READ THE NOVEL- Chapters 1-31 - ERBzine

Tarzan on Mars
of Oracles."
* * *
"We were aware of your plan," said Ranas Ghol, "even
before it had fully taken shape in your mind. Your first
positive act, which was the impersonation of Tars Tarkas,
disturbed the future continuum with a new variable—and to
these things we are quite sensitive—particularly if the new
variable presents the probability of affecting every inhabitant
of the planet."
The Lotharian, the Thern and the Dator of the First Born
sat at a table facing seven blue-skinned Zumorians. The
conference room had been hewn from the metallic substance
of the great meteor, itself. Close above their heads was a
transparent ceiling through which they could see distant
Cluros in the night sky. At their backs was a great amphitheater
provided with seats that consisted of semi-circular
elevations in the floor, like a concentric pattern of sound
waves emerging from the base of the high, circular dais on
which the conference table was located. Beyond the empty
seats were wide, circular steps leading upward to a broad,
pillared balcony. From the railing of this balcony to the Lake
of Darkness below was a sheer drop of three miles, owing to
the two mile deep depression of the Valley of Tarnath at this
point.
Beyond the balcony floated the dark shapes of the
warships from Omean—awaiting the pleasure of the Dator.
Tario turned to Sardon Dhur and to Zithad, a quiet smile
of triumph on his handsome face. "Impressed as you were
with my plan," he said, "it has been as nothing to me until this
moment, as far as the element of security is concerned. I
hoped that if the Zumorians yet lived we might ask them to
examine the future results of our alliance. You have head their
leader, Ranas Ghol. He already intimates that we are capable
of altering the history of Barsoom."
Sardon Dhur shook his head. "It is too much to fathom.
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