READ THE NOVEL- Chapters 1-31 - ERBzine

Tarzan on Mars
mission well, my lord!"
As Kar Komak, effectively disguised as a red Martian
panthan, sped away from the twin towers of Helium on his
swift, one man flier, he alone was aware that he was concerned
with two missions rather than one.
A lonely man was Kar Komak, for reasons which had
long remained buried in his secret heart. There beneath
hurtling Thuria and the more distant Cluros, as he raced
south of Hastor and west, toward the dead and waterless Sea
of Throxus, he considered a personal problem that had
plagued him ever since the day when he had first entered the
society of Helium.
Woman. The female of the species.
That he was attracted to the opposite sex was to be
expected, especially in a nation where beautiful women were
the norm rather than the exception. But, because all of the
women he had met inspired in him the noblest instincts of
man, this very reaction was the deterrent to a closer association,
which had mystified his friends and acquaintances—all
save Carthoris, perhaps, who seemed to divine a portion of
the truth.
One of the first gifts a man wishes to lay at the feet of a
loved one is an open heart. Honesty—and the ability to give
as much as is received. But Kar Komak felt that in his case
marriage would be a deception. And, therefore, he envied the
happy couples he knew—Carthoris and Thuvia, Gahan of
Gathol and Tara of Helium, and above all—John Carter and
Dejah Thoris.
Why? Because Kar Komak was not as other men. He was
a mental creation. True, he was of the flesh and blood of the
living. But what heredity, what legacy of blood line could he
give to his offspring. None. None at all!
Nor could he dare to reveal the closely guarded secret of
his origin to a prospective sweetheart, lest she think him
mad. Therefore, into Kar Komak's lonely life had come no
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