual life to the people of Mars, was gradually working
this change in my body over a distance of millions of miles? Impossible
as this seemed there was no other way of accounting for the remarkable
change which had taken place in my body.
The intense excitement I experienced at the thought of possessing
perpetual life, health, and youth was but momentary, and I reached my
laboratory with a full realization of the enormous responsibilities
which my discovery was placing upon me. I could no longer keep it
secret; each day that I withheld the knowledge of these rays from my
fellow beings, hundreds, nay thousands, of lives would be laid to my
account. The knowledge had not been given to me that I should guard it
selfishly. The hope that, even though I could never call Zarlah my own,
I might often spend a few happy hours with her in her Martian paradise
was now shattered forever. I must stifle my love or commit a crime
against every living soul on Earth; and as I paced my room in agony,
with my hands pressed to my temples to ease their throbbing, a great cry
of anguish from the multitude in Death's grasp rang through my brain. My
heart was torn asunder by two great conflicting emotions, Love and Duty,
and in this torture of mind and body I moved restlessly back and forth
in my room, until the fading light warned me of the near approach of
wave contact with Mars.
There was but one course open to me; I would tell Almos of my experience
with the rays, and if he should decide that they were the same as the
regenerating rays, possessing all their properties, and that continual
life was now within reach of the people on Earth, I would make my
discovery public on the morrow. This would be my solemn duty, no matter
what sacrifice it involved, and I could not help feeling that this
second visit to Mars might be the last.
A hasty examination of my instrument assured me that all was in order,
and, turning on the current, I now watched the surface of wires for the
glow that would signalize the commencement of wave contact. Should this
glow appear without an image of any kind it would have but one
meaning--that the mechanism of the virator had failed to do its work the
night previous, and that disaster had befallen Almos.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account