George Henry Weiss

“ The middle ruler leaned forward, his jell showing intense curiosity. “What are those satellites of which you speak?”
Fo-Peta’s feelers registered amazement. “Surely you know of them, the nine moons circling this planet of yours?”
“No,” said the ruler slowly, “no, we did not know of them; never have we seen them: the metallic vapors are too dense to allow of our studying the heavens with any precision. But tell us – those moons you speak of are inhabited?”
“As you perceive, by inhabitants like to myself. All the moons are populated. ”

“ Towering fern growths, analogous to similar growths on Bar-Zee and Narlone but giant-like in comparison, grew in the square, and through the paths they lined floated hundreds of the city’s inhabitants, tall people with abnormally long teebas propelling them, their single eyes gleaming, their feelers tinged blue with astonishment. Brown they were, like the metallic vapors they moved through, bands of lirum-colored silver and gold round their middle bodies and many of them carried in one feeler what appeared to be long canes. ”

“ I, Zeera, was once the daughter of a Ked of Junius. A Ked is not a king or chief, a tyrant, but a governor elevated by the people for a brief space. We were a free nation with free workers – all of us were workers. Then came the Hadeans. Our city walls were leveled, our people butchered or enslaved. I was brought here to grace the Hadean triumph, the triumph of the Three. Since which I have labored as a menial in the palace here, bearing the burden yoke. Of late I have caught the fancy of the middle ruler, who desires me for his plaything. ”

“ A murmur of surprise was audible in the audience hall.
“Ern, as you call it, is big,” said the middle ruler, “and it is quite possible that savage lands far to the south where we have penetrated but seldom have come under foreign sway. But tell me, is this Narlone you speak of powerful and wealthy?”
“Aye,” said Fo-Peta, his jell showing the truthfulness of what he said, “wealthy and powerful. Tul-mills and gren-mines do they work with slave labor, and from the Ethor regions of Bar-Zee extract the rare and precious cana and tara.” ”

“ Pross Mere-Mer was handicapped by difficult absorption, his gills blowing almost continuously. One of his feelers had the middle ruler by the upper teeba, just under the central jell, preventing his speaking mouth from giving more than a half-stifled shout. Fo-Peta did not hesitate. Too much was at stake. At any moment some attendant might blunder on the scene. He darted on Tal-Ton from one side and swung up the heavy disk. The middle ruler collapsed under the same terrible blow that had slain the guard. Pross Mere-Mer turned on Fo-Peta with furious feelers. ”

“ Many years ago were the shackles forged for our limbs and many of you may not know the history of those days; but we know, we professional revolutionists, and we tell you that only as you stand together as one, make common cause with the oppressed of all the satellites, can you hope to prevail against your taskmasters.” His feelers glowed militantly. “We have overthrown our guards, captured the Intelligence Towers, but soon Pross Mere-Mer and the other Pross Lords under him, will hurl against us the concentrated might of Narlone. ”

“ Therefore we have achieved a method of going where we wish by way of the fifth dimension.”
“Startling as it may sound, we go out of existence relatively, in the fifth dimension, and reappear at the spot on which we have the needle of this finder. To do this it is necessary to know the exact location of the spot to which we are going to travel – its distance from us – in three-dimensional figures; and it is necessary to reduce this information to a chart, a map such as you observed us make of Narlone. Since the metropolis of Narlone and Hade occupy identical spots—”
“Identical spots!” ”

“ What would we do for metallic vapors to absorb, energy tubes to sustain life?”
“That is true.” Suddenly Fo-Peta’s jell glowed with exultation. “The dimensional car!” he exclaimed. They stared at him with motionless feelers. Fo-Peta explained what he meant. “It is the very thing we need. Supplied with what we must have, in a moment we are there.”
“And how are you going to obtain the car?” Pross Mere-Mer’s jell showed the irony of orange. With a twist of the teeba he floated into a corner and closed his sardonic eye. ”

“ His jell a vicious hue, he surged forward with a powerful twist of the teeba. Back went Tal-Ton in the grip of the Pross Lord’s feelers, squawking out his terror and surprise. Instantly the guard floated into action. “Look out!” warned Zeera.
Helpless to act, Kama-Loo floated in his place. He was the scholar, the scientist, but scarcely the vir of action. Fo-Peta lashed forward to meet the guard. His middle body was making hard work of absorption in the thick metallic vapors of Ern. He sprouted constantly through his gills for the strength to move rapidly. ”

“ Insofar as we know, life depends on certain conditions found only on Ern and its nine satellites. But perhaps absorption of metallic vapors is not a necessary condition for life on every planet. On Darth, as you may know, there are faint traces of metallic vapors though scarcely enough to maintain our forms of life ”

“ There is danger in doing this without knowing our objective; that is why we have to be careful. Not all places reached thru the fifth dimension are capable of supporting life, though of course we have taken chances and lost machines. ”

“ They are rare amongst us. But you – why have you sought us out?”
Then Fo-Peta told them of the conditions in the tul-mills and the gren-mines, of the certain death from attrition – the hideous nager – which assailed those condemned to labor long years in the Ethor regions. He told of his life as a professional revolutionist, of his many attempts to organize the toilers to overthrow Narlone rule of Pross Lords; of his arrest, condemnation, leadership of the successful uprising on Bar-Zee ”