Guns of Mars 35
A Martian action-adventure by The Legend Chuck Dixon
CHAPTER 9.5
In a lowest drawer he found books bound in rotting leather, their pages falling apart in feathery clouds as he turned them. But one book’s pages were of treated animal hide, a thick vellum that had yellowed with age but was still intact even as its cover came to pieces in his hand. This he brought up into the light.
“What is it? What do the words tell you?” Kal asked as he looked over the man’s shoulder. The pages were dense with what appeared to be handwritten text and numerals written in lined columns. The ink was faded to a light violet.
“It’s a ledger of sorts. A record of this ship’s travels. The last entry is dated two centuries ago.”
“What use is it? It tells us nothing.”
“It tells me everything,” the man said with a wry smile.
“Yes?” The thark leaned closer, eagerly scanning the open page as though he might discern something from the scribbles there.
“It tells me the starting point as well as the destinations along this ship’s trade route.”
“Its home port! The source of this water! Where do we find it?”
The man turned to Kal, a finger held to his lips.
Kal bent low to study the open pages of the book. The rows of characters scratched in ink made no sense to him. But he could understand the drawings that accompanied them. There were maps and what appeared to be depictions of topographic features. One of these plainly showed the pyramid shape of what appeared to be a mountain. Rising from its summit was a peculiar pair of formations; two spires of rock that looked like towers. They resembled fingers extended to the sky. It was a place he had never seen or heard of despite his broad experience of wandering with the western Warhoon.
“You will not share this with me?” The thark stood straight then, glowering at the bounty man who had closed the book.
“And have you slit my throat at the first chance?” The bounty man’s voice lowered to a growl, all amusement gone from his eyes. “Keeping you in the dark assures your loyalty, for now.”
“You damned mongrel,” Kal shrugged.
Their continued partnership thus assured, they broke for a meal before pushing on down the canal.
Special Note: GUNS OF MARS is now available in a hardcover edition. It is available at Amazon and at NDM Express.
