The with things. Here in the dark they had been upon us. Every branch of this leafy[96] tree-top had something at us; the was with a little green which were their eyes. They all on in an instant, as though at a signal, or at the of Snap's and the of his bolt.
Insects? I I should call them that. With a I saw that they were of many and shapes; little with like lanterns; of many legs, finger-length, hand-length, and some as long as my forearm. Brown-shelled things, with on stems. There was one near us, a smooth, brown-shelled body; a on top, as big as my fist. And these had like little brains.
What of nature this was, with of the Wandl workers, here, unable to erect, with little pincers. And with naked, bodies.
It that the of that little brain were on me with a green in the darkness. Anita and Venza were to their in horror. They all but from the limb. The and they had there off and into the unheeded. From above us came Snap's and the of his bolts.
"Here!" I gasped. "My hand—Anita, Venza, jump!"
I Anita upward. The little were all in movement, upon us. Anita floundered, fluttered, got into the air and toward Snap. Again Venza off the limb. I and her up. Green nearest us came swooping. I did not fire a bolt; it was too close to Venza. I the entire at the green eyes, but I missed.
The little thing Venza's arm. She and her hand the head. Its little with hers. It downward, and purple-red with blood.
I with the of Venza under one arm. Anita was mounting, free. Snap came down.
"Fired every in the weapon!" He saw the Venza. "Good God, Gregg!"[97]
Never have I such in his tone. "Gregg, she isn't...."
"One of them her. Help me."
He up with her, a hundred above the tree-tops of that forest. The little of there had all out. The open was over us.
Anita came swimming, then Venza stirred. She murmured, "... all right."
She had fainted. It nothing more; but I her upper arm swelling. She to her and up; but it us all out of balance.
"Lie straight," Snap murmured. "Venza, are you all right?"
"Yes. Why not?" And then she laughed. It sent a over me. "What's the about? Let's away from here. Somebody will be coming."
She was now and we let her loose, but close by her. The was like an bowl. The Wandl surface gave us a narrow little vista, the up from the in front. Then we saw where the to end. Water was it: a like a river, and that, mountains, and with peaks.
Snap and I the projectors. We them; that they would little of two varieties. Pencil points of radiance, they to have an range of no more than a hundred feet.
I let myself downward, experimenting. The the forest-top. I the in my hand. I to it. I was being by the of the ray. The rose under me: I was all but upon it I the other controls.
Then the its nature; the in my hand me up. But after a hundred feet, I I was only of my own momentum, with and air-friction me.
Snap had experiments. We the girls. I into Venza's face; it was but she did not distressed. She at me.
"How's your arm, Venza?"
"It hurts, but I it's all right."[98]
I to Snap. "I we can work these things. Get Venza to to you."
Our progress now was less difficult. Venza to Snap's and Anita to mine. With the downward, we had a and thrust. We with great thousand-foot bounds. The rolled under us. We came over the river. It miles broad. It appeared to have a current.
I saw upon the ahead. The had been paling. Now day upon us. The sun, smaller than on Earth, up. It was a flattened, distorted, dull-red disc, by Wandl's atmosphere. We were in a red daylight.
Anita at my ankles. "Look of us!"
We were going up. Venza and Snap, us, were in a arc. Above them, in the direction from which they had come, two were visible up against the day sky.
Pursuit? It so. The down, but came up again, traveling with rays, like ourselves.
I called to Snap, "Someone after us! Two there!"
He was shouting, "Gregg! Gregg, help!"
My had been on the figures. I saw now that at the of his arc, and starting again, Snap had Venza. The of his had his from her grasp. Or had she let loose? He was about a hundred above the river, and Venza, with unchecked, was into it.
"Gregg, help! Venza, swim up!" His call me as I used the and Anita and I over and downward.
"Gregg, help! Venza use your arms! Swim!"
She was inert, making no to keep from falling. Her slowly, end-over-end. She the swiftly-flowing river surface but did not sink; instead, she emerged, came up and in a heap; and with its current, the river her away.
It was minutes we Venza. Snap was already there, on the water, main[99]taining his balance, over Venza. "Gregg, she's unconscious. Fainted again."
The bite of that insect! The of it me cold.
The river surface was like a very soft mattress. The water to us, wet us. We not or erect; but in only a of our were submerged. We like corks, we were so light, and so little water did we displace.
We with Venza across the river surface. She had near the shore. Rocks, and were as the us along at a speed of about ten miles an hour. She in our arms, closed, her but calm. She to breathe rapidly; but that on Wandl was normal.
We on the shore. It was still daylight. The sun was across the so that its movement was visible. Wandl had been with rotation. Even in these minutes, the day was past its noon. On the above the horizon; it that the of night was with the red sunlight.
Anita and Snap Venza on the rocks. I the two in the sky us, which had to be following. I across the river. The red sky there empty.
"Thank God, she's reviving!" Snap called at me and I joined them. Venza was stirring. Color was into her cheeks. Her were as though she were talking in her sleep.
Then she opened her eyes. Her on us as we over her. "Why, what's the matter? Where are we? I we were in the tree-tops. Snap, don't look at me like that, dear. I'm all right—only confused."
She nothing since that thing into her arm, but the attack of its in her definitely over. We sat with her, her, what had happened. And she was rational. Her came back; her mind cleared.
The red day came to its close. The sun the horizon; the into being. The red-purple[100] Wandl night again was here. And now we saw that the whole was swinging, the visible.
The around us. Shadows the hollows. The and of this black with darkness. And in the sky now we saw another of those familiar beams. This was the one from Mars: we identify the red of the planet.
And then, from the ahead of us but still our horizon, the Wandl station its upward. Again there was that in the sky. The of Mars was being altered, its slowed.
We see now that we were much nearer than to the station. It only about twenty miles ahead of us. The from it was deafening.
The Wandl died presently. The from the station was stilled.
The Earth's had been altered. Now Mars; and next would be Venus. A more of these and then the planets, with checked, would be away by Wandl, out into the cold of space.
Anita gave a outcry. The four of us, in a group, had no time to rise. From a dark nearby, two appeared. The them clearly.
Molo and Wyk! They at us.
