The First Men in the Moon Page #4

That has such people in it.

Good Lord!

Burrowing worms, you said. Ants.

Cavor!

What is it?

Oh, no!

Oh, Lord, my head.

Where are we?

I'm tied. Why have you tied me up?

I haven't! They did.

They?! The, um, Selenites.

Oh, God... Oh, Lord, I remember now.

What are we going to do?

Hmm...no idea.

Will you stop that infernal noise!

Very sorry, I'm sure.

Just trying to, you know, think(!)

Shhh!

Um...

Um...

How do you do?

How do you do(?) Well, one of us

had to say something!

And they're clearly intelligent,

Bedford.

I suppose that anywhere

there's an intelligent animal...

...it will carry the brain case

upward and have hands

and walk erect.

Damn it, Cavor,

what do they want with us?

Well, I imagine they're curious.

Curious?

Curious the way the African savage

is curious?

Curious enough to boil us in a pot?

Now you're being alarmist.

Alarmist?!

I think we must be some way in.

What?!

Inside the moon. It's cooler,

and we're heavier. Haven't you

noticed?

Must be some depth, a mile or so,

maybe, inside. Probably.

Oh! I suppose you never thought

of a world inside the moon.

No! And now it seems

such an obvious thing.

Well, I wish you'd taken the trouble

to find out before we came.

Well, how could I?

Oh, what a damn pickle this is!

What the hell did we come for,

Cavor?

What was the moon to us,

or us to the moon?

We should have started smaller.

Now, look here, Bedford,

you came on this expedition

of your own free will.

You said to me,

"Call it prospecting!"

There are always risks

in prospecting.

Besides, I was so taken up

with the sphere.

The thing rushed up on us

and carried us away.

Rushed up on me, you mean.

Rushed up on me just as much.

All I wanted was to be

a Fellow of the Royal Society.

It was you who confounded me with

your talk of schemes and riches.

Well, you've got your wish now,

Bedford.

Look at the chains that bind you.

Solid gold.

Much good may it do you!

Oh, Lord, Cavor, what now?

Cavor, what are you doing?

Oh, Lord.

It's horrible. It's horrible!

Just try to think of them

as butterflies or...moths.

Oh, I hate moths.

Filthy, dusty, ghastly things.

Oh, God, it's making my skin crawl!

Keep calm, old man.

These, er, Selenites, or whatever

we choose to call them,

have got us now.

We must try and keep a cool head.

The problem is

one of communication.

Communication?! These things

are different, Cavor. Look at them.

They're more different to us

than the strangest animals on Earth.

They're of a different clay.

What's the use in talking like this?

No, no, I don't see that.

They have minds, we have minds.

They are ants on their hind legs,

Cavor,

and whoever got to any sort of

understanding with ruddy ants?

But think of that great iris

on the surface.

The difference is wide, yes.

It's insurmountable!

But is it?

We could begin with the things

which must be common to both races.

The great principles of geometry,

for example.

Oh! Oh, yes, why not(?)

"Oh, good morning, Mr Selenite.

"The sum of the hypotenuse is equal

to the sum of the square

of the other two sides!"

Why are you being so difficult?

It's a perfectly sound idea.

Besides, it's the sum of

the square on the hypotenuse.

Oh, shut up!

Why didn't I stick to my play?

That was what I was equal to.

That was my world,

and the life I was made for.

Could have finished it.

I'm certain of it.

What do I do? I leap to the moon.

I've thrown my life away.

The old woman in the inn

had better sense.

It is clear they are intelligent.

One can hypotheticate certain

things.

As they have not killed us at once,

they must have ideas of mercy.

At any rate, of restraint.

Oh, shut up.

Well?

Smells like mushrooms.

It's mushroom soup.

Food. They're giving us food.

The fundamentals of life,

you see, Bedford?

They do understand.

Mm!

Are you going to try

that geometry of yours, then?

If I get a chance. Of course,

they may make an advance first.

Do you think they want us

to imitate those sounds?

I don't think so.

I can't make anything

of their gestures.

This one is worrying with his head,

like a man with an uncomfortable

collar.

Um...delicious.

Yum, yum!

Great heavens!

It's stupendous.

What is it?

A machine?

Hard to say.

Perhaps more like a vast...brain.

What do you think it does?

Haven't the faintest idea.

Ow!

Yes, yes!

Can't we show them we're

interested in it?

Oh, they may think

we're mere dumb animals.

It would be a good idea to show

an intelligent interest

from the outset.

Um...we look at this. Yes?

We think machine jolly good.

Good machine. Clever machine.

Well done.

Ow! It pricked me with a sword!

We're not going to stand for that.

What on earth do they take us for?

Cavor... Hmm?

The shackles.

Gold! Well, yes, I told you that.

No, I mean it's...soft.

It's a very soft metal.

Well, it may be

it's much heavier for them,

evolving, as they must,

in the much lower specific gravity.

I think I can get loose.

Get loose? Where would we go?

Back to the sphere, of course.

But don't...

This is a whole new world, Bedford.

There's so much to learn.

I'm old-fashioned, Cavor.

I like to do my learning

from a position of strength,

not shackled like a beast.

Surely they don't expect

us...

No! No, we can't cross

that. Not at any price.

I couldn't get three steps across

it, even with my hands free.

They can't know what it is to be

giddy, you see.

Um, bridge no good.

Um, make man dizzy.

I don't think they understand.

No! Stop that!

Wait a minute. I've got an idea.

I am not some sausage

to be pricked at!

I say, Bedford, I think I know a way

to...

Right, if you do that again...

Oh, no, no, no, no, no!

Cavor, quickly, your chains.

Oh, you've ruined everything!

Your chains, man!

What? We have to make a run for it.

Come on, man. Come on!

Come on!

You spoilt it all!

Nonsense. It was that or death.

This way. You seem very sure.

We must find a way

back to the surface.

It's our only chance.

Come on!

Rest. Can we rest?

No time.

Those things will be after us.

I've lost all sense of direction.

Are we going up, do you think?

It's all your fault.

My fault? I had an idea.

Oh, hang your ideas.

If we had refused to budge,

they'd have carried us.

Over the bridge?

Yes! Balderdash. Now get up.

Get up, or I'll ruddy well

leave you here!

It's daylight.

Er, well... It must be.

We're saved, Cavor. Come on.

Come on! Just a minute, old man.

Ohhhh, bugger!

I thought it was daylight.

We should eat again. Might as well

eat while we have the chance.

What a rotten piece of luck this is.

Here we are, burrowing in this

beastly world that isn't a world,

and those things chasing us.

I don't think we can judge the

Selenites from what we have

seen of them so far.

This area of the crust could be some

desolate, outlying district,

like...Wales.

Wales?

If we could hold out

for a week or so, perhaps,

then news of our arrival might

spread and we could try proper

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