Marjorie on Mars: The Chase Is On

Unending BE - episode 107173

Marjorie heard a shout from behind her: "There's one, over there!" Turning, she saw that in the distance, perhaps three or four miles away was a great dome. Much nearer to her, though, were two mounted men, presumably the source of the shout she had heard. At least, she assumed they were men, although at this distance - about a hundred yards - she couldn't be absolutely sure. What was certain was that their mounts were like nothing that Marjorie had seen before, being similar to a horse but with far shorter legs.

The men urged their mounts into a trot towards her. Marjorie was sure that they intended her no good, so she turned and fled across the red sands. She assumed that she was only delaying the inevitable moment of capture, but two things soon became clear. The first was that the short legs of the creatures that the men were riding meant that they were much slower than horses. The second was that Marjorie's new body seemed very fit and strong and, perhaps aided by the low gravity, she found she had remarkable speed and endurance. If the atmosphere of this Mars-like planet was thinner than Earth's, it didn't seem to make breathing difficult for her. Yet if it wasn't thinner, why was there a dome over what she assumed must be a city? Could it be that she was a native of this planet, and so adapted to its conditions, whilst those who hunted her were incomers?

For ten minutes, she managed to keep her lead almost constant, though unable to increase it. Then:

  1. *At last she began to tire, and her pursuers started to gain on her.
  2. Her pursuers' mounts began to tire, and she was able to escape.
  3. *She felt something stick in her shoulder, and realised that they had hit her with a dart.
  4. She found her progress blocked by a canal.
Go back - Go to the parent episode.

JH

Fri Oct 20 13:58:05 2000