I felt myself "CRASH" into the bottom of the crack after a tumbling fall of perhaps a hundred feet down the very side of the crack in the surface of Mars, only the "lighter" gravity of Mars saving my life! My right ankle snapping at the impact, my body flung so hard against the rocks at the bottom that several of my ribs were cracked, the horrible sensation of feeling my own bones snapping something that will remain with me the rest of my life! The first thought going through my confused mind was "I'm ALIVE!" The second being "I'm BLIND!" as I could see nothing but the after-effects of the terrible blast that had destroyed our disc and left us marooned here on the hostile surface of Mars! A fine dust settling down like mist around me as I whimpered with the pain of my injuries, my every gasp sending a sharp pain through my chest. Thankful as vision slowly returned to my dazzled eyes.
"Raspa!" I whimpered, calling out into the blinding dust! My oxygen mask having been torn from my face by the fall. I did not for a moment realize that the air of Mars was unbreathable, that I would in a matter of only a few minutes be rendered unconscious by its lack of oxygen. I was only aware of gasping, of the fact that no matter how hard I breathed there didn't seem to be any air coming into my panting lungs! Then I remembered the oxygen mask and clasping it again to my face, breathed in the blessed richness of the pure oxygen drawn from the cylinder at my hip. The life-giving oxygen being stored as a liquid inside much like coffee is kept hot there inside a thermos bottle. The contents of the cylinder good for no more than twelve hours, the thought went through my mind just then, recalling what I had been told by the woman who had filled the tank for me this morning! I required about two cubic feet of oxygen an hour, and the tank held just a hair over twenty five when it was completely filled!
The system was a "re-breather" type where the carbon dioxide of my breath was removed and replaced by fresh oxygen. Similar devices have been used on Earth in the past by divers and by the astronauts of the 20th Century. That used by humans on Mars is similar in design, although perhaps more perfected in operation.
The current atmosphere of Mars is 35% oxygen, 62% carbon dioxide, with the rest inert gases. It is not breathable by human beings, but can be breathed by the Lorr and by various slow moving Earth reptiles who require less oxygen than warm blooded forms of life. The pressure at the surface is approximately 1.45 PSI. Your own blood will boil if exposed to the atmosphere, but otherwise surprisingly enough human beings can survive on the surface of Mars as long as they can breathe pure oxygen. I do not say that you will be "comfortable" doing it, for I never was, the slightest movement leaving me gasping for breath, but those who were born on the planet seem to be able to function fairly well under such conditions, the woman of Mars having different lungs and blood than a woman of Earth, her figure also being somewhat different, the chest being slightly larger while the legs and buttocks are slimmer due to the differences in gravity.
My only concern at the moment, however, was finding Raspa there in the dust as it slowly settled around me, the thought going through my mind that if the explosion had released any radioactivity I was a dead woman for sure! I understand that the explosion released a force of about three and a half kilotons, or about one sixth of the energy released by the first atomic bombs! Fortunately most of the "energy release" went straight up into Mars' atmosphere, or neither Raspa or I would have survived it!
"Raspa!" I gasped, seeing the giant ant-like alien shaking the dust from herself, her left forelimb obviously broken from the way she held it, standing there on five legs before me. She at least was still able to get about, which was more than I could say for myself, there being little doubt in my mind that my own right ankle was broken or badly sprained from the agony that shot up my leg if I even attempted to put the slightest weight on it. The pain in my chest with every breath I took telling of cracked or broken ribs! Only the lighter gravity of Mars permitting me to stand up at all as I hopped over to her on one foot as best I could! The motion of her antennae and the movement of her mandibles telling of her agitation as she reached up with her good forelimb to tap at the side of her head, her motions for a moment puzzling me before I understood what she wanted! My little radio receiver having fallen off there in the fall! While she could still of course understand my speech, there was no way I could receive her radio speech without the little device now hopelessly buried in the dust! HOW COULD I COMMUNICATE WITH RASPA NOW???
I shivered with terror despite the fact that I was sweating beneath the close-fitting jumpsuit worn by the women of Mars, the material from which it was made adjusting for the outside temperature, the fibers swelling and contracting as needed. There were of course limits to what it could do, but that was the least of our problems just then, as my oxygen would run out in less than a dozen hours and we were, so far as I knew, without any means of obtaining help unless the explosion of our disc had been noted!
Suddenly Raspa pushed me back against the rocks, covering me with her own dust-covered form as I faintly heard the soft hum of a Lorr saucer! The movement of Raspa's whip-like antennae and the motions of her great mandibles indicating that she sensed that something was seriously wrong! The thought going through my mind just then that our own craft must have been somehow sabotaged on purpose! Someone had wanted us both DEAD! Only Raspa's strange ESP sense having saved us from death as I later learned!
Then I saw the craft as it flew overhead, fortunately far enough above us that we were concealed from its detection devices there among the rocks, the slowly settling dust no doubt effecting its sensory scanning devices and saving us both from instant death! The thought going unbidden through my mind of what it must have been like for those ants I had burned to death with a magnifying glass as a child, the same horrible fate now awaiting both of us if the silvery craft floating far over our heads happened to spot us down here in the crack with its radar or infrared scanner! The bulk of Raspa's body no doubt looking much like a rock from the height that the saucer was flying, my own figure being concealed by Raspa's. Her form also serving to conceal my own infrared "signature", the Lorr unlike Men being well insulated by their exoskeletons, their biological cooling systems being based upon their own respiration instead of sweating as we do.
