FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   >>  
calmly trying to rearrange her raven hair, tangled by the raging rush of wind. "What's the matter?" she asked quietly, becoming aware of Dark's intent gaze. "Maya! You don't have a helmet on! Are you breathing?" She was silent for a moment, apparently examining herself. "Why, no, I don't believe I am," she replied, just as calmly. "How can you ...? Wait a minute!" Dark sent his mind into the invisible. His probing thoughts fled over desert and lowland, seeking. They found the Martian, Qril, and he recognized that Qril responded immediately. _Qril, how is it that Maya is able to live in the Martian atmosphere without breathing?_ asked Dark telepathically. _She is as you_, replied Qril. _When she was a child, living among the Martians, we altered her physiological and genetic structure so that she, also, is able to utilize solar energy and exist without oxygen_. _Why didn't you tell me this before, at Ultra Vires?_ demanded Dark. _You did not ask_, replied Qril, and the mental contact faded out. Dark turned to Maya, his face alight. "Darling," he said, "our children will need no embryonic alterations. They will be born as we are, able to live under Martian conditions. And never again will either of us ever have to wear a marsuit!" He felt the questing touch of Cheng's mind. Cheng: _Are you there, Dark?_ Dark: _Here._ Cheng: _Are you all right?_ Dark: _We're both fine! We're coming out. Then we'll take off at once for the Icaria Desert, before the Mars City task force gets here._ He and Maya walked hand in hand through the blasted airlock. The three groundcars were there, waiting. The two of them stood for a moment, before getting aboard the groundcars, and looked out together across the red desert toward the sinking sun. Death? Desolation? No, not for them. This was life, and free, bleak beauty, for them and for their children. The future of Mars was theirs. End of Project Gutenberg's Rebels of the Red Planet, by Charles Louis Fontenay *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REBELS OF THE RED PLANET *** ***** This file should be named 20739.txt or 20739.zip ***** This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: http://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/7/3/20739/ Produced by Greg Weeks, Janet Blenkinship and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will b
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   >>  



Top keywords:
replied
 

Martian

 

groundcars

 
editions
 

desert

 

calmly

 

children

 

breathing

 

moment

 

sinking


Desolation

 
airlock
 

Desert

 
Icaria
 
walked
 

aboard

 

waiting

 

blasted

 

beauty

 

looked


Produced

 

formats

 

gutenberg

 

Blenkinship

 

previous

 
replace
 

Updated

 

Distributed

 

Online

 

Proofreading


Charles

 

Planet

 
Fontenay
 

Rebels

 

future

 

Project

 

Gutenberg

 

PROJECT

 

PLANET

 

GUTENBERG


REBELS
 
thoughts
 

probing

 

lowland

 

invisible

 
minute
 

seeking

 
recognized
 
living
 

Martians