Zarlah the MartianGrisewood, R. Norman (Robert Norman)
Science
Zarlah the Martian
Grisewood, R. Norman (Robert Norman)
Mars (Planet) -- Fiction; Science fiction
"Ah, my love!" sighed Zarlah, bending over me and nervously clasping my
hands in hers, "now that the danger is past and you are restored to me,
the long hours of agony seem like a dream. But, oh, the anguish of that
moment when I beheld another aerenoid lying close to mine, upon the
surface of the moon that had intercepted my journey to Earth! My soul
cried out that in it lay my beloved, suffocating to death. Who else
would have followed me over the dreaded Pole! With wild haste I attached
an oxygen respirator to my mouth, and, releasing the air from the car,
sprang out upon the surface, little suspecting the danger that lurked
there. But so small is the force of gravity upon this moon that I was
without perceptible weight, and the tendency to rise with every step I
took filled me with terror, and I crept upon my hands and knees to the
aerenoid which lay a few yards away. Opening the door, I found you lying
apparently lifeless upon the floor. My heart told me that it was my love
who lay within Death's grasp, and, desperate at the thought that you had
been so near to me, only to be torn away by the hand of Death, I lifted
you up and hastened with you back to the aerenoid I had left. The small
amount of gravity now aided me, and I carried you without feeling the
burden.
"Filling the car with oxygen and applying regenerating rays, I waited
for a sign of life. Oh, the agony of those moments, as in despair I
frantically called your name! At last the sign came--a quiver of the
lips, a faint breath--and I knew there was hope. Gradually your
breathing became stronger, but a terrible fever raged within you.
Through long, long hours on this strange globe I knelt beside you,
listening to your piercing cries of delirium, as you lived that awful
experience over and over again. Little by little, in the cries of agony
that rent my heart, I learned how you had come to me a moment too late;
how you had followed my aerenoid, and, being unable to stop me, had
rushed to the fate that was mine, to be hurled into space, unprepared
for such a journey; how you had suffocated, and--oh! my love, as you lay
through the long hours, gazing at me with wild unseeing eyes--ever
calling my name--imploring me not to rush to my death--I at last
despaired of your life, and my soul prepared itself to fly with yours to
the life beyond, leaving our bodies clasped in each other's arms, to
circle round the world which had denied us our love until the end of
time!
"But suddenly the light of reason came into your eyes--your voice lost
its wild accents, and I knew that you had been restored to me. In a few
hours now, Harold, the rays will have completed their work, and you will
be in full possession of your former strength."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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