Part 11 (1/2)
”No,” Georg declared. ”But my father's work was for the people. I'm not talking patriotism--only humanitarianism. The strife, suffering in our worlds--you would avoid it yourself--and gloat while others bore it.
You----”
”Youth!” Tarrano interrupted. ”Altruism! It is very pretty in theory--but quite nonsensical. Man lifts himself--the individual must look out for himself--not for others. Each man to his destiny--and the weak go down and the strong go up. It is the way of all life--animal and human. It always has been--and it always will be. The way of the universe. You are very young, Georg Brende.”
”Perhaps,” Georg said, and fell silent.
Tarrano abruptly rose to his feet. ”Calm thought is better than argument. You have imagination--you can picture what I offer. Think it over. And if youth is your trouble----” His eyes were twinkling. ”I shall have to wait until you grow up. We have a long road to travel--empires cannot be built in a day.”
He paused before Elza with a grave, dignified bow. ”Goodnight, Lady Elza.”
”Goodnight,” she said.
He left us. We stood listening to his footsteps as he quietly descended the tower incline. At his summons, the barrage was lifted. He went out.
From the balcony we saw him cross the spider bridge, with Argo at his heels. As they vanished into the yawning mouth of an arcade beyond the bridge, again came that rose-glow in the other tower. We saw again the girl with flowing white hair standing there. And now she was waving us back.
”She wants us inside, where we can't be seen,” Georg murmured. We drew back into the room, standing where we still could see the girl. I wondered then--and we had discussed it several times these last hours--if the interior of our tower were under observation by some distant guard. We felt that probably it was, visibly and audibly; and we had been very careful of what we said aloud.
But now, if we were watched, we could not help it; we would have to take the chance. The figure of the girl showed plainly down there through the other cas.e.m.e.nt. And again, with slow-moving white arms she began to semaph.o.r.e. A queer application of the Secondary Code, which always is used officially with coral-light beams over considerable distances. But it sufficed in this emergency. Slowly she spelled out the letters, words, phrases.
_”I am Princess Maida----”_
Georg whispered to us: ”Hereditary ruler of the Central State----”
I nodded. ”Watch, Georg----”
_”Prisoner----”_ came next: _”Like yourselves, and we must escape.”_
She paused a moment, letting her arms drop to her sides, shaking the glorious waves of her white hair with a toss of her head. Then, at a gesture from Georg that he understood, she began again:
_”Escape tonight----”_
I half expected that any moment Tarrano or one of his men would burst in to stop this. But the signals continued.
_”I am sending you a friend--tonight--soon--he will come to you. With plans for our escape. A good friend----”_
Her tower abruptly went dark. Cautiously I gazed down from our balcony.
Argo had appeared on the spider bridge; he was pacing back and forth.
Did he suspect anything? We could not tell, but it seemed not. It was the midnight hour; a brilliant white flash swept the city to mark it.
In a low corner of the balcony, behind the glow of our barrage, we crouched together, whispering excitedly. But cautiously, for we knew that the microphonic ears of a jailor might be upon us. The Princess Maida--here in Tarrano's hands! She was sending us a friend--tonight--soon; a friend who would help us all to escape.
”By the code!” Georg exclaimed. ”If we could get to Was.h.i.+ngton--if I could be there now in this crisis--with my knowledge of the Brende light----”
Far above our personal safety, our lives, lay the importance of Georg's knowledge. With the Brende secret--through him--in the hands of the Earth Council, Tarrano's greatest lever to power would be broken. Our Earth public would sway back to patriotic loyalty. The Little People of Mars unquestionably would remain friendly with us, with the Brende light to be developed on Earth and shared with them. They would see Tarrano perhaps, for what he was--a dangerous, unscrupulous enemy.... If only Georg could escape....
An hour went by with murmured thoughts like these. A friend coming to help us? How could he reach us? And how help us to escape?