It was in a daze of speculation that I allowed the girl to lead me through the golden gates of the city, through its tree-lined streets, towards a palace of shining white stone. People, men and women dressed-if dressed is the word-similarly to the girl, glanced in polite curiosity at my white lab coat and grey pants which I was still wearing.
We mounted the steps of the palace and entered a great hall, hung with banners of many colors, on which were embroidered strange emblems, mythical beasts and words traced out in a peculiar script which also reminded me of Sanskrit.
Five galleries rose around the hall and in the centre a fountain played. The few simply-dressed people who stood conversing in the hall waved cheerfully to the girl and gave me that same look of polite curiosity I had received in the streets.
We walked through the hall, through another doorway and up a spiral staircase of white marble.
Here she paused on the landing and opened a door that at first looked like metal but on closer observation proved to be wood of incredible hardness and polish.
The room in which I found myself was quite small. It was barely furnished, with a few rugs of brightly dyed animal skins scattered about and a series of cupboards around the walls.
The girl went to one of these cupboards, opened it and took out two metal circlets in which were set radiant gems of a kind completely unknown to me.
She placed one of these on her head and indicated that I should imitate her with the second. I took the circlet and fitted it over my own head.
Suddenly a voice spoke inside my skull. I was astonished for a second, until I realized that here was some kind of telepathic communicator which we physicists had only speculated about.
"Greetings, stranger," said the voice, and I could see the girl's lips move, framing those lovely, alien syllables. "From where do you come?"
"I come from Chicago, Illinois," I said, more to test the device than to convey information which I guessed would be meaningless to her.
She frowned. "Soft sounds and very pleasant, but I do not know that place. Where in Vashu is that?"
"Vashu? Is this city in a land called Vashu?"
"No-Vashu is the whole planet. This city is called Varnal, capital of the nation of the Karnala, my people."
"Do you have astronomy?" I asked. "Do you study the stars?"
"We do. Why do you ask?"
"Which planet is this in relation to the sun?"
"It is the fourth from the sun."
"Mars! It is Mars!" I cried.
"I do not follow you."
"I am sorry. Somehow I have arrived here from the third planet, which we call Earth. That is where Chicago is!"
"But there are no men on Negalu, the third planet. Only steamy jungles and monstrous beasts!"
"How do you know so much about the planet?"
"Our ethercraft have visited it and brought back pictures."
"You have space-ships-but…" I was at a loss.
This was too incredible for me to accept all at once. I questioned her more closely and soon learned that the Earth her people knew was not the Earth I bad left. It seemed to be an Earth that had existed millions of years ago, during the Age of Reptiles. Somehow both space and time had been crossed. That matter transmitter had more to it than we'd guessed!
Another thing puzzled me. The people did not appear to have a great deal of technology visible in the city-yet they had space-ships.
"How could this be?" I asked her.
"We did not build the ethercraft. They were a gift from the Sheev-as were these mind-crowns.
We have a science of our own but it cannot compare to the great wisdom and knowledge of the Sheev."
"Who are the Sheev?"
"They are very great and few of them still live.
They are remote and of an older race than any on Vashu. Our philosophers speculate on their origin, but we know little about them."
I let that go for the time being and decided it was about the moment to introduce myself.
"I am called Michael Kane," I said.
"I am Shizala, Bradhinaka of the Kanala, and ruler in the absence of the Bradhi."
I learned that the Bradhi was about the equivalent of our 'kang', although the title did not suggest that the man who held it possessed absolute power.
Perhaps Guide would be a better one-or Protector? Bradhinaka meant, roughly, Princess-daughter of the King.
"And where is the Bradhi?" I asked.
I saw her face become sad and she glanced at the ground.
"My father disappeared two years ago-on a punitive expedition against the Argzoon. He must have been killed or, if he was captured, killed himself. It is better to die than become a prisoner of the Blue Giants."
I expressed my sympathy and did not feel the time right to ask what the Argzoon or Blue Giants were. She was evidently deeply moved by the memory of the loss of her father, but showed great self-control in refusing to burden someone else with her grief.
I felt immediately like trying to offer her some comfort. But, considering I knew nothing of the moral code and customs of her people, that might perhaps have been disastrous.
She touched her circlet. "We only need to wear these for the time being. The Sheev have given us another machine which should be able to teach you our spoken language."
We conversed a little longer and I learned much of Mars-or Vashu, as I was already beginning to think of it.
There were many nations on Mars, some friendly towards the Kanala, some not. They all spoke recognizable versions of the same root language. This is supposedly true of Earth-that our language was originally a common one; but in our case the changes have been extreme. This was not the case, I learned, on Vashu.
Mars's seas still existed, Shizala told me, though apparently they were not so vast as Earth's. Varnal, capital of the Karnala nation, was one of a number of countries, with rather hazily defined borders, which existed on a large land-mass bigger, but in roughly the same geographical position, than the whole of the American continent.
Travel was effected in two main ways. Most ordinary travel relied on the dahara, a riding and carriage beast of great strength and endurance. But many nations had a few aircraft. As far as I could make out, these relied on atomics-which none of the Vashu peoples understood. These had not been gifts of the Sheev, I learned, but must once have belonged to the Sheev. They were incredibly ancient by all accounts and could not be replaced when destroyed. Thus they were only used in emergencies. There were also ships incorporating some sort of atomic engine, and sailing ships of various kinds. These plied the few rivers of Vashu-rivers which were shrinking with almost every year that passed.
For arms, the Vashu warriors relied primarily on the sword. They had guns-Shizala showed me hers. It was a long-barreled, finely made weapon with a comfortable grip. I could not quite see what it fired or on what principle it worked, but as Shizala tried to explain haltingly I concluded that it was some sort of laser gun. What an incredible amount of power, I thought, was packed into its chambers, for we scientists had always argued that a laser hand-gun was out of the question, since the power required to produce the laser ray-tightly focused light which could cut through steel-relied on a very big generator. Wonderingly, I handed the gun back to her. These guns, not gifts of the Sheev but probably looted from their now lost or completely ruined cities by Shizala's remote ancestors, were also used infrequently, since once the charge was finally expended it could not be replaced.
Their akashasard-or ethercraft-apparently numbered five in all. Three of these belonged to the Karnala and one each to friendly, neighbouring nations-the Iridala and the Walavala. Although there were pilots who could operate them, none of the folk of Vashu had any idea how they worked.
Other benefits which a few chosen nations had received from the mysterious Sheev included a longevity serum which, once taken, did not need to be taken again. Everyone was allowed to use it and it gave up to two thousand years of life! Because of this very few children were born, so the population of Vashu remained comparatively small. No bad thing, I reflected. I could have listened to Shizala for hours, but at length she stopped my questions with a smile.