“We must hurry. Our shipmates are waiting for us. We are willing to take a risk.”
“That seems clear enough,” Lamont observed, and caught himself mechanically fishing for a cigarette from his coat pocket.
Rosemary looked indignant, her cheeks red. “They don’t want us here? What do they know about us? And why did they help me if they don’t like us? And why did they bring us all the way down here, just to tell us to bugger off?”
Francis put a calming hand on the medic’s shoulder. “Remember, Miss Wells, that there are other creatures here that look—for lack of a better term—much like us. So far, they don’t appear to be friendly.”
During this exchange, their polypedal hosts appeared to wait patiently in silent conference with each other, with many-segmented appendages waving slowly from their upright upper halves. Now, Captain Carter turned toward them again and spoke with intention: “Can you lead us back to the surface?”
There was a pause, and the machine emitted a series of ticking sounds that reverberated around them in the weirdly-appointed chamber. Finally, it resonated a reply. “TOO DANGEROUS NOW”
“Because of the storm?” Carter asked.
“HEAVY SKY BRINGS OTHERS” Intoned the Martian instrument.
Francis pressed his lips together in thought. “Others—like us?”
“YES MANY”
Lamont scratched his stubbled chin. “The cavemen,” he speculated, “Aren’t normally cavemen. They live outside, but when the weather gets bad enough, they turn to the caves for shelter.” He turned to Rosemary. “That must be why you encountered women and children inside the cave while Rex met the men outside.”
Rosemary bit down on her lower lip, an expression Lamont noticed that she made when she was working through something. “If they came back to the cave after we left, then Rex is alone with them now. Who knows what those savages might be doin’ to him?”
The captain’s expression darkened visibly at the thought. “Rex is beyond our helping now. But…” He now addressed their hosts: “We must hurry. Our shipmates are waiting for us. We are willing to take a risk.”
“How big a risk?” Lamont asked.
“The pygmies are primitive,” Carter replied. “We frightened them off once; I don’t expect it will be impossible to keep them at bay long enough to escape the caves if necessary.”
Meanwhile, the centipidal creatures seemed to conclude an exchange between themselves. One of them scuttled a few paces away from the others, toward the center of the chamber where the humans stood. “FOLLOW THIS BODY” Thrummed the machine.
Next: An Uncanny Puzzle