(eng) L. Sprague de Camp - Harold Shea 05 by The Exotic Enchanter

Author:The Exotic Enchanter [Enchanter, The Exotic]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

II

Shea had been through these transitions before and so was ready for their effects. The living room dissolved into a whirl of colored spots. Momentarily he seemed to be suspended in nothing, as in a free-fall. Then, bit by bit, the world around him solidified. But this world was nothing like the one they had left.

The scene was of nighttime out-of-doors, lit by a brighter moonlight than Shea had ever seen on Earth.

The source was a big, bright moon, even larger than Earth’s Luna, passing overhead. Elsewhere sparkled a myriad stars, brighter and more numerous than they would appear to the naked eye anywhere on Earth.

Beside him, Belphebe said. “That moon is travelling so fast you can see its motion against the stars. Also, it seems to be going from west to east, unlike our Earth’s moon.”

“Quite right, darling,” said Shea “That’s Thuria, the closer of Barsoom’s two moons, It corresponds to Phobos in our own universe. I don’t see the other satellite, Cluros as they call it here. If this were our Mars, you could only see Phobos from near the equator, and it’s only a big boulder anyway.

“Why couldn’t Phobos be seen from elsewhere?”

“The bulge of the planet would hide it.Just as it hides the Southern Cross From viewers in the northern parts of our world.”

“How do you know what the Barsoomians call them.if you’ve never been here before?”

“I’ve read Burroughs. Besides, the advantage of the sorites is that, if you compose it right, you arrive in the other universe already knowing the local language. Otherwise we should have to spend months studying Barsoomian in order to get around, as Burroughs’ John Carter did on his first arrival.”

“Probably several different languages, as on Earth,” said Belphebe.

“No; Burroughs says they have only one spoken language for the entire planet, though different nations have different ways of writing it. I daresay there are local dialects.”

“How could that be? Since languages are always changing, what would prevent the speech of Barsoom from diverging into branches, like those of the Latin or the Slavic languages on Earth?”

Shea shrugged. “I don’t know, darling. Perhaps some conqueror once brought the whole planet under his sway and ordained that his particular speech was the official one, which everyone had to use on pain of death. And it hasn’t had time to split into different languages yet.”

Thuria sank below the eastern horizon, whereupon a deeper darkness closed down, relieved by the pyrotechnic starlight.

“Oh, my!” said Belphebe. “Look at those stars! I’ve never seen them so bright on Earth — or in any other world I’ve visited.”

“It’s the thin atmosphere,” said Shea, “sort of like that on top of theRocky Mountains. But if I’m not mistaken, the sun is coming up soon.”

The sky was visibly paling in a strip along the eastern horizon.little by little, a small but very bright sun climbed into view.

“I hope it warms us up,” said Belphebe. “I’m cold! And you tell me the Barsoomians go naked!”

“I think they usually put on some sort of wrap when they have to go out at night,” said Shea, pulling her close for warmth.

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