The planet of peril
the masters of men. Enough of this talk for the present. There are no
idlers here, and you must work with the others. Here, Rotha," calling a
young girl who toiled near by, "a new slave who calls herself Vernia of
Reabon. Acquaint her with the nature of our work."
The girl flashed a friendly smile at Vernia, and showed her how to
separate the white balls, which she explained were sabit eggs, and stow
them in their cells. She was much better-looking than those around her,
appearing more like the women of the civilized races.
Vernia shuddered at the feel of the sticky, plasmic mass of eggs that
was handed her, but nevertheless went to work with a will, and soon
became nearly as adept as those about her.
She had heard of the great salt marshes that covered a considerable
expanse of territory far to the south-west of Mernerum, and of the
wild, nomadic peoples who inhabited them. Also had she heard their
stories of six-legged creatures called sabits who made slaves of men
and women, and sometimes devoured them, but her people, in common
with those of other civilized nations, always laughed at these wild
tales of the marsh-men, considering them purely as myths engendered by
superstition and ignorance, and not worthy of investigation.
Now, confronted with objective evidence of their verity, she wondered
why it was that exploring parties had never been sent out to ascertain
the truth of these rumors.
Rotha was communicative, and talked incessantly as she worked. After
questioning Vernia about her country and the ways of her people,
she replied in turn to many questions regarding herself, her fellow
slaves and the creatures who were their masters. She had been born in
captivity, so knew of the ways of her ancestors, the marsh people, only
through the lips of others. She was, however, the granddaughter of a
soldier of Mernerum who had married a marsh woman, which accounted for
her superior intelligence and beauty.
The sabits, she said, were divided into many communities, and the
inhabitants of any given community might be recognized by their
markings. Those of their own community were known by their brown
forceps and mandibles, there were others with black forceps and
mandibles, others with green, red, _et cetera_. The largest and
greatest community of all was that of the sabits who were pure white.
In each community there were four kinds of individuals. The greatest
and most powerful was the single queen sabit, or female ruler, who had
ordered Vernia sent hither. She was winged, and, when fertile, swelled
to many times the size of the others.
Next to her in importance was the king sabit, her mate. He was the
only male permitted to live in the community, and was winged like the
queen, but much smaller. The other two kinds were known as the workers
and soldiers. The former were comparatively diminutive in size and
inefficient in battle, while the soldier sabits were large, powerful,
and armed with huge forceps. Both workers and soldiers were wingless
and sexless.
The queen sabit did little else than eat, sleep and lay thousands
upon thousands of these white, sticky eggs. Her mate was active in
administering the affairs of the community, subject always to her
approval and consent.
* * * * *
"But why is it," asked Vernia, "that these men submit to the domination
of creatures of a lower order? Why, my soldiers kill and drive off
creatures a thousand times more terrible than these."
"They may be more terrible physically," said Rotha, "as are also, I am
told, many of the great beasts killed by the marsh people; but mentally
the sabits are superior to all other beasts. True, they all think in
the same way, along the same lines, and all the sabits will react
to any situation in the same way, but this only makes them the more
formidable, for they thus act in perfect unison in case of emergencies.
They seem to think and act in masses--not as individuals. A sabit
community may be likened to a single animal, with the queen as the
head, directing all operations, the king as the eyes looking here and
there and everywhere to see that the directions are properly carried
out, and the soldiers and workers, as the arms and legs, supplying
every want of the body and protecting it from all dangers."
"But, even so, may not men, with their superior weapons, their torks,
scarbos, spears and knives, slay them as easily as they do the great
beasts?"
"I know nothing of the weapons you call torks, nor have I ever heard
that the marsh people use them. Spears, scarbos, knives and clubs they
have, but these avail them little against the armored sabits. I have
heard that a very powerful man may subdue a sabit by striking him
between the eyes with a heavy club, but this is a most difficult feat,
as they move with exceeding swiftness, and blows on any other spot are
to no effect. It is said that these creatures have three brains, one
in the head, one in the thorax and one in the abdomen, so that even
if one is destroyed the other two may function for days afterward. I
myself once saw a warrior sabit that had fought a duel with another of
a neighboring community. Its abdomen had been sheared completely off,
yet it lived and moved about for two days."
"How horrible!" exclaimed Vernia. "Then, in order to kill one sabit a
warrior must virtually kill three! But tell me now of yourself, and of
the marsh people."
"About myself--" Rotha began, then checked her speech to stare at an
approaching procession of worker sabits. "It is time for eating."
The sabits carried pouches from which they distributed a sticky mixture
composed of a white, mucilaginous substance in which small edible fungi
had been stirred. The girls and women instantly ceased work at their
approach, and eagerly devoured their portions of the proffered food.
Although Vernia was exceedingly hungry, she could not bring herself to
touch the sticky mess, but divided it among those about her.
