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"Why do you want to go to Gar Nal's hangar?" he demanded.
"Because I have word that Gar Nal's ship has left Zodanga on a mission in which
both he And Ur Jan are connected."
This information threw Fal Sivas into a state of excitement bordering on
apoplexy. "The calot!" he exclaimed, "the thief, the scoundrel; he has stolen
all my ideas and now he has launched his ship ahead of mine."
"Calm yourself, Fal Sivas," I urged him. "We do not know yet that Gar Nal's ship
has sailed. Tell me where he was building it, and I will go and investigate."
"Yes, yes," he exclaimed, "at once; but Vandor, do you know where Gar Nal was
going? Did you find that out?"
"To Thuria, I believe," I replied.
Now, indeed, was Fal Sivas convulsed with rage. By comparison with this, his
first outburst appeared almost like enthusiastic approval of his competitor for
inventive laurels. He called Gar Nal every foul thing he could lay his tongue to
and all his ancestors back to the original tree of life from which all animate
things on Mars are supposed to have sprung.
"He is going to Thuria after the treasure!" he screamed in conclusion. "He has
even stolen that idea from me."
"This is no time for lamentation, Fal Sivas," I snapped. "We are getting no
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place. Tell me where Gar Nal's hangar is, so that we may know definitely whether
or not he has sailed."
With an effort, he gained control of himself; and then he gave me minute
directions for finding Gar Nal's hangar, and even told me how I might gain
entrance to it, revealing a familiarity with his enemy's stronghold which
indicated that his own spies had not been idle.
As Fal Sivas concluded his directions, I thought that I heard sounds coming from
the room behind him muffled sounds a gasp, a sob, perhaps. I could not tell.
The sounds were faint; they might have been almost anything; and now Fal Sivas
crossed the room toward me and ushered me out into the corridor, a little
hurriedly, I thought; but that may have been my imagination. I wondered if he,
too, had heard the sounds.
"You had better go, now," he said; "and when you have discovered the truth,
return at once and report to me."
On my way from the quarters of Fal Sivas, I stopped at my own to speak to
Zanda;
but she was not there, and I continued on to the little doorway through which I
came and went from the house of Fal Sivas.
Hamas was there in the anteroom. He looked disappointed when he saw me.
"You are
going out?" he asked.
"Yes," I replied.
"Are you returning again tonight?"
"I expect to," I replied; "and by the way, Hamas, where is Zanda? She was not in
my quarters when I stopped in."
"We thought you were not returning," explained the major-domo, "and Fal Sivas
found other duties for Zanda. Tomorrow I shall have Phystal give you another
slave."
"I want Zanda again," I said. "She performs her duties satisfactorily, and I
prefer her."
"That is something you will have to discuss with Fal Sivas," he replied.
I passed out then into the night and gave the matter no further thought, my mind
being occupied with far more important considerations.
My way led past the public house where I had left Jat Or and on into another
quarter of the city. Here, without difficulty, I located the building that Fal
Sivas had described.
At one side of it was a dark narrow alley. I entered this and groped my way to
the far end, where I found a low wall, as Fal Sivas had explained that I would.
I paused there a moment and listened intently, but no sound came from the
interior of the building. Then I vaulted easily to the top of the wall, and from
there to the roof of a low annex. Across this roof appeared the end of the
hangar in which Gar Nal had built his ship. I recognized it for what it was by
the great doors set in the wall.
Fal Sivas had told me that through the crack between the two doors, I could see
the interior of the hangar and quickly determine if the ship were still there.
But there was no light within; the hangar was completely dark, and I could see
nothing as I glued an eye to the crack.
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I attempted to move the doors, but they were securely locked. Then I moved
cautiously along the wall in search of another opening.
About forty feet to the right of the doors, I discovered a small window some ten
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