The Fire People Page 16

  CHAPTER XVI.

  THE FIRE PLANET.

  I think I should explain now a little about the physical conformation ofMercury--the "lay of the land," so to speak--in order that the events I amabout to describe may be more readily understood. It has already been madeclear by Bob Trevor, I believe, that Mercury revolves on its axis onlyonce during the time of its revolution around the sun. Thus, just as asimilar condition always makes our moon present very nearly the same faceto us, so Mercury presents always the same portion of its surface to thesun.

  It will be understood, therefore, that, theoretically, there must be onMercury but one spot where the sun always is directly overhead. It couldnot be seen, however, owing to the dense clouds. This spot approximatesthe center of the region known as the Fire Country.

  So far as I could learn, it was here that human life on the planet began.Certainly it was the first region where civilization reached any height.When Columbus was discovering America great cities flourished in the FireCountry--cities of untold wealth and beauty, now fallen into ruins likethe great cities of our own Aztec and Inca civilizations.

  The Fire Country was then like the equatorial regions of earth--a dense,tropic jungle, hotter than most temperatures we have to bear, but still,by reason of its thick enveloping atmosphere of clouds, capable ofsupporting life in comparative comfort. Its inhabitants were dark-skinned,but rather more like our Indians than Negroid races.

  Then, several centuries ago--the exact time is uncertain, for no writtenrecords are kept on Mercury--came the Great Storms. Their cause wasunknown--some widespread atmospheric disturbance. These storms temporarilyparted the clouds in many places, allowing the direct rays of the sun tofall upon the planet's surface. The resulting temperature destroyed alllife, withered all vegetation, with its scorching blast. The inhabitantsof the Fire Country were killed by hundreds of thousands, their citiesdeserted, their land laid a desert waste.

  These storms, which it appears began suddenly, have returned periodicallyever since, making the region practically uninhabitable. Its survivingraces, pushed outward toward the more temperate zone, were living, at thistime I am describing, in a much lower state of civilization than thepeople of the Light Country--a civilization of comparative savagery. Inthe Light Country they were held as slaves.

  This region--thus very aptly known as the Fire Country--embraces acircular area directly underneath the sun. So far as I could learn, itextended outward roughly to those points where--if it had beenvisible--the sun would have appeared some halfway between zenith andhorizon.

  Lying outside the circle, in a larger, concentric ring, is the zone knownas the Light Country. Entirely free from the equatorial storms, no directrays of sunlight have ever penetrated its protecting cloud blanket. Hereexists the highest state of civilization on the planet.

  Beyond the Light Country, in another concentric ring, lies the TwilightCountry. It forms a belt about the planet, beginning roughly at thosepoints at which the sun would appear only a short distance above thehorizon, and extending back to where the sun would be below the horizon.In this region, as its name implies, there is never more than twilight. Itis lightest at the borders of the Light Country, and fades into night atits other side.

  Still farther, beyond the twilight zone, lies the region of perpetualnight and cold--the Dark Country. This area embraces the rest of theplanet, comprising something less than half of its entire surface. Here iseternal night--a night of Stygian darkness, unlighted even by the stars,since the same atmosphere makes them invisible.

  The Dark Country, so far as it has been explored--which is very little--isa rocky waste and a sea of solid ice that never melts. Near the borders ofthe Twilight Country a few people like our Eskimos exist--savages withhuge white faces, and great, staring eyes. There are a few fur-bearinganimals and birds, but except for this fringe of life the Dark Country isthought to be uninhabited, its terrible cold making life in any formimpossible.

  So much, in general, for the main geographical features of Mercury. TheGreat City stands about halfway between the borders of the Fire Countryand the edge of the twilight zone. This level marshland, the barren,metallic mountains, and a sort of semitropic jungle, partly inundated bywater, comprise nearly all the area of the Light Country.

  From the Great City, through the watery jungle, extends a system of littlewinding bayous--a perfect maze of them, with hundreds ofintercommunicating branches--which it would be almost impossible totraverse without losing all sense of direction.

  Beyond these bayous, into which their sluggish currents flow, lies theNarrow Sea. On its farther shore begins the Twilight Country, much of it abarren, semifrigid waste, with a little level, tillable land, vast rockymountain ranges, and a few forests.

  In spite of its inhospitable character the Twilight Country is fairlydensely populated; and, I realized when I got into it, civilized life isexceedingly difficult to maintain there. I understood then why theTwilight People were so envious of land in the Light Country; and, intruth, I could not blame them for that, or for looking toward our earthwith longing.

  But just as the Light Country People had defended their borders withimplacable determination, so was I determined that they should not invademy world, either. And I was ready to stake my life and even the lives ofthose I loved here on Mercury in the attempt to prevent them.