The Holes Around Mars Read online

set off across the wide street, the little Martian chiefwas in front of him, brown eyes wide, hands out before him as if tothrust Randolph back.

  Again six safeties clicked. The Martians didn't even blink at the suddenappearance of our guns. Probably the only weapon they recognized was aclub, or maybe a rock.

  "What can the matter be?" Randolph said.

  He took another step forward. The chief squeaked and stood his ground.Randolph had to stop or bump into him. Randolph stopped.

  The chief squeaked, looking right into the bore of Randolph's gun.

  "Hold still," Allenby told Randolph, "till we know what's up."

  Allenby made an interrogative sound at the chief. The chief squeaked andpointed at the ground. We looked. He was pointing at his shadow.

  Randolph stirred uncomfortably.

  "Hold still," Allenby warned him, and again he made the questioningsound.

  The chief pointed up the street. Then he pointed down the street. Hebent to touch his shadow, thumping it with thin fingers. Then he pointedat the wall of a house nearby.

  We all looked.

  Straight lines had been painted on the curved brick-colored wall, up anddown and across, to form many small squares about four inches across. Ineach square was a bit of squiggly writing, in blackish paint, and asmall wooden peg jutting out from the wall.

  Burton said, "Looks like a damn crossword puzzle."

  "Look," said Janus. "In the lower right corner--a metal ring hangingfrom one of the pegs."

  * * * * *

  And that was all we saw on the wall. Hundreds of squares with figures inthem--a small peg set in each--and a ring hanging on one of the pegs.

  "You know what?" Allenby said slowly. "I think it's a calendar! Just asecond--thirty squares wide by twenty-two high--that's six hundred andsixty. And that bottom line has twenty-six--twenty-_seven_ squares. Sixhundred and eighty-seven squares in all. That's how many days there arein the Martian year!"

  He looked thoughtfully at the metal ring. "I'll bet that ring is hangingfrom the peg in the square that represents _today_. They must move italong every day, to keep track...."

  "What's a calendar got to do with my crossing the street?" Randolphasked in a pained tone.

  He started to take another step. The chief squeaked as if it were amatter of desperate concern that he make us understand. Randolph stoppedagain and swore impatiently.

  Allenby made his questioning sound again.

  The chief pointed emphatically at his shadow, then at the communalcalendar--and we could see now that he was pointing at the metal ring.

  Burton said slowly, "I think he's trying to tell us that this is_today_. And such-and-such a _time_ of day. I bet he's using his shadowas a sundial."

  "Perhaps," Allenby granted.

  Randolph said, "If this monkey doesn't let me go in another minute--"

  The chief squeaked, eyes concerned.

  "Stand still," Allenby ordered. "He's trying to warn you of somedanger."

  The chief pointed down the street again and, instead of squealing,revealed that there was another sound at his command. He said,"Whooooooosh!"

  We all stared at the end of the street.

  * * * * *

  Nothing! Just the wide avenue between the houses, and the high sand dunedown at the end of it, from which we had first looked upon the village.

  The chief described a large circle with one hand, sweeping the handabove his head, down to his knees, up again, as fast as he could. Hepursed his monkey-lips and said, "Whooooooosh!" And made the circleagain.

  A Martian emerged from the door in the side of a house across the avenueand blinked at the Sun, as if he had just awakened. Then he saw what wasgoing on below and blinked again, this time in interest. He made his waydown around the winding lamp and started to cross the street.

  About halfway, he paused, eyed the calendar on the house wall, glancedat his shadow. Then he got down on his hands and knees and _crawled_across the middle of the street. Once past the middle, he rose, walkedthe rest of the way to join one of the groups and calmly stared at usalong with the rest of them.

  "They're all crazy," Randolph said disgustedly. "I'm going to cross thatstreet!"

  "Shut up. So it's a certain time of a certain day," Allenby mused. "Andfrom the way the chief is acting, he's afraid for you to cross thestreet. And that other one just _crawled_. By God, do you know what thismight tie in with?"

  We were silent for a moment. Then Gonzales said, "Of course!"

  And Burton said, "The _holes_!"

  "Exactly," said Allenby. "Maybe whatever made--or makes--the holes comesright down the center of the street here. Maybe that's why they builtthe village this way--to make room for--"

  "For what?" Randolph asked unhappily, shifting his feet.

  "I don't know," Allenby said. He looked thoughtfully at the chief. "Thatcircular motion he made--could he have been describing something thatwent around and around the planet? Something like--oh, no!" Allenby'seyes glazed. "I wouldn't believe it in a million years."

  His gaze went to the far end of the street, to the high sand dune thatrose there. The chief seemed to be waiting for something to happen.

  "I'm going to crawl," Randolph stated. He got to his hands and knees andbegan to creep across the center of the avenue.

  The chief let him go.

  The sand dune at the end of the street suddenly erupted. A forty-footspout of dust shot straight out from the sloping side, as if a bullethad emerged. Powdered sand hazed the air, yellowed it almost the fulllength of the avenue. Grains of sand stung the skin and rattled minutelyon the houses.

  WhoooSSSHHHHH!

  Randolph dropped flat on his belly. He didn't have to continue his trip.He had made other arrangements.

  * * * * *

  That night in the ship, while we all sat around, still shaking our headsevery once in a while, Allenby talked with Earth. He sat there, wearingthe headphones, trying to make himself understood above the godawfulstatic.

  "... an exceedingly small body," he repeated wearily to his unbelievingaudience, "about four inches in diameter. It travels at a mean distanceof four feet above the surface of the planet, at a velocity yet to becalculated. Its unique nature results in many hitherto unobserved--Imight say even unimagined--phenomena." He stared blankly in front of himfor a moment, then delivered the understatement of his life. "Thediscovery may necessitate a re-examination of many of our basicpostulates in the physical sciences."

  The headphones squawked.

  Patiently, Allenby assured Earth that he was entirely serious, andreiterated the results of his observations. I suppose that he, anastronomer, was twice as flabbergasted as the rest of us. On the otherhand, perhaps he was better equipped to adjust to the evidence.

  "Evidently," he said, "when the body was formed, it traveled at suchfantastic velocity as to enable it to--" his voice was almost awhisper--"to punch holes in things."

  The headphones squawked.

  "In rocks," Allenby said, "in mountains, in anything that got in itsway. And now the holes form a large portion of its fixed orbit."

  _Squawk._

  "Its mass must be on the order of--"

  _Squawk._

  "--process of making the holes slowed it, so that now it travels justfast enough--"

  _Squawk._

  "--maintain its orbit and penetrate occasional objects such as--"

  _Squawk._

  "--and sand dunes--"

  _Squawk._

  "My God, I _know_ it's a mathematical monstrosity," Allenby snarled."_I_ didn't put it there!"

  _Squawk._

  Allenby was silent for a moment. Then he said slowly, "A name?"

  _Squawk._

  "H'm," said Allenby. "Well, well." He appeared to brighten just alittle. "So it's up to me, as leader of the expedition, to name it?"

  _Squawk._

  "Well, well," he said.

&nb
sp; That chop-licking tone was in his voice. We'd heard it all too oftenbefore. We shuddered, waiting.

  "Inasmuch as Mars' outermost moon is called Deimos, and the nextPhobos," he said, "I think I shall name the third moon ofMars--_Bottomos_."

  --JEROME BIXBY