Part 2 (1/2)
The noise died down to silence and at a gesture from their ruler, the Earthmen took seats. Turgan stood beside Damis.
”For the enlightenment of our new-found brother, I will recite what has happened and what we have done, although most of you know it and many of you have done your part in bringing it about.
”Forty years ago, the Earth was prosperous, peopled with free men, and happy. While we knew little of science and lived in mere huts, yet we wors.h.i.+pped beauty and Him who ruled all and loved his children. It was to such a world that the Jovians came.
”When the first s.p.a.ce flyer with a load of these inhuman monsters arrived on the earth, we foolishly took them for the angels whom we had been taught to believe spent eternity in glorifying Him. We welcomed them with our best and humbly obeyed when they spoke. This illusion was fostered by the name the Jovians gave themselves, the 'Sons of G.o.d.'
Hortan, their leader and the father of our new brother, was a just and kindly man and he ruled the earth wisely and well. We learned from them and they learned from us. That was the golden age. And the Sons of G.o.d saw that the Daughters of Man were fair, and they took of them wives, such as they chose. And sons were born to them, the Nepthalim, the mighty men of the Earth.
”In time other flyers came from the heavens above and brought more of the Sons of G.o.d to rule over us. Then Hortan, the Viceroy, died, and Damis, know you how he died? You were a babe at the time and you know nothing. Your father and your mother, who was my distant kinswoman, died under the knives of a.s.sa.s.sins. It was given out that they had gone to Jupiter, yet there were some who knew the truth. You, the killers sought, but one of the Earthmen whose heart bled for your dead mother, spirited you away. When you had grown to boyhood, he announced your name and lineage, although his life paid for his indiscretion. The same hand which struck down your father and your mother struck at him and struck not unavailingly. You, since all knew your name and lineage, he dared not strike, lest those who love him not, would appeal to Tubain. Know you the name of the monster, the traitor to his ruler and the murderer of your parents?”
Damis' face had paled during the recital and when the old Kildare turned to him, he silently shook his head.
”It was the monster who now rules over us as Viceroy and who profanes the name of G.o.d by conferring it on his master and who would, if he dared, a.s.sume the name for himself. It was Glavour, Viceroy of the Earth.”
The blood surged back into Damis' face and he raised a hand in a dramatic gesture.
”Now I vow that I will never rest until he lies low in death and this be the hand that brings him there!”
A murmur of applause greeted Damis' announcement and Turgan went on with his tale.
”With the kind and just Hortan dead, Glavour a.s.sumed the throne of power, for none dared oppose him. Once secure, he gave way to every brutal l.u.s.t and vice. Your mother was Hortan's only wife and he honored her as such, and meant that the Nepthalim should in time rule the Earth, but Glavour had no such ideas. To him, the Daughters of Man were playthings to satisfy his brutal l.u.s.ts. By dozens and by scores he swept the fairest of them into his seraglio, heeding not the bonds of matrimony nor the wishes of his victims. Only the fact that my daughter has been kept from his sight until to-day has spared her.
”The Earthmen who had been content to live under Hortan's rule, rebelled against Glavour but the rebellion was crushed in blood. Time and again they rose, but each time the mighty weapons of the Jovians stamped out resistance. At last we realized that craft and not force must win the battle. This chamber had been built when Hortan erected his new capital and none of the Jovians knew of its location, so it was chosen as our meeting place. To-day, Damis, I have twenty thousand men sworn to do my bidding and to rise when I give the word. Many thousands more will rise when they see others in arms and know that again the Sons of Man stand in arms against the Sons of G.o.d.”
”There are less than a thousand Jovians and perhaps twice that number of Nepthalim on the Earth, yet that handful would stand victorious against all the Earthmen living,” said Damis thoughtfully. ”Even I, and I am a Nepthalim, do not know the secret weapons in the a.r.s.enal of Glavour, but I know that they are more powerful than anything we have ever seen.
Forget not, too, that a radio message to Jupiter will bring down s.h.i.+ps with hundreds, nay, thousands, of her fighting men with weapons to overwhelm all opposition.”
”Such was the case but it is so no longer since we number you among us,”
replied the Kildare. ”Earthmen are employed in the communications net which the Jovians have thrown around the Earth and it is but a step from those machines to the huge one with which they talk to their mother planet. My spies have been busy for years and our plans are all laid.
There is one planet which all the forces of Jupiter have never been able to conquer; from which their s.h.i.+ps have ever retreated in defeat.”
”Mars!” exclaimed Damis.
”Exactly,” replied Turgan. ”The Martians are a peaceful and justice-loving people, yet they know that peace is given only to those who are ready and able to fight for it. Ages ago they perfected weapons before which the Jovians fly, if they are not destroyed. I have communicated with the Grand Mognac of Mars and laid our plight before him. He has pledged his aid and has promised us enough of his weapons to not only destroy the Jovians and the Nepthalim on the Earth, but also to prevent other Jovian s.h.i.+ps from ever landing. The only problem has been how to get them here. The Martians, not desiring conquest and content with their own planet, have never perfected s.p.a.ce flyers. They have promised us the weapons, but we must go to Mars and bring them here.
Enough can be transported on one of the Jovian s.h.i.+ps.”
”How will we get a s.h.i.+p?” asked Damis.
”That also has been solved. There are two Jovian s.h.i.+ps kept on the Earth, ready for instant flight to Jupiter. They are loosely guarded for the Sons of G.o.d believe that we have no idea of how to operate them. We can capture one of them whenever we desire, but so far such action would have been useless. Little by little we have gathered bits of information about the flyers, but we had expected to wait for years before our venture would have a chance of success. We dared not try prematurely, for one attempt will be all that we will ever get. Now we are ready to strike. You can fly the s.h.i.+p to Mars and back and with the Martian weapons, we can sweep the Jovians from the Earth.”
Damis' eyes lighted as Turgan spoke.
”Your plans are good,” he cried, ”and I will fly the s.h.i.+p for you. In return I ask but one thing: let mine be the hand which strikes Glavour down.”