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Jat Or was sitting with his face glued to the starboard eye.
She was silent for
a moment, and then she looked up at me. I wondered if it were endowed with
speech, and so I addressed it.
Perhaps, on the other hand, the grimace and the
gesture of the creatureconstituted a challenge. How in the name of our first
ancestor are we going to catchher? You may need an extra sword hand, she
replied.
Jat Orand I may be too busy with our own antagonists to be able to
protectyou.
It doesnt seem possiblethat we have come close enough to make her
took as large as that.
But perhaps the most outstanding features of his hideous
countenancewere his mouths. Doubtless, when she completed another revolution,
we should be withinthe sphere of her influence. ThenI searched the after part
of the ship.
Icaused the door in the port side to be opened and the ladder
lowered.
Just then Thuria hurtled into view upon our right, and Jat Or voiced
anexclamation of relief. You must direct your mind upon theirs in an effort to
overcome theirwish by a wish of your own.
How was I to learn his intentions
toward me before night fell?
If I am not your slave, she asked, what am I?
As
she left the control room, Jat Ors eyes followed her. It all sounds like a mad
dream to me, said Jat Or. My sword was tom from my grasp; my other weapons were
snatchedaway. Raising my eyes, I saw Jat Or moving along the corridor near
me.
I was conscious of much the same sensation myself.
His upper mouth
stretched sideways; he cametoward me.
Then I calledaloud, voicing the common
peace greeting of Barsoom.
Again I tell you that you are not my slave, Zanda, I
said. Not while you are with me, she answered simply.
I do not wish to be free,
she said; but if it is your will, Vandor,so be it.
I am sure that you are
right, Zanda, I said.
I cannot see them, butthere are people here.
I wheeled
instantly to see what danger confronted her. Hereturned immediately with a jar
of water and a bowl of food which heset on the bench beside me.
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