Part 24 (1/2)
”I may have put it jokingly,” protested Dark, a little taken aback, ”but I'm serious, Maya.”
”I know you are!” she giggled. ”That's what makes it so funny. Answering you in the same vein, Mr. Kensington, I don't intend to put you in double jeopardy!”
Dark raised his eyebrows quizzically.
”I arrested you and you were killed resisting arrest,” she explained mischievously. ”I've discharged that duty as a terrestrial agent, so I don't think I'm either required or ent.i.tled to arrest you again. And as for the other, well, I am a little sorry for Nuwell, but I do love you, and I won't marry Nuwell, since you're alive. But I can't marry you, Dark.”
Dark was stunned at this.
”Why not, Maya? You mean, because you're a terrestrial agent?”
”No, it isn't that. I'm planning to resign as an agent, as soon as I get back to Mars City, and that wouldn't stop me, anyway. The reason I can't marry you is simply that you haven't asked me.”
Dark laughed, a rollicking, relieved laugh, and swept her into his arms.
”Maya, darling, I ask you now!” he exclaimed. ”Will you marry me?”
”Yes, Dark,” she answered demurely.
She leaned back in the circle of his arms and looked up into his face, seriously.
”Whither thou goest, I will go,” she said, very quietly. ”If you're a rebel, Dark, I'll be a rebel, too. I want to be with you, and help you in whatever you do.”
14
Dark and Maya sat with their backs against the wall of Ultra Vires, and Qril squatted before them, towering huge above them. A little distance away the other three Martians were grouped, playing some sort of game, doing some sort of work or partic.i.p.ating in some sort of joint demonstration. Dark could not be sure which.
Qril boomed out a long, rolling sentence and Maya broke into laughter.
She turned to Dark and translated:
”He said he didn't understand why I'm wearing a helmet, when you aren't.
I explained that I have to wear a helmet to breathe, and he said that, since you and I are alike, it appears that we'd dress alike. So you see, darling, even the Martians recognize that we're made for each other.”
Dark shook his head in wonderment.
”No human has ever been able to figure out Martian thinking processes, and I doubt that one ever will,” he remarked. ”This is the Martian who explained to you the physiological structure that permits me to live without oxygen, and yet he asks a question like that!”
”There's one thing that puzzles me,” said Maya curiously. ”Without a helmet, you can't use your marsuit heater, and you said you walked here naked. But the temperature out here right now is well below freezing.
Aren't you cold?”
”No,” answered Dark. ”I get cold in temperatures that are uncomfortable to anyone else when I'm in a dome or a building and breathing. But out here, when I'm not breathing, I'm aware of temperature changes but they don't cause me any discomfort. It must be that switching to direct utilization of solar power alters my reactions to temperature.”
”Well,” said Maya, ”I can understand that utilization of solar power when you're in the suns.h.i.+ne. But how can you keep operating when you're in shadow, or at night, and not breathing?”
”I don't know. Maybe Qril does.”
Maya asked the Martian, and relayed his answer to Dark: