Free 2 - Blades of Mars by Edward P. Bradbury Page B

not forget to look
after our personal appearance. I made a point of shaving regularly - although
the only mirror I could find was a great reflector as big as me which I somehow
dragged into the domed chamber simply to use as a shaving mirror.
                   While Jil Deera and Vas Oola worked on the
balloon -we had found that the pressure of a warm human hand on the fabric
served to weld it together, facilitating the making of the gas-bag - Hool Haji
and I climbed the wall and began to finish nature's work of breaking open the
dome.
                   In order that the inhabitants of the place
might continue to live - if life it was - we had constructed a kind of
hatch-cover which could be fitted in place of the dome to stop sand drifting
down and clogging the fountain.
                   Soon the helium tanks were fitted to the valve
of the gasbag and the four of us watched the great mound of fabric slowly fill
out.
                   We had not yet fitted the driving bands to
engine and propeller shaft, but apart from that the balloon was ready. I was in
all essential respects a powered airship and, though slower and more vulnerable
than the Martian aircraft that I had encountered, would do its job well, I
thought.
                   Soon the gas-bag was taut. The balloon began
to strain at its mooring ropes and looked as if it could lift a hundred such as
us. We began to laugh and slap one another on the back - though it was a bit of
a stretch for me to slap Hool Haji's back! We had done it!
                   The cabin was enclosed, suspended from the
strong ropes that covered the outside of the gas-bag. It was made of sections
of synthetic material and had open port-holes. Unfortunately we had found no
means of providing transparent panes, so we had to construct shutters instead.
Inside it was provisioned with water, spare gas tanks and dehydrated food.
                   We were very proud of the ship. Crude it may
have been, but it was soundly constructed and soon, when we had let her up
through the roof a bit and fitted the driving bands to the engine, we should be
ready to go wherever we chose. Probably back to Mendishar where, as Hool Haji
pointed out, the arrival of their leader, thought dead or chased away from the
country, in a flying ship would probably hearten the populace to such an extent
that much that had been lost in the attack on the village might be regained by
this spectacular return!
                   Hool Haji and the other two blue giants were
talking earnestly about this possibility when the opposite door -the one we had
blocked against any attempt of the white ghouls to enter - began to melt.
                   The material which I had regarded as indestructible
was bubbling and running like cheap plastic in a fire. A terrible smell - acrid
and sweet at the same time - began to come from the door.
                   I did not know what was happening but I acted
nonetheless.
                   'Quick,' I yelled. 'Into the
balloon!'
                   I pushed at my companions, helping them
clamber into the cabin.
                   Then I turned as the door collapsed completely
- and there were several of the white inhabitants of the place.
                   In their hands was a machine.
                   Plainly they did not know what it was. All
they knew was enough to hold it and point it.
                   It was an odd paradox - a machine so advanced
as that in the hands of those imbeciles.
                   It was emitting a ray - a ray which struck the
opposite wall now, narrowly missing the balloon and me. A heat ray, doubtless.
A laser ray!
                   It was then that I realised no one had cut the
mooring lines.
                   I sprang towards them, drawing my sword.
                   I knew,