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Updated: May 5, 2025
They, like the king's guards, were inclined in an emergency to do, not so much what they were ordered, as what they thought the people wished. It was all very extraordinary, but like many another makeshift government it served, after a fashion. Hiding the boat in another bayou, we took our way home on foot. That is to say, I ran, and Miela followed me, alternately flying and walking.
Miela brought them into the living room with us until they were all together. It was a curious gathering this bevy of Mercutian maidens. They all seemed between the ages of sixteen and twenty-three fragile, dainty little wisps of femininity, yet having a strength in their highly developed wing muscles that was truly surprising.
The protecting canopy below the sides of our platform made it difficult to see what was going on below us. Miela and I lay prone, with our heads projecting over its forward end. In this position we had an unobstructed, though somewhat limited, view. The girls carrying us could see nothing. They were guided by watching the other girls flying near them, and by Miela's constant directions.
"Tao has it, indeed, but he is not so great a monster that he would use it against us." I was not so sure of that, and I said so. "You don't mean to tell me, Miela, that your government has allowed Tao to prepare all this destructive armament without itself arming?" Again she shook her head. "We have been preparing, too, and all our young men can be called if occasion comes.
That's what she was after, to help us, risked her life to warn us people of another world." Alan stopped abruptly, and, dropping to the floor of the porch beside Miela, laid his arm across her lap, looking up into her face as though she were a goddess. She stroked his hair tenderly, and I could see her eyes were wet with tears. There was a moment's silence.
The projector in the bow swung back and forth, and as we skimmed the surface of the water, heading toward the boat, it turned to face us. What followed happened so quickly I had no time to consult with Miela. She directed our flight. I turned the current into our projector and tried to bring its beam to bear on the boat.
We had brought with us, and maintained, an air density such as that near sea level on earth. But here on Mercury the air was far denser, and its pressure had rushed in upon us instantly the door was opened. Miela had been affected to a much less extent than I, and in consequence recovered far more quickly.
She was, in very truth, the most ethereal human being I had ever beheld. And next to Miela the most beautiful. Miela pulled her forward, and she came on, blushing with the sweet shyness of a child. She was winding her silken silver scarf about her breast hastily, as best she could with her free hand. "My sister, Anina Alan," said Miela simply.
I noticed the affectionate regard she also seemed to have for Miela; and I noticed, too, that there was in her face that vague look of sorrow that was in her father's. The habitable world of Mercury, Miela then went on to tell me, was divided into three zones light, twilight and darkness.
I suggested then that Miela tell the king that we had determined, if we could, to frustrate Tao in his plans; and showed her how to point out to him that such an outcome would, if successful, make his throne secure and insure peace for his nation. He asked me bluntly what it was I thought I could do. The vague beginnings of a plan were forming in my mind.
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