"Raspa!" I breathed, clinging to her, then suddenly OUR MINDS WERE ONE! MERGED!!! I felt her fear, the pain of her broken forelimb, the emotions going through her! No longer did I see from my own eyes, but from Raspa's! The world around us utterly different as seen in Raspa's vision, which ranges down into the infrared where humans cannot see! The sky above almost black, the terrain different shades of brightness according to its own temperatures, the "coloring" different from what my own eyes saw. And The Lorr Radio-Radar Sense! How can I describe that! Awareness of one's surroundings in a way almost like ESP! Then her own amazing ESP sense that had saved our lives! The hatred burning there inside the disc now floating over the great crater as Raspa reached out to touch the mind of the other! The feeling of "satisfaction" that we had both been instantly killed!
I understood too how "unique" Raspa was even among her own kind, that she had kept these powers her own personal secret for fear that others would not understand. That she had an almost "human" curiosity about things that was quite unlike most of her race. Her inherent "goodness" washing over me, calming my fears.
Yet only half concealed in the background of her mind the awareness that there was no possibility that I would be able to travel with her to the nearest human inhabitation, which was over a hundred miles away before my oxygen ran out and I helplessly suffocated in the unbreathable thin and almost worthless atmosphere of Mars! I saw her mind at work, that awesome mind far more powerful than my own. Saw her considering and rejecting concepts, ideas, until there was but one hope left for me! And that she wasn't all that sure about either! SHE WOULD HAVE TO STING ME!
The Lorr possess, as I have mentioned, the ability to inject a paralyzing venom into their victims, such venom having served perhaps at one time to preserve their victims in a state of near suspended animation until they could be consumed. Raspa was well aware of my emotional responses as our minds together shared the thought. Of the visions that were generated in my own mind of helpless yet still living conscious victims being consumed alive by swarming Lorr! Visions so strong that I sensed Raspa's own shame that her race had once done such things thousands and thousands of years ago when they were but primitive hunting creatures that swarmed out from their underground nests in search of prey!
Yet I understood that only by her putting me into a state of near suspended animation could I survive long enough for her to go get help. For her to return with help for me. It would take her perhaps sixteen to twenty hours to reach the nearest human settlement, the nearest cavern of the Lorr being much further away yet, several hundred miles. Imposed in her thoughts a map of this portion of Mars, of lines, spots, circles, our own location clearly marked, with the nearest human settlement marked with a seemingly glowing spot. I would have to put my trust in her. I knew that it would not be an easy trip for her. That the atmosphere of Mars was barely breathable even for her compound lungs, and to travel that far across the surface of Mars, especially with a broken forelimb, would take a terrible toll on her!
It took me some time to dig the hole in the sand where I would be "stored" while Raspa went for help. Raspa helping me as she could, although her digging abilities were considerably impaired by her broken left forelimb, the Lorr using their forelimbs as we use our arms, the middle and hind legs being used for transportation and were rather useless as digging tools. Raspa had told me that such efforts were necessary for me to survive the night time cold, the temperature at night, even here on the equator of Mars, falling to well below freezing, equaling temperatures found on Earth in the more frigid portions of the planet! Due to the thinness of the Martian atmosphere you do not lose heat as swiftly, but the long term effects are the same, and it would be necessary to bury me in the sand for my survival. Otherwise it was quite possible that during the night time hours that I would suffer such a loss of body temperature that I would actually freeze to death over night despite the best efforts of the temperature adjusting attire that I wore!
"I hope I'm not digging my own grave," I said to Raspa as she stood there watching, it having taken a great of effort on her part to maintain a link with my own mind, such communications being quite mentally exhausting for her, although having once shared her thoughts, I no longer "saw" her as the horrid monster I had first thought her to be. The task took some time, since I became exhausted quite rapidly due to the lack of "oxygen pressure" caused by the extreme thinness of the Martian atmosphere, which exhausted me as much as if I had been working on Earth at a height of 20,000 feet without oxygen! While those born and raised on Mars can for example breathe fairly well even on the top of Mount Everest without oxygen, such abilities weren't mine!
Raspa shook her head in the negative and waved her antennae at me, then moving forward to gently brush my face with the tips of her antennae, which is a sign of extreme affection among the Lorr. Once again for a moment she mind-linked with me, letting me know that she would come back for me. For me to "trust" her.
Finally the "grave" was finished and I laid down in it, pulling the sand back over myself, Raspa kicking it back in as best she could until I was completely covered with only my head and neck now sticking out of the sand. Briefly Raspa brushed my face once again with the tips of her antennae, and then extending her mandibles, I saw the stings suddenly extending at their tips!
It was quick when it came, a sudden burning piercing pain on both sides of my neck, then a cold numbness that seemed to flow through my body as the Lorr venom entered into my bloodstream! I once again briefly shared my thoughts with Raspa, who was carefully monitoring the amount of venom she was releasing, as too much would have been fatal to me, and too little would wear off before she could return for me! Then she withdrew from me, stepping back a pace, and briefly regarding me for a moment, Raspa then set off on her long hundred plus mile trek to obtain help! Leaving me lying there paralyzed buried to my neck in the ground!
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