Sleepers Of Mars

He paused opposite the first case.

‘Here we have a glimpse of the Carboniferous Era. The tree-ferns and giant mosses thriving in a specially prepared atmosphere, continuing the lives which were suspended when Venus was very young. We hope to be able to grow more specimens from the spores of these. And here,’ he passed to the next case, ‘we see the beginning of one of Nature’s most graceful experiments—the earliest form of flower.’

His audience stared in dutiful attention at the large, white blossoms which confronted them. They were not very interested; fauna has a far greater appeal to the adolescent mind than does flora. A mighty roar caused the building to tremble; eyes were switched from the magnolia-like blossoms to glance up the passage in anticipatory excitement. Attention to the guide became even more perfunctory. Only Magon, to the exasperation of his pupils, thought it fit to ask a few questions. At last, however, the preliminary botanical cases were left behind, and they came to the first of the cages.

Behind the bars a reptilian creature, which might have been described as a biped had its tail not played so great a part in supporting it, was hurrying tirelessly, and without purpose, to and fro, glaring at as much of the world as it could from intense, small eyes. Every now and then it would throw back its head and utter a kind of strangled shriek.

It was an unattractive creature with a grey-green hide, very smooth; its contours were almost streamlined, but managed to appear clumsy. In it, as in so many of the earlier forms, one seemed to feel that Nature was getting her hand in for the real job. She had already learned to model after a crude fashion, when she made this running dinosaur, but her sense of proportion was not good and she lacked the deftness necessary to produce the finer bits of modelling which she later achieved. She could not, one felt, even had she wanted, have then produced fur or feathers to clothe the creature’s nakedness.

‘This,’ said the guide, waving a proprietorial hand, ‘is what we call Struthiomimus, one of the dinosaurs capable of travelling at high speed, which it does for purposes of defence, not attack, being a vegetarian.’

There was a slight pause while his listeners sorted out the involved sentence.

‘You mean it runs away?’ asked a voice.

‘Yes.’

They all looked a little disappointed, a trifle contemptuous of the unfortunate, unhappy Struthiomimus. They wanted stronger meat. They longed to see—in safety—-those ancient monsters who had been the lords of the planet, whose rumbling bellows had sent Struthiomimus and the rest scuttling for cover. The guide continued in his own good time.

‘The next is a fine specimen of Hesperornis, the toothed bird. This creature, filling a place between the Archeopteryx and the modern bird, is particularly interesting-’

But the class did not agree. As they filed slowly on past cage after cage, it was noticeable that their own opinions and that of the guide seldom coincided. The more majestic and terrifying reptiles he dismissed with a curt: ‘These are of little interest, being sterile branches of the main stem of evolution—, Nature’s failures.’

They came at length to a small cage occupied by a solitary, curious creature which stood erect upon two legs, though it appeared to be designed to use four.

‘This,’ said the guide, ‘is one of our most puzzling finds. We have not yet been able to classify it into any known category. There has been such a rush that the specialists have not yet had time to accord it the attention it deserves. Obviously it comes from an advanced date, for it bears some fur, though this is localised in patches, notably on the head and face. It is particularly adept upon two feet, which points to a long line of development. And yet, for all we know of it, the creature might have occurred fully developed, and without any evolution—though, of course, you will realise that such a thing could not possibly happen.

‘Among the other odd facts which our preliminary observation has revealed is that although its teeth are indisputably those of a herbivore, yet it has carnivorous tastes. Altogether, a most puzzling creature. We hope to find others before the examination of the Valley is ended.’

The creature raised its head and looked at them from sullen eyes. Its mouth opened, but instead of the expected bellow it produced a stream of clattering gibberish, which it accompanied with curious motions of its fore-limbs. The interest of the class was at last aroused. Here was a real mystery about which the experts could, as yet, claim to know little more than themselves.

The young Sadul, for instance, was far more intrigued by it than he had been by those monsters with the polysyllabic names. He drew closer to the bars, observing it intently. The creature’s eyes met his own and held them; more queer jabber issued from its mouth. It advanced to the front of the cage, coming quite near to him. Sadul held his ground; it did not look dangerous. With one foot it smoothed the soil of the floor, and then squatted down to scrabble in the dirt.