Ray Cummings

“ Then chaos. The prostrate Marlans gasped; then leaped to their feet, shouting, milling with terror and confusion. Bohr's men from behind the platform leaped upon it. All of them with knives, plunging the blades into the Ruler's puffed, toadlike body; and then standing, shouting at the crowd.
It was a startled instant while Atwood stood numbed. Bohr again had vanished; and then suddenly he appeared on the platform with Ah-li and was standing beside her, with his heavy arm around her as she sagged against him in terror. ”

“ Atwood and the girl—escaping Gods, from a world which had become a purgatory.
In the control turret they sat, staring ahead at the great stars that glittered in the black firmament. The Earth was a tiny glowing dot.
"There it is," Atwood said. "Your world, and mine. We've got the Xarite, Ah-li. You wanted to do good on that little planetoid. There'll be plenty of chance, on Earth."
"And that is Earth?" she murmured. "So small."
"It's very big," he said smilingly. "You'll see. If only my father and Dr. Johns were alive now, to greet us as we come with the Xarite. They worked so hard for this." ”

“ The barrage was close behind them. And as Atwood's apprehensive gaze stared at the purple radiance, dimly behind it he could see that the genes were crowding. Attracted by the scent of the human crowd here, they had gathered outside the barrage. Thousands of them—ghastly, tumbling, tentacled balls of saffron, milling one upon the other as they pressed forward. Thousands? There could have been millions; a saffron sea of them out there.
"The Man-God will speak to us now." It was Ah-li's voice, prompting him. ”

“ And take Ah-li with him.
"Listen," he began, "show me the way to one of those caves. I want to see—"
"Here is water, for us to swim," she interrupted. "The flesh of the genes is still on us."
Heaven knew he had been conscious of it. A little stream of purplish phosphorescent water, impregnated no doubt with the Xarite, came babbling down the slope here from the distant hills. He and Ah-li plunged in; came out, with the purple phosphorescence of the water dripping from them.
Atwood breathed with relief. "That's certainly better." Now, if he could get her to lead him to the Xarite caves. ”

“ The cylinder's air did not go out. On the contrary, the outer pressure was greater, so that the planetoid's air came hissing in—a rush at first, then a filtering drift, and then it stopped.
Atwood's head reeled. He gripped his air-mask; then his head steadied and he discarded the mask. Breathable air. It was heavy; moist, aromatic with strange smells of the forest. But breathable. In a moment he hardly noticed its strangeness. In the silence, mingled with the thumping of his heart against his ribs, a low hum now was audible coming through the open porte. The voice of the forest. ”

“ A slit of darkness in the barrage.... And now Bohr had staggered and overturned another brazier. It was his last act. He staggered and fell as through the widened dark slit, the hideous torrent of screaming, chattering saffron monsters rolled through. In a second Bohr was engulfed. The milling Marlans, shouting in wild terror now, were trying to run. Ponderous, sluggish steps.... The horrible yellow torrent engulfed them.
"Ah-li! Ah-li dear—" Atwood gasped. The girl, fascinated with horror had been resisting him. "We've got to try to get away." ”

“ The Goddess Ah-li. The Marlans, awed, bowed before her as she advanced, mounted the smaller platform and stood with her arms outstretched. The reflected glow of the barrage painted her face. Apprehension was there. And then she saw Atwood. Relief swept her; and then an exaltation. The recognition of a Man-God, with her to guide these people.
Then Atwood, tense and alert, stood on the other platform, facing the ruler. He was some twenty feet from the girl, and five feet or so above her.
"The Man-God is here," Bohr proclaimed in English. ”

“ As though hideous forces of nature, held in check, now abruptly were released. A tentacled thing, big as a football. But before Atwood and the girl could more than struggle to their feet, it was a monstrous saffron thing of horror—a round, glowing, luminous pulpy mass, big as Atwood now. Its bulk blocked the cave-entrance.
"Good God—" Atwood muttered. "We're penned in here!"
There was no chance for them to leap away. In terror Ah-li was clinging to him. The dark narrow confines of the recess were lurid now with the monster's ghastly yellow light. ”