* * * * *
When they had finished, Rotha said:
"I must leave you now, Vernia of Reabon, for to-night is my mating
night, and there comes the soldier sabit who will take me away.
To-morrow night I will be with you, and from then on for some time, but
for a full day and a night I will be absent."
"What mean you by the mating night, and why, if you are to be mated,
will you be absent for but one night?"
Rotha sighed. "It is the custom here," she replied. "In this valley men
and women who are mated do not live together as in the outer world, nor
have they even the privilege of choosing their own mates."
"You mean that they are mated against their wishes?"
"In this valley it is useless to wish. There is no law but the will of
our masters, and they dominate us in everything, even in this, the most
sacred of human relations. There is method in their actions, however,
for it is their purpose to produce a stronger and more beautiful race
of slaves. As a herdsman in the outer world selects his strongest,
largest and best-formed male frellas for sires so the king sabit
selects a few from among the male slaves who are kept for this purpose
only, and are not put at menial tasks as are the others. Having just
come of age, I have been selected, as have countless others before
me, to do my part in providing the sabits with future generations of
slaves."
"But know you naught of love here? Do you willingly submit to the
treatment usually accorded domestic animals?"
"Speak not of love. Vernia of Reabon, for even now my heart lies
crushed and bleeding within me. There is one man for whose caresses I
would relinquish even life itself. Oro the Mighty he is called, and
not without reason, for he is large and strong and beautiful, oh,
so beautiful, my Vernia, and excels the others in all things. But I
know it will not--it cannot be Oro, as the king sabit will not choose
him for the mating pens. A slight blemish, a birth mark on his left
shoulder, disqualifies him. Because of his great strength, however,
he has been chosen chief keeper, or guard, of the pens, to maintain
peace among the others, and see that things are conducted in an orderly
fashion. Oro, my beloved, will perhaps be the one to receive me at the
gate, the one to take me to that awful room; but even he, with all
his mighty strength, will be unable to save me, for the sabits are
all-powerful, and may not be disobeyed."
Her voice broke, and the tears which she could no longer restrain,
welled from her eyes and dropped down on her heaving bosom. Vernia
sought to comfort her, but the relentless soldier sabit came, and Rotha
was hurried away to her fate.
There were tears in the eyes of Vernia as she turned to her work.
She was startled by a cackling laugh at her elbow. A wrinkled hag who
labored slowly, grinned toothlessly at her as she turned.
"Waste not your pity on Rotha," she mouthed. "Her fate is but the fate
of all of us, as you will soon learn. The king sabit has not seen you
yet, but he will surely come, and on the day after his visit you will
depart, just as she has done, for the mating pens."
Too stunned with horror to reply, Vernia resumed her task.
CHAPTER XVI.
SLAVE OF THE SABITS.
Grandon fought desperately but unavailingly as he was dragged into the
dark burrow. Stabbing again and again with his sword, he at length
found a crevice in the armor of his captor, whereupon it stopped and
shook him until his head reeled and the weapon dropped from his hand.
Then the sabit carried him, limp and only half conscious, to the great
central room, in which were the king and queen sabits of the white
community.
As soon as he was dropped to the floor, the king sabit leaped on him
and, cutting his belt with sharp mandibles, removed his tork and knife.
Thus, stripped of his weapons, bruised and bleeding, he sat up weakly
and looked at the three repulsive creatures.
That they possessed no inconsiderable degree of intelligence he did
not doubt. The removal of his weapons proved that. But whether or not
the quality of mercy was an attribute of that intelligence he could
not even guess, nor could he yet guess the fact that they looked down
on him as an inferior creature, lower in the scale of creation than
themselves.
After looking at him fixedly for some time the queen sabit summoned
two workers by vibrating her antennæ, and he was conducted through a
series of runways and tunnels to a great, light chamber, where hundreds
of naked, hairy men were engaged in the task of receiving sacks filled
with a sticky white mixture from men who brought them to the doorway.
They then fed the contents to thousands of fat, white, grublike
creatures that varied in size from two to eight feet in length. He saw
one of the larger grubs near him bite a mouthful of flesh from the
shoulder of its screaming tender, and a little farther away two men
held a huge grub while a third endeavored to reach its swaying head
with a sacksful of sticky food.
His conductors piloted him among the swaying, wriggling grubs and
scurrying men to where a single individual taller than his fellows
and much more ferocious of mien than most stood with folded arms,
apparently supervising the work. One of the sabits vibrated its
antennæ, this time creating a series of musical tones. The man turned,
replied with three musical notes, and took Grandon by the arm,
whereupon the two sabits left him.
"A new slave, eh?" he said gruffly. "Don't stand there staring like
a stupid ptang. You have eyes to see the nature of the task before
you. Begin it quickly, before you have painful cause to regret your
slowness."
Grandon coolly surveyed the great brute before him. Without doubt he