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READ THE NOVEL- Chapters 1-31 - ERBzine

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Tarzan on Mars<br />

Yes! It was indeed an ironical trap! But not for Tario! He<br />

chuckled to himself as he thought of the clever plan. The he<br />

sobered, suddenly. There was just one question left.<br />

From whence would he procure a woman to pose as<br />

Issus? If not a Thern, then who? For the legend decreed that<br />

she must be white.<br />

It was on this third night that Tario's great inspiration<br />

came to him.<br />

He recalled Lothar. He remembered the phantom<br />

woman when he had attempted for years to bring into lasting<br />

reality. He had felt many times that that beautiful creature<br />

was on the verge of making the inexplicable transition, yet he<br />

had never been certain enough to risk testing her reality for<br />

fear that she would implode into the nothingness from which<br />

she had come.<br />

Instead, it was Kar Komak, the odwar of his bowmen,<br />

who had metamorphosed into reality. And he had escaped to<br />

become allied with his enemies.<br />

But now—now a new element had been added, literally!<br />

The element, tharton, which composed the Star of Issus on<br />

his forehead. In generating the tenth Barsoomian ray, it<br />

served to augment the effect of his mentality to such proportions<br />

as only he could realize.<br />

With the Star of Issus he had secretly performed the<br />

seeming miracles of the wizards of old. Impersonation,<br />

levitation, teleportation—even telekinesis.<br />

Why not, then, mentally create his Issus, once and for all?<br />

And indeed, would this not be tantamount to fulfilling the<br />

prophecy?<br />

Tario paced the floor of his chamber in an ecstasy of<br />

inspiration. What a stroke this would be! And who would have<br />

the greater moral right to the title of Tharos Pthan than he<br />

who had actually created Issus!<br />

"By the sacred gods!" he exclaimed. "Can it be possible<br />

that I am a part of the true prophecy? Can it be that such<br />

129

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