“ Bohr and a dozen of his roistering men were here.
"Our Man-God is late for the ceremony," Bohr was leering. They were shoving Atwood forward, along a village street crowded with jabbering Marlans, across an edge of the village toward an open space, like a public square. The mound-dwellings bounded it on one side, and the barrage was on the other. The square was thronged with Marlans, standing in jabbering groups, gazing toward the center where three platforms were erected. ”

“ These genes—hideous monsters here on this little world, held in check, destroyed by the Xarite radiance. And on Earth, the dread sub-microscopic spores of poliomelitus—his father had killed them with Xarite radiance. As though here might be not only the original source of the terrible spores, but the cure for them as well. Nature striking a balance here; and failing to do it on Earth. Did the spores, the genes drift through the immensity of space? Young Atwood well remembered that even a hundred years ago, physicians had advanced some such theory. ”

“ Her ability to swim; to leap into the vine-tops and run upon their frail swaying surface.
Certainly these Marlans would sink like stones in this light water; they could leap no more than a heavy man could leap on Earth. Their weight chained them to the ground.
"Ah-lee...." One of them, slightly taller, less ponderous than the others, came forward, with a flood of words to the girl.
She answered him in weird, guttural, unintelligible words, with gestures toward Atwood at whom now they were all staring in awe. And then abruptly she added, in English:
"A Man-God has come to us, Bohr." ”

“ And abruptly he realized the tremendous strength of these creatures. A ponderous power of muscles; a different quality of strength from that of any Earthman.
The realization sent a thrill of fear through Atwood; mentally he cursed himself that he had not seized Ah-li, rushed her to one of those caves for the Xarite, and gotten away from this accursed place. But there was nothing he could do about it now. Bohr and one of the others gripped him, leading him along, with Ah-li excitedly beside them, and the crowd of jabbering Marlans engulfing them. ”

“ They followed the open spaces between the patches of forest. The weird scene was dim in the night-glow. Occasionally now, through breaks in the patches of lush vegetation, Atwood could see that the radiance of the Xarite-glow ahead of them was growing.... Strange progress, this half walking, half leaping advance. It was hard for Atwood to keep his feet; almost impossible to gauge the distance a leap would carry him. Many times he fell. Muscles that he had seldom used before were beginning to ache. ”

“ By his calculation he would emerge from the clouds fairly close to the Xarite purple glow. It would be early evening here. He recalled the details of Planetoid-150 which had been in the letter to him from his dead father. Meager details indeed. Dr. Paul Atwood had calculated the asteroid at between five and six hundred miles in diameter.
Then the clouds broke away. Atwood's heart was pounding as he stared down for his first real sight of the unknown world. At first it was a blur of deep purple radiance. It seemed to blind him, this weird glow to which his eyes were unaccustomed. ”

“ Spores, landing on Earth, where conditions would not allow them to grow in size, but where they could only multiply themselves in the bodies of human victims.
"I was thinking," Atwood began again. And then he shrugged hopelessly and gave it up. "Ah-li, listen. Take me to your people now. They will know I'm friendly?"
"Friendly? Why, of course. A god—to help them—"
And he would get his cylinder full of Xarite in its pure state, and then go back to Earth. And take the girl with him? ”

“ My human birth—"
A crash when she landed. A brain concussion. And it had stricken her with amnesia—all her memory gone so that at that instant when she regained consciousness her life in effect was beginning again. ”

“ The genes. On Earth they might remain always as sub-microscopic spores, multiplying in human nerve and brain tissue to cause the ghastly poliomelitus. But here they were merely lurking monsters, seasonally growing into visible things of horror. ”

“ Johns' huge electro-spectroscope, they had discovered the existence of Xarite on Planetoid 150. And had kept it secret. With the era of Interplanetary adventure now at hand, both the physicians feared that the Xarite treasure might fall into unscrupulous hands, be exploited for profit. They wanted to get it themselves and invent the radiotherapy projectors suitable for its use; and give it all to the suffering children of the world as their benefaction.
Dr. Atwood's letter to his son told how, finally, Dr. Johns had secured a small spaceship and had gone, trying to get to Planetoid-150. Dr. ”