The Streetcar to Andromeda. Celeste Hammond Streiff
world, had enough of him. When Moscovitch and I found out about Roth’s plan to conquer the universe, we tracked him down near the planet Nowese, and captured him. There was a quick trial and Roth was sentenced to death. We banished Tok Loor to the 13th dimension where you have to throw a ladder under a black cat to get in or out.”
Jesse then laughed at his little joke. “It’s not too bad of a place. You see, Tok’s crimes of pillaging and looting were far less serious than Roth’s crimes of enslavement. I mean the punishment should fit the crime. Anyway when we put Roth to death that day on the guillotine, the Lady Mordine said she saw Roth’s ego escape and disappear into a guy that was standing in the front row of the crowd. She said he was a funny looking guy with a small moustache and looks like that Hitler guy in the movie newsreels.
“Wow!” I gasped. “His EGO escaped? How’d he do that?”
“Well, he had such a big one, which might have made it easier. The Lady Mordine who is the psychic keeper of “The Sacred Book of Origins” said Roth had stolen the Scared Book from her when he’d conquered the Alpha Century System just a few years before. The book contained many secrets and spells and I’d guess that’s how he learned to “Ego Escape.”
“WOW! Where’s Roth now?”
“Well, no one really knows for sure, but Erf and Merf said they saw him that day on Nowese, the funny looking Hitler guy with the moustache that is, sneak off and get into a spaceship. They said he took off towards Tellus.”
“You mean he may have come here?”
Jesse nodded. “Of course that was before Parker and I had put up the Goodrum Screen.”
“What’s the Goodrum Screen?”
“It’s a translucent protective barrier that encircles all of Earth, a kind of almost invisible moving Warp Wave. Before Roth came along there wasn’t much need for the Goodrum Screen. We never considered Telluarians much of a threat, I mean the Earthlings were too busy destroying each other, in fact we realized Earth might need protection after the Roth incident, so a friend of ours, Charles Goodrum invented it to protect Earth, and me and Parker put it into place. Although it’s a little bit like closing the barn door after the horse has gone, if you know what I mean.”
I nodded. “So Madman Roth may have come here?”
“Yeah, but he’s never surfaced as far as anyone knows — not yet anyways. But, it is a pretty scary thought, isn’t it?”
“Yeah!”
“Before Roth disappeared he left orders for the greedy Martian Aristocrats and the Ex-Robot Dictator to have the Exiles driven off Mars.”
“Who are the Greedy Aristocrats?”
“Well, they were the Martians who were ravaging the lands and rivers for greed. Roth structured the greedy Martians into positions of power and they came to be called “The Aristocrats.” As Exiles, we went underground to fight them in devious ways, but we were small in number. You see, the majority of Martians were a kindly people and didn’t really understand what was happening. They were too busy leading their lives and having fun. They believed Roth and the Aristocrats lies because they didn’t want to think about bad things and just went on their merry way. The Exiles tried to get the truth out by running an underground news letter, you know, like “The Martian News Letter” we publish now on Tellus?”
I nodded.
Jesse continued. “Well, we were planning a revolt, but on the day it was to take place there was a surprise attack on our underground headquarters by the top Aristocrat running the whole show, a Mr. Varmit Mc Dee and the Ex-Robot Dictator of Sirus.
Jesse suddenly stopped and sighed then said dramatically. “— Billions of years of Martian history and the development of Martian culture were brought to a standstill that day when Roth and the Aristocrats overthrew the government,” after a moment a little melancholy crept into his voice. “—So now we’re all just Exiles, —scattered throughout the universe with fond memories of Mars, and of the way things use to be.”
Jesse stared sadly into the heavens for a moment, but then a defiant smile crept across his face. Suddenly he raised a clenched fist and shouted with gusto. “But, Comes the Triumphant Victory!”
Caught up in the glory of the moment I too raised my clenched fist and hollered. “But, Comes The Triumphant Victory!”
Jesse’s eyes twinkled down at me as a new comrade in arms. Then he exclaimed “But Wait! I’m getting way ahead of myself. Before we became Exiles, there were the Boskonian wars and after that there was a long great time of peace. After Parker and I had finished building the famous Martian Canals, Moscovitch decided to give up his Ruler ship and retire to Andromeda.”
Jesse lay back in the tall grass and sighed, “Ahhh —I remember that day well. Parker and I were waving goodbye to Moscovitch as he flew off in his new red convertible ship with the radio blaring: “Let’s Get Away From It All,” by Frank Sinatra. It was a glorious farewell! That was the very same day Roth left Elysium to form his army. You see, Moscovitch had appointed Parker and me to ascend the throne, but Roth thought Moscovitch should have appointed him King, and I think that’s when his hatred of Moscovitch and me began to fester in his soul and his megalomania became a burning fury demanding revenge.”
“Wait a minute, you mean you and Parker were the Kings of Mars?” I was astonished — my big brother Jesse, the King of Mars.
Jesse tried to act nonchalant, but I could tell he was proud of this fact by the way he pompously held his head and smirked with delight.
He pulled out a big cigar from his gabardine jacket pocket and rolled it across his fingers. “For a short time we were.” he nodded. Then staring at the cigar he became nostalgic again. “Ah what a time it was. Everyone did exactly as they pleased, no work, no chores — it was Utopia!” Jesse emphasized this statement by thrusting a pointed fore-finger in the air.
Well, that sounded pretty good to me, I mean no chores like taking out the trash or washing the silverware, just having fun drawing, reading comic books and listening to radio programs like “The Inner Sanctum.” Yeah, that sounded okay. I knew what I liked to do best, but I was curious about the Martians.”
“What do Martians like to do best?” I asked.
Jesse’s answer came faster than two shakes of a Dragons tail, “Why scientific research, of course!”
†
Later, lying in bed that night my thoughts were filled with visions of the majesty of the olden days on Mars. I thought about The Mighty Moscovitch, the brave Ex-Ruler, about Madman Roth and his sidekick Tok Loor, the cranky dwarf pirate. I wondered about Erf and Merf, the friendly green dragons and laughed again when I thought of The Little Men. But, mostly what I thought about was Jesse and Parker as the reigning Kings of Mars. In my mind’s eye I could see the Martian people — a great cheering throng of them throwing flowers at Jesse and Parker as they mounted the steps in the Roman style gardens of Elysium to sit upon their kingly thrones on that glorious and magnificent day.
Jesse was sad that he couldn’t return to his homeland, but the very last thing he told me that night was that he and Parker and the other Exiles had a secret plan called: “The Triumphant Victory”, and soon they would rescue control of Mars from Madman Roth and the greedy Aristocrats. But, he said, that the timing must be right. He also promised to tell me about the night they all got exiled and how he and Parker just barely made it to Earth or Tellus as he calls it. I could hardly wait.
But, before I continue further there’s something important that needs to be mentioned. It’s something that happened eons before that neither Jesse nor I knew about back in 1938.’—And… it was about Madman Roth.