'The subject will be quartered near you where you may regularly observe it,' continued Ras Thavas. 'There is a chamber adjoining yours. I will see that it is unlocked. Take the subject there. When not under your observation, lock it in.'
It was only another case to him.
I took the girl, if I may so call her, to her quarters. On the way I asked her her name, for it seemed to me an unnecessary discourtesy always to address her and refer to her as 4296-E-2631-H, and this I explained to her.
'It is considerate of you to think of that,' she said, 'but really that is all that I am here-just another subject for vivisection.'
'You are more than that to me,' I told her. 'You are friendless and helpless. I want to be of service to you-to make your lot easier if I can.'
'Thank you again,' she said. 'My name is Valla Dia, and yours?'
'Ras Thavas calls me Vad Varo,' I told her.
But that is not your name?'
'My name is Ulysses Paxton.'
'It is a strange name, unlike any that I have ever heard, but you are unlike any man I have ever seen-you do not seem Barsoomian. Your colour is unlike that of any race.'
'I am not of Barsoom, but from Earth, the planet you sometimes call Jasoom. That is why I differ in appearance from any you have known before.'
'Jasoom! There is another Jasoomian here whose fame has reached to the remotest corners of Barsoom, but I never have seen him.'
'John Carter?' I asked.
'Yes, The War Lord. He was of Helium and my people were not friendly with those of Helium. I never could understand how he came here. And now there is another from Jasoom-how can it be? How did you cross the great void?'
I shook my head. 'I cannot even guess,' I told her.
'Jasoom must be peopled with wonderful men,' she said. It was a pretty compliment.
'As Barsoom is with beautiful women,' I replied.
She glanced down ruefully at her old and wrinkled body.
'I have seen the real you,' I said gently.
'I hate to think of my face,' she said. 'I know it is a frightful thing.'
'It is not you, remember that when you see it and do not feel too bad.'
'Is it as bad as that?' she asked.
I did not reply.
'Never mind,' she said presently. 'If I had not beauty of the soul, I was not beautiful, no matter how perfect my features may have been; but if I possessed beauty of soul then I have it now. So I can think beautiful thoughts and perform beautiful deeds and that, I think, is the real test of beauty, after all.'
'And there is hope,' I added, almost in a whisper.
'Hope? No, there is no hope, if what you mean to suggest is that I may some time regain my lost self. You have told me enough to convince me that that can never be.'
'We will not speak of it,' I said, 'but we may think of it and sometimes thinking a great deal of a thing helps us to find a way to get it, if we want it badly enough.'
'I do not want to hope,' she said, 'for it will but mean disappointment for me. I shall be happy as I am. Hoping, I should always be unhappy.'
I had ordered food for her and after it was brought Ras Thavas sent for me and I left her, locking the door of her chamber as the old surgeon had instructed. I found Ras Thavas in his office, a small room which adjoined a very large one in which were a score of clerks arranging and classifying reports from various departments of the great laboratory. He arose as I entered.
'Come with me, Vad Varo,' he directed. 'We will have a look at the two cases in L-42-X, the two of which I spoke.'
'The man with half a simian brain and the ape with a half human brain?' I asked.
He nodded and preceded me towards the runway that led to the vaults beneath the building. As we descended, the corridors and passageways indicated long disuse.
The floors were covered with an impalpable dust, long undisturbed; the tiny radium bulbs that faintly illuminated the sub-Barsoomian depths were likewise coated. As we proceeded, we passed many doorways on either side, each marked with its descriptive hieroglyphic. Several of the openings had been tightly sealed with masonry. What gruesome secrets were hid within? At last we came to L-42-X. Here the bodies were arranged on shelves, several rows of which almost completely filled the room from floor to ceiling, except for a rectangular space in the centre of the chamber, which accommodated an ersite-topped operating table with its array of surgical instruments, its motor and other laboratory equipment.
Ras Thavas searched out the subjects of his strange experiment and together we carried the human body to the table. While Ras Thavas attached the tubes I returned for the vessel of blood which reposed upon the same shelf with the corpse. The now familiar method of revivification was soon accomplished and presently we were watching the return of consciousness to the subject.
The man sat up and looked at us, then he cast a quick glance about the chamber; there was a savage light in his eyes as they returned to us. Slowly he backed from the table to the floor, keeping the former between us.
'We will not harm you,' said Ras Thavas.
The man attempted to reply, but his words were unintelligible gibberish, then he shook his head and growled. Ras Thavas took a step towards him and the man dropped to all fours, his knuckles resting on the floor, and backed away, growling.
'Come!' cried Ras Thavas. 'We will not harm you.' Again he attempted to approach the subject, but the man only backed quickly away, growling more fiercely; and then suddenly he wheeled and climbed quickly to the top of the highest shelf, where he squatted upon a corpse and gibbered at us.
'We shall have to have help,' said Ras Thavas and, going to the doorway, he blew a signal upon his whistle.
'What are you blowing that for?' demanded the man suddenly. 'Who are you? What am I doing here? What has happened to me?'
'Come down,' said Ras Thavas. 'We are friends.'
Slowly the man descended to the floor and came towards us, but he still moved with his knuckles to the pavement He looked about at the corpses and a new light entered his eyes.
'I am hungry!' he cried. 'I will eat!' and with that he seized the nearest corpse and dragged it to the floor.
'Stop! Stop!' cried Ras Thavas, leaping forward. 'You will ruin the subject,' but the man only backed away, dragging the corpse along the floor after him. It was then that the attendants came and with their help we subdued and bound the poor creature. Then Ras Thavas had the attendants bring the body of the ape and he told them to remain, as we might need them.
The subject was a large specimen of the Barsoomian white ape, one of the most savage and fearsome denizens of the Red Planet, and because of the creature's great strength and ferocity Ras Thavas took the precaution to see that it was securely bound before resurgence.
It was a colossal creature about ten or fifteen feet tall, standing erect, and had an intermediary set of arms or legs midway between its upper and lower limbs. The eyes were close together and nonprotruding; the ears were high set, while its snout and teeth were strikingly like those of our African gorilla.
With returning consciousness the creature eyed us questioningly. Several times it seemed to essay to speak but only inarticulate sounds issued from its throat.
Then it lay still for a period.
Ras Thavas spoke to it. 'If you understand my words, nod your head.' The creature nodded.
'Would you like to be freed of your bonds?' asked the surgeon.
Again the creature nodded an affirmative.
