"Ludson! Wake up! Martians are attacking."
I heard a startled grunt. Then Axel's voice came to my ears.
"Untie Dr. Spartan and give him a gun."
It was light enough to see now, and I pushed the Mars-car's throttle to its peak.
Chapter 17
I had no idea how far we were from the spaceship. But it certainly wasn't more than a ninety-minute run if I held the machine at top speed. But battles can be won or lost in considerably less time, and there was a battle being fought in the Solis Lacus area.
They were outside the ship—Axel, Joel and Spartan. I heard them shouting in their helmet radios. I couldn't hear the sound of firing, but Spartan—unwilling to relinquish his authority even though he was a prisoner—was shouting orders. "Get that group to the left, Axel! About nine o'clock—"
Axel must have the rifle, I thought.
Dr. Warner Joel was hysterical. His voice choked sobs. He prayed. He swore. He moaned.
Axel mumbled incoherently. For all I knew he might have been talking in Swedish. Maybe he was—I don't know. He was born in Minnesota of Swedish parents and might have learned it in his childhood. Ordinarily, he spoke good English, except that occasionally his phrasing took on a foreign flavor, a throwback to something he'd learned from his parents and neighbors.