As they reach the capital, John is forced to part ways with faithful Woola. It breaks both their hearts, but he can't take him along, what with being a ten legged horror dog. He sends him back to Thark, promising to find him again if his adventures permit. It seems cruel, but honestly, ten legged horror dog; he'll be fine.
The letter from Ptor gets him in with all due speed. He notes from the design of the city and buildings that they do not fear theft, there being no locks on shops, but being far more worried about violent death, with the locks on the home, which also are lifted into the air on pillars.
As he's walking through the main plaza, he finds a familiar face. Running up to and greeting Kantos Kan, he finds the tip of his sword pressed against his chest. Leaping back fifty feet is identification enough, for Kantos laughs and puts away his sword.
- Reminds me of Super Mario RPG; Mario introduced himself by jumping.
Kantos is here undercover from Helium, as Dejah Thoris has been found; by the Zodangans. Sab Than, prince of Zodanga, has taken a fancy to Dejah, and his father stipulated marriage as a condition of peace. Rejected, both by Dejah and by really emphatically by her father, Tardos Mors. It has renewed the flames of war, but made Tardos Mors even more popular among his people.
Kantos plans to join the navy as an air scout, as a way to ingratiate himself with the Prince and learn the location of the Princess. John joins him on his quest, and Kantos manages to double up on the physical exams, to avoid having John's unusual physiology detected. They'll be long done, one way or another, before the ruse is detected.
Kantos spends the next few days teaching John the ins and outs of the one man scout vessels. Powered by a noiseless radium engine, it is buoyant because the eighth ray of light is trapped in the body. Basically, it's explained as the distilled antigravity portion of light that sends it bouncing away from the sun and planets.
- Reminds me of liftwood from Space1889. Man, I should see about starting a game sometime.
- They make mention of the first such flying battleship about eight hundred years ago, storing too much octarine and floating off into the sky, along with it's crew,
never to be seen againwait, actually it's a small satelite orbiting Barsoom.- Reminds me of Robo Tech, actually, something similar happens when they test the antigravity engines, which rip out of the ship and go flying off. Terrible engineering.
On his fourth day, he makes a flight and is promoted, getting quarters in the palace. Out flying, he ends up rescuing the cousin of the king from some green martians.
- Though they don't mention it yet, in doing so he reveals that he can leap fifty feet...
Upon reaching home, he gets a medal and is assigned to the Royal Bodyguard. Looks like he's coming up in the world, again.
- Is there a trope for the kind of hero who gets to the top (chief in Thark, royal guard in Zodanga, presumably Hero of Helium), drops to the bottom, and gets to the top (somewhere else, usually) again?
I figure my bike trainer should be arriving Saturday or Monday. I'll probably switch to the audiobook then. Depends on if I can read, and write, while riding.
Comments
- Wikipedia
- I got a fluid trainer, I'm a sucker for sales. I was thinking about getting rollers, but those were more expensive, and they require lots of concentration to use.
- I might not need the audiobooks with the one I'm getting...probably still be easier, though.
